Historic Guadalupe Cemetery

On three sides of an unpainted block wall stands an older working class neighborhood, it's houses dotted with swamp coolers and satellite dishes.  Cactus and scraggly ironwood trees have grown out of bounds, crossing property lines indiscriminately.  Aluminum chairs with torn webbing share the shaded carport spaces, shoulder to shoulder with faded vehicles sitting on balding tires.  

The fourth side of the wall forms the eastern boundary for a mobile home park. Trailer houses with patched window screens and dented tin siding slouch over rusted wheel wells.  Here they sit and here they will stay, any hint of mobility gone forever.  

Yet, there is no graffiti, trash does not litter the yards and no cars sit up on blocks.   It is very poor, but clean and probably safe.

Between these living arrangements, the gray walls enclose a dirt parking lot and a forest of white crosses that mark the final resting places of those who have given up living altogether.

This is Guadalupe Cemetery

Tempe, Arizona

(clicking on photos will bring them to screen size)

I came here on a white hot day a few weeks ago to see this cemetery reflecting Hispanic and Yaqui Indian cultures, established in 1904.  There were people around so I asked permission to photograph the area, being careful not to include any living person in my pictures.  Also, I was dressed appropriately and moved quietly.  Small gestures are important, I think.  Especially in these spaces. 

Someone thought about this soldier recently; the flag is not yet faded.  Surely his face was brought to mind when the primitive crucifix was made for him.

Even in the early morning hours, the unforgiving sun drove me towards the shady places.  I was heading for the folk art on the back wall.  It wasn't easy. 

There are few orderly rows, convenient right angles or discrete distances between markers.  I kept the backs of crosses immediately to my left, reasoning that I would be at the bottom edge of the grave to my right, only to find that I would end up at an intersection with a grave directly ahead.  So, I would walk the few inches between graves and turn where I thought they ended, refusing to walk over a grave not out of fear, but respect. 

Still I found myself apologizing to people long since dead and beyond caring for stepping on their toes.

When I finally arrived at the back wall, I saw this.

Isn't it wonderful!  So much life and joy.  It depicts El Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead).  Unlike Halloween and it's evil spirits with which it is wrongly associated, The Day of the Dead is a celebration of life.  Life and death are intermingled.  On this day, graves will be cleaned and decorated.  Food may be brought and shared.  Laughter and music will be in the air.

 

It may make it easier to bear this.

The child's grave is marked by two pots with white stones to hold flowers; one bouquet has blown away.  There are two white ceramic puppies and three Christmas trees here.  It's better not to speculate.

 A child's grave is sad enough.

A doll and a yellow plush kitten look over this grave covered with the  mementos of a young life.  On The Day of the Dead, November 1, the vases will hold fresh flowers and maybe another little gift will have been found to place here.

Not everyone has family to honor their lives, but neither are they forgotten.  The pieces of this cross have been carefully gathered and placed over the flag until The Day of the Dead when a new cross and flag will be erected.  I only saw three broken crosses; they all looked like this, waiting to be renewed.

The town of Guadalupe is named after Our Lady of Guadalupe or in Mexico, La Morenita, depicted here appearing to the Aztec Indian, Juan Diego in 1531.  From then on, Catholicism became an inextricable part of all Central American culture.

This newly placed cross was erected this past April.  The hand painted decoration and carefully filigreed wood is lovely.  The grave is in front of the cross.  The bricks behind it line another grave beginning just inches away.

Just a couple feet away, the same family used this cross fifteen years ago.  It seems to be holding up well.  The wood cutting and hand painting are sealed and the colors remain bright.

Nearby, the Virgin of San Juan overlooks the far eastern part of the cemetery.  Everywhere, the walls have been painted with religious representations.  Effort has been made to show that this is a sacred place and to surround the dead and their visitors with comforting symbols.

Some graves are fresh and tidy with historical information on the cross.

Others have intriguingly little information.

Known only by their given names, these three appear to belong together, possibly brother and sisters?  Among the many graves, some are barely remembered.

And some are forgotten.  My grandmother used to say that you are truly dead when the last person who remembers you dies.  You are then beyond living memory.  This grave will be attended to on The Day of the Dead.  Someone will show respect for an unknown one.  Like other graves, this one will be cleaned, the dirt will be swept up onto the mound and any broken monuments will be replaced or repaired. 

A small bench makes visiting easier.  The simple palm frond roof will provide shade from the western sun.  It is a place to gather and provide ease.  A grave is a sorrowful thing.  But here, death is not overwhelming.  Life is close by.

