BLACK WIDOW

BLACK WIDOW

at my garden gate

a reasonable fear

widow of death waits

hoping for supper

her orphaned children are hungry

widow of death waits

a warm spring morning

she offers a deadly hug

shivers down my spine

I CANNOT SLEEP

I CANNOT SLEEP

I cannot sleep. The time was 2 am and I am wide awake. Saito the cat is delighted — an extra, early breakfast and unexpected play time. “I might as well work,” I think and move to the kitchen to brew the coffee. While waiting, I step out the front door to breathe the morning air.

It is quiet with not even a sound from the distant railroad — not even a cricket. The street is dark and empty and nothing moves. No wait! Two figures, dressed in completely in black, with black hoods pulled over their heads, pass by on the opposite sidewalk. “Death and his intern on an errand?” I wondered. Perhaps not, but creatures of the night nonetheless. In front of me, a cricket makes his way across the sidewalk to a patch of green grass now gray in the early gloom. I smile. Another creature of the night but one I do not dread.

I return to the kitchen where a spider scurries about the counter, perhaps looking for crumbs from last night’s pizza. I decide to leave the kitchen to her for a while and come back for the coffee later. Musings of Lafcadio Hearn await on my computer.

A FINE MADNESS

A FINE MADNESS

     The singer-songwriter Conor Oberst once said, "There's a very fine line between one person's reality and another person's fantasy." Oscar Levant once said, "“There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.” And Poe remarked, "“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” All of these words came to mind this morning when I woke up to find "Motoko" the little kokeshi doll I had given to tiny Cloe Nekojin in one of my cartoons, staring at me from behind the corner of the nightstand next to my futon, as I awoke. I have no recollection of putting her there in that position (or any position), although I certainly could have done so the other day while dusting. I just don't remember. Yet, as I opened my eyes and saw Cloe's toy, watching me, I felt a bit unnerved. Did I put it there? Or was Motoko there on some other account? I know Motoko is real, and I'm reasonably certain Cloe is a product of my imagination (where sometimes, especially late at night she seems almost too real) and my pen...but still...I had to wonder as I staggered off to the kitchen for coffee...scratching my head.

HŌRAI

Blue vision of depth lost in height — sea and sky intermixing through luminous haze. The day is of spring, and the hour morning.

Only sky and sea — one azure enormity. In the foreground, ripples are catching a silvery light, and threads of foam are swirling. But a little further off no motion is visible, nor anything except color: dim warm blue water widening away to melt into blue air. Horizon, there is none: only distance soaring into space — infinite concavity hollowing before you, and hugely arching above you — the color deepening with the height. But far in the midway blue, there hangs a faint, faint vision of palace towers, with high roofs horned and curved like moons — some shadowing of splendor strange and old, illumined by a sunshine soft as memory.

What I have thus been trying to describe is a kakémono,⁵¹ that is to say, a Japanese painting on silk, suspended on the wall of my alcove and the name of it is “Shinkirō,” which means “mirage.” But the shapes of the mirage are unmistakable. Those are the glimmering portals of Hōrai the Blest;⁵² and those are the moony roofs of the palace of the Dragon King; and their style (though drawn by a Japanese brush of today) is the style of things Chinese, twenty-one hundred years ago. Thus, much is told of the place in the Chinese books of that time.

In Hōrai there is neither death nor pain; and there is no winter. The flowers in that place never fade, and the fruits never fail; and if a man tastes those fruits even once, he can never again feel thirst or hunger. In Hōrai grow the enchanted plants So-rin-shi, Riku-gō-aoi, and Ban-kon-tō, which heal all manner of sickness — and there also grows the magical grass, Yo-shin-shi, that revives the dead; and the magical grass is watered by a fairy water of which a single drink confers perpetual youth. The people of Hōrai eat their rice out of very, very small bowls; but the rice never diminishes within those bowls — however much of it be eaten — until the eater desires no more. And the people of Hōrai drink their wine out of very, very small cups; but no man can empty one of those cups — however stoutly he may drink — until the pleasant drowsiness of intoxication comes upon him.

