Chapter Twelve, Rebirth Summary

Thirty American tourists have arrived at the hotel where the Japanese tour group is staying. Mitsuko is drawn into conversation with an American woman on the bus to the Ganges. Kiguchi remarks to Mitsuko on how, forty years ago during the war, Americans and Japanese were killing each other. Kiguchi has not followed through with his plan to hold a Buddhist service for his fellow soldiers, but at least there is the Ganges. Mitsuko says that the river is deep enough to embrace everyone. As the travelers come to the river, the American asks Mitsuko about her religion, and she says that he has none. At the river, Kiguchi talks to Mitsuko about his war experiences, and his friend's death. Kiguchi has been reading about Buddhism and talks about the concept of good and evil being intertwined. Kiguchi begins...