Some grave sites are newer and much more elaborate, providing ample comfortable seating, shade and more durable masonry monuments.  The deceased is still very much a part of the family.

Whatever the circumstances, all are equal now.  But there is a difference here from most cemetery sites.  This one is visited, routinely.  It is not a forlorn and forgotten place.

Death is part of life.  Traditional marigold wreaths are placed on the crosses to alert the deceased to the attention paid by the living.  A face is brought to mind, a gift is left with love.

Mostly, they remember

(Anyone interested in genealogy will have to apply to the Town Clerk of Guadalupe for information.

Although this cemetery is current, raised mounds do not always indicate recent burials.)

"ILLEGAL is not a race. It is a CRIME" (Sen. Pearce)

Senator Russell Pearce

"You can't break into my country, just like you can't break into my home."

Arizona SB 1070 uses "attrition through enforcement" as one of the tools to deter illegal immigration.  This means that after any lawful contact for traffic or criminal infractions is made, authorities can then determine the immigration status of those suspected of being in the country illegally. 

Arizona law mirrors federal law which already requires aliens (non-citizens) to register and carry their documents with them at all times.

8 USC 1304(e) and 8 USC 1306(a)

The most controversial component of SB 1070 requires authorities to determine the status of persons believed to be in the country illegally.

So what would suspicious behavior look like?  How is that recognizable to law enforcement?  Since Arizona does not issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, the lack of a driver's license, any record of ever having had a license, or any other state or federal identification is one example of reasonable suspicion.  As is crossing the border at any point that is not an official point of entry, i.e., the desert or rivers and canals.  Or being recognized by law enforcement as having been a previous offender.

Those participants demonstrating against the implementation of SB 1070 refer to "racial profiling" and seem to think that police would or even could walk up to a brown skinned person and start questioning that individual without provocation.  It doesn't work that way.

SB1070 states that police may not solely consider race, color or national origin when implementing the law.  Read about it here:

http://www.cis.org/

Center for Immigration Studies

***************

Illegal immigration begins with crushing poverty created, in part, by U.S. corporations who moved across the border looking for cheap labor.  And then moved on to Asia in search of even cheaper labor, leaving starving thousands of people unequipped to fend for themselves.  The 1994/1995 Mexican privatization of banking and telecommunications created even more poverty.  Most of the wealth in Mexico is owned by the top 12% of the population. Faced with a Mexican government that was unable and unwilling to provide social services, they began walking north in desperation.

The seduction is irresistible.  Jobs may be north.  It is beautiful...and deadly.

There is no water here and days of searing heat to endure. Thousands have died of dehydration through the years.

These numbers are now skyrocketing to the largest mass immigration in our nation's history.  Damage to the environment, to National Parks, to wildlife and to residents is now spiraling out of control.  The cost to the border states for emergency health care, education and the criminal justice system are bankrupting our social services.

The topography looks green; it isn't.  This is an arid area of few habitations or roads, both to be avoided if you are illegal.  There is a tradition in the West among desert people.  No one is refused water.  To that end Humane Borders have erected and maintain water stations throughout the area with blue marker flags that can be seen for miles.  Even with this help, many die, as the red dots indicate. Not everyone is found.  This is a low estimate for years past.

Should this humanitarian aid continue?  There are those who contend that aiding and abetting illegal immigrants in this way is itself illegal.  This also aids drug runners, human traffickers and returning criminals as well as the thousands entering the U.S. illegally.

http://www.humaneborders.org/

www.desertinvasion.us/info

 It is estimated that nearly 3000 illegals per day are crossing the 1940 mile U.S./Mexico border.  I don't know how many are destitute Mexicans or terrorists in disguise. 

DO YOU?

This is just one small trail along a nearly 2000 mile border with Mexico along which illegal immigrants are pouring into the U.S.  President Bush merged the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, FEMA and the Border Patrol into Homeland Security.  In 2005 Congress required Homeland Security to hire 10,000 new Border Patrol agents.  It didn't.  According to John Culberson (R-TX),  Congress bypassed the White House twice that year to bring the number to 1500.  With the economic distress of recent years, it will be an uphill battle to meet those numbers.   

On March 27 of this year, Robert Krentz, a rancher on the U.S./Mexican border called his family from a VHF radio to report illegal activity on his land and asked them to call Border Patrol.  They found his body hours later and followed the tracks south to the border.  Mr Krentz had been shot by an armed perpetrator who didn't hesitate to kill.   

