Deep River

Deep River (1993) follows four diverse Japanese people who meet at India’s holy Ganges River, each dealing with some personal trauma and seeking to come to terms with their pasts. Japanese author Shusaku Endo is considered a member of the Third Generation, the third major group of modern Japanese authors to rise to prominence in the post World War II era between 1953 and 1955. The New York Times Book Review called Deep River a “soulful gift to a world he keeps rendering as unrelievedly parched.”

Isobe a quiet man who becomes despondent after his wife’s death and travels to India in search of her reincarnated soul. Kiguchi is a former Japanese soldier who suffered great illness and hunger during World War II in Burma; he is haunted by the death of a friend who saved his life in the war but died from feelings of guilt. Numada, a children’s author whose only friends are animals, feels driven to repay the help he received from a myna bird. Mitsuko, an atheist who has led a loveless life and is searching for her college flame, currently works with the poor. They all come to the Ganges for comfort.

At the start of the story, Isobe learns that his wife, Keiko, is dying from cancer. He hides the truth from her, but as her condition worsens, she realizes that she is dying. Just before her death, she tells Isobe that she is certain she will be reincarnated and implores him to search for her after her death. Isobe never forgets Keiko’s request to find her reincarnated self, and he contacts reincarnation researchers. He discovers a little girl in India who claims to have been Japanese in a former life.



Mitsuko is a volunteer who cared for Isobe’s wife during her illness. By chance, she’s on the same tour of India. She is a divorcee and has lived a lonely life. She has heard that Otsu, a religious man she pursued while in college, is in India. Since college, she has seen him only once. She visited him while he was a seminary student and she was on her honeymoon in France. Then they discussed his idea of “Onion,” which is a God of love and suffering at the same time.

The children’s author, Numada, has recovered from a case of tuberculosis that almost killed him. During his illness, a myna bird was his sole companion. The bird died while Numada was undergoing his final operation, and Numada is of the mind that the bird died in his place.

Of the larger group of tourists on the Ganges journey, Mitsuko, Isobe, Kiguchi, and Numada stay behind at the River Ganges. Kiguchi is sick, so Mitsuko stays to tend to him. Isobe continues his search for his reincarnated wife but does not find her. However, memories of Keiko and the life they shared do stir up inside of him. Numada sets a myna bird free as a recompense for the one that died saving him. Kiguchi recites a prayer for dead soldiers. Mitsuko, meanwhile, locates Otsu working among poor and suffering Hindus and carrying the dead to the Ganges so that their ashes can be placed in the sacred waters.



During their time at the Ganges, Indira Gandhi is assassinated, which leads to public unrest. Otsu, having dedicated his life to the Onion, stops a group of men from attacking one of the Japanese tourists and is almost beaten to death. As the group is ready to take its leave, Mitsuko finds that Otsu is in serious condition and getting worse.

The Japan Times said of Deep River, “For a book that deals with such lofty ideas, Endo’s subtle touch and jagged humor make the journey easy going. The young Japanese couple’s whining about the dirtiness and poor service in India—a playfully used stereotype—provides welcome comic relief. This short novel is both deep and fast-flowing, a moving examination of regret and acceptance, and a black comedy of manners encapsulating the shifting sands and strata of modern Japanese society.”

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times wrote that Deep River is “a story of a kind usually dared only by veteran writers—a direct, seemingly guileless inquiry into the meaning of life. Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the best-known Western example, but it’s a Japanese tradition, too: Witness Natsume Soseki’s Light and Darkness and Akira Kurosawa’s film ‘Ikiru’ (‘Living’).”