Death in Japanese and Indonesian Literature: A Comparative Study of Literary Psychology

Abstract

The study of death is an interesting matter and is currently a trend. One of them is the study of death in literature. In this regard, the research aims to describe death in Japanese and Indonesian literature in the context of a comparative study. This research method uses qualitative to emphasize data narration. The approach refers to the psychology of death, focusing on the psychology of literary works. The data were collected from the Indonesian literature series called Nagabumi, and the Japanese Literature series titled Musashi. Data collection techniques were assembled in the form of a documentary. The results of the research show that both Nagabumi and Musashi novels bring up death associated with fighting/battles on the battlefield; death is a noble thing when it is associated with a fight/battle; and from a different aspect, death in Musashi is associated with Japanese zen philosophy, while death in Nagabumi is not associated with a particular philosophy, but rather leads to a spiritual aspect.