"
Lazard: family of international bankers; Lazard Freres, founded during the gold rush in California, traded in gold between San Francisco and Paris via New York and London.
Lazard: family of international bankers; Lazard Freres, founded during the gold rush in California, traded in gold between San Francisco and Paris via New York and London.
Ezra-Pound-Japan-Letters-essays
Pound's "Five French Poems" appeared in the first issue.
ZieJinski: Thaddeus Zielinski, Polish professor of Greek; author of La SibyJJe, Trois Essais sur la Religion Antique et le Christianisme (Paris: Redier, 1924). Edge 2 was entirely composed of a translation of this work into English as "The Sibyl. "
W. L. : Wyndham Lewis. D. P. : Dorothy Pound.
).
? NOTES 239
La MartinelU: a booklet published by Vanni Scheiwiller in 1956. It contains repro- ductions of paintings by Sheri MartinelU, an American painter and "disciple" of Pound at St. Elizabeths, with an introduction by Pound.
Ford: Ford Madox Ford.
Amarai: Jose V^squez Amaral's translation of The Pisan Cantos into Spanish was
published in 1956: Los Canfares de Pisa [D219J.
Eva: Eva Hesse's translation of The Pisan Cantos into German was published also in
1956: Die Pisaner Gesdnge [D28]; she also translated a selection of Pound's poetry and prose, Dichtung und Prosa (1953), which was reissued in paperback in 1956 (D26].
TRAXINIAIin London: First English publication in book form of Pound's Women of Trachis appeared on November 30, 1956, published by Neville Spearman [A72]; the play had already been published, however, in the Winter 1953/4 issue of Hudson Review, vol. vi, no. 4, ed. F. Morgan. The English edition bears the dedication by Pound: "A version for Kitasono Katue, hoping he will use it on my dear old friend Miscio Ito, or take it to the Minoru if they can be persuaded to add to their repertoire. " The addenda include remarks by Denis Goacher, Peter Whigham, S. V. Jankowski and Ricardo M. degli Uberti.
Academia Bulletin: a Pound-instigated leaflet edited by David Gordon, a frequent visitor to St. Elizabeths. Uberti's essay ("Why Pound Liked Italy") appeared in the first issue (1956); see Paideuma, vol. 3, no. 3.
Verkehr: communication.
Lorenzatos: Zesimos Lorenzatos, translator of Cathay into Greek as Katah
Metaphrasoon apo to Aggliko (1950) [D51]. Pivot: see [B53] and [B55].
cordialie saluti: cordial greetings.
135
causerie: banter.
Nimbus: ed. T. Hull and D. Wright; vol. Ill, no. 4 (Winter 1956) [London]. omnes eodem cogimur: "we are all urged toward the same. "
translate it into Japanese: see note to letter 129.
Norman Douglas: British author and long-time resident in Italy; author of South
Wind, etc.
John Espey: author of Ezra Pound's Mauberley: A Study in Composition (1955). Friar: Kimon Friar.
Brinnin: John Malcolm Brinnin (? ).
Legge: James Legge, 19th century British Sinologist; translator of the Li Chi. etc.
T'ao Yuan-ming: ( f^ \^^ Sj^ ) [To Emmei, in Japanese] (365-427), a Chinese poet.
136 "d^rocher": "to cleanse metals with acid. "
? 240 NOTES
Noel Stock: editor of Australian literary magazine Edge.
prebebde: indication of rhyme scheme (? ), or of divinity degree (? ).
Kojiro Yoshikawa: ( ^>>'\ "^-"^^^P ) [1904-80], a Japanese scholar of Chinese
literature, for many years professor at Kyoto University. Among his books is The East in the West (Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 1955), which contains a reproduction of a painting by Sheri Martinelli and an essay on his visit to Pound at St. Elizabeths in Washington, D. C.
h. de compos; Haroldo and Augusto de Campos, poets; translated the Cantos into Portuguese [Cantares, Sao Paulo, 1960).
Eva Hesse O'Donnell: Pound's German translator; editor of New Approaches to Ezra Pound (London: Faber 1969).
Garcia Terres: Jaime Garcia Terres, Mexican translator of Pound's poems into Spanish.
Chiang: Chiang Kai-shek,
/o Bard: Joseph Bard, editor of El Dinamismo de una Nueva Poesia (Puerto de la
Cruz: Instituto de Estudios Hispanicos, 1957) and novelist; Pound had met him in Rapallo in 1928.
137
parcel: see [D60], [B46], [D 59], [D61] and [A68].
etiam atque-etiam vaJe: "further and even further may you be well. "
Nippon: Japan.
138
140
Cole Rice: Karel Vaclav Rais (1859-1927), a Czechoslovakian poet and novelist. Elmer Rice is an American novelist and playwright.
Fletcher's widow: Mrs. John Gould Fletcher, wife of the American poet whom Pound knew during the years of the Imagist movement in London.
Hagoromo: a No play.
Kiogen: Kyogen, a comic interlude set between No plays.
146
grandson of Leo Frobenius: Sebastian Frobenius; the story appears in AJto Adige (December 7, 1958), the day following the visit.
my daughter works on Junzaburo's poems; Mary de Rachewiltz was translating "January in Kyoto" into Italian.
Dei PeJo Pardi: Giulio Del Pelo Pardi, classical scholar, agrarian archaeologist and inventor of a system of soil conservation and shallow ploughing.
148
Okada: Tomoji Okada (1880-1965), former director, London Branch, Yamanaka
? NOTES 241
and Co.
to honour E. F. in manner stated: Pound had written of Fenollosa in the "Introduc-
tion" to the translation of No plays: "When he died suddenly in England the Japanese government sent a warship for his body, and the priests buried him within the sacred enclosure at Miidera. "
your in/ormation: Tomoji Okada, under the direction of Kichirobe Yamanaka of Yamanaka and Co. , had the remains of Fenollosa which had already been buried at Highgate Cemetery, London cremated in 1909; Okada then asked Yasotaro Kato, an art dealer, who was on his way to Japan through the Siberian Railroad, to take the ashes to Japan and lay them to rest at Miidera, the temple in Otsu where Fenollosa had studied Buddhism and which he had especially loved. See Toku- taro Shigehisa, "Fenollosa's Ashes and Japan," Comparative Literature (Tokyo), vol. 2 (1959); and "A Letter of Ezra Pound," FenoJJosa Society of Japan NewsJet- ter, no. 5 (1982).
vol/ on Art: E. F. Fenollosa's Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art, published by William Heinemann in 1912.
NOTES TO ESSAYS
1
Dowland: John Dowland, (c. 1567-1626), English lutenist and composer. Ogden: Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), author of books on "basic English," in- cluding The ABC of Basic English (1932), Basic English (1933), The Basic
Dictionary (1939) and Basic by Picture Stamps (1941).
