Image: Mt Fuji from Miho, woodprint by Yoshida Hiroshi (1935)
Text: On Mt Fuji, from Nihon Hyakumeizan (One Hundred Mountains of Japan) by Fukada Kyūya (1964):
It is extraordinary that such a mountain should have erupted from our small island country. Kojima Usui, whose pen was untiring on the subject of Fuji, had this to say: "The arc described from the contour of the summit shrine, some ten thousand feet above sea level, down to Ōmiya, at the foot of the main route up the mountain – this arc, slanting, somewhat steeply yet always in an easy, serene, almost carefree way, across a flawless sky – this gigantic line is, except for the sea horizon, the mightiest that the eye will ever see in this country."
9 comments:
This moku-hanga by Yoshida Hiroshi is lovely! As I felt inspired by your Fuji-san posts so far, I feel like writing something about Fuji in a feminine(?) way when cherry blossoms are in bloom.
How beautiful and soothing the scenery is. Indeed, "the mightiest that the eye will ever see."
When I visited Miho-no-matsubara a few years ago, I thought it must have been quite a sight there in the old days when there were no concrete and other artificial buildings in view. Yoshida Hiroshi showed me this dream-seascape with Fuji.
Look forward to reading more of the Fuji postings evolving here.
Thank you for another Fuji post- I have been formulating a response to your first recent Fuji post but teaching has started back and art school is eating up my time- hopefully next week though..
Speaking of smooth arcs, I just watched the top of the Hosei University tower in Ichigaya, Tokyo, prescribing a pretty impressive arc this afterrnoon as it swayed back and forth like a sapling in a stong breeze... This hasn't been a good day for Japan.
Lovely post though, Project H. Out of interest, was Kojima the same Alpine Club Kojima who was narrowly beaten to the top of Tsurugidake?
Tony
Sapphire, Sunnybeauty, Birdmonkey, Tony - thank you for reading. I feel almost bound to apologise for the timing of this post - unwittingly put up a few hours before the Tohoku disaster. I can assure you that everybody's thoughts over here (Switzerland) are with Japan and their friends there.
Tony: thanks for the eyewitness report from Hosei - the swaying tower brings home the massive scale of this earthquake. Yes, the Kojima Usui who wrote the quotation is the very same who is depicted in the Tsurugi film. But the "race" seems to have been a complete fiction.
Just checking in on the net, I hope you and your colleagues are okay and out of harm's way.
The video footage of the earthquake damage is distressing. Our hearts go out to everyone in Japan.
Reading you post, today after what happened in Japan I asked myself if we do really have some foreboding about what is going to happen. You say, you almost feel as you have to apologize, I can follow this, you don't have to, we do not have any impact on ...
8,9 degree of Richter scale that's an enormous destructiveness. I’ve read that earthquakes almost daily happen there and that Japan is one of the countries that does manage it in a best manner, however 8,9 ... I've seen some videos, people telling about what happened there ... I can only hope that number of fatality will stay at the today known. Loved people nothing can replace ... what can we do for those who are in worries and suffer now, tell that we will share, if necessary, to help them come over, and listen to their pain
We watch. We wait. We weep. We pray (however that may be.) We want to help (whatever that may be.) We're in awe of the Japanese people. The world learns the true definition of respect.
Stay safe!
Okay, dude, what's going on? You okay?
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