DOCSLIB.ORG

The Buddha Eye … It T B Is Joyfully Recommended to All.” —Robert Thurman, Columbia University, Author of Essential HE Tibetan Buddhism EYE

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Buddha Eye … It T B Is Joyfully Recommended to All.” —Robert Thurman, Columbia University, Author of Essential HE Tibetan Buddhism EYE Franck Religion/Buddhism THE “Frederick Franck has done us all a wonderful service in culling the pages of The Eastern Buddhist for these gem-like essays by the profound thinkers of the Kyoto school … This book is a very UDDHA precious gift to us in that it allows us a sojourn in the Buddha eye … It T B is joyfully recommended to all.” —Robert Thurman, Columbia University, author of Essential HE Tibetan Buddhism EYE “Frederick Franck is one of a rare and precious breed—an authentic An Anthology of troubadour whose lyricism is pure in word and image. He quietly B roams our materialistic world and shows us that even here, even now, the Kyoto School there is hope for our soul.” UDDHA and Its Contemporaries —Jacob Needleman, San Francisco State University, author of The Heart of Philosophy Essays by “The juxtaposition of essays is provocative in eliciting a Western response. Some of the essays are already recognized as classics and some Abe Masao of the others should be.… This book provides a service to Western Hisamatsu Shin’ichi students of religion who wish to broaden their understanding of cross- Kiyozawa Manshi cultural religious and philosophical dialogue.” Kobori Sohaku Nanrei —The Eastern Buddhist Nishitani Keiji Soga Ryojin “Frederick Franck is that rarest of human beings, a true eclectic—in E touch with the perennial …” Suzuki Teitaro Daisetz —Robert Aitken Roshi, author of Taking the Path of Zen YE Takeuchi Yoshinori Ueda Shizuteru “Franck … looks deep into the human heart and what he finds there is the priceless treasure of the sacred reality: a discovery and message so Foreword by crucial to contemporary humanity.” —Georg Feuerstein, author of The Yoga Tradition Joan Stambaugh World Wisdom World Wisdom $ 19.95 Edited by FREDERICK FRANCK BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 1/7/2004 3:41 PM Page 1 About this Book and the Editor “With the appearance of The Buddha Eye ... a new era in Buddhist thought has been launched.” —Taitetsu Unno, Jill Ker Conway Professor of Religion at Smith College “This anthology serves as an excellent introduction to the Suzuki version of Zen.” —Journal of Asian Studies “Dialogues with the spiritual masters of the East show us the possibility of a universal ecumenism that is rarely experienced.” —Matthew Fox, author of Original Blessing and One River, Many Wells “For the pilgrim in each of us who would journey into Eastern or Western spiritual traditions to chart a path in this troubled time.... ” —Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self “His words ... make us see the world as a place where, with more under- standing and tolerance, we could all live together in harmony.” —Rhena Schweitzer Miller, daughter of Albert Schweitzer “He simply sees things most people do not.... ” —Harvey Cox, author of The Secular City and Many Mansions “Frederick Franck’s exploration of what it means to be human and his moving artistic expression have been transnational, transcultural and transdisciplinary.” —Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, which awarded Franck a World Citizenship Award BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 1/7/2004 3:41 PM Page 2 “The fact that, over ninety and recovering from a near-fatal automobile accident, Franck still finds hope and beauty in the world around him and can convey it with such simple force, is perhaps the most eloquent answer of all.” —Parabola magazine “Frederick Franck is an artist and author who believes in seeing everything around him.… [This] does not mean simply looking at, but instead active- ly realizing the importance of everything around him, especially other people.” —The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution “Above all else, Franck is a bridge builder whose spirituality points to a new way of being in the twenty-first century.” —Spirituality and Health magazine BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 1/7/2004 3:41 PM Page i World Wisdom The Library of Perennial Philosophy The Library of Perennial Philosophy is dedicated to the exposition of the time- less Truth underlying the diverse religions. This Truth, often referred to as the Sophia Perennis—or Perennial Wisdom—finds its expression in the revealed Scriptures as well as the writings of the great sages and the artistic creations of the traditional worlds. The Perennial