All this and more is told in the legends of the time of the Shin dynasty; although, that the people who wrote down those legends ever saw Hōrai, even in a mirage, is not believable. For really, there are no enchanted fruits that leave the eater forever satisfied — nor any magical grass that revives the dead — nor any fountain of fairy water — nor any bowls that never lack rice, — nor any cups that never lack wine. It is not true that sorrow and death never enter Hōrai — neither is it true that there is not any winter. The winter in Hōrai is cold — the winds bite to the bone, and the heaping of snow on the roofs of the Dragon-King is monstrous.

Nevertheless, there are wonderful things in Hōrai; and the most wonderful of all has not been mentioned by any Chinese writer. I mean the atmosphere of Hōrai. It is an atmosphere unique to the place, and because of it, the sunshine in Hōrai is whiter than any other sunshine — a milky light that never dazzles — astonishingly clear, but very soft. This atmosphere is not of our human era: it is enormously old — so old that I feel afraid when I try to think how old it is — and it is not a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen. It is not made of air at all — but of ghost — the substance of quintillions of quintillions of gener- ations of souls, blended into one immense translucency — souls of people who thought in ways never resembling our ways. If a mortal man inhales that atmosphere, he takes the thrilling of these spirits into his blood; and they change the sense within him — reshaping his notions of space and time — so that he can see only as they used to see, and feel only as they used to feel, and think only as they used to think. Soft as sleep are these changes of sense; and Hōrai, discerned across them, might thus be described:

Because in Hōrai there is no knowledge of great evil, the hearts of the people never grow old. And, by reason of being always young in heart, the people of Hōrai smile from birth until death — except when the Gods send sorrow among them; and faces are then veiled until the sorrow goes away. All folk in Hōrai love and trust each other, as if all were members of a single household — and the speech of the women is like birds singing, because their hearts are as light as the souls of birds — and the swaying of the sleeves of the maidens at play seems like the fluttering of wide, soft wings. In Hōrai nothing is hidden but grief, because there is no reason for shame — and nothing is locked away, because there could not be any theft — and by night as well as by day all doors remain unbarred, because there is no reason for fear. And because the people are fairies — though mortal — all things in Hōrai, except the palace of the Dragon King, are small and quaint and strange — and these fairy-folk really do eat their rice out of very, very small bowls, and drink their wine out of very, very small cups.

Much of this seeming would be due to the inhalation of that ghostly atmosphere — but not all. For the spell wrought by the dead is only the charm of an ideal, the glamour of an ancient hope; and something of that hope has found fulfillment in many hearts — in the simple beauty of unselfish lives — in the sweetness of women.

Evil winds from the West are blowing over Hōrai; and the magical atmosphere, alas, is shrinking away before them. It lingers now only in patches and bands — like those long bright bands of clouds that trail across the landscapes of Japanese painters. Under these shreds of the elfish vapor you still can find Hōrai — but not everywhere. Remember that Hōrai is also called “Shinkirō,” which means mirage — the Vision of the Intangible. And the Vision is fading — never again to appear except in pictures and poems and dreams. 

(From The Annotated Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn, Edited and Illustrated by Hayato Tokugawa, Copyright 2017 by Hayato Tokugawa and Shisei-Do Publications.)

KAPPAS: A LEGEND REVEALED

KAPPAS: A LEGEND REVEALED

Igor and "Kappa."

 Meet Igor the dog and his very special friend Kappa. You will all agree that it is a charming photo of a dog and his otter friend; however, the photograph caused me to pause for a moment and think. Perhaps it was fortuitous that not only did I see the cute picture, but that the otter’s name is of all things “Kappa!”

For those of you unfamiliar with the word “kappa,” allow me to take a moment to explain. A kappa (河童, literally “river child”), also known as a kawako (川虎, literally “river tiger”, is a yōkai (demon) or imp found in traditional Japanese folklore.

  

 A ceramic female kappa and children in the town square in Tajimi, Japan.

The name is a combination of the words kawa (river) and wappa, a variant form of 童 warawa (also warabe) “child.” In Shintō they are considered to be one of many suijin (水神), or “water deities”). A hairy kappa is called a hyōsube (ひょうすべ). In Japanese Buddhism they are considered to be a kind of hungry ogre. Kappa are especially noted for having a small pool or “bowl” of water situated on top of their head, signifying, and by some legends, holding their life force.