Homeland Security Director and former Arizona Governor, Janet Napolitano, thinks there is adequate security on the border.

IS THIS A SECURE HOMELAND BORDER?

***************


Judge Susan Bolton has struck down parts of SB 1070.  This will be appealed to the 9'th Circuit Court of Appeals, located in San Francisco.  Check the Court Calendar for case number, case title, the judge's name, the location and hearing date.
www.ca9.uscourts.gov/

For a summary of SB 1070 and an explanation of immigration issues, see The Federation For American Immigration Reform.
http://www.fairus.org/

On March 14, 2010, USA Today reported that
.....three people with ties to the U.S. Consulate in Mexico were killed in a drive by shooting.
.....the  U.S. official spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. (Why anonymity?)
.....the State Department said it would allow family members of diplomatic staff to leave the border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros.
.....delay travel to Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua.

www.epa.gov/usmexicoborder/

Along Arizona's part of this nearly 2000 mile border and because of Judge Bolton's decision, it is now illegal for Arizona authorities to enforce federal immigration policy even in light of the federal government's failure to do so and even though SB 1070 makes the federal and state law agree in an effort to protect our border.

So, it is illegal for police here to check the immigration status of anyone in custody before they are released.

Why?

Because that is the Fed's job and they don't have the time! 

According to Judge Bolton, in agreement with the Justice Department, certain items in SB 1070 conflict with the federal government's preemption and supremacy clauses.  Such checks would "swamp federal immigration officials who are pursuing other priorities".

SB 1070 mirrors federal law.  It is not in opposition to it.  And what "other priorities"?

"Federal resources would be taxed and diverted from federal enforcement priorities as a result of the increase in requests for immigration status determinations", causing irreparable harm to the interests of the federal government".

What?!

How is it even possible to do "irreparable harm" to the federal government, who controls all the armed services and all the intelligence agencies in the country in addition to having all the money collected from taxation?

***************

Hispanic Vote * Business Profits

Fraudulent ID and the Social Security System

These are the reasons for a U.S./Mexican border that leaks like a sieve.

Even though illegal immigrants have no vote, they have family here who do.  The Hispanic community represents the largest ethnic block of voters in the U.S.  Politicians on both sides of the aisle will do anything they can to get those numbers on their side. 

Good business has the appearance of success, but looks are deceiving.  Profits are gained by moving more legal workers out of jobs and more illegal workers into them.  Workers that will accept less pay and no benefits.  This decreases the median pay scale for everyone downward. 

Fraudulent IDs are easy to obtain; a package containing a fake Social Security number, fake green card and sometimes, driver's licenses.

With this "documentation", employer's have themselves covered to then hire illegal immigrants at the lowest possible wages resulting in economic slavery and a downward spiral in all wages. But profits are up.

The W-2 forms with fake social security numbers are put into an earnings suspense file.  This is how the Social Security Administration collects money from sources that do not appear to be valid.  Hence, the SSA knows who employs illegal immigrants and even who those illegal immigrants may be.  But, this is money that is collected and so far, will never be paid out in benefits to those payees.  It amounts to billions and billions and billions of dollars.  And it is propping up a failing social security system.

With amnesty, a motion supported by Arizona Senator John McCain, these monies will be paid out to former illegal immigrants who earned the money illegally and will add millions more to our already overburdened system. 

Here is the catch.  There is no money in this fund.  It is just an accounting file.

Any monies paid out will come from another source.  The American taxpayer who legally paid into the system. 

http://www.seniorsleague.org/

The Scales of Justice are skewed.

And Not In Arizona's Favor.

(Articles quoted here include Bear Stearns in a jobs report; the New York Times in April 2005-Eduardo Porter; Dr. David Groody, Associate Professor at Notre Dame and the director of the Center for Latin American Studies; Deborah Moody of About.com; the National Drug Intelligence Center. Other attribution is included in the post.)
*Hispanic Americans who are here legally are not in any way thought of in a negative light by this writer.  This refers to just one (the largest) ethnic voting blocks in the U.S.

Arizona Immigration Law - SB 1070 Hearing Today

The State of Arizona is under siege and in the spotlight today.  Protesters for or against the Immigration Law due to take effect on July 29 will be voicing their opinions in front of the State Capitol. 

