Story Beyond Conflict - Part 2 of 4 - Non-conflict and Kishōtenketsu

Ki-Shō-Ten-Ketsu - East Meets West in A New Story for Humanity Beyond Conflict

Part 2 of 4 - Shō (承)

“For countless centuries, Chinese and Japanese writers have used a plot structure that does not have conflict “built in”, so to speak. Rather, it relies on exposition and contrast to generate interest. This structure is known as kishōtenketsu.” ~ Blogger Still Eating Oranges¹

Let me start off part two by saying that I am still learning about kishōtenketsu as a narrative plot structure, so my extrapolations of it into a potentially new story for humanity beyond conflict is completely speculative, and some might say…utopian. But perhaps this exploration may plant the seeds for future story tellers to create some altogether new grand narrative to evolve our species, since I myself have not, as of yet, been able to complete “the great American (Earth) novel”.

    

The experimental writing blog Still Eating Oranges does an excellent job of describing the basics of Kishōtenketsu, and gives visual examples as well. I highly recommend reading the full article, but the passage below gives the gist of it: 

“Kishōtenketsu contains four acts: introduction, development, twist and reconciliation. The basics of the story—characters, setting, etc.—are established in the first act and developed in the second. No major changes occur until the third act, in which a new, often surprising element is introduced. The third act is the core of the plot, and it may be thought of as a kind of structural non sequitur [Latin for "it does not follow”]. The fourth act draws a conclusion from the contrast between the first two “straight” acts and the disconnected third, thereby reconciling them into a coherent whole.”¹

To further describe the four-part word itself (Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu) and the four-part story structure, I’ve referenced the below description from a University of Wisconsin-Madison website:²

Kishōtenketsu Stages:

1. Introduction - Ki (起) - Description of characters and/or place. Create the setting of the story.

2. Development - Shō (承) - Description of event(s) that lead to the twist. Major changes do not occur.

3. Twist - Ten (転) - A new unforeseen and unheralded event that sheds a different light on the previous events and makes the reader or viewer question any conclusions they may have formed so far. This is the crux or climax of a Kishōtenketsu narrative. Anglo cultures might call this a curve ball.

4. Conclusion - Ketsu (結) - Kishōtenketsu narratives often end without resolution; questions still remain. The story concludes by bringing together several disparate ideas to prompt listeners to consider possible resolutions.  

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Regarding the necessity of conflict in our story telling, Still Eating Oranges had this to say about the four-stage structure: “The events of the first, second and third acts need not harm one another. They can stand separately…Although the fourth act unifies the work, by no means must it do violence to the first three acts; rather, it is free merely to draw a conclusion from their juxtaposition.”¹

Experimental Writing

To paraphrase an Einstein quote, it is the definition of insanity to keep doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. So, is it crazy to keep telling ourselves—through our stories—over and over again a narrative about human nature (that we’re violent, competitive, aggresive, selfish) and then to expect a different result? Is it crazy to envision a new story for humanity without changing the fundamental, underlying structure that our stories are built upon? It's time to experiment with new structures of storytelling.

Although this, my four-part blog, is not a work of narrative fiction, I am nevertheless experimenting here by attempting to structure it according to kishōtenketsu to explore the concept.  

Qualities of Kishōtenketsu

In trying to adapt this essay to kishōtenketsu, this second part of my essay is about further developing the story, which leads to the twist. So, I will further flesh out the qualities of kishōtenketsu. In an article by  David Castillo, he discusses how, "In kishotenketsu the supporting points loop around the main point without creating a linear argument…There is no firm conclusion, only an ambiguous ending that might point to several possible outcomes…it is up to the reader to form their own conclusion.”³

 

Supposedly this creates a different type of reader/viewer engagement in the narrative. Instead of in-your-face action, fate-of-the-world stakes, shock-factor violence and epic conflicts (internal and external) to keep our attention, the viewer herself can engage on a cognitive, relational level, not only with the story but the writer as well. Castillo wrote that author Eudora Welty “called this the “confluence of minds” moving each of us to discover and experience meeting points when separate journeys converge". Castillo went on to say,  "kishōtenketsu is “provocative [because] the focus is on the journey the reader and writer take together.”³

The Great Hope from the East

The point I’m focusing on in this exploration of kishōtenketsu is the aspect of non-conflict in our story of humanity. But I don’t think anyone (with the possible of exception of the blogger at “still eating oranges”) is suggesting what I am about moving beyond conflict...that it can possibly change our worldviews, evolve our collective consciousness, and just maybe help us save ourselves form ourselves.  

Oh shit, did I just inadvertantly do what I set out NOT to do? Did I just set up an epic battle between the great monomythic hero of the west and the supposedly peaceful warrior of the east, kishōtenketsu?

Is humanity’s very survival at stake here? Will one conquer the other in a dramatic climax, ushering in a new era for humanity? Stay tuned… 

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1. still eating oranges blog - The significance of plot without conflict
2. Division of Information Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison - Using Narrative Structures to Inspire Writing for Digital Media Assignment
3. David Castillo - Kishotenketsu: a literary genre to create thinkers, or does it matter?