Obasan Chapter 9 Summary

  • Naomi is holding on to her mom's leg. She wants to hide her face, but she looks at the street since people will laugh if she hides. It's rude to look in people's eyes, so they stare at the floor when they get on a streetcar.
  • So no staring, but familial nudity is totally okay. Naomi takes baths with Grandma Kato everyday. The boiling water turns her skin bright red from the heat.
  • After the bath Naomi is wrapped up comfortably in her Japanese nightclothes. She feels totally safe in her home. This was a beautiful house, and she doesn't want to remember it because it was taken away from her family.
  • Their house even had a music room. It had a piano, a violin, a piccolo, and even a shakuhachi that her family would play together some evenings. Naomi's the only one who doesn't play.
  • When her dad sees that she doesn't join them, he tells her the story of Ninomiya Kinjiro. He studied hard to become a great teacher, her dad says. Naomi should too.
  • She finishes giving us the tour of the house and hands the picture back to Obasan.