2
the magnificent "Runner": see Leo Frobenius, Prehistoric Rock Pictures (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1937).
totalitarian: see "Totalitarian," Guide to KuJchur.
Anschauung: "outlook. "
P. Bottonne: Phyllis Bottome (1884-1963), English novelist; author of Private
Worlds (1934), The Moral Storm (1937), etc.
Active AnthoJogy: [B32].
/. F. C. FuJJer: John Frederick Charles Fuller (1878-1966), Major General (1930);
author of War and Western Civilization, 1832-1932 (1932); Armaments and
History (1945); The Second World War (1949), etc. Sickert: Walter Sickert (1860-1942), English painter.
3
jE^/h "thecleardefinitionofterms"
%^
Arrow Editions: New York publisher of The Chinese Written Character as a
: "sincerity" Funa-Benkai: a No play.
? 242 NOTES
Medium /or Poetry [B36b].
Shige/usa Hosho: [ ^. ^%^ ) [1900-1974], Head Master of the Hosho
^
School of No.
Michitar6Shidehara. (*W^jJ;;Ss|[p) son of Premier KijuroShidehara (1903-
);
studied in the U. S. and worked for Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai. Translator of the No program specially arranged for the delegates to the seventh conference of the World Federationof Education Associations held in Tokyo in 1937; the No plays were performed by Shigefusa Hosho's troupe and were accompanied by an exhibition of No costumes and masks; see essay 3.
4
David Nixon: violinist; see M. de Rachewiltz, Discretions.
an abortive VivaJdi society: its establishment in Venice was attempted by Giorgio Levi.
Count Chigi: Count Guido Chigi Sarracini, patron of the Sienese Accademia Musi- caJe and sponsor of the Vivaldi Week; see Murray Schafer, ed. , Ezra Pound and Music.
CohheiV. Walter Wilson Cobbett (1847-1937), English violinist, businessman and patron of music.
Goldoni: Carlo Goldoni (1707-93), Italian playwright, author of the libretto for Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera and other operas.
Frazzi; Vito Frazzi (1888- ), Italian composer who taught composition at the Conservatory of Florence, and later at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena; see Murray Schafer, ed. , Ezra Pound and Music.
VirgiJio Mortari: (1902- ), Italian pianist, music critic, and composer; educated at the Milan Conservatory; associated with the Vivaldi Week of the Siena Festi- val since 1939. Among his works are: "La Figlia del Diavolo" (opera, 1954), and La Tecnica deJJ' Orchestra Contemporanea (1950), etc.
S. A. Luciani: Sebastiano Arturo Luciani (1884-1950). Italian musicologist, associ- ated with the Siena Accademia Chigiana. Olga Rudge and he founded the Centro di Studi Vivaldiani; edited, along with Olga Rudge, Antonio VivaJdi: note e documenti sulla vita e sulle opere (1939); see Murray Schafer, ed. , Ezra Pound and Music.
Vincenzo GaliJei: (c. 1533-1591), Italian composer, viol player, and singer; father of Galileo Galilei; composer of MadrigaJi Monodiche (1585) and lute pieces, among others.
GiuJio Caccini: (1558-1615), Italian singer and composer at the Medici court in Florence; composer of the opera Euridice (1600). Both Galilei and Caccini were members of the Camerata Bardi, a group of musicians and literati who attempted to revive ancient Greek music and drama in the new form of opera.
ViJlon: Le Testament [E3h]. Cavalcanti: [E3a].
Sordello: [E3a].
? NOTES 243
Antheil: George Antheil (1900-1959), American pianist and composer; accom- panied violinist Olga Rudge in numerous Paris performances of Pound's music; helped Pound edit Le Testament; see Pound's Antheil and the Treatise on Harmony [A25] and Murray Schafer, ed. , Ezra Pound and Music.
Tibor Serly: (1900-1978), Hungarian-American composer and violist; studied with Kod^ly; friend of Bela Bartok, whose music he brought to Pound's attention; composer of a symphony, a viola concerto, orchestral works, songs, etc. ; his music was performed several times during the Rapallo concerts, and he per- formed at one himself (March 3, 1935). Serly "amplified" Pound's violin sonata "by extensions"; see Charles Norman, Ezra Pound, pp. 282-3, and Murray Schafer, ed. , Ezra Pound and Music.
Ritterschaft and Bushido: chivalry in German and in Japanese.
^^: "kunshi"inJapanese("chiintsu"inChinese);theConfucianidealofman:
"a true gentleman. " LinYutang. LinYu-tang( li^J^ I'd"^) [1895-
]. Chineselinguistandnovelist; his Moment in Peking ( j^ $ %^ g ) [1939] was on the best seller list in
America.
Francesco Fiorentino: (1834-84), author of Storia della Filosofia, Scritti Varii di
Letteratura, Filosofia e Critica (1876) and II Risorgimento Filosofico neJ Quat-
trocento (1885); see "The New Learning: Part One," Guide to KuJchur.
St. Ambrogio and St. Antonino: St. Ambrose (340-397), bishop of Milan; St. An-
tonino da Firenze (1389-1459).
Motoichiro Oguimi: (1845-1941), Japanese Christian minister and educator; com-
piler of The New Testament Greek-Japanese Dictionary, published by Kyobun-
kan, Tokyo, in 1940.
John Scotus: Joannes Scotus Erigena (c. 810-c. 877), Irish Neoplatonic philosopher;
author of On the Division of Nature.
Grosseteste: Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175-1253), English theologian and astronomer. AJbertus: Albertus Magnus (1206-1280), scholastic philosopher with wide and
accurate knowledge of physical sciences of his time.
Nichomachean Ethics: see "And Therefore Tending," Guide to KuJchur.
Pilhaou-Thibaou: [C623 & C623a], "supplement ilJustre" to 391 , butions by Pound, Picabia, Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie.
containing contri-
Active Anthology: [B32].
Hood: Thomas Hood (1799-1845), English poet.
Lanier: Sidney Lanier (1842-1881), American poet.
Firdusi: Firdausi (c. 920-c. 1025), early Persian epic poet.
A Russian phiJosophicaJ student: Slovinsky; see "Murder by Capital. " Lewis' last volume: The Hitler Cult (London: Dent, 1939).
? 244
NOTES
Hargrove; John Gordon Hargrave (1894- ), English artist and writer; leader of a faction of Social Credit movement in England; author of the novel Summer Time Ends.
