Two Elizabeths: Birth and Death

King Henry VIII, many noblemen, ladies, clergymen, all in full dress, came from the back doors of Theater Drama City.

They marched along the aisles, lining up on the stage for the christening ceremony for Elizabeth.

We, as good subjects, waved flags bearing a crest and the words "Henry VIII," which had been handed out at the entrance.

Looking at the most brilliant scene of the day's performance, I could not help thinking of another Elizabeth, whose death had been reported all over the world about a month before.

I saw her once, or I should rather say, had just a glimpse of her "color".

In Edinburgh, where I stayed for the first night on my first trip to Britain, having eaten a pheasant dish, which I considered unsavory for its high price, at a nice-looking restaurant, I was trying to walk back to the hotel.

However, I had to go back to a crossroads and try another direction; I had and still have a very poor sense of direction.

I noticed there were many people on the street.

After a while I saw two black cars coming through a crowd of many people.

I caught a glimpse of a woman all in red in one car and another woman all in yellow in the other.

I said to myself, "They must be important ladies."

Later that night I saw them on TV in my hotel room.

It was reported that Queen Elizabeth came for the first day of the Royal Tattoo.

I don't remember in which color the queen was wearing.

Anyway, my lack of sense of direction gave me a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Lost in Edinburgh, I found the Queen, who was soon lost forever.

On TV, a black car with the queen's coffin driving through Edinburgh reminded me of the black car I had seen about twenty years before, making my heart ache.

In an English educational TV program the Queen's warm and encouraging speech to the people was broadcast when Covid-19 was raging.

It was the address that I really wanted to hear and that in Japan neither the Prime Minister nor the Emperor, who is not given many opportunities to speak to the people as he wants to, could give.

I can't forget the good scene with Paddington either.

Marmalade sandwich!

I never think of what "ningenmi" (a human touch) is like without remembering Queen Elizabeth's face full of nuances.  

                                                                  October, 22nd, 2022

*This essay was corrected by Ms Tama of Idiy.  

Alice's architectural Dream 

Alice's dream is to unify architecture and music.

It was realized by a digital installation projected on the broad screen of Biwako Hall while she was playing Chopin's preludes and contemporary pieces.

Undoubtedly Alice Sara Ott is one of the most popular pianists because her concert was held in the biggest hall, filled with nearly 1800 people, while even first class pianists such as Aoyagi Izumiko or Pascal Rogé use the smallest one with an audience of 300.

Actually the size of the hall, which includes the big screen, had an artistic meaning.

It was the architect Hakan Demirel who created the video.

According to the program given at the hall, Alice's desire to cross the border of arts led to the animation which took shape after she and the architect had much talk.

My blurred memory can't give a precise report about its contents.

What I remember is just as follows: it starts with complete darkness, with stars appearing slowly.

Then comes a brown palace which makes me think of the ancient one I saw in Pasolini's film, "Media".

The image develops from a viewpoint of a person strolling along.

After the palace he or she (the stroller doesn't appear in the film) walks under a great vault and into a huge library whose walls are covered with books from floor to ceiling.

It ends with a view of the starry sky, and then the darkness.

The anime, which was the least adventurous without strong story lines or any human beings, seemed rather pale in comparison with Chopin's music.

In a sense, modest animation may be better than an exciting film, which might degrade the music to just an accompaniment.

I think I could have appreciated the architectural beauty better through photos which lack movement.

In general, music is thought to be a temporal art which is just the opposite to architecture, a spatial art.

However, a concert, if it is not open-air, is held in a building, and music is nothing but vibrations of the air surrounding the audience.

The relation of architecture and music is that of a receptacle and its contents.

However, this is not the case with the pipe organ, which is part of a church or a concert hall.

An organist would never think of unifying music and architecture, which are inseparable from the beginning.

"Architecture and music", this topic makes me think of a phrase, "frozen music", which is known in Japan as the happy words of Earnest Fenollosa spoken at the sight of the East Tower of Yakushiji Temple in Nara.

However, I found web sites saying that it was written much earlier by German philosophers, Schelling and Friedlich Schlegel.

It's no wonder that Fenollosa would know the phrase because he taught philosophy at Tokyo University in the Meiji era.

He is thought to be a benefactor of Japanese art, which he appreciated and introduced to the world.

Very curiously, Fenollosa was a pianist on a frigate ship coming to Japan.

On the open sea, did he also play Chopin?

