Chapter 1: The Case of Isobe
Chapter 2 Briefing Session
Chapter 3: Mitsuko's Case
Chapter 4: Numada's Case
Chapter 5 In the case of the device
Chapter 6: Riverside Village
Chapter 7 Goddess
Chapter 8: In Search of What Was Lost
Chapter 9 River
Chapter 10: The Case of Otsu
Chapter 11 Truly he has borne our infirmities,
Chapter 12 Reincarnation
Chapter 13 He is neither beautiful nor majestic.

Commentary on the work | Yoo Suk-ja
Author's chronology

The image of the river leading to salvation, the image of God existing within humans

"Deep River" begins with the following black spiritual, from which Shusaku Endo derived the title of the work.


Deep river, God, I cross the river,
I want to go to the land of gathering.

The 'river' that appears in black spirituals signifies a god-like being who fulfills their fervent dream of a new world, a world of salvation, freeing them from their painful memories and suffering.
The 'river' mentioned in the novel ??Deep River?? can be seen as representing the sacred Ganges River, where Hindus come to face death, and further, as a deep and large river like a mother that leads them to the world of salvation and escapes all the suffering of life.

Additionally, through the Hindu goddess Chamunda who appears in the work, it symbolically depicts the suffering of humans, and further shows the existence of a god who shares in their suffering and continuously bestows love.
This can also be seen as an extension of the river's symbolic image.
The goddess, who bore the long-standing illnesses of people and breastfeeds them, appears as a contrasting image to the elegant and noble Virgin Mary.
Through Chamunda, Endo Shusaku wanted to portray a god who lives and breathes within humans, rather than a god who is above humans.


Her breasts are already wrinkled like an old woman's.
But she gives milk from her shrunken breasts to the children lined up.
Can you see that her right foot is ravaged by leprosy? Her stomach is hollowed out from hunger, and a scorpion is biting at it.
Even though she endures such illness and pain, she continues to breastfeed humans with her shrunken breasts.

Otsu, a person who has lived his entire life in pursuit of God, also represents the image of the 'river' that Endo Shusaku wants to talk about.
Otsu became a Catholic in his childhood without even realizing it, and spent his entire life searching for the true God.
He left the country where he was born and raised and went all the way to France, but after being rejected even by the seminary in search of a God who embraces all humanity, he came to India.
There, he is moved by the Ganges River, which extends a helping hand to everyone, regardless of the thick walls created by humans, such as class or gender.
Ultimately, the theme that Endo Shusaku speaks of through the image of the 'river' can be said to be the existence of a god who transcends religion and embraces all life, good and evil, that the human soul longs for.