  

 Various forms of Umagappa, the kappa mascot of Tajimi, Japan.

Now, as many of you may know, I have a special affinity for kappa, and have included them in my “Nekojins” cartoons.

  

 From "My Neighbors the Nekojins" featuring Vinnie Nekojin and his kappa friend fishing together.

You may also know that I also have a special affinity for otters as evidenced by the “Nekojin” cartoon character “Otto,” a North American river otter who stowed away in a backpack at San Francisco’s Land’s End, only to be discovered later and adopted into the family.

  

 From "My Neighbors the Nekojins," Otto the North American river otter and his teddy bear.

That having been said, as I looked at the photo of Igor and Kappa, I had what might be called a type of epiphany — both a realization and a question. Could otters actually be kappa? I read and questioned, read some more, and have arrived at the realization that they probably are. The following is my theory on the matter: 

Museum display of a Japanese river otter.

Kappa, the legendary “river children” are indeed otters; specifically, they are (or were) Japanese river otters (Lutra lutra whiteleyi) or 日本川獺 (Nihon-kawauso). I say “were,” because they are no longer. The Japanese river otter is an extinct variety of otter which at one time was quite widespread in Japan. Reports by Westerners of them living in the Tokyō area go back to the 1880s. The Japanese otter population (not unlike the otter populations along the west coast of North America, and particularly California) suddenly declined drastically in the 1930s and also as in California, nearly vanished. In more recent times, Japanese otters have only been spotted in the Seto Island Sea (1964) and in the Uwa Sea (1972 – 1973). The last time one was officially reported as having been seen was in the southern part of Lochi Prefecture in 1979, photographed in the mouth of the Shinjo River in Susaki. Alas, that was the last photograph. The otters were then classified as “Critically Endangered” and on August 28, 2012, the Japanese river otter was officially declared extinct by the Ministry of Environment.

   

Reported to be the last photograph taken of a Japanese river otter.

Fully grown, A Japanese otter was between 25.5 and 31.5 inches long with a tail measuring 17.5 – 19.5 inches long. They had thick, luxurious fur, dark brown in color and had short, webbed and “fingered” feet and hands. Studies prior to their extinction revealed that the otters had two types of fur. They would shed their under fur from May to August and after that they would shed their guard hair from August to November, allowing them to adjust to the changing of seasons. Information obtained from past studies indicated that the otters had a lifespan of up to 25 years and historically, there were thousands of river otters in Japan.

  

 A pre-Meiji chart showing various types of kappa.

The kappa is typically depicted as roughly humanoid in form and about the size of a child, also between 25.5 and 31.5 inches long. While descriptions vary from region to region, it is sometimes described as having scaly reptilian skin. Now, an otter with a full coat, which is quite wet, shimmers and the fur can in fact look like longish, shiny scales. Kappa purportedly inhabit the ponds and rivers of Japan (typical otter habitat), and have various features to aid them in this environment, such as webbed hands (with fingers) and feet (with toes) — just like otters. They are sometimes said to smell like fish (no surprise there for anyone who knows otters) and they can swim like them as well. Again with the regional differences in descriptions of kappa, their alleged appearance has varied and has included a beak, a shell, and a plate (sara), a flat hairless region on the top of the head that is always wet. Some legends have referred to this area as actually being a bowl of sorts, containing water, which is regarded as the source of the kappa’s power. This “bowl” must be full whenever a kappa is away from the water; if it ever dries out, the kappa loses its power and may even die. I have often observed otters first hand with sea weed or various forms of water vegetation on their heads and they are known to, from time to time, balance objects are their head — for fun.

  

 North American otter balancing a rock or "bowl" on top of his head.

Now I cannot fully address the appearance of a shell but one might suspect that what were reported as kappas with shells were actually turtles of some size or tortoises. That would also explain the reported “beaks,” which are apparent particularly when a turtle pokes his head out of the water. Otter noses themselves can vary from a whitish pink to black as well as in size. I submit to you that the schnoz of an otter, depending on size and color, could be mistaken for a beak; perhaps most particularly by fishermen who have been enjoying sake during warm days of fishing.