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　2022, June 15th

 Kajiko, the Great Rudder 

The film,"Because I am weak, a biography of Yajima Kajiko" describes the life of the first headmistress of Joshigakuin (Girls' Academy), which has been a good school for girls for more than 130 years.

The title needs explanation.

Actually Kajiko was named Katsu when she was born.

She gave herself the name Kajiko ("kaji" means rudder) on the ship going up to Tokyo, thinking that though she was small and weak, she may be able to guide a great ship as a small rudder does.

Katsu is born in a samurai's house in Kumamoto in 1833, toward the end of the Edo period, and she gets married to a wealthy samurai in 1858.

There is a scene where a housemaid says to another maid that the samurai's house is troublesome; they must do separate washing for men and women.

Involuntarily I said to myself, "It's the same as today".

About a week ago, I saw a talk show on TV, where several wives, who are beautiful actresses, declared they never do their husband's washing with theirs; their husbands' underwear is so disgusting.

The apparent same phenomena is caused by the opposite motive.

Alas! How evanescent love is!

Didn't they marry the men they loved?

I think husbands should do their own washing.

Someday they may find themselves lucky enough to escape Hercules' tragedy.

Even the strongest hero can be killed with poisoned clothes sent by his wife.

Katsu has far more serious trouble with her husband than washing.

He is a violent drunk and finally, when he throws a knife at their baby, she, wanting to protect the baby, gets stabbed in the arm with the knife.

Kajiko returns to her parents' home, which is now her brother's, and, to her husband's great dishonor, issues a letter of divorce with her hair, which is said to be the first case in history because declaring divorce was the husband's privilege in those days.

At the age of 39, Katsu goes to Tokyo to take care of her brother who is ill in bed, leaving her child to the care of one of her sisters.

Now calling herself Kajiko, she governs her brother's house well and after his recovery she attends a school for one year and begins to work as a teacher at an elementary school, sending most of her salary to her sister for childcare expenses.

There are houseboys (shoei) at her brother's home, one of whom, Yosuke, falls in love with her.

Unlike her ex-husband, Yosuke is very kind and admires her.

She also begins to love him though he is ten years younger than her and has a wife and children in his hometown.

After one year when she confesses she is pregnant, Yosuke says ,

"It's OK. I'll get you into my family register as 'mekake' (mistress).

Let's go to my hometown together."

I was shocked to learn there used to be an entry "mekake" in the family register system.

It was a legally recognized position.

Japan was a legally polygamous country!

The fact is, however, that mekame was promoted to the position of spouse by a new law enacted in the third year of the Meiji period while a mekake was treated just as a servant in the Edo period.

Kajiko refuses his proposal and decides to bring up the baby she is expecting herself.

Then, getting someone to care for her baby, she continues to work, when she is asked to accept the post of headmistress at Shin'ei Girls' School by Mrs True, a missionary.

As headmistress, Kajiko, who has become a Christian herself, promotes unique policies according to Christianity.

She abolishes all the school rules and gets rid of examination proctors,

saying, "You have the Bible, so govern yourself".

Shinsakae Girls' School, united with Sakurai Girls' School, becomes Joshigakuin.

Kajiko forms the Christian Temperance Union, which exists even now, and runs campaigns against alcohol and licensed prostitution.

She visits the United States three times, meets three Presidents and lives to be 93.

The original biography was written by Miura Ayako, a female Christian writer, the director is Yamada Hisako, a woman aged 90 and the leading actress is Tokiwa Takako.

So this is a perfect female movie.

I admire the cast and the production staff, but, above all, Kajiko herself.

She was not weak at all.

I'd like to call her the Great Rudder with respect.

*This essay was corrected by Ms Tama of Idiy.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　February, 2022

Muchabee's Lesson 

 In Japan, when we enter a house, we take our shoes off in the inner entrance, then it is good manners to put the shoes side by side with the toes toward the door.When I was a child, my mother used to say that it was the spirit of an outgoing ship: readiness was essential.

However, Chingo Muchabee showed me a better way, that is, to put one shoe a step farther than the other, as by doing so, you can go a step farther. It's very useful when he wants to run away from enemies.

"Chingo" is a portmanteau word coming from chin (strange) and kengo (master swordsman). 

"Muchabee" consists of two parts, "mucha (reckless, wild, absurd, unreasonable)" and "bee," which is a suffix to a male name used in the old times. 

The name suggests a funny samurai in the Edo period .

I belong to an old school, Musashi Enmeiryu, whose founder is Masana, a disciple of Miyamoto Musashi. (I'd like to add Masana left the art of sword richer in specificity and variety to learn than what his master too famous did.)