Natsume Soseki; translated by Meredith McKinney
First published in 1906 when Japan was undergoing a major shift into the twentieth century, Kusamakura by Natsume Soseki, translated from the Japanese by Meredith McKinney, is a leisurely book replete with philosophical musings on art, literature, and life and that celebrates a pre-modern, idyllic time.
The unnamed narrator, who self-identifies as an artist, embarks on a walking trip across mountains to stay at a hot spring inn in the remote mountain village of Nakoi. His purpose is to observe and record what he sees and hears with the detached, “nonemotional,” stance adopted by former artists and poets. To achieve this, he tries to erase himself from the picture and be open to absorbing the beauty and rhythm of the natural environment in all its manifest glory. The uninvolved aesthetic response remains paramount in his mind, which, of necessity, requires an avoidance of personal immersion in experience. Accordingly, he shuns emotional involvement, eschewing entanglement with Nami, the beautiful and intriguing daughter of the inn keeper.
Our unnamed artist/poet meanders through the countryside, consciously absorbing its sights and sounds. He pauses to describe the color, appearance, and texture of flora and fauna in minute detail and then verbalizes the emotions they evoke. Images in nature inspire his meditations. Occasionally, he achieves moments of complete peace, which he describes as being “sated with tranquility.” He then ponders how to translate that feeling successfully on canvas so that it is transmitted to the viewer. He expresses himself through bursts of haiku. He is as sensitive to his surroundings as he is to recording the ideas they generate. When climbing up the steps to a Zen monastery, for example, he pauses at each step to register his thoughts and feelings.
In one sense, very little happens in this book. In another sense, it is an intensely moving book replete with meditations on art, poetry, the beauty to be found in nature, and the contrast between the simplicity and traditions of village life with the acquisitiveness and noise of the modern city. The writing is graceful; the language poetic. The translation captures both qualities which, presumably, are present in the original Japanese.
An elegant book to be read slowly and savored.