Activist groups are staking out space as I type.  The last time this happened, voices were raised, shouts were heard and fists pounded the air.  Yet, even with tempers flaring, it was relatively peaceable.  As a protester of the 60's and a veteran of sit-in demonstrations I back both sides in their right to gather and have their opinions heard.  But as an Arizonan, my feet are firmly planted beside Jan Brewer, our Arizona Governor.

Governor Jan Brewer

The Federal government will argue it's case against Arizona's right to enact laws, a State's Rights case.  Arizona will stand firm in it's right to protect itself in the absence of Washington's ability to do it's job by enforcing immigration laws on the books and the failure to pass immigration reform.

Arizona can show that expenditures for education, criminal justice and emergency medical care are significant and paid almost entirely by border States. 

The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) maintains that the problem with the immigration system isn't the immigrants, it is that immigration quotas provide so few opportunities for most immigrants to enter to country legally.  There are only 5000 visas available for unskilled foreigners seeking work.

Which leads to the notion that the illegal immigrants whose first act in the United States was to break it's laws, have some inherent right to amnesty.  This is nonsensical.

John McCain, our Senator, estimated that 4,000,000 illegal immigrants entered the country across the Arizona border just in 2004.  It is estimated that 15 to 20 million illegal immigrants are living in the United States today.  That means one in every seventeen people are here illegally.  If this isn't the Government's primary focus, we are ruined as a nation.

How is it that billion dollar corporations through the lack of timely FDA oversight perpetrate health risks resulting in deaths?  Why is this increasing despite all the red flags regarding food and medical drug health issues in the U.S?  Let one whiff of Mad Cow Disease threaten the multi billion dollar U.S. meat industry and they will tell you they have tracked the problem to a specific animal's gene line and can even tell you which herd any animal remotely related to it is now living.  Yet, they can't find almost 20,000,000 illegal immigrants? 

Are you getting this? 

Why do illegal immigrants have any rights?  As opposed to legal immigrants who are welcomed and respected as citizens of the U.S.  This used to be the crowning glory of the Republic, the embracing of many beliefs and many cultures resulting in a heady brew of language, ability and ambition - all working together.

What right does the elected official of a foreign country have to tell me what is appropriate in my county?

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon calls Arizona Law SB1070 "racial discrimination" a "violation of human rights".  I suppose it's easier to rule a country when you, by inference, encourage the lesser skilled of your people to leave.  Then you won't be so pushed to provide social services for your own countrymen.  Their human rights don't seem to mean much in Mexico. 

Mexico's immigration laws are strict.  The General Law on Population enacted by Mexico in 2000 mandates federal, state and municipal police cooperate with immigration authorities in the arrest of illegal immigrants.  Illegal immigration is a felony punishable by a fine of $2,000.00 and two years in jail.  Reentry will cost you ten years in prison.  Visa violators will get six years in prison.  Mexicans who help illegal immigrants are viewed as criminals.  

President Felipe Calderon is a hypocrite of the highest order.

So, if the U.S. laws on immigration are not upheld here, 

they will have to be enforced here.

It's Sheriff Joe's deputies who are on the line and he is a very protective boss.  Especially when his men are out in the desert looking for illegals.  Because the fence won't stop everyone - even if it's completed.

ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) have only so many officers, spread over too much territory.  U.S. citizens have been killed close to the border, on their own property.  Families sleep in shifts to protect their homes, their families and their livestock.  Automobiles routinely disappear.  Arizonans on the border live in a dangerous war zone, insufficiently protected and marginalized by their own country, while politicians line up for camera time spouting the latest "sounds good" sound byte.  Talk is so damn cheap.  Action is the only thing that means anything at all and in Washington, the government failed to enact immigration reform or improve border security.

A drug was is raging just across the border in Mexico.  The violence around drug activities is accelerating.  There are those who believe that if the need wasn't there, the drugs wouldn't appear and the violence would subside. 

This is a simplistic, visionary and total unrealistic assessment of a very real situation. People are dying now on both sides of the border.

Think about this.  Do you honestly believe illegal Mexican immigrants, the drug runners and the human trafikkers are the only people capable of crossing our borders?

THINK AGAIN.

Temper, Temper

I can't help it....I'm laughing so hard I can hardly breathe.

This is from Susan (Stupid Earring Day).

Summer Tootsies

How 'bout these tootsies?!

There nothing like a pedicure to perk you up when the thermometer reads 107F.  I opted for daisies.

Wonder what my granddaughter will think of these?

