Toh Gen Kyo vol.22 - MIHO MUSEUM

The first Nobel prize-winning Japanese author Kawabata Yasunari (1899–1972) referred to the Zen poet-priest Ryōkan (1758–1831) in his Nobel lecture entitled Japan, the Beautiful and Myself and expressed the beautiful sentiments towards nature that the Japanese have had since ancient times. The Japanese painter Yasuda Yukihiko (1884–1978) perceived Ryōkan’s character through his calligraphy and held a lifelong esteem for him. Both Kawabata and Yasuda cherished Ryōkan’s calligraphy and early Japanese art. They also shared an appreciation for the spirit that created such beauty.

This exhibition presents over 250 works—approximately eighty-five objects from the former Kawabata collection, approximately thirty-five objects from the former Yasuda collection, and approximately twenty calligraphic works by Ryōkan—including the National Treasures Ten Pleasures and Frozen Clouds and Sieved Snow, the Important Cultural Properties Portrait of Confucius and Ruguang Kiln Celadon Plate, and paintings by the celebrated artists Tawaraya Sōtatsu (act. early 17th century) and Ogata Kōrin (1658–1743). Explore the spirit that Kawabata and Yasuda shared through these works of art.
(Note that works will be rotated during the exhibition.)



The first Nobel prize-winning Japanese author Kawabata Yasunari (1899–1972) referred to the Zen poet-priest Ryōkan (1758–1831) in his Nobel lecture entitled Japan, the Beautiful and Myself and expressed the beautiful sentiments towards nature that the Japanese have had since ancient times. The Japanese painter Yasuda Yukihiko (1884–1978) perceived Ryōkan’s character through his calligraphy and held a lifelong esteem for him. Both Kawabata and Yasuda cherished Ryōkan’s calligraphy and early Japanese art. They also shared an appreciation for the spirit that created such beauty. This exhibition presents over 250 works—approximately eighty-five objects from the former Kawabata collection, approximately thirty-five objects from the former Yasuda collection, and approximately twenty calligraphic works by Ryōkan—including the National Treasures Ten Pleasures and Frozen Clouds and Sieved Snow, the Important Cultural Properties Portrait of Confucius and Ruguang Kiln Celadon Plate, and paintings by the celebrated artists Tawaraya Sōtatsu (act. early 17th century) and Ogata Kōrin (1658–1743). Explore the spirit that Kawabata and Yasuda shared through these works of art. (Note that works will be rotated during the exhibition.)

And yet very similar is the deathbed poem of the priest Ryōkan (1758-1831):
	“What shall my legacy? The blossoms of spring, The cuckoo in the hills, The leaves of autumn.”
In this poem, as in Dogen’s, the commonest of figures and the commonest of words are strung together without hesitation-no, to particular effect, rather-and so they transmit the very essence of Japan. And it is Ryōkan’s last poem that I have quoted.
	“A long, misty day in spring: I saw it to a close, playing ball With the children.”
	“the breeze is fresh, The moon is clear Together let us dance the night away, in what is left of old age.”
	“It is not that I wish to have none of the world” It is that I am better at the pleasure enjoyed alone.”
Ryōkan, who shook off the modern vulgarity of his day, who was immersed in the elegance of earlier centuries, and whose poetry and calligraphy are much admired in Japan today-lived in the spirit of these poems, a wanderer down country paths, a grass hut for shelter, rags for clothes, farmers to talk to. The profundity of religion and literature was not, for him in the abstruse. He rather pursued literature and belief in the benign sprit summarized in the Buddhist phrase “a smiling face and gentle words.” In his last poem he offered nothing as a legacy. He but hoped that after his death nature would remain beautiful. That could be his bequest. One feels in the poem the emotions of old Japan, and the heart of a religious faith as well.
Translated by Edward Seidenstiker