Taorigiku - Handpicked Chrysanthemums 1

By Tagami Kikusha. Published in Bunka 9nen (1812), it is a poetic travel journal. It's long and will take quite some time to get through. Let's see where it takes us. This is not authoritative, folks, it's a work in progress.

At the end of the first month, in which I had spent the new year season in the capital, when I looked back on on the long stretch of days I passed here here and counted them all up, it has truly been 33 years since I became entranced with the way of fûga. 

First I passed through the provinces of Sanetsu and Ôu, then I crossed over the barrier to the east, "of chattering birds," and the Ôsaka barrier "undeceived by the false rooster's crow." I stayed in Edo for three years, and became aware of the humorous genre of haikai, and there I learned all that I could of its teachings. Later, again my heart felt possessed by the desire to travel, and then many times I crossed the Mojigaseki and travelled to the Western Seas and to Tsukishi of the "countless fires." There I made friends of course with haikai poets but also became familiar with the literature of China, and at the place I stayed in Tama-no-ura I obtained even books by Chinese writers, and had so many in my rucksack and my satchel, that I kept them in my hometown Chôfû, and I now do not think the number of them is such that I can fit them all in. Having traveled round like this to many famous places, historical spots, ruins, and mountain passes spoken of by persons of high reputation, with regret I now leave this up to my ink-stained brush from my travel-case, thinking I might as well publish these scattered jottings, I mutter to myself, smiling. The year is 1812, in the season when the young plants are just starting to grow lush. Ichiji-an Kikusha-ni of Nakato.

Hand-picked Chrysanthemum 1

I lost my husband when I was still young, and because we had no child to inherit the household I adopted a relative's son and left to him the duties of maintaining the estate. Having now attained the status of the leisured, on the day it occurred to me, "I wish I could make a pilgrimage to temples and shrines at famous places all over the realm," I ended up undertaking a solo journey just as I'd imagined. 

月を笠に着て遊ばばや旅のそら

I wish I could wander

with the moon as my travel hat --

a traveler's sky

Written at Hitomaru Shrine in Nagato, Otsu.　(Stele: 日本の文学碑)

make my travel hat

even more melancholy --

rain in cicada season

吾笠に淋しさしめや蝉しぐれ

my writing brush

will become stained even more deeply --

when the persimmon leaves are lush

染めてゆかむ筆柿の葉も茂り時

I passed by Shizuka-ga-ura and took a boat from a place called Kayoi, and without incident arrived at Hagi Castle. Here I benefited from the kindness of a monk from Seikôji temple, and became his disciple, and received his courteous teachings on the world to come. Afterwards I took the tonsure, and wrote:

the dust of the unreliable world

was blown away

in the wind

風に浮世の塵を払けり

My old friend by the name of Chikuô-sha Kion lives here. He has liked haikai from a long time ago. I felt that I wished to learn his style, and he kindly sent a letter on my behalf to the Mino haikai master called Sankyô. At Suô Tenmangû Shrine I wrote:

colorful autumn also --

are those two leaves on the branch?

a plum tree's red

染る秋も二葉の末か梅紅葉

I should learn from it --

the pure heart

of a pond's water

ならひ行ん澄めるこころ池の水

Sketchbook Project 2013: The Great Learning/大學

I finished my entry for Sketchbook Project 2013. A bit of a kakizome 書初め for the new year and a commemoration of last semester's service-learning project, it's a translation of The Great Learning. The paper in the sketchbook that you get when you sign up is not very fancy, so I took it out and rebound it using slightly heavier stock. It turned out to still be relatively transparent, but it stood up pretty well to the ink and pens that I used.

Portions of the Sketchbook Project library are displayed throughout the year in various US cities. I saw the exhibition when it came to Atlanta in the summer and it was fun. It's nice to go to an event that allows people to make art as well as view it, where it can be held and touched and not just venerated from a distance.

Eventually the Sketchbook Project people will digitize the book and post it online. In the meantime, here's what it looks like.

 








Click "Read More" for the rest.

The Way of Great Learning 大學之道

Having worked on neo-Confucianism one way or another all of last semester, I start the year with a translation of the central part of the text of Daxue (Great Learning).

大學之道，在明明德，在親民，在止於至善。知止而後有定，定而後能靜，靜而後能安，安而後能慮，慮而後能得。物有本末，事有終始，知所先後，則近道矣。

The Way of Great Learning is to make shining virtue manifestly clear, to renew the people, and to rest in the achievement of good. Knowing where to rest, then you achieve stability; with stability, then you can be calm; being calm, then you can be secure; being secure, then you can become considerate; being considerate, then you can achieve potential. Things have roots and branches; affairs have beginnings and ends; knowing what comes before and after, that will lead you closer to the Way.