Alone With IZ

Israel Kawiwo'ole

"IZ"

My playlist includes many songs by this larger than life young man.  Iz died in 1997 at the age of 38, almost 12 years before I discovered the sweetest voice I had ever heard.  After he was cremated, his ashes were spread on the water.  That day appears at the end of this video.  He was accompanied by thousands of fans who sent their love along with him.  You can still get his CDs or download songs separately into an MP3 player.  There are two songs that I thought would never be sung as well as the original artists.  "Over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland, and "Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.  I've changed my mind.

I'll bet you become a fan too.

Stupid Earring Day

Gerri

Oh yeah.  You've got a drawer full of this stuff too.  Don't even try to tell me otherwise.  You needed it for a special outfit or a costume, something that provided that extra little punch.  It took a look from just okay, to pizazz!  I had to twist Gerri's arm to get her to put these back on.  Those clips just kill your earlobes.  Remember?

Susan

Susan has drawers full of this stuff.  There were tea parties and garden parties and birthday bashes and, well, you get the idea.  She still has the dress that goes with these earrings.   Stupid Earring Day was her idea.   We thought it sounded like fun.  Where else are we going to wear our "jewels"?  But we don't encourage her.  Who knows what will be next!

Virginia

Virginia said she didn't have any tacky jewelry and had to go shopping for these.  We didn't believe her.  Every woman has some tacky stuff hidden somewhere.  Then she came in these drop dead gorgeous Betsy Johnson earrings which I love.  I'll have to find out where she got these. 

Gwen

Yes, she always looks like this.  Gwen makes most of her jewelry.  She has more jewelry than all the other women in our group put together.  Serious jewelry.  So this wasn't a stretch for her.  But none of it is tacky.  Just really big.  For her own good, we don't let her near water.

Sandi

These are the kind of earrings that keep hitting your shoulder when you turn your head, so they are a real pain in the neck.  But they look good.  And Sandi bought the earrings for this floor length dress.  She looks fabulous. 

Pat

Pat is consistent.  She and her house look alike.  If you took her earring and blew it up a hundred times, she would put it on her wall as modern art.  She loves it and it does look great.  Virginia thinks Pat is the whitest white woman she has ever seen.  We think so too. She doesn't get out much until the sun goes down.

Linda

Yep, it's me.  I had huge hoop earrings that had bananas and pineapples in them.  They went with my Carmen Miranda Halloween costume.  There was nothing tackier than those earrings.  But, I couldn't find them.  So, I bought these at a Dollar Store sale - now that's cheap!  Maybe I'll use them for Valentine's Day....

Put Out The Red Carpet

Better dust the guest bedroom.  We've got company.

Happy Birthday Arizona Skies!

Arizona Skies is one year old today!

Only another blogger would understand the utter amazement that happens when, after a year, I haven't even begun to search for something to say.  For better or worse, it all rolls on and on, almost effortlessly.  I'm still tweaking, but I've achieved what I intended from the beginning.  Getting to know you and hearing all the amazing things you tell me each day.

The best gifts are mine!  Who knew that I would make so many friends with such interesting opinions on so many topics?  It really is a small world after all.  There are no national borders,  no artificial barriers.  Just people having a conversation and getting to know some of the other people and opinions on this planet we all call home.

I know so much more than I did a year ago.  From writing and gardening, to poetry and photography.  Traveling and history, small town news to the Hubbell Telescope and beyond.  All the pictures and comments about your families and recipes from 92 (and counting) foreign countries.  Political views and religious persuasions, jokes and tears, fears and joys.  New friends that show up weekly and some that die and break our hearts.

Thanks to all of you that came before me and showed me the ropes;  I hope I can return the favor to those that come along this year.  I want you to know that it's an exciting moment every morning when I bring my coffee and turn on the computer.  And every morning I happily wonder the same thing.

Who will I talk to today?

Japan - Tokyo, Part 7

Tokyo National Museum

Japanese buildings hold their secrets close.  Viewed from the front, they present a solid facade, a barrier.  Approached slowly and discretely from an angle, they begin to reveal their subtle beauty in successive layers.  Charming icons perch on gleaming tile roof lines that seem to scoop up handfuls of blue sky with each soaring curve.  You will be shown small pieces to savor fully before another another piece can be considered.  And so you must take time to appreciate what is being offered.