Philosophy provides the intellectual principles capable of explaining both the formal contradictions and the transcendent unity of the great religions. Ranging from the writings of the great sages of the past, to the perennialist authors of our time, each series of our Library has a different focus. As a whole, they express the inner unanimity, transforming radiance, and irreplaceable values of the great spiritual traditions. The Buddha Eye: An Anthology of the Kyoto School and Its Contemporaries appears as one of our selections in the Spiritual Classics series. Spiritual Classics Series This series includes seminal, but often neglected, works of unique spiritu- al insight from leading religious authors of both the East and West. Ranging from books composed in ancient India to forgotten jewels of our time, these important classics feature new introductions which place them in the peren- nialist context. BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 1/7/2004 3:41 PM Page ii World Wisdom wishes to express its gratitude to the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture in Nagoya, Japan, and to James W. Heisig, general Editor of their Nanzan Studies in Religion and Culture series, for their cooperation and assis- tance with this revised edition of The Buddha Eye. Please visit their website at http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN for more information on their projects and publications. Cover: Amida Nyorai, 11th century, Japan BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 1/7/2004 3:41 PM Page iii The Buddha Eye An Anthology of the Kyoto School and Its Contemporaries Edited by Frederick Franck Foreword by Joan Stambaugh BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 2/8/2004 11:11 AM Page iv The Buddha Eye: An Anthology of the Kyoto School and Its Contemporaries © 2004 World Wisdom, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission, except in critical articles and reviews. The Buddha Eye: An Anthology of the Kyoto School and Its Contemporaries is a revised edition of the 1982 edition which was originally published as The Buddha Eye: An Anthology of the Kyoto School, Crossroad, New York, 1982. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Buddha eye : an anthology of the Kyoto school and its contemporaries / edited by Frederick Franck ; foreword by Joan Stambaugh. p. cm. -- (The spiritual classics series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-941532-59-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Buddhism--Doctrines. 2. Philosophy, Buddhism. 3. Philosophy, Japanese--20th century. I. Franck, Frederick, 1909- II. Series: Spiritual classics (Bloomington, Ind.) BQ4165.B79 2004 294.3’420427--dc22 2004001541 Printed on acid-free paper in Canada For information address World Wisdom, Inc. P.O. Box 2682, Bloomington, Indiana 47402-2682 BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 1/7/2004 3:41 PM Page v Pluck out the Buddha eye and sit in its hollow! DOGEN BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 1/7/2004 3:41 PM Page vi BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 1/7/2004 3:41 PM Page vii Table of Contents Publisher’s Note to the 2004 edition xi Foreword to the 2004 edition xiii JOAN STAMBAUGH Prologue xvii FREDERICK FRANCK Acknowledgments xxvii PART I. Essays on the Self 1. Self the Unattainable 3 SUZUKI TEITARš DAISETZ 2. The Awakening of Self in Buddhism 11 NISHITANI KEIJI 3. What Is the “I”? 21 SUZUKI TEITARš DAISETZ 4. The I-Thou Relation in Zen Buddhism 39 NISHITANI KEIJI 5. God, Emptiness, and the True Self 55 ABE MASAO 6. Ikky¥’s Skeletons 69 PART II. The Structure of Reality 7. The Buddhist Conception of Reality 83 SUZUKI TEITARš DAISETZ 8. Science and Zen 107 NISHITANI KEIJI 9. A Dialogue: A Discussion Between One and Zero 137 KOBORI SšHAKU NANREI 10. Man and Nature in Christianity and Buddhism 147 ABE MASAO BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 1/7/2004 3:41 PM Page viii 11. “Nothingness” in Meister Eckhart and Zen Buddhism 157 UEDA SHIZUTERU 12. Zen as the Negation of Holiness 171 HISAMATSU SHIN’ICHI 13. The Philosophy of Nishida 183 TAKEUCHI YOSHINORI 14. Emptiness Is Suchness 209 ABE MASAO PART III. What is Shin Buddhism? 