japonisme: holding the moon

21 March 2007

holding the moon

been thinking a lot today, about the nature of holidays and the holidays of nature. in japan, the blossoming of the cherry trees calls for cherry-viewing parties at the highest levels.

in persia, the first day of the spring
is new year's day.

yes, we have nature-based holidays. our spring holidays are easter and passover. these are really celebrating the equinox as much as chanukah and christmas
celebrate the solstice.

but for the japanese, it's much more conscious. something about us being part of nature, nature being part of us, has not been lost.

van gogh may have been right, writing his brother about the regard with which the japanese hold a single blade of grass. the blossoming of the trees is cause for poetry.
this is ono no komachi writing a poem.
could this sad poem be it?


How invisibly

it changes color
in this world,
the flower

of the human heart.




(Chikanobu Toyohara, Shunzan Katsukawa,
Nobukazu Watanabe, Arthur Wesley Dow,
Gesso Yoshimoto, poem from Ink Dark Moon, tr. Hirshfield/Aratani.)

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5 Comments:

Blogger Nathako said...

Very beautiful!
And those painting, how beautiful they are!

22 March, 2007 03:30  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

thank you, nathako. i was inspired by the spring.

22 March, 2007 18:11  
Blogger Diane Dehler said...

Do you have a post with Japanese paperdolls? I haven't ever seen any.

23 March, 2007 23:40  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

it's on the sidebar!

24 March, 2007 00:49  
Blogger Diane Dehler said...

Ah, the transparency of love; a delicate flower.

05 April, 2007 22:20  

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hi, and thanks so much for stopping by. i spend all too much time thinking my own thoughts about this stuff, so please tell me yours. i thrive on the exchange!

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