7
Hazard: Rowland Gibson Hazard (1801-1888), American manufacturer, writer, member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives (1851, 1854, 1880), and of the State Senate (1860). His financial articles, which gained for him a wide reputation, were written during the Civil War, and some of them were collected and published as Our Resources in 1864.
Paterson: William Paterson (1658-1719), the founder of the Bank of England. Shortly after the Revolution of 1688, when William and Mary found the royal coffers empty, Paterson and his colleagues proposed to establish the new Bank of England. See Earle Davis, Vision Fugitive: Ezra Pound and Economics (Law- rence: University Press of Kansas, 1968), pp. 85-6.
Hume: see "Essay on Money. "
W. A. OverhoJser: author of A Short Review and Analysis of the History of Money in
the United States (Libertyville, IL, 1936); contained material on usury in the U. S.
during the 1860s.
Sherman: John Sherman (1823-1900), American statesman, Senator from Ohio
(1861-77, 1881-97) and Secretary of the Treasury; see "A Visiting Card. " IkJeheimer: Ikleheimer, Morton and Van der Gould, a New York banking firm; see
"A Visiting Card" and "Gold and Work. "
Rota: author of Storia delle banche [The History of Banks] (Milan, 1874). Schacht: Hjalmar Schacht (1877-1970), German banker. President of the Reichs-
bank (1923-30, 1933-39); see Canto 52.
Verbrauchsgiiter: articles of consumption, expendables.
printed the statement: see "Ezra Pound on Gold, War, and National Money,"
Capitol Daily (May 9, 1939) [C1509].
8
Count Potocki: Jerzy Potocki, Polish Ambassador to the United States, with whom Pound dined in Washington in May, 1939; Pound remarked: "God help you if you trust England.
"
Lazard: family of international bankers; Lazard Freres, founded during the gold rush in California, traded in gold between San Francisco and Paris via New York and London.
Kuhn-Loeb: U. S. immigrant dry-food merchants who later became prominent in- vestment bankers in New York. The firm "Kuhn, Loeb and Co. " was founded in 1867 by brothers-in-law Abraham Kuhn (1819-1892) and Solomon Loeb (1828- 1913). James Loeb (1867-1933), American banker, planned and helped to pub- lish Loeb Classical Library.
Bullitt: William Christian Bullitt (1891-1967). then American diplomat. U. S.
? NOTES
245
Ambassador to Russia (1933-36), and U. S. Ambassador to France (1936-41). Mandel; Georges Mandel (Jeroboam Rothschild) (1885-1944), French statesman,
Minister of the Interior in Paul Reynaud's government.
Reynaud: Paul Reynaud (1878-1966), French statesman; as Minister of Finance in
1938, pursued extreme deflationary policy; became Premier in March 1940; appointed Marshal Petain Vice Premier in May 1940; resigned on June 16, 1940, giving way to Petain.
Neu/Jize . . . Mocatta: Jewish families prominent in various fields. Sieff: Israel Moses Sieff, British industrialist, "reputed anonymous owner of . . . the Daily Mirror" (Edwards and Vasse, Annotated Index to the Cantos, p. 199), appears in Canto 74. Beit: Alfred Beit (1853-1906), South African financier and co-founder, with Cecil Rhodes, of Rhodesia. GoJdsmid; English family, settled in London in the eighteenth century. Abraham Goldsmid (1758-1810) was a prominent finan- cier; Isaac Lyon Goldsmid (1778-1859) made a large fortune by financing rail- way construction. Mocatta: old English family of Marrano origin.
Cobbett; William Cobbett (1763-1835), English journalist, social reformer and politician; published the Political Register, a radical reformist journal which decried the pitiful conditions of the working classes, and Parliamentary De- bates; elected member of Parliament after the Reform Bill of 1832 was passed.
WaJJace: Henry Agard Wallace (1888-1965). Secretary of Agriculture (1933-40), Vice-President of the U. S. (1941-45), Secretary of Commerce (1945-46); leader in the New Deal administration; author of Agricultural Prices (1920), New Frontiers (1934), Technology, Corporations and the General Welfare (1937), and other books.
Lloyd George: David Lloyd George (1863-1945), British statesman; leader of coali- tion government (December 1916-1922); leader of the Liberal Party (1926-31). Mond. -Jewishfamilyof chemists in England. Lord Alfred Mond (1868-1930), "head
of the mushrooming chemical trust, Imperial Chemical Industries," bought the English Review; see Eustace Mullins, This Difficult Individual, Ezra Pound (New York: Fleet, 1961), pp. 41-42; see also Canto 104. Robert Ludwig Mond (1868-1938), his brother, was a scientist and archaeologist. See "A Visiting Card. "
Montagu Norman: Montagu Collet Norman (1871-1950), English banker. President of the Bank of England (1920-1944).
Loeb report: report by Harold Loeb (1891-
America's Product Capacity (New York: Viking, 1935); author of The Non-
Production of Wealth (1933), Production for Use (1936), and Full Production
Without War (1946).
King Boris: Boris III, Czar of Bulgaria (1918^3).
9
Fauntleroy: hero of Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886) by Frances Hodgson Burnett; (Shokoshi, in Japanese translation).
), TheChartofPlenty:AStudyof
? 246 NOTES
my New England host: Pound stayed with Theodore Spencer during his visit to the U. S. in 1939.
Raffalovitch: Arthur Germanovich Raffalovich (1853-1921), Russian economist, was a Russian publicity agent in France, which exposed him to the charge of bribery.
Meyer; Arthur Meyer (1844-1924), French journalist, co-founder of Le Gaulois
(1865).
Mr. Rip van Wendell WiJJkie: Wendell Lewis Willkie (1892-1944), American
lawyer and business executive; Republican nominee for President of the U. S.
(1940); see Canto 77, 1. 257.
Carol of Rumania: Carol II (1893-1953), King of Rumania (1930-40); renounced
right of succession to throne in 1925, deserted wife, and went to Paris to live in exile with Mme. Magda Lupesu. Deprived of the throne in 1940 through German influence, he fled to Spain, Cuba, and then Mexico.
Brooks Adams: (1848-1927), American historian; direct descendent of John Adams and brother of Henry; author of The Law of Civilization and Decay (1895; 1897); America's Economic Supremacy (1900); The New Empire (1902); and Theory of Social Revolutions (1913). Pound championed The Law of Civilization and Decay, which emphasized the role played by money and usury in the rise and fall of civilizations.
"voJuta-Iavoro"; labor money.
/. F. C. Fuller: John Frederick Charles Fuller (1878-1966), British soldier; served in
Boer War and World War (1914-18); Major-General (1930); author of War and Western Civilization, 1832-1932 (1932); The Last of the Gentlemen's Wars: A Subaltern's Journal of the War in South Africa, 1899-1902 (1937); etc.
