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Tokutaro Mamiya
Mr. Honda is a former member of the Japanese army who served with Mamiya. He and Mamiya witnessed Mongolian soldiers skin Yamamoto alive. Like Malta Kano, Mr. Honda possesses spiritual abilities and serves as a spiritual guide after his time in the war. As a young man, Toru never took Mr. Honda’s advice seriously, but as an adult, he realizes that Mr. Honda is actually a prophet. Mr. Honda leaves Toru a gift after his death, which turns out to be an empty box.
Mr. Honda Quotes in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
The The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Honda or refer to Mr. Honda. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 1, Chapter 3 Quotes
But after all, Mr. Okada, when one is speaking of the essence of things, it often happens that one can only speak in generalities. Concrete things certainly do command attention, but they are often little more than trivia. Side trips. The more one tries to see into the distance, the more generalized things become.
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Book 1, Chapter 4 Quotes
It’s not a question of better or worse. The point is, not to resist the flow. You go up when you’re supposed to go up and down when you’re supposed to go down. When you’re supposed to go up, find the highest tower and climb to the top. When you’re supposed to go down, find the deepest well and go down to the bottom. When there’s no flow, stay still. If you resist the flow, everything dries up. If everything dries up, the world is darkness.
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Book 1, Chapter 12 Quotes
Some things I know, some things I don’t know. But you’d probably be better off not knowing, Lieutenant. It may be presumptuous of someone like me to say such big-sounding things to a college graduate like you, but a person's destiny is something you look back at after it's past, not something you see in advance. I have a certain amount of experience where these things are concerned. You don’t.
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Book 3, Chapter 35 Quotes
I closed my eyes and tried to accept my impending death as calmly as I could. I struggled to overcome my fear. At least I was able to leave a few things behind. That was one small bit of good news. I tried to smile, without much success. “I am afraid to die, though,” I whispered to myself. These turned out to be my last words. They were not very impressive words, but it was too late to change them. The water was over my mouth now. Then it came to my nose. I stopped breathing. My lungs fought to suck in new air. But there was no more air. There was only lukewarm water.
I was dying. Like all the other people who live in this world.
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Book 3, Chapter 38 Quotes
If it hadn’t been for you, I would have lost my mind long ago. I would have handed myself over, vacant, to someone else and fallen to a point beyond hope of recovery. My brother, Noboru Wataya, did exactly that to my sister many years ago, and she ended up killing herself. He defiled us both. Strictly speaking, he did not defile out bodies. What he did was even worse than that.
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Mr. Honda Character Timeline in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
The timeline below shows where the character Mr. Honda appears in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 1, Chapter 4
...in people who claim to be clairvoyant. The most memorable of these people is Mr. Honda, an old man—now deceased—whom Toru always liked. Mr. Honda was an old man with a...
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Toru and Kumiko did as Kumiko’s father asked and went to see Mr. Honda regularly. For the most part, they enjoyed their visits, though they rarely heard advice relating...
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Toru and Kumiko enjoyed Mr. Honda’s war stories the first few times they heard them. However, Mr. Honda tended to repeat...
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...Toru and Kumiko head to bed. Toru sits in bed and thinks about how Mr. Honda and Malta could be related. He notes that both people have a connection to water....
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Book 1, Chapter 5
...wonders what happened to the water. Additionally, the thought of water reminds him of Mr. Honda. After a moment, Toru returns the cover to the well and returns home.
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Book 1, Chapter 10
...Tokutaro Mamiya, whom Toru does not know. Toru reads the letter, which says that Mr. Honda recently died of a heart attack. Apparently, Mr. Honda knew his death was coming and...
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...hard. He also tells her about the letter from Mamiya. Kumiko is surprised that Mr. Honda cared enough about Toru to leave him something. Together the two of them speculate why...
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Book 1, Chapter 11
...be able to afford if not for his uncle’s generosity. Toru asks Mamiya about Mr. Honda’s life, and Mamiya tells him part of what he knows. Apparently, Mr. Honda had two...
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Mamiya was surprised to hear from Mr. Honda because the two of them had not spoken since the war. A day before Mr....
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Toru asks Mamiya about his time in the war with Mr. Honda. Mamiya explains that he met Mr. Honda before the Battle of Nomonhan and implies that...
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Book 1, Chapter 12
Only three men, including Hamano and Corporal Honda, were assigned as armed escorts. Mamiya's task involved studying and documenting the topography of the...
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...should return to their base camp and report him missing. Left in enemy territory, Corporal Honda, Lieutenant Mamiya, and Hamano remained vigilant and speculated on Yamamoto's true identity and purpose in...
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...a life before, he reluctantly accepted the responsibility. While contemplating the mission ahead, Mamiya asked Honda if he thought they would die. Speaking with absolute conviction, Honda assured Mamiya that of...
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Book 1, Chapter 13
...himself, so he is doomed to die of dehydration, which will take some time. However, Honda’s words remain in the back of Mamiya’s mind. At this point, Mamiya briefly interrupts his...
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Honda rescues Mamiya from the well after three day. Apparently, Honda’s extraordinary powers allowed him to...
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Although Mamiya is barely conscious, Honda manages to get him out of the well. Together, they make their way back to...
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...life with him and says farewell. Before he leaves, Mamiya hands Toru the gift from Honda. The gift is a box, which looks like it should contain whisky, but Toru can...
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Book 2, Chapter 4
...Additionally, he tells Toru, he has discovered that he cannot die. The long life that Honda promised him has come to fruition, but it has proven to be a curse. However,...
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Book 2, Chapter 8
...with a bottle of Cutty Sark, the same whisky that was on the box Mr. Honda gifted him. The waiter makes his way to Room 208, and Toru follows him. When...
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Book 3, Chapter 1
...he could share his feelings with Toru. Additionally, he speculates that the empty box Mr. Honda left for Toru may have been a way to ensure their paths crossed. Also, Mamiya...
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Book 3, Chapter 35
...a well that is gradually filling with water, and Toru cannot move. Memories of Mr. Honda’s prophecy about water resurface in Toru’s mind. Determined, Toru decides to reactivate his imagination, and...
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