15. Apropos of Shin 217 SUZUKI TEITARš DAISETZ 16. Dharmþkara Bodhisattva 229 SOGA RYšJIN 17. The Great Path of Absolute Other-Power 241 KIYOZAWA MANSHI Biographical Notes 247 Index 249 BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 1/7/2004 3:41 PM Page ix IKKYU’ S SKELETONS BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 1/7/2004 3:41 PM Page x BuddhaEye_FINAL.qxd 1/7/2004 3:41 PM Page xi Publisher’s Note to the 2004 edition One of the defining notes in the history of twentieth century philo- sophical and religious thought is the encounter of East and West; and especially the enormous influence of Buddhism on many Western thinkers, artists, and spiritual seekers. Within the Buddhist tradition, Zen has achieved a level of prominence which has brought it so deeply into the public consciousness that in the last twenty years one has begun to hear this word used in connection with all manner of activity as a kind of mysterious informing intu- ition which allows us to transcend all “otherness” and harmonious- ly express the inward nature of things in the face of everyday life. But what exactly is Zen and why have so many people, across so many ranges of human endeavor, become interested in its teach- ings? This book, edited by the renowned artist and author Dr. Frederick Franck, offers a multi-faceted jewel of an answer to these questions. First published in l982, it continues to shed light and provide insights into Zen and is especially well-suited to Western readers.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Quest Beyond the Secular City Debate
    This material has been provided by Asbury Theological Seminary in good faith of following ethical procedures in its production and end use. The Copyright law of the united States (title 17, United States code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyright material. Under certain condition specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to finish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. By using this material, you are consenting to abide by this copyright policy. Any duplication, reproduction, or modification of this material without express written consent from Asbury Theological Seminary and/or the original publisher is prohibited. Contact B.L. Fisher Library Asbury Theological Seminary 204 N. Lexington Ave. Wilmore, KY 40390 B.L. Fisher Library’s Digital Content place.asburyseminary.edu Asbury Theological Seminary 205 North Lexington Avenue 800.2ASBURY Wilmore, Kentucky 40390 asburyseminary.edu THE QUEST BEYOND THE SECULAR CITY DEBATE A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Theology by Harold Raymond Brumagin July 1971 THE QUEST BEYOND THE SECULAR CITY DEBATE A Thesis Presented to the Eaculty of Asbury Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Theology Approved : First Reader by Harold Raymond Brumagin July 1971 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Throughout the thesis, unless otherwise indicated, biblical references are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
    [Show full text]
  • Why an American Quaker Tutor for the Crown Prince? an Imperial Household's Strategy to Save Emperor Hirohito in Macarthur's
    WHY AN AMERICAN QUAKER TUTOR FOR THE CROWN PRINCE? AN IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD’S STRATEGY TO SAVE EMPEROR HIROHITO IN MACARTHUR’S JAPAN by Kaoru Hoshino B.A. in East Asian Studies, Wittenberg University, 2007 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts University of Pittsburgh 2010 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This thesis was presented by Kaoru Hoshino It was defended on April 2, 2010 and approved by Richard J. Smethurst, PhD, UCIS Research Professor, Department of History Akiko Hashimoto, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology Clark Van Doren Chilson, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies Thesis Director: Richard J. Smethurst, PhD, UCIS Research Professor, Department of History ii Copyright © by Kaoru Hoshino 2010 iii WHY AN AMERICAN QUAKER TUTOR FOR THE CROWN PRINCE? AN IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD’S STRATEGY TO SAVE EMPEROR HIROHITO IN MACARTHUR’S JAPAN Kaoru Hoshino, M.A. University of Pittsburgh, 2010 This thesis examines the motives behind the Japanese imperial household’s decision to invite an American Christian woman, Elizabeth Gray Vining, to the court as tutor to Crown Prince Akihito about one year after the Allied Occupation of Japan began. In the past, the common narrative of scholars and the media has been that the new tutor, Vining, came to the imperial household at the invitation of Emperor Hirohito, who personally asked George Stoddard, head of the United States Education Mission to Japan, to find a tutor for the crown prince. While it may have been true that the emperor directly spoke to Stoddard regarding the need of a new tutor for the prince, the claim that the emperor came up with such a proposal entirely on his own is debatable given his lack of decision-making power, as well as the circumstances surrounding him and the imperial institution at the time of the Occupation.
