cover image Following the Brush: An American Encounter with Classical Japanese Culture

Following the Brush: An American Encounter with Classical Japanese Culture

John Elder. Beacon Press (MA), $18 (166pp) ISBN 978-0-8070-5906-7

Elder, who teaches English and environmental studies at Middlebury College in Vermont, with his family spent his 1990 sabbatical year in a village on the outskirts of Kyoto where, insulated from the high-tech buzz of modern Japanese culture, he studied the ancient arts of calligraphy, brush painting, poetry and the difficult game of Go. In these essays, he meditates on the values of learning by rote and imitation that both he and his children experienced under Japanese tutelage, the complexities of good brushwork, the cultural ramifications of Go, and the mastery of the haiku form by the 17th-century poet Basho. He is impressed by the heavy responsibility of parents for their children's education (they are expected to spend several hours nightly helping with homework); and he touches on the troubling issues involved in the Japanese taste for whale meat; as well as the problems of one of the few actresses to win acceptance performing in No dramas. While Elder recognizes that his own focus on the classical arts of Japan--which are increasingly outside of the country's mainstream culture--may have provided an atypically serene and rewarding experience for him, these eight contemplative essays offer a counterpoint to the abundance of less sympathetic reports from returning visitors. (Jan.)