Tucked into a garden area between the larger buildings of the museum is the centuries old guard gate of the Ikeda feudal family.  Called Kuromon (Black Gate), it now offers the opportunity to be quiet.  Walk slowly, listen to birdsong, watch cherry blossoms float on the water.  Tokyo bustles outside, but this is not that place.

Will your mind to be still so that you are open to all that you can observe in the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures just across the reflecting pool.  Turn around and enter softly, for inside rests the soul of a people.

(Photo from Tokyo National Museum Brochure)

To create art is to communicate more than an image; the work before you is only the beginning of what is being conveyed.   In this single collection are over 300 pieces from the 6'th and 7'th centuries that use the language of art as metaphors for their aesthetic visions of themselves, their world and their views of life.  Of all the riches available, this is the one that speaks to me.  

                            

(Photo from Tokyo National Museum Brochure)

Lady Maya and the Three Heavenly Beings

According to legend, Lady (Queen) Maya hears that she will bear a son who will be a great king or a visionary leader of all peoples.  She dreams of a good omen, a white elephant, who enters her side and will be reborn into this world of illusion one last time.  The child who would become the Buddha was born in 532BCE.  It was a world changing event.

Next door stands the Hyokeikan Asian Gallery containing archaeological objects from continental Asia. 

It is the home my favorite image of the Buddha.

A harsher light was coming from above, but I worked with my camera to get a softer piece.  This glowing Buddha appears illuminated from within by his own radiance.  Art communicates on many levels, perhaps this Buddha was calling to me.

Just a few steps away lies the Honkan Japanese Gallery, the largest building on the grounds, where the main collection is housed.

My first experience with the Japanese culture was over 35 years ago when I saw an exhibition of antique textiles in Washington, D.C.  It began a lifelong fascination with Japanese quilting and embroidery.  That was when I saw my first kimono.

 

There is nothing quite as grand as a kimono.  The vibrancy of silk materials combined with the artistry of perfect subject and color selections.  The glitter of judiciously placed silver and gold metallic threads.   Impossibly tiny quilting stitches designed to recall natural elements that resemble ocean waves, clouds or petals to name a few.  The design continues uninterrupted over the folds harmonizing with the drape of the material.  It is a walking masterpiece.

Just down the corridor is an exhibition of painting styles to include hanging scrolls, woodblock prints and folding screens.  Here is a wonderful example.

The Japanese are more interested in their actual lives, rather than an afterlife.  This screen depicting everyday life acted both to arrange space and provide a pleasant scene to observe.  Brighter colors and liberal use of gold leaf made a rich addition to the living areas.

There are so many lights in our world; the light of creativity, the light of illumination and the light that shows us the way like this one leading to the second floor. 

    But there is one light that shines above all others.  It is this.

                             

Writing allows learning to be passed on to future generations, it preserves culture and is literally the field of all our dreams.   Japanese calligraphy evolved into two styles.  Wayo followed the classic Chinese form and was used by the nobility.  Karayo allowed sensibility to be conveyed in the written character.  I am intrigued by a temperament that would appreciate such a distinction.

This is my copy of the Tale of Genji which I have been reading for 30 years.  Written by the Lady Murasaki Shikibu of the Heian court in the 11'th century, it is recognized as the greatest masterpiece of Japanese narrative prose.  It is thought to be the earliest novel in the world.  This picture of day to day courtly life does not follow a plot, rather it is a glimpse into another world, 1500 years ago.  It extends to over 1000 pages, but dipped into a few chapters at a time, it offers an insight into the Japanese character unmatched by any other media.  This version is easy to read and is illustrated with many historic woodblock prints.

I could suggest no better introduction of a people than this work that brims with intelligence, elegance of expression and sophistication.  Consider Prince Genji and a companion as they reflect on mourning.  His companion departs and Genji picks up the fan she unobtrusively left by his side and on which she has written:

"This day, we are told, announces an end to mourning.

How can it be, when there is no end to tears?"

Genji writes an answer on the fan, replaces it where it had lain and takes his leave.  On it he has answered:

"The days are numbered for him who yet must mourn.

And are they numbered, the tears that yet remain?"

Yes, he tells her gently, there is an end to sadness.

..............................................................................................

In the preceding Tokyo posts, I have tried to touch very lightly on philosophy, religion, art, the military mind, food, temperament, historic precedence and modern day Japan.  It was meant to put the succeeding pieces in some contextual frame and act as a preamble to shorter, less detailed posts.   

(All editorial and photographic rights reserved by Arizona Skies.)

Tokyo National Museum - April 10, 2010