    [Show full text]
  • Personal Stories ... Responses to Shin Buddhism
    Personal Stories ... Responses to Shin Buddhism D.C., Missouri I have lived my entire life in the St. Louis area. My education includes a B.A. from Southern Illinois University in Government, History & Sociology and an M.A. from Webster University in Business Administration. I have worked since 1967 as an accountant, currently serving as Treasurer of a small manufacturing company in St. Louis. Our companies claim to fame is that our co-founder was T.S. Eliot's father. Although I have earned my living for thirty plus years as an accountant, my interest has always been in the area of comparative religion/sociology of religion. At age 40 I met and married a research nurse who is currently working with the department of Geriatrics for St Louis University Medical School. In 1986 after two years of marriage we became foster parents with the hope of eventually adopting. Finally in 1990, we were able to adopt three brothers-the three youngest of a sibling group of seven. The boys are now 12, 10 and 8. I was raised in a Southern Baptist church which I rejected in my early teens and have been searching since then for a satisfactory outlet for my religious impulses. I was always uncomfortable with the ideas of eternal punishment for people who did not belong to the right religion, with the idea that Jesus was God (in a unique way), with the idea of the inerrancy of the King James version of the bible, and the idea that all religions other than evangelical Protestant Christianity were totally wrong.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pennsylvania State University the Graduate School College Of
    The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Arts and Architecture CUT AND PASTE ABSTRACTION: POLITICS, FORM, AND IDENTITY IN ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST COLLAGE A Dissertation in Art History by Daniel Louis Haxall © 2009 Daniel Louis Haxall Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2009 The dissertation of Daniel Haxall has been reviewed and approved* by the following: Sarah K. Rich Associate Professor of Art History Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Leo G. Mazow Curator of American Art, Palmer Museum of Art Affiliate Associate Professor of Art History Joyce Henri Robinson Curator, Palmer Museum of Art Affiliate Associate Professor of Art History Adam Rome Associate Professor of History Craig Zabel Associate Professor of Art History Head of the Department of Art History * Signatures are on file in the Graduate School ii ABSTRACT In 1943, Peggy Guggenheim‘s Art of This Century gallery staged the first large-scale exhibition of collage in the United States. This show was notable for acquainting the New York School with the medium as its artists would go on to embrace collage, creating objects that ranged from small compositions of handmade paper to mural-sized works of torn and reassembled canvas. Despite the significance of this development, art historians consistently overlook collage during the era of Abstract Expressionism. This project examines four artists who based significant portions of their oeuvre on papier collé during this period (i.e. the late 1940s and early 1950s): Lee Krasner, Robert Motherwell, Anne Ryan, and Esteban Vicente. Working primarily with fine art materials in an abstract manner, these artists challenged many of the characteristics that supposedly typified collage: its appropriative tactics, disjointed aesthetics, and abandonment of ―high‖ culture.
    [Show full text]
  • American Religious History Parts I & II
    American Religious History Parts I & II Patrick N. Allitt, Ph.D. PUBLISHED BY: THE TEACHING COMPANY 4840 Westfields Boulevard, Suite 500 Chantilly, Virginia 20151-2299 1-800-TEACH-12 Fax—703-378-3819 www.teach12.com Copyright © The Teaching Company, 2001 Printed in the United States of America This book is in copyright. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of The Teaching Company. Patrick N. Allitt, Ph.D. Professor of History, Emory University Patrick Allitt is Professor of History at Emory University. He was born and raised in England, attending schools in his Midlands hometown of Derby. An undergraduate at Oxford University, he graduated with history honors in 1977. After a year of travel, he studied for the doctorate in American History at the University of California, Berkeley, gaining the degree in 1986. Married to a Michigan native in 1984, Professor Allitt was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Divinity School for the study and teaching of American religious history and spent the years 1985 to 1988 in Massachusetts. Next, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where for the last twelve years he has been a member of Emory University’s history department, except for one year (1992–1993) when he was a Fellow of the Center for the Study of American Religion at Princeton University. Professor Allitt is the author of Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America 1950-1985 (1993), Catholic Converts: British and American Intellectuals Turn to Rome (1997), and Major Problems in American Religious History (2000) and is now writing a book on American religious history since 1945, to be titled The Godly People.
    [Show full text]
  • Living Zen Remindfully
    Also by James H. Austin Zen-Brain Horizons (2014) Meditating Selflessly (2011) Selfless Insight (2009) Zen-Brain Reflections (2006) Chance, Chase, and Creativity (2003) Zen and the Brain (1998) Living Zen Remindfully Retraining Subconscious Awareness James H. Austin, M.D. The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England © 2016 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. This book was set in Palatino and Frutiger by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Austin, James H., 1925– author. Title: Living Zen remindfully : retraining subconscious awareness / James H. Austin, M.D. Description: Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016015015 | ISBN 9780262035088 (hardcover : alk. paper) eISBN 9780262336451 Subjects: LCSH: Meditation—Zen Buddhism. | Awareness—Religious aspects— Zen Buddhism. | Consciousness—Religious aspects—Zen Buddhism. | Zen Buddhism—Psychology. Classification: LCC BQ9288 .A935 2016 | DDC 294.3/4435—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016015015 ePub Version 1.0 In memory of Scott Whiting Austin (1953–2014) To my early teachers Nanrei Kobori-Roshi, Myokyo-ni, and Robert Aitken-Roshi for their inspiration; and to countless others whose contributions to Zen, to Buddhism, and to the brain sciences are reviewed in these pages The Zen Way is a demanding way, but it leads to the depths, to the light of clearly seeing what is when the veil is rent, and to the warmth of the heart that touches and engenders growth.