古之欲明明德於天下者，先治其國；欲治其國者，先齊其家；欲齊其家者，先修其身；欲修其身者，先正其心；欲正其心者，先誠其意；欲誠其意者，先致其知，致知在格物。

In the ancient past, the people of the world who wished to make shining virtue manifestly clear first brought civil government the nation; those who wished to bring civil government to the nation first created order in their families; those who wished to create order in their families first cultivated themselves; those who wished to cultivate themselves first corrected their hearts; those who wished to correct their hearts first made their intentions sincere; those who wished to make their intentions sincere first gain knowledge. Gaining knowledge exists in the investigation of things.

物格而後知至，知至而後意誠，意誠而後心正，心正而後身修，身修而後家齊，家齊而後國治，國治而後天下平。自天子以至於庶人，壹是皆以修身為本。其本亂而末治者否矣，其所厚者薄，而其所薄者厚，未之有也！此謂知本，此謂知之至也。

After investigating things, you then achieve knowledge; having achieved knowledge, your intentions become sincere; with your intentions sincere, your heart then is corrected; with your heart corrected, your self is cultivated; with your self cultivated, then your family is ordered; with your family ordered, then your nation is governed civilly; with your nation governed civilly, all under heaven is at peace. From the Son of Heaven down to the common people, cultivation of the self is fundamental for everyone. If the root is in disarray, the branches are not orderly. It has never been the case that the important is properly treated as trivial, and the trivial as important! This cultivation of self is what is called the foundation of knowledge; this is what is called knowledge's ultimate achievement.

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Before I let Daxue go, I've got one last task to commemorate it: a contribution to The Sketchbook Project 2013. The deadline is January 15, so I have to get going on it. If it's any good, I'll post scans of the pages here. Happy new year, in the meantime. Is there such a thing as 初ブログ記事? Anyway, あけましておめでとうございます。

Emory Report Story on the Exhibition

Emory News did a nice story on the exhibition:

Art exhibit celebrates partnership of Emory freshmen and Clarkston refugees

Exhibition Blog

The exhibition now has its own blog!

明明徳 Clearly Manifesting Luminous Virtue

If you can't visit Clarkston, stop by the virtual galleries instead.

Too much grief

day 890 12-14-2012
the small explosions
we were sure we heard again
swallowed by silence

From www.haikudiem.com

Art Exhibition Celebrates Partnership of Emory Freshmen and Clarkston Refugees

The recently opened exhibition "Clearly Manifesting Luminous Virtue" displays the brush calligraphy of students in a freshman seminar and from Clarkston Community Center's Senior Refugee Program. Despite their differences, the Emory and Clarkston students proved to have much in common: all were newcomers to the Atlanta area and all were devoted to learning. While it was not always possible to communicate with words, students learned to appreciate each other through gestures, smiles, and patient brushwork. The exhibition presents the strikingly expressive art that emerged from these sessions.

With support from Emory's Center for Community Partnerships, the group of 16 freshmen made weekly visits to the students of the Senior Refugee Classes to chat in English and share the pleasure of writing with a brush. The exhibition's title is a phrase from one of the freshman class's textbooks, The Greater Learning (Chinese, Daxue) one of the most influential works of Chinese ethics. The book explains that students should try fulfill their potential by study and practicing the arts, including calligraphy. By improving themselves, claims the Greater Learning, students are able to support their families. By supporting families, they create community. By creating community, they bring peace to the world.

Students of the freshman seminar East Asian Calligraphy in the Community, taught by associate professor of Japanese Cheryl Crowley, explored the possibilities of putting these abstract ideas into practice. They first learned the basics of the classical Chinese scholarly art of calligraphy, and then joined students from the Clarkston refugee community to collaborate in studying it during weekly visits over a period of two months. The Clarkston students, elders from the Senior Refugee Program taught by Teresa Hatton and Sheilah Bowser, attend English as a Second Language classes at the Center. They come from places as diverse as Bhutan, Somalia, and Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The exhibition is on display from December 7 - 31, 2012 at Clarkston Community Center, 3701 College Avenue, Clarkston, GA 30021 (404) 508-1050.

Additional funding was provided by Emory's East Asian Studies Program and Confucius Institute.