The Samurai's Garden
The novel
The Samurai’s Garden (1994) by
Gail Tsukiyama is an engaging story of a young boy and four friends who become a part of his life. The story is set between
Japan and
China directly before WWII. In this story, humanity and respect take precedence over cultural differences. I read this as part of
Dolce Bellezza’s Japanese Literature Challenge.
Sick with tuberculosis, the young Chinese protagonist, Stephen, is sent from Hong Kong to recuperate at the family’s seaside summer home in
Tarumi, Japan. In Tarumi, Stephen is able to experience a quiet that allows him to express himself and appreciate the people around him more fully than he had done in the past. Here he is given the time to appreciate people and surroundings for more than their surface beauty and to think more deeply about things.
Tsukiyama’s style flows very easily to this reader’s mind. Written in English, there was no loss of poetry or meaning lost to me in translation, yet at the same time I sensed that Tsukiyama had a strong grasp of the cultural sensibilities of each country she wrote about in the novel.
Labels: fiction, japanese literature challenge, Tsukiyama
Thousand Cranes
Yasunari Kawabata’s
book
Thousand Cranes translated by Edward Seidensticker reads like a fleshed out poem. This is a story of a man (Kikuji) and his relationships with his deceased father and his father’s two mistresses. It is a delicately told tale illuminating human relations, a tale that can be transferred to a global stage.
I read this as part of the
Japanese Literature Challenge, and it is a great addition to my literary knowledge.
If you are fortunate enough to read Japanese, there is the
original version. This novel was apparently first released in serial version.
Kikuji’s story revolves around the
tea ceremony that his father so loved. The clothes that characters wear as well as their choice of words give insight into their universal characters. In Thousand Cranes, small details are of large import, as they are in a tea ceremony.
Nobel prize winning Kawabata’s style is very poetic in the sense that each word, each sentence means much more than its first-layer reading tells. This is a book to read in small doses so that you can have time to think about what you have read before moving on.
Thousand Cranes ends with unresolved issues that touch all of the characters.
Labels: fiction, japanese literature challenge, Kawabata, morality, nobel
Japanese Literature Challenge
I have decided to join a book challenge! The
Japanese Literature Challenge hosted by Bellezza at
Dolce Bellezza. The guidelines include reading three pieces of Japanese literature between November 30, 2007 and January 30, 2008.
There are many interesting looking books the other participants are reading. I am a bit late to join, but never fear dear readers, I have already picked out my three books. They are...
Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata
The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
Autumn Bridge by Takashi Matsuoka
Labels: japanese literature challenge, nonfiction