    [Show full text]
  • Buddhist Churches of America Records LSC.2364
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8v412d7 No online items Finding aid for the Buddhist Churches of America Records LSC.2364 Finding aid prepared by Lauren Zuchowski (Japanese American National Museum), 2016; Matthew Hayes, Krystell Jimenez, Alejandro Adame, and Tess Livesley-O'Neill, 2019-2020. UCLA Library Special Collections Online finding aid last updated 2020 November 30. Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575 [email protected] URL: https://www.library.ucla.edu/special-collections Finding aid for the Buddhist Churches LSC.2364 1 of America Records LSC.2364 Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections Title: Buddhist Churches of America records Creator: Buddhist Churches of America Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2364 Physical Description: 435 Linear Feet (291 record cartons, 124 document boxes, 61 flat boxes and panorama folders) Date (inclusive): 1832-2016 Abstract: The Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) is a national organization of the Jōdo Shinshū Hongwanji sect in the continental United States. Formerly known as the Buddhist Mission of North America (BMNA), the BCA is the largest Japanese American Buddhist organization and is currently headquartered in San Francisco, California. The collection includes correspondence between headquarters in the United States, Jōdo Shinshū Hongwanji Headquarters in Kyoto, Japan, and individual temples, as well as meeting minutes and conference materials, education-related records, publications, financial records, and audiovisual materials in a wide variety of formats. Portions of the collection stored off-site. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Will Learn How to Analyze Historical Narratives
    History 308/708, RN314/614, TX849 Religious Thought in America Fall Term, 2018 MWF: 1:25-2:15 Jon H. Roberts Office Hours: Mon. 3-5, Tues. 9-10, Office: 226 Bay State Road, Room 406 and by appointment 617-353-2557 (O); 781-209-0982 (H) [email protected] Course Description: Few concepts have proved more difficult to define than religion, but most students of the subject would agree that religious traditions commonly include rituals and other practices, aesthetic and emotional experiences, and a body of ideas typically expressed as beliefs. This course focuses on those beliefs during the course of American history from the first English colonial settlement to the present and on their interaction with the broader currents of American culture. Theology is the term often used to describe the systematic expression of religious doctrine. It is clearly possible, however, to discuss religious beliefs outside the context of formal theology, and it is at least arguable that some of the most influential beliefs in American history have received their most vivid and forceful expressions beyond the purview of theological discourse. Accordingly, while much of our attention in this course will focus on the works of theologians and clergy--the religious “professionals”--we shall also deal with religious strategies that a widely disparate group of other thinkers (e.g., scientists, artists, and other influential lay people) have deployed in attempting to account for the nature of the cosmos, the structure of the social order, and the dynamics of human experience. Most of the people whom we’ll be studying were committed proponents of Christianity or Judaism, but the course lectures and readings will also occasionally move outside of those traditions to include others.
    [Show full text]
  • The Influence of Politics and Culture on English Language Education in Japan
    The Influence of Politics and Culture on English Language Education in Japan During World War II and the Occupation by Mayumi Ohara Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Certificate of Original Authorship I certify that the work in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree nor has it been submitted as part of requirements for a degree except as fully acknowledged within the text. I also certify that the thesis has been written by me. Any help that I have received in my research work and the preparation of the thesis itself has been acknowledged. In addition, I certify that all information sources and literature used are indicated in the thesis. Production Note: Signature removed prior to publication. Mayumi Ohara 18 June, 2015 i Acknowledgement I owe my longest-standing debt of gratitude to my husband, Koichi Ohara, for his patience and support, and to my families both in Japan and the United States for their constant support and encouragement. Dr. John Buchanan, my principal supervisor, was indeed helpful with valuable suggestions and feedback, along with Dr. Nina Burridge, my alternate supervisor. I am thankful. Appreciation also goes to Charles Wells for his truly generous aid with my English. He tried to find time for me despite his busy schedule with his own work. I am thankful to his wife, Aya, too, for her kind understanding. Grateful acknowledgement is also made to the following people: all research participants, the gatekeepers, and my friends who cooperated with me in searching for potential research participants. I would like to dedicate this thesis to the memory of a research participant and my friend, Chizuko.