Blum: Leon Blum (1872-1950), French statesman; see Canto 80.
PierJot: Hubert Pierlot (1883-1963), Belgian statesman.
Morgenthau: Henry Morgenthau (1891-1967), American statesman, Secretary of
Treasury (1934-1945).
10
Prof. Breasted: Professor of Romance languages at University of Chicago; see Guide to KuJchur, p. 62.
OverhoJser, Woodward, Beard, Bower: Willis A. Overholser, author of A Short Review and Analysis of the History of Money in the United States (1936); William E. Woodward (1874-1950), author of Money for Tomorrow (1932); Charles Austin Beard, author of An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1913) and Economic Origins of jeffersonian Democracy (1915); Claude G. Bowers, authorofJe//erson and Hamilton: Struggle/or Democ- racy in America (1925), and Jefferson in Power, the Death Struggle of the Federalists (1936); see also Pound's letter to Kitasono, 13 January 1940.
Jerry Voorhis: monetary reformer and U. S. Congressman from California, whom Pound met in Washington in 1939; see David Heymann, The Last Rower, pp.
? NOTES 2A7
85-6; and also Earle Davis, Vision Fugitive: Ezra Pound and Economics, pp.
194-6.
Chris. HoIIis: Christopher Hollis, author of The Two Nations: A Financial Study of
English History (1935).
Karl von Stein: (1757-1831), Prussian statesman.
Ruhland: Gustav Ruhland (1860-1914), author of System der politischen Okono-
mie (1939).
La Tour du Pin: Patrice de La Tour du Pin (1911-75), French poet, author of La
Quete dejoie (1933), Comme de Poesie (1946), La Contemplation Errante (1948),
and other works; see Guide to Kulchur, pp. 96 and 264.
Fabre: Jean Henri Fabre (1823-1915), French entomologist, author of Souvenirs
Entomologique, 10 vols. (1879-1907).
Frazer: James George Frazer (1854-1941), Scottish anthropologist, author of The
Golden Bough. 12 vols. (1890-1915).
Burbank; Luther Burbank (1849-1926), American horticulturist.
Otto Dietrich: (1897-1952), German journalist and politician. Since 1938 he was
Press-Chief of German government and State-Secretary in German Ministry of Propaganda.
11
Skoda: firm founded by Emile von Skoda (1839-1900), a Czechoslovakian manu- facturer.
Monte dei Paschi: i. e. the Siena Bank; see Cantos 42 and 43.
C. H. Douglas . . . Butchart's compendium: Pound is referring to the list of books in his "Introductory Text Book. " C. H. Douglas, Economic Democracy; Silvio Gesell, The Natural Economic Order; R. McNair Wilson, Promise to Pay; Willis Overholser, History of Money in the U. S. ; P. Larrahaga, Gold, Glut and Gov- ernment; Montgomery Butchart, Money. Christopher Hollis is the author of The Two Nations: A Financial Study of English History, to which Pound is much
indebted.
Gerarchia: Hierarchy; journal founded by Mussolini. Rivista del Lavoro: Review of Labor.
12
Reuters: Reuters, the German news agency founded by Paul Julius Renter (1816- 1899); of Jewish parentage, he became a Christian in 1844.
Havas; French news agency founded in Paris in 1835 by Charles Havas.
Boake Carter: Boake Carter (1898-1944), radio broadcaster (CBS); author of Black Shirt, Black Skin (1935) [dealing with Italy and Ethiopia); "/ohnny Q. Public" Speais! The Nation Appraises the New Deal (1936); I Talk As I Like (1937); Why Meddle in the Orient? (1938); Why Meddle in Europe? (1939); Boake Carter's Answer to Anti-Semitism; The Truth About Judah in Relation to the Anglo-
Saxon-Celtic People (1941).
? 248 ADDENDUM
Ezra Pound to Hajime Matsumiya, Secretary of the Japanese Embassy, Rome
TLS-2 15 Dec. 1937
Dear Mr. Matsumiya
or if Sig. Matsumiya is no longer in Rome, perhaps his successor will read this as it is more urgent than permits communication via Tokio.
I am happy to say that just at this moment I have had a very interesting manifesto of Japanese poets printed in Townsman, London. I hope they will send you a copy. I am sorry you never got round to sending me your own manuscript.
In view of the accident to the American Gunboat. I think it perhaps (would) ease the strain if someone would explain to the american public that the Emperor is not exclusively a political Emperor. If they had any inkling of the religious phases of his position they might understand it better.
I mean they should be told that if not exactly a Pope, the Papacy is the only European institution representing some of his attributes.
I don't myself understand all this very clearly, but in the interest of concord, I think this phrase might be useful.
There are some civilized Americans, at least some of us are more civilized than them.
I hopetoseeyouagainwhenI cometoRome. Thenewmicrophoto- graphic and photostat process, using Leica films and enlarging them, op- ens a totally new possibility for bilingual texts.
I meanwecannowprint ideogramic texts, and any oriental scripts as cheaply as we do our own
printing in alphabet, and texts faced by translation into English or French, German, Italian, can now be produced at a rate which will per- mit their sale to students.
It is quite possible that someone in Tokio could start this exchange of culture more quickly and intelligently than unofficial persons like my- self can do it here.
with cordial recollections of our meeting I remain yours very sincerely
Ezra Pound
? ADDENDUM 249
Ezra Pound to Yosuke Matsuoka, Japanese Ambassador to Rome TLS-1 29 March 1941
To His Excellency YOSUKE MATSUOKA
Ernest Fenollosa's literary executor begs leave to present his respects and to hope that after the present tension has passed Fenollosa's work may be better continued.
It has been my experience that no occidental decently aware of the qualities of your Noh drama can be infected with anti-japanese propa- ganda, especially of the beastly sort I found two years ago in the U. S. , thethemebeing"yah/ wecanstarveyouout,"andthismeanlyex- pressed cinematographicly.
Men like myself would cheerfully give you Guam for a few sound films such as that of Awoi no Uye, which was shown for me in Washing- ton. I regret deeply that there are not more of us.
But in any case the least, and alas probably the most that I can do is to assure you that the seeds of respect and affection sown by Fenollosa have not been wholly unfruitful. I mean in a few American minds for the qualities of Japanese spirit.
I beg your Excellency to accept this assurance of my respect.
Ezra Pound
? Tami Koum6 (photograph by Arnold Genthe)
? Michio Ito in Yeats' At the Hawk's Well {1916} (Photograph by Alvin Langdon Coburnj
? 'm". "- _L3LL ? ? '"/-f'
Katue Kitasono
-%! ? i-i^t
? Mary de Rachewiltz at La Quiete {1937}
? Photograph of Ezra Pound inscribed "To Kit Kat" {1959}
? Ryozo Iwasaki
f
H
-^
r
? <l
i
i
? Ezra Pound & Japan : letters & essays /
PS3531.
