Inoue-san and I recently exchanged notes regarding R. H. Blyth.
I'd thought there'd be an outpouring of sentinment with regard
to him, but evidently either he's little known or done to death
here. In hopes that the former is the case, I decided (with Inoue-
san's consent) to present the portion of our correspondence
that seemed relevant to the list.
I've posted as a single message, so those who are bored by all
this can quickly skip over it.
I've posted as a single message, so those who are bored by all
this can quickly skip over it.
The sequence starts with a message from Inoue-san to Joe Rogers and me.
--Terry
----------------
Hi,
I found some more information about Blyth.
But it's written in Japanese, so I have
translated it. As I'm bad at English, sorry
for the strange translation.
"Reginald Horace Blyth:
He was born at Ilford, Essex, England in 1898 and died in Tokyo in 1964.
During the 1st World War he refused the military service and was put in jail.
He graduated from University College, London.
In 1924 he was invited to be a lecturer at Keijyo Imperial University in
Seoul, Korea (which was a colony of Japan at that time). He was interested
in Eastern arts, Zen in particular; he became a disciple of Daisetsu Suzuki
(the famous Zen master). He taught English literature at 4th high school in
Kanazawa, Gakushuin University, Japan University, Tokyo University and so on.
Meanwhile he studied Zen, haiku, and senryu, and published a lot of noted
books. Most of "Haiku" was written while he was in jail during the 2nd World
War.
After it, he took part in the Emperor Showa's declaration that the Emperor
was a human being and not a god (the "Human-Being Declaration"), and taught
English to the Crown Prince Akihito (the present Emperor).
His grave is located at Toke-temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture, and
behind Daisetsu Suzuki's grave.
He joined his favorite western poets, Blake, Wordsworth, and Emerson to the
Japanease haiku poets with Zen inspiration. He introduced the haiku which is
"the ultimate flower of the Eastern culture" to the people of the West.
He loved and played the music of J. S. Bach. He made the musical
instruments, too. He was a strict vegetarian."
- the haiku dictionary- Kadokawa press
Regards,
Hiromi Inoue
(hinoue@cc.matsuyama-u.ac.jp)
-Dying for the poem even if cursed by devils-
----------------
Inoue-san, I was not surprised to read in your earlier posting
that Blyth was not 100% accepted by haiku scholars. Blyth's
importance is as a bridge, and as an English essayist. He is
almost without peer as a stylist; only Orwell and perhaps
E. B. White are close in my estimation. Blyth effortlessly
combines an immense knowledge of English literature with
a deep sympathy for Asian literature, and manages to communicate
this to the English-language reader with a force that is
rather compelling. His equations poetry = zen, haiku = zen,
poetry = religion, poetry = life are all immensely unfashionable
and probably will not stand up to a reasoned consideration; but
no one was ever the worse for reading them, or even for
believing them. Certainly, mystic humility makes for a much more
enjoyable scholarship. And it impossible for an English
speaker with an open mind and any heart to read Blyth and not
come away with several new enthusiasms. (In my case, Blyth
is responsible for my love of Dickens, Po Chu I, and Japan.)
Best regards,
Terry Moore
----------------
>Inoue-san, I was not surprised to read in your earlier posting
>that Blyth was not 100% accepted by haiku scholars. Blyth's
>importance is as a bridge, and as an English essayist. He is
>almost without peer as a stylist; only Orwell and perhaps
>E. B. White are close in my estimation.
I agree with you. And most of the haiku scholars in Japan regard
him as the same as you. There are a lot of viewpoints about
the haiku. Zen is one of them and not all, I think. But I feel
Blyth maybe touched the core of Japanese culture by way of
Zen.
Regards,
Hiromi Inoue
(hinoue@cc.matsuyama-u.ac.jp)
-Dying for the poem even if cursed by devils-