More Japanese Recs: Folklore, Haiku & Anime

This is the final month for the Japanese Literature Reading Challenge, so I really had to hurry up with this one. I had two main recommendations for this month: Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa, and an anthology of Japanese Haiku poetry compiled by Yamamoto and Addiss. And although not “literature”, also the superbly mind-bending scifi anime, Paprika.

Once and Forever / Japanese Folklore Anthologies

I’m not sure how I came across Once and Forever, but this was so rich and moving and unlike any other folklore anthology I’ve ever come across. We tend to think of folklore as simple tales from long ago, with some moral message and practical wisdom. But Miyazawa’s folktale collection goes deeper. There’s dry humor and hope here, when he speaks of human frailties and oddities. Miyazawa contrasts the human world with the natural world, and there’s darkness there too. My favorites are Gorsch the Cellist and The Bears of Nametoko. But I wish I could persuade everyone to read this thought-provoking and hair-raising (in a good way!) anthology.

Along the same lines is the Once Upon a Time in Japan by Roger Pulvers & Juliet Carpenter, and they have a public domain audiobook version HERE. The tales in here are more of the simple, charming variety, but he illustrations were quite charming (below). Fairytale News also has a wonderful post showcasing Japanese folklore illustrations, so hope you check out that post too!

Haiku

I’d heard of Haiku, but never read it before. It’s a complex Japanese word, and when translated, seems to roughly mean poems of 5-7-5 syllables about the seasons. But over time Haiku (originally, haikai) has evolved; now, it describes not just the seasons, but also the natural world and the passage of time, especially when viewed from the human lens. The human lens adds a strange melancholic beauty to the verses, like something that becomes precious because it can never be recaptured.

After a few trials-and-errors, I came across Yamamoto’s Haiku: An Anthology of Japanese Poems, which was perfect. It collects Haiku from many famous poets, and the ones from Basho and Issa were my favorites. Best taken in small doses, and savored.

On the wisdom in waiting:

“Sitting silently, doing nothing  
 spring comes  
 and the grass grows — by itself.”  
 ~ Basho

On the imagery of the natural world:

“The warbler 
 wipes its muddy feet  
 on plum blossoms.”  
 ~ Issa

And this last one, which made me laugh:

“Heaven knows,
 earth knows, every neighbor knows—
 parents don’t know.” 
 ~ Shishoshi

Paprika

Paprika is about a groundbreaking device that a scientist has invented to help psychiatrists enter the dreams of their patients, detect and understand their problems (as manifested in the dreams of the patients) and fix them. Lately, however, someone has stolen that device and is causing mayhem by entering the dreams of the psychiatrists themselves. Paprika is a strangely hypnotic, mystifying and very well directed (by Satoshi Kon) anime show. I went into it looking to be puzzled by a convoluted story, and I was. I was also charmed beyond my expectations. It needs a second watch though, before you finally can make sense of the entire picture, but it’s worth the effort.