ZieJinski: Thaddeus Zielinski, Polish professor of Greek; author of La SibyJJe, Trois Essais sur la Religion Antique et le Christianisme (Paris: Redier, 1924). Edge 2 was entirely composed of a translation of this work into English as "The Sibyl. "
W. L. : Wyndham Lewis. D. P. : Dorothy Pound.
).
? NOTES 239
La MartinelU: a booklet published by Vanni Scheiwiller in 1956. It contains repro- ductions of paintings by Sheri MartinelU, an American painter and "disciple" of Pound at St. Elizabeths, with an introduction by Pound.
Ford: Ford Madox Ford.
Amarai: Jose V^squez Amaral's translation of The Pisan Cantos into Spanish was
published in 1956: Los Canfares de Pisa [D219J.
Eva: Eva Hesse's translation of The Pisan Cantos into German was published also in
1956: Die Pisaner Gesdnge [D28]; she also translated a selection of Pound's poetry and prose, Dichtung und Prosa (1953), which was reissued in paperback in 1956 (D26].
TRAXINIAIin London: First English publication in book form of Pound's Women of Trachis appeared on November 30, 1956, published by Neville Spearman [A72]; the play had already been published, however, in the Winter 1953/4 issue of Hudson Review, vol. vi, no. 4, ed. F. Morgan. The English edition bears the dedication by Pound: "A version for Kitasono Katue, hoping he will use it on my dear old friend Miscio Ito, or take it to the Minoru if they can be persuaded to add to their repertoire. " The addenda include remarks by Denis Goacher, Peter Whigham, S. V. Jankowski and Ricardo M. degli Uberti.
Academia Bulletin: a Pound-instigated leaflet edited by David Gordon, a frequent visitor to St. Elizabeths. Uberti's essay ("Why Pound Liked Italy") appeared in the first issue (1956); see Paideuma, vol. 3, no. 3.
Verkehr: communication.
Lorenzatos: Zesimos Lorenzatos, translator of Cathay into Greek as Katah
Metaphrasoon apo to Aggliko (1950) [D51]. Pivot: see [B53] and [B55].
cordialie saluti: cordial greetings.
135
causerie: banter.
Nimbus: ed. T. Hull and D. Wright; vol. Ill, no. 4 (Winter 1956) [London]. omnes eodem cogimur: "we are all urged toward the same. "
translate it into Japanese: see note to letter 129.
Norman Douglas: British author and long-time resident in Italy; author of South
Wind, etc.
John Espey: author of Ezra Pound's Mauberley: A Study in Composition (1955). Friar: Kimon Friar.
Brinnin: John Malcolm Brinnin (? ).
Legge: James Legge, 19th century British Sinologist; translator of the Li Chi. etc.
T'ao Yuan-ming: ( f^ \^^ Sj^ ) [To Emmei, in Japanese] (365-427), a Chinese poet.
136 "d^rocher": "to cleanse metals with acid. "
? 240 NOTES
Noel Stock: editor of Australian literary magazine Edge.
prebebde: indication of rhyme scheme (? ), or of divinity degree (? ).
Kojiro Yoshikawa: ( ^>>'\ "^-"^^^P ) [1904-80], a Japanese scholar of Chinese
literature, for many years professor at Kyoto University. Among his books is The East in the West (Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 1955), which contains a reproduction of a painting by Sheri Martinelli and an essay on his visit to Pound at St. Elizabeths in Washington, D. C.
h. de compos; Haroldo and Augusto de Campos, poets; translated the Cantos into Portuguese [Cantares, Sao Paulo, 1960).
Eva Hesse O'Donnell: Pound's German translator; editor of New Approaches to Ezra Pound (London: Faber 1969).
Garcia Terres: Jaime Garcia Terres, Mexican translator of Pound's poems into Spanish.
Chiang: Chiang Kai-shek,
/o Bard: Joseph Bard, editor of El Dinamismo de una Nueva Poesia (Puerto de la
Cruz: Instituto de Estudios Hispanicos, 1957) and novelist; Pound had met him in Rapallo in 1928.
137
parcel: see [D60], [B46], [D 59], [D61] and [A68].
etiam atque-etiam vaJe: "further and even further may you be well. "
Nippon: Japan.
138
140
Cole Rice: Karel Vaclav Rais (1859-1927), a Czechoslovakian poet and novelist. Elmer Rice is an American novelist and playwright.
Fletcher's widow: Mrs. John Gould Fletcher, wife of the American poet whom Pound knew during the years of the Imagist movement in London.
Hagoromo: a No play.
Kiogen: Kyogen, a comic interlude set between No plays.
146
grandson of Leo Frobenius: Sebastian Frobenius; the story appears in AJto Adige (December 7, 1958), the day following the visit.
my daughter works on Junzaburo's poems; Mary de Rachewiltz was translating "January in Kyoto" into Italian.
Dei PeJo Pardi: Giulio Del Pelo Pardi, classical scholar, agrarian archaeologist and inventor of a system of soil conservation and shallow ploughing.
148
Okada: Tomoji Okada (1880-1965), former director, London Branch, Yamanaka
? NOTES 241
and Co.
to honour E. F. in manner stated: Pound had written of Fenollosa in the "Introduc-
tion" to the translation of No plays: "When he died suddenly in England the Japanese government sent a warship for his body, and the priests buried him within the sacred enclosure at Miidera. "
your in/ormation: Tomoji Okada, under the direction of Kichirobe Yamanaka of Yamanaka and Co. , had the remains of Fenollosa which had already been buried at Highgate Cemetery, London cremated in 1909; Okada then asked Yasotaro Kato, an art dealer, who was on his way to Japan through the Siberian Railroad, to take the ashes to Japan and lay them to rest at Miidera, the temple in Otsu where Fenollosa had studied Buddhism and which he had especially loved. See Toku- taro Shigehisa, "Fenollosa's Ashes and Japan," Comparative Literature (Tokyo), vol. 2 (1959); and "A Letter of Ezra Pound," FenoJJosa Society of Japan NewsJet- ter, no. 5 (1982).
vol/ on Art: E. F. Fenollosa's Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art, published by William Heinemann in 1912.
NOTES TO ESSAYS
1
Dowland: John Dowland, (c. 1567-1626), English lutenist and composer. Ogden: Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), author of books on "basic English," in- cluding The ABC of Basic English (1932), Basic English (1933), The Basic
Dictionary (1939) and Basic by Picture Stamps (1941).
