Kitten challenging a crow -Murakami radio-

      I was strolling along a backstreet in Sendagaya when I saw a kitten fighting with a crow. Several large crows were perched on a tree branch and a small white kitten was challenging them. Of course, the crows are bigger, stronger and more numerous. They also have sharper beaks. So if it came to a real fight, the kitten wouldn't stand a chance. Not at all. But the cat, growling earnestly, boldly climbed up the branch. I don't know why it did that. Maybe there was something that was upsetting it. In any case, the crow had no intention of picking a fight, and when the cat came along, it simply cawed teasingly and moved on to another nearby branch. The cat is undeterred and challenges another crow, which also caws 'kaa' and moves to another branch. I could see that the cat was being treated in an appropriate manner. I was free at the time (I'm usually free), so I stayed there for a while to watch the proceedings. Sometimes I would say to the kitten, "Hey, keep up the good work". In this situation, I was almost like Kobayashi Issa cheering for a skinny toad. If I was an old-time swordsman and the kitten was a human child, I would have said, "You've got a lot to offer, I'll help you train as a warrior, follow me". but of course, I'm not a swordsman, and it is just a kitten, so I can't do that.

At any rate, the cat chases frantically, the crow teases its opponent, then spreads its wings and runs away an endless repetition, so I got tired of watching and left. I don't know what happened after that. I hope he wasn't injured. I'm a reckless kitten, totally ignorant of the world. But when I think about it, I was like that when I was young. I was told, "You're up against a bad opponent. Even when I was told that I didn't stand a chance, I would turn tail and fight my way to the front if I saw something that looked arrogant. I'm not bragging (there are many things I regret now that I shouldn't have done that), it's just that it was my nat. The nature I was born with. There's no way to change it. Despite appearances(ish), I'm short-tempered. It's gotten me into a lot of trouble here and there. the flock of crows for me were, in a word, a 'system'. A framework with various authorities at its centre. A social framework, a literary framework. At the time it looked like a towering stone wall. It was there as a sturdy thing that individual forces could not stand up against. But now it looks like the stones are crumbling here and there and it can no longer fulfil its role as a wall. Perhaps that is a welcome situation. But to be honest, it was easier to fight when the system was solid. That is, the composition was easier to see when the crows were perched on properly high branches. Now it's a bit more difficult to know what to challenge and what to be angry about. Well, we just have to manage to keep our eyes open.

This Week in Murakami.

The 'Beware of Deer' sign on the Odawara-Atsugi Road suddenly changed to 'Beware of Animals'. Now what do we get?