Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Japanese Poetry & Friends

Poetry: a lifelong interest. Reading it. Reading about it. Writing it. That’s why I wanted to call this blog not just “Japanese Gardens,” but “Japanese Gardens and Poetry.” I felt that would give broader scope to my interests, including not only the gardens of Japan -- the focal area for this blog -- but literature, the arts, history, language and linguistics. So for me, when I became interested in Japanese gardens some years ago, it seemed only natural to include in my pursuit of understanding those gardens, whatever I could learn about the history of Japan, most particularly about the history of its arts and literature.

To do so, I would not only have to read, read and read, but learn the language as best I could, and through the language, get to know people in Japan and people who had knowledge and experience of Japan and its culture.

All that has come about in a most enriching way, a way that makes me believe I have something to share that others will appreciate learning about. Hence my articles on Japanese gardens, hence the book on the gardens I am working on, and hence this blog.

A few months ago I attended a meeting of NichiBei in New York City, and met one of the world’s leading scholars of Japanese poetry. NichiBei is an informal group of persons interested in things Japanese, and includes a nice mixture of both Japanese and Americans, artists, writers, businessmen, Japanese language translators, etc. (You can find out more about NichiBei from our hard working leader, Michael McKenna, at
michaelwmckenna@aol.com).

This particular meeting involved a presentation by the editor and translator of a new publication, Japanese Women Poets, Hiroaki Sato. I had the temerity of introducing myself to Sato-san after the meeting, and we have become good friends since. He was largely responsible for getting me in touch with editors at the Japan Times, so I could publish a few articles there. He has published over a hundred articles in the Japan Times over the years, as well as numerous books of translations of Japanese poetry. His introductions and annotations in these books in themselves comprise a comprehensive and valuable study of the long history of Japanese poetry.

Japanese Women Poets: an anthology, published by M. E. Sharpe of Armonk, New York (2008), is a compendium of poetry from the earliest years of Japanese literature as found in the Kojiki (712) to the present. It is an absolutely amazing virtuoso feat of translation, as well as a profound and highly useful work of scholarship, with an extensive introduction to the book, as well as brief biographical introductions to each poet. There have been other anthologies of the women poets of Japan, but none quite so comprehensive, and none with Sato-san’s depth of scholarhip and senstivity.

I’ve asked Sato-san if I could cite some of the poems in the book. Among the many that struck me was one I especially loved, by Anna Ogawa (b. 1919), whom I hope to meet on my next trip to Japan. She had been active in environmental campaigns to save Japan’s diminishing natural spaces, particularly against the building of a power plant in the estuary of the Fuji river. I was first attracted to her poem, “The Real Being of Ducks” because of its theme of reflections, reflections being the theme of a series of photographs I’m putting together of Japanese gardens with water features. More about that another time.

Here is Sato san's translation of her poem (I hope to add the Japanese version later) . . .

The Real Being of Ducks

If the world is like glass,
today its mirror surface is utterly dark blue.

The sandbank with withered reeds burning yellow,
flocks and flocks of ducks swim about,
Prussian blue, green-gold.
In the distance gulls dance a rondo,
inlaying paradise.

Suddenly, however, the ducks fly up,
fly up glitteringly
from the dark blue mirror surface,
betting on a moment’s shattering.

In the deep void peering out of what has dropped away, the cave,
was the inner side of the world.




Wednesday, July 2, 2008

About Me

Since the spring of 2002 I have been traveling to Japan to study and photograph the gardens. Along the way I've made many friends in Japan, learned a little of the language, and seen over 150 beautiful gardens. It's no wonder I want to share my experiences with others.

Japan Times Articles


The Japan Times, an English language daily newspaper has just published two of my articles on Japanese gardens. The latest one appeared June 27, 2008, and should still be available at newsstands in Japan. This one is about the garden and formerly private residence, Yamamoto-tei in Shibamata, Katsushika Ward, Tokyo. There is also information about Shibamata's temple market street (monzenmachi), and the garden at Shibamata Taishakuten, which is right next to Yamamoto-tei. Yamamoto-tei is a great place to hang out and get a feeling for what it must have been like to live in a private home in the beautiful -traditional architecture, known as sukiya-style.

Asakura Choso Kan
An earlier article on Asakura Choso Kan in Taito Ward, Tokyo, appeared at the end of May. There you can see examples of the sculptures of Fumio Asakura (1883 - 1964), the “Rodin of Japan.” The house mixes Western and Japanese traditional styles, and encloses a beautiful garden with a stream fed by a natural spring.

Both these articles, with photos in color, can be seen on the website of the Japan Times at:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/ Click on "Life in Japan," and "Features."