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Hearing Nitobe
25
DEAD END PATH
Remember the Ise Monogatari?
- Mary Nitobe accompanied Inazo in 1932
Hearing Nitobe
Right beside iris pond and yatsuhashi
- Poem by Ariwara no Narihira (825 – 880),
- Suffered severe heart attack in Pasadena, no longer able to travel
- Not on any of the 35 plans left by Professor Mori
I have a beloved wife
familiar as the skirt
of a well-worn robe
and so this distant journeying
fills my heart with grief.
- Inazo continues alone: >100 engagements across North America
- With a bench
- Last engagement: Banff peace conference
- Why?
- Dies in Victoria October 15, 1933
- I think, here, Dr. Mori had been listening the echos of Nitobe's own grief
Photos
Return to the path, cross the bridge
But, also a message of hope
Continue on to the teahouse
Walk from the teahouse to the last bench
used with permission from
- Partake of the tea ceremony
- Contemplate the 2nd zodiac lantern
- Stand up, take in this beautiful garden
- Admire Mori's masterpiece in the Roji
- Native and foreign species side by side
- One of only two lanterns you can walk around
- Living reminder of Nitobe's legacy
- Directly south of Nitobe lantern
Often referred to as "devil-losing bridge"
Yatsuhashi commonly over iris beds
Many Yatsuhashi works of art
WEED
- Reference to 10th C Ise Monogatari
- Nitobe Irises from Meiji Imperial Shrine
- Actual place on Azuma River
Popular in Edo period gardens (1603 — 1867)
Yatsuhashi
- Rat points south
- Reminder: memorial
Thank you
What do you hear?
- Only 15 of 16 visible from teahouse
Daniel Mosquin Sarah Lemmon Aryn Strickland
- All other photos are either Public Domain or by Guy Dugas
------------- UBC Archives ------------
Guy Dugas
Ryo Sugiyama
Presented by
- Guy Dugas
- Nitobe Garden guide since 2017
- Ryo Sugiyama
- Nitobe Garden curator since 2010
What makes THIS garden so special?
Preamble
"...one of the most authentic Japanese gardens outside of Japan"
https://botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/visit/nitobe-memorial-garden/
Memorial
Dr. Inazo Nitobe (1862 – 1933)
Garden of Reconciliation
- Agriculturalist
- PhD Agricultural Economics (1890)
- Internationalist/Pacifist
- "Bridge across the Pacific (1883)
Memorial
- Educator
- Founding President TWCU, Women's University (1918)
- Statesman
- Under-Secretary General, League of Nations (1920-1926)
Something of our Japanese heritage has been planted here,
like these plants that have been brought over from Japan, side-by-side with Canadian plants
- Tech. Adviser in Taiwan (1901)
- Bushido, The Soul of Japan (1900)
- "Father of Taiwanese sugar"
- International Committee for Intellectual Cooperation (1922)
This spirit is what we memorialize
Canadian Japanese Association (1960)
WORK of ART
Enjoy the garden the way you would a piece of art;
- it can be appreciated aesthetically,
WORK of ART
- interpreted for meaning,
- or given reverence for the emotions it inspires.”
Most art lovers appreciate context
Guides can provide that context
(Early Garden audio guide notes)
- learning about the artist, influences, and of course,
- Mine is a very personal reflection on the garden
the subject
Joucho
Ryo Sugiyama shares Junji Shinada's passion
If you don't feel joucho, it's not a real Japanese garden.
- Preserve atmosphere: peaceful, warm feeling
Junji Shinada, garden curator 1989-2011
- Share Japanese culture
Joucho
- Often translated as feelings, emotion, or passion
- Respect local nature
- I prefer "aura": a distinctive but intangible quality;
- Memorial to Nitobe's ideals of peace and understanding
feeling connected to something bigger than oneself
Weeds
Journey through life
I am in Japan!
Proof! This is traditional garden!
...from infancy, childhood, teenage years, marriage, adulthood, and...
- Attributed to Emperor Akihito
BUT
Many apocryphal elements have crept into the garden narrative...
“The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it’s hard to verify their authenticity”
– Abraham Lincoln
Weeds
BUT
- First quoted in 1991 article, then 1996 guide
Professor Mori's intent was to reflect Dr. Nitobe's desire to be a "bridge across the Pacific" using Japanese garden technique.
- Akihito only visited once, in 2019
Ryo Sugiyama
The Garden
Design
- Prof. Kannosuke Mori of Chiba University (14-month effort)
The Garden
- “Japanese Japanese Garden in Canada”, not a “Canadian Japanese Garden”
- Both intentional and spontaneous elements
- "Full beauty of the garden not visible for several years yet and depends on its maintenance."
Intentional
- Signature stones
- Rat on zodiac points North
- Oribe and Pole lanterns align with sun at 7:30pm October 15
- 4 pm October 15: sun lights up Nitobe lantern's firebox
- Water flows in from northeast and out to the southwest (Sakuteiki)
Intentional
Toshiaki
Masuno
Dr. Kannosule Mori
SPONTANEOUS
Sakutiki opens with, "Ishi wo taten koto",
"The Art of Setting Stones"
- Stones a central component
- Shintoism: All things have Kami, or a spirit
Spontaneous
- Must follow "the will or desire of stones”
- Extends to the making of the garden itself
- Prof. Mori would pause "as if listening to something I couldn't hear..."