Hellooooo
Apologies for the big old absence. Got my head stuck in a book I was writing on 聴くThe Japanese Art of Listening, out in the UK in the spring and in the US in the autumn, and completely lost track of time. There’s a little preview of my scratchlings here.
I didn’t forget about my ThreeLittlePigs page, though, and was inspired today reading Kyota Ko’s Folk Tales of Japan, containing 28 fabulous folk tales retold with cultural commentary old benshi raconteur style. Benshi were popular in Japan before talking pictures came around, and some had celebrity status that rivalled the actors in the films. Benshi translated culture alongside the implied language in the silent films to minimize misinterpretation so audiences could appreciate films across cultures the way the film makers intended.
One of my favorite commentaries for the 23 folk tales is the way Kyota recounts the Zen monk Sengai Gibon’s (1750-1837) stories told through sumi-e ink drawings and poems. His most famous drawing is the circle, triangle and the square, where the circle represents the infinite universe and the triangle and square, the human attempt to ‘square things up’ and make things work. Kyota talks about how much of life often doesn’t fit, and simply knowing this is half the battle of living – a point perfectly made by Sengai’s drawing of six elderly men having a jolly time followed by a poem he wrote and translated by Kyota (p. 44):
Wrinkles form, moles form, your back bends,
your head balds, your hair grays.
Your hands shake, your legs wobble, your teeth fall out,
you hear less, you see less.
You wear a hood, you hold a cane and glasses, carry
around a hot-water bottle or heated stone, a urine glass,
and a back scratcher.
You’re nosy, you’re clingy, you’re lonely, twisted, and
greedy.
You’re preachy, you’re offended easily, you complain
readily, you interfere, you meddle.
You give kids the same praise you gave them before,
and you brag the same brags, making yourself unwelcome.
Maybe like the elderly who persist and sometimes have moments of brilliance and laughter, maybe like the picture of my great grandfather above, surrounded by family and mates, life is wonder-ful because of its contradictions.
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