2
the magnificent "Runner": see Leo Frobenius, Prehistoric Rock Pictures (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1937).
totalitarian: see "Totalitarian," Guide to KuJchur.
Anschauung: "outlook. "
P. Bottonne: Phyllis Bottome (1884-1963), English novelist; author of Private
Worlds (1934), The Moral Storm (1937), etc.
Active AnthoJogy: [B32].
/. F. C. FuJJer: John Frederick Charles Fuller (1878-1966), Major General (1930);
author of War and Western Civilization, 1832-1932 (1932); Armaments and
History (1945); The Second World War (1949), etc. Sickert: Walter Sickert (1860-1942), English painter.
3
jE^/h "thecleardefinitionofterms"
%^
Arrow Editions: New York publisher of The Chinese Written Character as a
: "sincerity" Funa-Benkai: a No play.
? 242 NOTES
Medium /or Poetry [B36b].
Shige/usa Hosho: [ ^. ^%^ ) [1900-1974], Head Master of the Hosho
^
School of No.
Michitar6Shidehara. (*W^jJ;;Ss|[p) son of Premier KijuroShidehara (1903-
);
studied in the U. S. and worked for Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai. Translator of the No program specially arranged for the delegates to the seventh conference of the World Federationof Education Associations held in Tokyo in 1937; the No plays were performed by Shigefusa Hosho's troupe and were accompanied by an exhibition of No costumes and masks; see essay 3.
4
David Nixon: violinist; see M. de Rachewiltz, Discretions.
an abortive VivaJdi society: its establishment in Venice was attempted by Giorgio Levi.
Count Chigi: Count Guido Chigi Sarracini, patron of the Sienese Accademia Musi- caJe and sponsor of the Vivaldi Week; see Murray Schafer, ed. , Ezra Pound and Music.
CohheiV. Walter Wilson Cobbett (1847-1937), English violinist, businessman and patron of music.
Goldoni: Carlo Goldoni (1707-93), Italian playwright, author of the libretto for Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera and other operas.
Frazzi; Vito Frazzi (1888- ), Italian composer who taught composition at the Conservatory of Florence, and later at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena; see Murray Schafer, ed. , Ezra Pound and Music.
VirgiJio Mortari: (1902- ), Italian pianist, music critic, and composer; educated at the Milan Conservatory; associated with the Vivaldi Week of the Siena Festi- val since 1939. Among his works are: "La Figlia del Diavolo" (opera, 1954), and La Tecnica deJJ' Orchestra Contemporanea (1950), etc.
S. A. Luciani: Sebastiano Arturo Luciani (1884-1950). Italian musicologist, associ- ated with the Siena Accademia Chigiana. Olga Rudge and he founded the Centro di Studi Vivaldiani; edited, along with Olga Rudge, Antonio VivaJdi: note e documenti sulla vita e sulle opere (1939); see Murray Schafer, ed. , Ezra Pound and Music.
Vincenzo GaliJei: (c. 1533-1591), Italian composer, viol player, and singer; father of Galileo Galilei; composer of MadrigaJi Monodiche (1585) and lute pieces, among others.
GiuJio Caccini: (1558-1615), Italian singer and composer at the Medici court in Florence; composer of the opera Euridice (1600). Both Galilei and Caccini were members of the Camerata Bardi, a group of musicians and literati who attempted to revive ancient Greek music and drama in the new form of opera.
ViJlon: Le Testament [E3h]. Cavalcanti: [E3a].
Sordello: [E3a].
? NOTES 243
Antheil: George Antheil (1900-1959), American pianist and composer; accom- panied violinist Olga Rudge in numerous Paris performances of Pound's music; helped Pound edit Le Testament; see Pound's Antheil and the Treatise on Harmony [A25] and Murray Schafer, ed. , Ezra Pound and Music.
Tibor Serly: (1900-1978), Hungarian-American composer and violist; studied with Kod^ly; friend of Bela Bartok, whose music he brought to Pound's attention; composer of a symphony, a viola concerto, orchestral works, songs, etc. ; his music was performed several times during the Rapallo concerts, and he per- formed at one himself (March 3, 1935). Serly "amplified" Pound's violin sonata "by extensions"; see Charles Norman, Ezra Pound, pp. 282-3, and Murray Schafer, ed. , Ezra Pound and Music.
Ritterschaft and Bushido: chivalry in German and in Japanese.
^^: "kunshi"inJapanese("chiintsu"inChinese);theConfucianidealofman:
"a true gentleman. " LinYutang. LinYu-tang( li^J^ I'd"^) [1895-
]. Chineselinguistandnovelist; his Moment in Peking ( j^ $ %^ g ) [1939] was on the best seller list in
America.
Francesco Fiorentino: (1834-84), author of Storia della Filosofia, Scritti Varii di
Letteratura, Filosofia e Critica (1876) and II Risorgimento Filosofico neJ Quat-
trocento (1885); see "The New Learning: Part One," Guide to KuJchur.
St. Ambrogio and St. Antonino: St. Ambrose (340-397), bishop of Milan; St. An-
tonino da Firenze (1389-1459).
Motoichiro Oguimi: (1845-1941), Japanese Christian minister and educator; com-
piler of The New Testament Greek-Japanese Dictionary, published by Kyobun-
kan, Tokyo, in 1940.
John Scotus: Joannes Scotus Erigena (c. 810-c. 877), Irish Neoplatonic philosopher;
author of On the Division of Nature.
Grosseteste: Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175-1253), English theologian and astronomer. AJbertus: Albertus Magnus (1206-1280), scholastic philosopher with wide and
accurate knowledge of physical sciences of his time.
Nichomachean Ethics: see "And Therefore Tending," Guide to KuJchur.
Pilhaou-Thibaou: [C623 & C623a], "supplement ilJustre" to 391 , butions by Pound, Picabia, Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie.
containing contri-
Active Anthology: [B32].
Hood: Thomas Hood (1799-1845), English poet.
Lanier: Sidney Lanier (1842-1881), American poet.
Firdusi: Firdausi (c. 920-c. 1025), early Persian epic poet.
A Russian phiJosophicaJ student: Slovinsky; see "Murder by Capital. " Lewis' last volume: The Hitler Cult (London: Dent, 1939).
? 244
NOTES
Hargrove; John Gordon Hargrave (1894- ), English artist and writer; leader of a faction of Social Credit movement in England; author of the novel Summer Time Ends.
7
Hazard: Rowland Gibson Hazard (1801-1888), American manufacturer, writer, member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives (1851, 1854, 1880), and of the State Senate (1860). His financial articles, which gained for him a wide reputation, were written during the Civil War, and some of them were collected and published as Our Resources in 1864.
