I keep getting the impression that Endo is creating a beautiful apocalypse, a world utterly devoid of faith or compassion yet still naturally beautiful in the way nature is unsympathetic to all human suffering and joy.

God and nature are interchangeable in the book, they are both implacable (one of Conrad’s favorite words) capable of sustaining and killing.

Like Bulgakov’s novel we have another Judas: Kichijiro