Okada Resolves to Buy the Miyawaki Property

Okada Resolves to Buy the Miyawaki Property marks the point at which his pursuit of the well becomes a deliberate commitment to acquire the land around it. The choice is made despite the property’s bad reputation and his lack of funds; soon afterward, the mark on his cheek grows warm and darkens, and he concludes that he has to have the well, whatever happens.

The Decision to Buy

While speaking with an old man about the well at the Kasahara property across the alley, Okada says that he would like to buy the Miyawaki land. The old man, who has already warned him that the site is troublesome, makes sure he understands the consequence of that choice: nobody has done well there, and the property cannot be a good buy even if its price falls far below market value. Okada does not withdraw. He says he wants the land knowing what he knows.

The decision is not yet a completed purchase. Okada admits that he does not have enough money, even at a reduced price, and expects raising it to take time. He asks the old man to tell him if the price changes or another buyer appears. The old man agrees, confident that the property will not sell soon and will continue to lose value. Okada gives him his telephone number, turning his stated intention into an arrangement to hear about the land’s availability.

The Well Becomes an Imperative

The conversation about acquiring the property is followed by a change in the mark on Okada’s cheek. At eight that night, while washing his face, he notices that it is warmer than before and more intensely colored, almost purplish. Looking in the mirror, he watches long enough for his reflected face to seem other than his own. He understands the mark as wanting something from him, though it gives him no words or explanation.

The sequence sharpens the meaning of the purchase decision. Okada does not merely want inexpensive land or a convenient way to reach a water source: after the mark changes, he arrives at the conclusion that he has to have the well, whatever happens. The property’s acquisition remains financially uncertain, but his resolve is not. The shift from asking an intermediary to keep him informed to declaring the well necessary makes the decision feel less like ordinary planning than an obligation he cannot set aside.

The Property’s History and the Choice’s Stakes

The land’s reputation is reinforced by the history and circumstances attached to it. In another account of the Miyawaki property, an old man stresses that no one has ever done well there. The warning gives Okada’s intention an unmistakable cost: he is choosing a place people avoid, rather than treating its declining price as an uncomplicated opportunity.

The book’s wartime narrative supplies a broader, distinct history of political collapse and violence in Manchukuo. As the Soviet advance approaches Hsin-ching, the Kwantung Army withdraws its main force, leaving border garrisons and Japanese civilians exposed; Chinese soldiers assigned to the Manchukuo Army desert or revolt rather than defend Japan. That history does not explain Okada’s private decision to buy the Miyawaki land, but it places the novel’s troubled locations and present-day pursuits alongside an account of the harms and responsibilities embedded in the region’s past.

Narrative Significance

Okada’s choice sets practical action against an uncertain inward compulsion. He cannot yet pay for the property, so the immediate result is only a promise to stay in contact with the old man. Yet the conversation is followed by the altered cheek mark and by a firm conclusion centered not on ownership in general but on the well itself. The gap between what Okada can arrange and what he feels he must do gives the decision its tension.

The episode also makes the land’s bad reputation part of the choice rather than a reason that ends it. The old man’s warning and assurance that the property will not sell soon offer Okada time to raise money; they do not reassure him that buying it is safe. Instead, as the mark changes, the warning and the resolve stand side by side. The purchase remains unrealized in this exchange, but the well has become the focus of an intention that Okada states in absolute terms.