Paterson: William Paterson (1658-1719), the founder of the Bank of England. Shortly after the Revolution of 1688, when William and Mary found the royal coffers empty, Paterson and his colleagues proposed to establish the new Bank of England. See Earle Davis, Vision Fugitive: Ezra Pound and Economics (Law- rence: University Press of Kansas, 1968), pp. 85-6.
Hume: see "Essay on Money. "
W. A. OverhoJser: author of A Short Review and Analysis of the History of Money in
the United States (Libertyville, IL, 1936); contained material on usury in the U. S.
during the 1860s.
Sherman: John Sherman (1823-1900), American statesman, Senator from Ohio
(1861-77, 1881-97) and Secretary of the Treasury; see "A Visiting Card. " IkJeheimer: Ikleheimer, Morton and Van der Gould, a New York banking firm; see
"A Visiting Card" and "Gold and Work. "
Rota: author of Storia delle banche [The History of Banks] (Milan, 1874). Schacht: Hjalmar Schacht (1877-1970), German banker. President of the Reichs-
bank (1923-30, 1933-39); see Canto 52.
Verbrauchsgiiter: articles of consumption, expendables.
printed the statement: see "Ezra Pound on Gold, War, and National Money,"
Capitol Daily (May 9, 1939) [C1509].
8
Count Potocki: Jerzy Potocki, Polish Ambassador to the United States, with whom Pound dined in Washington in May, 1939; Pound remarked: "God help you if you trust England.
"
Lazard: family of international bankers; Lazard Freres, founded during the gold rush in California, traded in gold between San Francisco and Paris via New York and London.
Kuhn-Loeb: U. S. immigrant dry-food merchants who later became prominent in- vestment bankers in New York. The firm "Kuhn, Loeb and Co. " was founded in 1867 by brothers-in-law Abraham Kuhn (1819-1892) and Solomon Loeb (1828- 1913). James Loeb (1867-1933), American banker, planned and helped to pub- lish Loeb Classical Library.
Bullitt: William Christian Bullitt (1891-1967). then American diplomat. U. S.
? NOTES
245
Ambassador to Russia (1933-36), and U. S. Ambassador to France (1936-41). Mandel; Georges Mandel (Jeroboam Rothschild) (1885-1944), French statesman,
Minister of the Interior in Paul Reynaud's government.
Reynaud: Paul Reynaud (1878-1966), French statesman; as Minister of Finance in
1938, pursued extreme deflationary policy; became Premier in March 1940; appointed Marshal Petain Vice Premier in May 1940; resigned on June 16, 1940, giving way to Petain.
Neu/Jize . . . Mocatta: Jewish families prominent in various fields. Sieff: Israel Moses Sieff, British industrialist, "reputed anonymous owner of . . . the Daily Mirror" (Edwards and Vasse, Annotated Index to the Cantos, p. 199), appears in Canto 74. Beit: Alfred Beit (1853-1906), South African financier and co-founder, with Cecil Rhodes, of Rhodesia. GoJdsmid; English family, settled in London in the eighteenth century. Abraham Goldsmid (1758-1810) was a prominent finan- cier; Isaac Lyon Goldsmid (1778-1859) made a large fortune by financing rail- way construction. Mocatta: old English family of Marrano origin.
Cobbett; William Cobbett (1763-1835), English journalist, social reformer and politician; published the Political Register, a radical reformist journal which decried the pitiful conditions of the working classes, and Parliamentary De- bates; elected member of Parliament after the Reform Bill of 1832 was passed.
WaJJace: Henry Agard Wallace (1888-1965). Secretary of Agriculture (1933-40), Vice-President of the U. S. (1941-45), Secretary of Commerce (1945-46); leader in the New Deal administration; author of Agricultural Prices (1920), New Frontiers (1934), Technology, Corporations and the General Welfare (1937), and other books.
Lloyd George: David Lloyd George (1863-1945), British statesman; leader of coali- tion government (December 1916-1922); leader of the Liberal Party (1926-31). Mond. -Jewishfamilyof chemists in England. Lord Alfred Mond (1868-1930), "head
of the mushrooming chemical trust, Imperial Chemical Industries," bought the English Review; see Eustace Mullins, This Difficult Individual, Ezra Pound (New York: Fleet, 1961), pp. 41-42; see also Canto 104. Robert Ludwig Mond (1868-1938), his brother, was a scientist and archaeologist. See "A Visiting Card. "
Montagu Norman: Montagu Collet Norman (1871-1950), English banker. President of the Bank of England (1920-1944).
Loeb report: report by Harold Loeb (1891-
America's Product Capacity (New York: Viking, 1935); author of The Non-
Production of Wealth (1933), Production for Use (1936), and Full Production
Without War (1946).
King Boris: Boris III, Czar of Bulgaria (1918^3).
9
Fauntleroy: hero of Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886) by Frances Hodgson Burnett; (Shokoshi, in Japanese translation).
), TheChartofPlenty:AStudyof
? 246 NOTES
my New England host: Pound stayed with Theodore Spencer during his visit to the U. S. in 1939.
Raffalovitch: Arthur Germanovich Raffalovich (1853-1921), Russian economist, was a Russian publicity agent in France, which exposed him to the charge of bribery.
Meyer; Arthur Meyer (1844-1924), French journalist, co-founder of Le Gaulois
(1865).
Mr. Rip van Wendell WiJJkie: Wendell Lewis Willkie (1892-1944), American
lawyer and business executive; Republican nominee for President of the U. S.
(1940); see Canto 77, 1. 257.
Carol of Rumania: Carol II (1893-1953), King of Rumania (1930-40); renounced
right of succession to throne in 1925, deserted wife, and went to Paris to live in exile with Mme. Magda Lupesu. Deprived of the throne in 1940 through German influence, he fled to Spain, Cuba, and then Mexico.
Brooks Adams: (1848-1927), American historian; direct descendent of John Adams and brother of Henry; author of The Law of Civilization and Decay (1895; 1897); America's Economic Supremacy (1900); The New Empire (1902); and Theory of Social Revolutions (1913). Pound championed The Law of Civilization and Decay, which emphasized the role played by money and usury in the rise and fall of civilizations.
"voJuta-Iavoro"; labor money.
/. F. C. Fuller: John Frederick Charles Fuller (1878-1966), British soldier; served in
Boer War and World War (1914-18); Major-General (1930); author of War and Western Civilization, 1832-1932 (1932); The Last of the Gentlemen's Wars: A Subaltern's Journal of the War in South Africa, 1899-1902 (1937); etc.
Blum: Leon Blum (1872-1950), French statesman; see Canto 80.
PierJot: Hubert Pierlot (1883-1963), Belgian statesman.
