Who is Otsu from Deep River and what is their importance?

Ōtsu is a Japanese Catholic priest, but he is rejected by the Catholic Church. Ōtsu cannot give up his ideas, considered heretical by the Catholics. Ōtsu believes that God is big enough to encompass all peoples and religions, and he sees God in Buddhist and Hindu beliefs as well as Christian ones. Ōtsu ends up living in India with a group of Hindu holy men. He finds the dead and dying and transports them to the River Ganges, the holy site where Hindus hope to have their ashes spread after death. Ōtsu lives a life of selfless sacrifice that Mitsuko finds pointless. He sacrifices himself in imitation of Jesus, carrying the sorrows of others.