    [Show full text]
  • JAMES FYFE: Was Writing Something That You Just Fell Into Or Had You
    RUTH OZEKI INTERVIEWED BY JAMES FYFE JAMES FYFE: Was writing something that you just fell the film world as an art director for low budget horror into or had you always wanted to be a writer? films, and later, I started working in Japanese television. Film and television are both vehicles for storytelling, and RUTH OZEKI: I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Ever since although I’d never had great ambitions to work in these I was about six or seven years old when I first started media, I decided to try and make some films, and I did. I reading books and learned what a novel was, I wanted to made a couple of independent films, which screened at a be a novelist, but it took me a while to get there. bunch of international film festivals, including Sundance, As a child I was always writing stories—I went through but then I kind of ran out of money. It’s difficult and a period where I wrote bad poetry, and then when I was expensive to make films, and that’s when I finally came 14, I went to a boarding school where there were a lot of back to writing, because it was cheap. It doesn’t cost young writers, and we took our writing very seriously. much to write a novel. We thought we were F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway and Virginia Woolf and Anaïs Nin. We were, I fear, quite insufferable and pretentious, but we were very serious Which writers influenced you the most growing up? Did and we ran a literary magazine, and many of us eventually you read much Japanese literature? became writers.
    [Show full text]
  • HAIKU in SWEDEN Lars Vargö
    HAIKU IN SWEDEN Lars Vargö As was the case in many other European countries, the interest for haiku in Sweden was greatly stimulated by the books of Reginald Horace Blyth (1898 – 1964). His translations and interpretations are easily recognizable in some of the first Swedish books on haiku poetry. Another source of importance was Miyamori Asatarô (1869 – 1952), whose Masterpieces of Japanese Poetry, ancient and modern (1936) and An anthology of haiku, ancient and modern (1936) found their way to Swedish libraries. Yet other sources were the works by Lafcadio Hearn (1850 – 1904), and Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850 1935), where you could find several haiku in English translation. Swedish archeologists and explorers had for many years had a focus on China, leading to the establishment in 1926 of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm. Through the research by sinologists and linguists like Bernhard Karlgren (1889 – 1978), poetry from East Asia initially came to be interpreted as Chinese poetry. Tang poetry became greatly appreciated and the short poems by poets Li Bai (Li Po, 701 – 62) and Du Fu (712 – 70) had a far greater influence on Swedish readers and poets than Matsuo Bashō (1644 – 94) and Yosa Buson (1716 – 83), who were yet to be fully discovered in the early 20th century. This all changed with the publication of the book Haiku: japansk miniatyrlyrik (Haiku: Japanese miniature lyrics) by Jan Vintilescu (1923 –) in 1959. The book only contained a limited collection of the most representative Japanese haiku poets in Swedish translation, but it was published at the right time, when interest in traditional Japanese culture again was on the rise and no longer overshadowed by what had happened during the second world war.
    [Show full text]
  • Var Är Göken?
    JAPANSKA Var är göken? Översättning av japansk haiku Anna Stålhandske Handledare: Yasuko Nagano Madsen kandidatuppsats Examinator: VT 2014 Martin Nordeborg A Comparative Study of Haiku Translation Abstract The topic of the present paper is to investigate and identify how two translators, Reginald Horace Blyth and David Landis Barnhill, differ in their translation of Japanese haikus by Matsuo Bashô to English. Three focal points of the study are; the translation of haiku rythm, the translation of kireji (a word for separating the haiku) and the translation of kigo (seasonal word). These three components are fundamental parts of Japanese haiku poetry and haiku experience, however there are no set rules on how to translate these haiku components to English. This study contains a comparative detailed analysis of five of Bashô´s haikus, in translation by Blyth and Barnhill. Sample haikus were selected from Blyth´s books A History of Haiku Vol. 1 (1963) and A History of Haiku Vol. 2 (1964), and from Bashô´s Haiku - Selected Poems of Matsuo Bashô (2005) by Barnhill. In the analysis, focus was kept on the translation of rythm, kireji and kigo. Previous works in the field of translation of Japanese in general, and Japanese poetry in particular, was used as supporting data. Except the analysis, the paper also consists of an outline of the history of haiku, an explanation of the components of haiku and a chapter on the internationalisation of haiku. The results show that although both the translators claim to have had literal translation as a goal, Barnhill was closer to the original poems in rythm and placement of kireji.
    [Show full text]