A “Contra-Contrapasso” of Canto XIII

Click here to view the Suicide Forest by Vice Productions. Click here for extra background info on Aokigahara.

Long after I read through Canto XIII of the Inferno, the imagery of the forest of suicide stuck with me. As this imagery persisted and took root in my mind, I started to play around with its elements. However, I was afraid that the dry morbid subtext of the imagery would poison my diversionary exercise and prevent it from bearing any significant fruit. Moreover, in order to dispel any wrong impressions, I must clarify that my fascination with the imagery did not involve a particular interest in the terrible and sad act of suicide itself; rather my fascination was directed towards Dante’s reasons for constructing the imagery and the associated significance that resulted for that choice. Anyways, in the spirit of the element of reversal in the contrapasso of the forest imagery, I attempted to come up with a “contra-contrapasso” by reversing the function of the forest. In an ironic sense, it seemed to me that the seclusion of a forest would more make it a place that invites suicide than a place that condemns it. In order to add body and substance to my musing, I endeavored to find any historical or incidental suicides that have taken place in forests. The results of my search vastly surpassed my expectations. Not only did I find instances of suicide in forests, but I literally found an actual suicide forest where an average of nearly 100 suicides have taken place in the span of several decades; in fact, so many suicides have committed in this place that special signs have been put up and strict measures have been implemented to prevent further suicides. This interesting yet bizarrely creepy forest is the Aokigahara forest located near the base of Mount Fuji in Japan.

            My discovery of the Aokigahara forest was through a short 30-min documentary titled Suicide Forest. The format of the documentary bears some semblance to basic premise of the Inferno. In both, there is a knowledgeable and calm tempered guide who escorts a pilgrim through a scary landscape. As this guide makes the journey through the landscape with the pilgrim, he describes and adds meaning to important scenery that is unfamiliar to the pilgrim. Specifically, in the case of this film, the guide is not Virgil but a geologist named Asuza Hayano, the pilgrim is not Dante but the viewer, and the scary landscape is not the demonic Hell but the haunted Aokigahara.

Moreover, despite its “contra contrapasso” aspect of encouraging suicide, the Aokigahara forest shares some important thematic elements with Canto XIII. For instance, the forest in the canto pertains to the souls’ abandonment of their bodies and their subsequent embodiment as trees. In a similar but reversed way, those seeking to commit suicide purposely make the way into the “sea of trees” of Aokigahara where they subsequently abandon their bodies and problems. Another point of correspondence between Canto XIII and the Aokigahara forest is the strong element of separation from society that is present in both. The Aokigahara forest is literally separated from society by virtue of the fact that it is several miles from the nearest town. As a result, the forest has a very quiet and secluded quality that attracts suicidal individuals seeking to permanently separate themselves from the torments of society. Similarly, the main character of Canto XIII, Pietro delle Vigne, committed suicide in order to separate himself from his persecution by the society of Frederick II’s court.