While they are primarily water creatures, kappa do on occasion, and according to legend, venture on to land. So do otters, and while on land, both kappas and otters both are usually seen as mischievous troublemakers or tricksters. For kappas, their pranks range from the relatively innocent, such as looking up women’s kimonos, to the malevolent, such as drowning people and animals, kidnapping children, raping women and at times eating human flesh — pretty treacherous for such little guys. Not so for otters! Playful tricksters yes — malefactors no! Folk beliefs claim the cucumber as the traditional favorite meal of kappas. Otters, I will admit, are not overly fond of cucumbers and prefer fish or such kibble as Meow Mix.

  

 A kappa by Toryama Sekien, c. 1780.

It is said that kappa are curious about human civilization, as are otters. Scuba diving in Monterey Bay, I have experienced otters coming right up to me and peering through my mask, or reaching out to touch it or even me. While kayaking in the same region, considered “otter rich,” I have even had them climb up onto my boat to explore or even hitch a ride. It is also widely stated that kappa understand and speak Japanese. I think this is just a regional phenomenon as sea and river otters in California and elsewhere who have exposure to humans appear to understand to some degree or other whatever the regional language may be. They do “speak” in series of squeaks and clicks, which, with time and study, can be interpreted to mean various things. Kappa may even befriend human beings in exchange for gifts or offerings of nasu (茄子, Japanese eggplant), soba (そば or 蕎麦, buckwheat noodles), nattō (なっとう or 納豆, fermented soybeans) (there is no accounting for taste), or kabocha (カボチャ, 南瓜, winter squash), but especially cucumbers, the only food kappa are known to enjoy more than human children. While otters do not eat children and don’t seem to care for cucumbers or natto, they do enjoy and appreciate gifts of fish and with frequent exposure to humans can become quite friendly and playful.

It’s been a long time since anyone has reported seeing a kappa or an otter. Beginning in the Meiji era, the Japanese government opted for a policy of increased wealth and military strength. Otter pelts became quite valuable as a money-making export and populations declined. They did make a slight comeback after the creation of hunting regulations; but even so, as one might now expect in hindsight, pollution and human development damaged their environment; thus, the resources needed to build habitats and to obtain food. Compelled to seek adequate food sources, the otters were forced into more dangerous settings which in due course, resulted in the extinction of the Japanese river otter in the late 20^th century.

  

 A Japanese postage stamp depicting a Japanese river otter, issued in 1974.

There may be however, a glimmer of hope for the otter, and I think therefore the kappa. Throughout the 1990s there were several official attempts to locate a surviving Japanese river otter. In December of 1991 the Environmental Agency of Japan, working with the government of Kochi Prefecture, put together a research team of otter experts (not necessarily themselves experts on kappa) and began the search. It was in March of the next year that the research group discovered hair and excrement in the Kochi region believed to have come from an otter. They also located three footprints and additional ten excrement samples. An analysis of the cross-section of the hair determined that the fur did in fact come from an otter – solid scientific evidence that the Japanese river otter, and I suspect the kappa, still existed in Japan at that time.

  

 North American river otter in meditation.

So there it is and there you have it. Knowing how Japanese people love to listen to and to tell tales, and knowing how such stories can be embellished as they are told and retold, is it any wonder then that the Japanese river otter became kappa? I think not.

PATIENTLY WAITING FOR THE PLEASURES OF SPRING

Patiently waiting for the pleasures of spring...

Natsume Soseki’s London: A Literary Odyssey

Natsume Soseki’s London: A Literary Odyssey

2016 marks the beginning of two years of anniversary commemorations for Natsume Soseki, the greatest literary figure of modern Japan: 2016 marks the centennial of his death in 1916; and 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of his birth in 1867. Damian Flanagan will show us the boarding houses that Soseki lived in, located in different parts of the city, and introduce us to the people that Soseki met and lived amongst. Join us for a literary odyssey round London like no other, that will make you see the capital through entirely fresh, Sosekian eyes.

Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and some snacks, and sit back, relax and enjoy the story.