Katsuko Matsumiya

Katsuko Matsumiya is the mother of Shuhei Matsumiya and the aunt of Kyoichiro Kaga. Though she says she was not especially close to Kaga’s mother, Yuriko, she remembers her as kind and responsible and insists that her departure from her son was not simple indifference. Katsuko’s role is a quietly important one: she gives Kaga a family member’s compassionate reading of Yuriko’s choices and presses him to recognize the bond that remained after years of separation.

Family and Household

Katsuko shares an apartment with Shuhei, a living arrangement he tends not to discuss because he fears being teased as a man overly attached to his mother. She is present in his home life, and her concern appears in the ordinary fact that colleagues tell him to go home rather than make his mother anxious. Her household also becomes a place where the cousins can speak about family history.

Yuriko and Kaga

Katsuko tells Kaga that Yuriko was kind and responsible, though the two women had not been close. In her view, Yuriko must have endured great anguish before deciding to leave him. She encourages Kaga to forgive and forget, offering a sympathetic account that counters the pain and uncertainty surrounding his mother’s absence.

Her understanding complements what Kaga’s father, Takamasa, believed. He thought Yuriko had done nothing wrong and that she must have wanted to see her son, even briefly, before her death. He did not pursue her because he believed his own failure to help her through her mental-health difficulties made him partly responsible. Katsuko’s insistence on Yuriko’s kindness and the agony behind her decision gives Kaga another reason to consider the separation as an act shaped by suffering rather than a lack of love.

Memorial and Kinship

Katsuko also brings the question of remembrance into the family conversation. When Kaga says that no one has ever organized a proper memorial service for Yuriko, he promises to think about arranging one after he has made progress on his investigation. Katsuko holds him to that promise: whatever happened, Yuriko remains his mother, and the official municipal record of their relationship is something he should be glad exists.

Her appeal is personal as well as practical. She contrasts Kaga’s documented maternal bond with Shuhei’s lack of an officially recorded father, and becomes tearful as she speaks. Shuhei, uncomfortable with her emotion, asks whether she is drunk. The exchange gives Katsuko’s advocacy an imperfect, intimate form: she can be maudlin, but she is also the family member willing to state plainly that Kaga still has a mother to mourn and remember.

Narrative Role

Katsuko does not resolve the mystery of Yuriko’s inner life, but she helps frame the questions Kaga is pursuing. Her recollection of Yuriko’s character, her appeal for forgiveness, and her insistence on a memorial connect investigation with kinship and remembrance. Against the small, shabby funeral Yasuyo arranged for Yuriko and the ashes she took home, Katsuko’s call for a proper service points toward a more deliberate act of recognition.