A living force resides in all things.
Some of the videos I watch are Japanese. This because Paul my late partner lived and worked in Japan for many years in Kyoto. We never went to Japan together and I had a sketchy idea of what it is like. Paul always thought I would be scared of the hustle and bustle of the towns. My nature belongs in the countryside, his nature was urban.
I find that Japanese people can be very spiritual, they are very polite and mostly their customs are simple. Paul had part of his soul within the Japanese culture, little gods lay around the house and he loved to collect weird things. When I left the house in Normanby leaving it to his two boys I did not take much, the odd little god from the kitchen. But the scary hangings of gods were not for me, in fact when I come to think about it there was a lot in Japanese culture that frightened me.
Like most Japanese people Paul was absolutely very neat, this came from his work as a conservationist of scrolls. He was probably only one of a few Westerners who took up this work in a Japanese studio. There was in the studio at Chelmsford a photo of him kneeling at the work bench with Japanese colleagues and the Emperor and his wife coming to view their work.
He was immensely proud of what he did and I think this ruffled a few feathers of some people. I know that he was attacked on the internet by a particularly loathsome person. In fact I will let you into a secret, this person used to live at Hebden Bridge, but luckily moved up to Scotland, but I was actually scared of coming to Todmorden because of him.
But Paul was brave, he left Swindon after studying at the art college, boarded a plane to Japan and arrived there with very little money. Bewildered on the Tokyo train station at midnight and not knowing what to do he was rescued by the rail people who called the police and they took him to a hostel.
He had come under the auspice of an American lady, you can find her here - Ruth Fuller Sasaki. Who had married a Japanese priest, who died within one year of the marriage and she herself became a priestess at the Daitoku-ji temple.
Paul stuck it out for a year as a Buddhist monk, he had a hut in the temple gardens, and his father would send some money out but he claims he only survived on apples and peanut butter. He joined a studio and after 10 years apprenticeship was fully qualified and worked in the Kyoto National Museum. Paul married and had two sons but eventually decided to come with his family back to England where he worked at the British Museum. In fact he created the space for the repair of scrolls - the long working tables, tatami mats. All the tools, brushes and tissue papers that went into renewing the scrolls.
I use the word renewing in the sense that these old scrolls had a history unto themselves. They may have become dark with age or had a stain on them but that was part of their history and just like the adding of gold paint to highlight the cracks in broken china, or as it is called kintsugi, you kept the object in its broken form but with protection.
I will quote here from Paul's word some of the work involved when he is asked by an interviewer 'what happens if you go down as the man who destroyed a priceless national treasure?'
"Of course there are stages when that can happen - at the beginning when a painting is turned on its front and the backing layers peeled off, it is in a completely wet stage, with the original silk adhering to the base paper. Finally, all the fragments of silk are in position. Any false move at that time and it is finished. That's probably the most frightening part of the work. Fortunately that has never happened".
Funnily enough I sat down to write this after watching a video of a Japanese gardener. He had a yard full of plants, 3000 I think, these were trees and shrubs from people's gardens. The people may have died, or moved on but rather than allow these plants to face the unknown happenings of the world, they ended up in his yard where occasionally they were found permanent happy homes ;) just like homeless cats and dogs.
I will finish with the 'Six Persimmons' 13th century work painted by A Chinese monk, which seems to be a puzzle. Someone, an orientalist called Arthur Waley long since dead said of it.....
(6 Persimmons is) passion... congealed into a stupendous calm. It reminds me of the puzzle in only clapping with one hand.
An interesting post. I practiced Zen myself at a temple in New York City for about seven years. So I am familiar with some of the monk-like behaviors! It's funny how someone with no Japanese ancestry can feel so at home within Japanese culture and spirituality. I suppose it really is more a matter of state of mind than of birth!
ReplyDeletePaul lived in Japan for 20 years Steve, he often talked about going to the local baths where he met gangsters and sumo wrestlers, he absorbed it all. Did you call meditation zazen, those moments in time when you sat trying to focus. Paul told the tale of Gary Snyder who was in charge of the half hour meditation, coming round and hitting with a stick on the shoulder those who fell asleep. Not to hurt though. Funnily enough when I saw the man who saved the trees and shrubs I thought of you and your daily devotional care of your plants.
DeleteYou have spoken of Paul's detractor before. I wondered what on earth makes someone attack and savage the reputation of another. Today, reading this post, I really got a sense of Psul's reverence for the craft, for the spirituality that made his work extraordinary. The jarring juxtaposition of a savage attack against such a target is all the more incomprehensible to me.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough Debby I just sat down and wrote those few words out of nowhere. Did I write because I am haunted by the past I thought at the time. Or, and this is probably more likely am I stressing out against the avalanche of words I read every day. But funnily enough it all started when I said at teatime last week I was going to study Japanese cooking. Immediately there was a rush of so we will be eating Japanese food next week..... and I said, there is so much more to making food. Western world clashing with the East ;)
DeletePaul was obviously a very brave and talented man.
ReplyDeleteThere is a series of 3 films on i-player about a Japanese master porcelain restorer. Unfortunately I can't remember the title, but I know that they were originally on BBC 4. They are absolutely fascinating and well worth a watch if you can track them down.
Thank you for that Tracy I will look out for it/
DeleteWhat an interesting and fulfilling life Paul lived.
ReplyDeleteHe also loved his English life Janice, a pint at the pub, the English countryside and of course the megaliths.
DeleteYou have so many interesting stories about Paul. Your love for him always shines through your words, Thelma. I'm glad you have happy memories of him to share with us.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ellen. It is surprising what life has in waiting for you sometime;)
ReplyDeleteLove that paining from the scroll; indeed I love a great deal of Japanese art - says so much with so little
ReplyDeleteI think I read somewhere that the two end persimmons are shadows or ghosts but I am not sure that you can draw any symbolism from the painting. The stalks looks like Japanese characters.
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