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A thread on a classic of Japanese literature Tsurezuregusa (徒然草, "Essays in Idleness" by Buddhist monk-poet Kenkō written 1330-32.
Let's start with Kenko's meditation on the act of reading: the meeting of another human life across time.
Let's start with Kenko's meditation on the act of reading: the meeting of another human life across time.
Kenko's Tsurezuregusa "Essays in Idleness" classified as Zuihitsu (随筆) "follow the brush",meditative genre of Japanese literature of loosely connected personal essays or fragmented ideas responding to the author's surroundings.
A pensive Kenko painted by Kaihō Yūsetsu 1640's
A pensive Kenko painted by Kaihō Yūsetsu 1640's
Kenkō tells us, "In all things it is the beginnings and ends that are interesting" in other words, the beginning contains a promise or what we hope for while the end of things make us nostalgic by evoking a distant past.
Kawase Hasui-Wisteria at Kameido, woodblock print 1932
Kawase Hasui-Wisteria at Kameido, woodblock print 1932
Kenkō's idea of beginnings and ends is at the root of Japanese sensibility in the beauty of imperfect things or wabi-sabi (侘寂) , that is the aesthetic appreciation of the impermanence of life found in incomplete simplicity.
In this wonderful passage, Kenkō exclaims: "how things would lose their power to move us!" if they will live on forever. This power is the intense feeling for ephemeral things or mono no aware (物の哀れ)
Notes:
#1: Adashino was a graveyard in Kyoto, the word adashi "impermanent", is contained in the place name. The dew used as poetical image to evoke impermanence.
#2: Toribeyama is a mountain-graveyard in Kyoto, the smoke above the mountain alludes to the cremation of bodies.
#1: Adashino was a graveyard in Kyoto, the word adashi "impermanent", is contained in the place name. The dew used as poetical image to evoke impermanence.
#2: Toribeyama is a mountain-graveyard in Kyoto, the smoke above the mountain alludes to the cremation of bodies.
Kenkō beautifully describes what flower blossoms in spring evoke:
the fleeting cherry=mono no aware, the orange scent =old memories & the plum scent= nostalgia.
the fleeting cherry=mono no aware, the orange scent =old memories & the plum scent= nostalgia.
A darkening moon
slips by the plum blossoming-
tonight tears
Hokusai-Plum Blossoms and Moon, from the album Fuji in Spring (Haru no Fuji) 1803.
slips by the plum blossoming-
tonight tears
Hokusai-Plum Blossoms and Moon, from the album Fuji in Spring (Haru no Fuji) 1803.
This passage by Kenkō reflects on the beauty of imperfect things because perfection stifles the imagination:
"uniformity is undesirable. Leaving something incomplete makes it interesting, and gives one the feeling that there is room for growth."
"uniformity is undesirable. Leaving something incomplete makes it interesting, and gives one the feeling that there is room for growth."
A practical meditation by Kenkō on Kyūdō or "The Way of the Bow" & how self-control can seize the present moment with pinpoint concentration from our wavering minds.
Finishing this thread about Kenkō's classic work Tsurezuregusa "Essays in Idleness" with an evocative meditation on the beauty of incompleteness.
Empty Hanging Scroll
A blossoming
circles empty scroll-
unbrushed Ensō
A blossoming
circles empty scroll-
unbrushed Ensō
Drawing an Ensō could symbolize: the timelessness of the present moment, the universe, the void, enlightenment, and the beauty of incompleteness, imperfection & impermanence [wabi-sabi]
Photograph of Yaichi Aizu, Japanese poet and calligrapher-1947 by Hiroshi Hamaya [1]
Photograph of Yaichi Aizu, Japanese poet and calligrapher-1947 by Hiroshi Hamaya [1]
P.S. for those enjoying reading this thread I highly recommend you Prof. Donald Keene's 1967 translation of Kenkō's Tsurezuregusa "Essays in Idleness" 1330-32. A must for any Japanese book collection.