Morgenthau: Henry Morgenthau (1891-1967), American statesman, Secretary of
Treasury (1934-1945).
10
Prof. Breasted: Professor of Romance languages at University of Chicago; see Guide to KuJchur, p. 62.
OverhoJser, Woodward, Beard, Bower: Willis A. Overholser, author of A Short Review and Analysis of the History of Money in the United States (1936); William E. Woodward (1874-1950), author of Money for Tomorrow (1932); Charles Austin Beard, author of An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1913) and Economic Origins of jeffersonian Democracy (1915); Claude G. Bowers, authorofJe//erson and Hamilton: Struggle/or Democ- racy in America (1925), and Jefferson in Power, the Death Struggle of the Federalists (1936); see also Pound's letter to Kitasono, 13 January 1940.
Jerry Voorhis: monetary reformer and U. S. Congressman from California, whom Pound met in Washington in 1939; see David Heymann, The Last Rower, pp.
? NOTES 2A7
85-6; and also Earle Davis, Vision Fugitive: Ezra Pound and Economics, pp.
194-6.
Chris. HoIIis: Christopher Hollis, author of The Two Nations: A Financial Study of
English History (1935).
Karl von Stein: (1757-1831), Prussian statesman.
Ruhland: Gustav Ruhland (1860-1914), author of System der politischen Okono-
mie (1939).
La Tour du Pin: Patrice de La Tour du Pin (1911-75), French poet, author of La
Quete dejoie (1933), Comme de Poesie (1946), La Contemplation Errante (1948),
and other works; see Guide to Kulchur, pp. 96 and 264.
Fabre: Jean Henri Fabre (1823-1915), French entomologist, author of Souvenirs
Entomologique, 10 vols. (1879-1907).
Frazer: James George Frazer (1854-1941), Scottish anthropologist, author of The
Golden Bough. 12 vols. (1890-1915).
Burbank; Luther Burbank (1849-1926), American horticulturist.
Otto Dietrich: (1897-1952), German journalist and politician. Since 1938 he was
Press-Chief of German government and State-Secretary in German Ministry of Propaganda.
11
Skoda: firm founded by Emile von Skoda (1839-1900), a Czechoslovakian manu- facturer.
Monte dei Paschi: i. e. the Siena Bank; see Cantos 42 and 43.
C. H. Douglas . . . Butchart's compendium: Pound is referring to the list of books in his "Introductory Text Book. " C. H. Douglas, Economic Democracy; Silvio Gesell, The Natural Economic Order; R. McNair Wilson, Promise to Pay; Willis Overholser, History of Money in the U. S. ; P. Larrahaga, Gold, Glut and Gov- ernment; Montgomery Butchart, Money. Christopher Hollis is the author of The Two Nations: A Financial Study of English History, to which Pound is much
indebted.
Gerarchia: Hierarchy; journal founded by Mussolini. Rivista del Lavoro: Review of Labor.
12
Reuters: Reuters, the German news agency founded by Paul Julius Renter (1816- 1899); of Jewish parentage, he became a Christian in 1844.
Havas; French news agency founded in Paris in 1835 by Charles Havas.
Boake Carter: Boake Carter (1898-1944), radio broadcaster (CBS); author of Black Shirt, Black Skin (1935) [dealing with Italy and Ethiopia); "/ohnny Q. Public" Speais! The Nation Appraises the New Deal (1936); I Talk As I Like (1937); Why Meddle in the Orient? (1938); Why Meddle in Europe? (1939); Boake Carter's Answer to Anti-Semitism; The Truth About Judah in Relation to the Anglo-
Saxon-Celtic People (1941).
? 248 ADDENDUM
Ezra Pound to Hajime Matsumiya, Secretary of the Japanese Embassy, Rome
TLS-2 15 Dec. 1937
Dear Mr. Matsumiya
or if Sig. Matsumiya is no longer in Rome, perhaps his successor will read this as it is more urgent than permits communication via Tokio.
I am happy to say that just at this moment I have had a very interesting manifesto of Japanese poets printed in Townsman, London. I hope they will send you a copy. I am sorry you never got round to sending me your own manuscript.
In view of the accident to the American Gunboat. I think it perhaps (would) ease the strain if someone would explain to the american public that the Emperor is not exclusively a political Emperor. If they had any inkling of the religious phases of his position they might understand it better.
I mean they should be told that if not exactly a Pope, the Papacy is the only European institution representing some of his attributes.
I don't myself understand all this very clearly, but in the interest of concord, I think this phrase might be useful.
There are some civilized Americans, at least some of us are more civilized than them.
I hopetoseeyouagainwhenI cometoRome. Thenewmicrophoto- graphic and photostat process, using Leica films and enlarging them, op- ens a totally new possibility for bilingual texts.
I meanwecannowprint ideogramic texts, and any oriental scripts as cheaply as we do our own
printing in alphabet, and texts faced by translation into English or French, German, Italian, can now be produced at a rate which will per- mit their sale to students.
It is quite possible that someone in Tokio could start this exchange of culture more quickly and intelligently than unofficial persons like my- self can do it here.
with cordial recollections of our meeting I remain yours very sincerely
Ezra Pound
? ADDENDUM 249
Ezra Pound to Yosuke Matsuoka, Japanese Ambassador to Rome TLS-1 29 March 1941
To His Excellency YOSUKE MATSUOKA
Ernest Fenollosa's literary executor begs leave to present his respects and to hope that after the present tension has passed Fenollosa's work may be better continued.
It has been my experience that no occidental decently aware of the qualities of your Noh drama can be infected with anti-japanese propa- ganda, especially of the beastly sort I found two years ago in the U. S. , thethemebeing"yah/ wecanstarveyouout,"andthismeanlyex- pressed cinematographicly.
Men like myself would cheerfully give you Guam for a few sound films such as that of Awoi no Uye, which was shown for me in Washing- ton. I regret deeply that there are not more of us.
But in any case the least, and alas probably the most that I can do is to assure you that the seeds of respect and affection sown by Fenollosa have not been wholly unfruitful. I mean in a few American minds for the qualities of Japanese spirit.
I beg your Excellency to accept this assurance of my respect.
Ezra Pound
? Tami Koum6 (photograph by Arnold Genthe)
? Michio Ito in Yeats' At the Hawk's Well {1916} (Photograph by Alvin Langdon Coburnj
? 'm". "- _L3LL ? ? '"/-f'
Katue Kitasono
-%! ? i-i^t
? Mary de Rachewiltz at La Quiete {1937}
? Photograph of Ezra Pound inscribed "To Kit Kat" {1959}
? Ryozo Iwasaki
f
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? <l
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? Ezra Pound & Japan : letters & essays /
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