There is a story that when, after the last war, Norman Douglas applied to the Italian Government for permission to return to Capri, he was told that no
foreigner
was allowed to settle in Italy.
Ezra-Pound-Japan-Letters-essays
Pound's letter to Okada may reflect his attitude toward history: "I certainly did not invent it.
" One may wonder if indeed the ashes were brought back to Japan on a Japanese warship over the Japan Sea.
But Tokutaro Shigehisa, who later investigated the matter, suggests that the ashes probably arrived at Tsuruga from Vladivostok on September 19, 1909 on the Hozanmaru of the Osaka Shipping Co.
(Tokutaro Shigehisa, "Fenollosa's Ashes and Japan," Comparative Literature, vol.
2, 1959.
pp.
83-4.
]
In 1968 when the present editor visited with Pound in Paris, the poet wrote a note to the librarian at the University of Virginia granting permis- sion for access to a microfilm copy of the Fenollosa notebooks. All the notebooks of Fenollosa sent to Pound by Mary Fenollosa were at that time under lock and key, and it would have been impossible otherwise for me to have read them. At the time, Hugh Kenner's microfilm of part of the notebooks had been stored at the library of the University of Virginia.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 131
133: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound
TLS-4 1-34, Mita, Minatoku, Tokyo, Japan. 30 November 1956
Dear Mr. Pound,
I am sending you the Japanese translation of your poems to-day. It has meant a great deal to me. I have no words to apologize to you for publishing your poems without permission. The Waste Land has been translated by several hands in our country, but "Hugh Selwyn Mauberley" has never been put into Japanese, and some favourable comments to my translation have appeared in Japanese newspapers. But I must confess it was a very difficult task. I wonder what it will seem to you. I want you to tell me what effect it has on you.
I had a very pleasant journey to Kobe the other day, and found that Ernest Fenollosa's lock of hair had been buried at Homyoin, Enjoji Temple in Otsu, near Kyoto. I enclose photographs of the grave, which was built by Mr. Laurence Binyon and other foreigners. The weather was most over- whelmingly lovely. He sleeps among the cedar grove and beautiful ferns by the Lake Biwa (i. e. lute). Vale! Valel
Yours very sincerely, Ryozo Iwasaki
? 132 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
Appendix 1
Contents of Selected Poems of Ezra Pound (Japanese Translation)
Preface by Junzaburo Nishiwaki "Sestina: Altaforte"
"Rome"
"The Garden"
"The Spring"
"Dance Figure"
"Gentildonna"
"To Kalon"
"Ladies"
"After Ch'u Yuan"
"Fan-Piece, for her Imperial Lord" "In a Station of the Metro" "Alba"
"Papyrus"
"To Formianus' Young Lady Friend" "The Lake Isle"
"Epitaphs"
"Homage to Quintus S. F. Christianus" "Moeurs contemporaines (Stele)" "Canto I"
"Canto IV" (abridged)
"Hugh Selwyn Mauberley"
Appendix 2
January in Kyoto
Janus, old man,
Your name is damp and grey and too prolonged A ring to rattle in my verse;
You double-faced, diluted churl of churls,
You corn-dull, poppy-wilted, beaver-brown.
By Junzaburo Nishiwaki
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 133
You snow-eater, a parasite on roots and berries, Iconoclast of gins and perries,
You're really one of the pariah dogs
Yelping, thrash-worth, at the belated gods.
I knowthedeitieswouldratherinflate
And flow in pipes than in metric odes, but now You suddenly brought us shy myth,
When we, disguised as Zeus and Hermes, went Looking for orchids that will hang oblong and dim At cuckoo-crow at the hell lady's door.
In the Hiei foot-hills by pebbly-purring streams.
We went into a peasant's cottage to see
How one cleans and adorns one's range
With a sprig of rue and a tangle of hips
To honour the bluff god of the kitchen fire.
The old baucis-and-philemon tree rustled its top: "Reverend sirs, you are early. Well now. "
My friend, a Ben Jonson scholar at the university, And a complete parr angler, could speak
The Yase doric: "Look what we've got,
Such lovely slender buds; may we leave
These things with you by this mercury bush,
As we're going to see Emau Convent up there? " Again we went out into loam land, dreaming
Of Angels and pottery crystal-beaming:
This time as tinkers we wandered . . .
Post-orchid journey it will be named.
A redolent trek, there was a smell
Of yellow plum blossom in the turnip fields.
"Who is it walking with you, strangers? "
"It is a woman. "
She is in holy visibility:
That was an old woman with the help of a stick On her way from Shu-gaku-in to Iwakura
To draw out money, the account book on her head, Nicely done up in a peony-patterned cloth Probably to ransom her helen out of peonage.
She had a leer like a boar
And had a stutter like Darley;
? 134 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
But it might be thunder if she chose to parley. Excited by our indignation on the boar ravages,
With fury and frothing she made a Delphic utterance: "It only took them a night to devour
A middlesex acre (as Macaulay says) of your yams; Last year they shot a huge one, but nobody
. "
Could bear him away, so there you are
So saying she glowered at us and passed by.
Now I come to the second nonnes tale:
We greeted the ancress in a most elegant way; Unrobed, aproned, head tonsured as azure as
The kingfisher's wings, sweeping up fallen leaves Among the landscape stones green with moss, Herself indistinguishable from the blue.
"Good morning, Madame Eglantine, may I
See your garden? Wonderful!
And do you happen to know my relation
Who is a prioress living near Kitano-Tenjin? "
"I wouldn't know, sir. But how odd, when I've been Of the same tribe nearly all my life.
Bo tree, that. Very, very rare. "
"Perhaps you could let me have a twig in the spring; I'd like to graft it on a stock . . . mulberry it is. " Enlightenment . . . an entwining of rose and bay. "By all means. Secretum secretorum! "
When we returned full circle to the roots
Of our orchids, we maundered to sanctify
Fertility . . . magic jabber . . . over cups of tea.
The wife decanted golden mead to immortalize
Our chats and our pseudo-godliness, but we tried Hard to hide our mortality . . .
Biographical Note: J. Nishiwaki was born in 1896. He graduated at Keio University but later studied English literature at Oxford University. He is the author of a number of books on English and European languages and literature and has translated Eliot's The Waste Land into Japanese. He has published several books of poems and although his output has been small, he is one of the most influential of modern poets in Japan to-day. He is at present Professor of English literature at Keio University.
. .
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135
134: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki
TLS-2 [Pmk: WASHINGTON D. C. ) 28 December 1956
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
It has been a most delightful Xmas, and I have you to thank for two of the pleasant surprises. Your elegantly printed "Mauber-
ley" {&- other poems), and J. N. 's Janus Poem, the latter most opportune, as Stock has started a magazine which badly needs it. Edge, edited by Noel Stock
436 Nepean Rd. , East Brighton S. 6, Melbourne, Australia
Started with the highest aims of any review since Ford's English Review in 1908. To whom I trust you and Junzaburo will contribute at once. He has printed a few translations of mine and the long-needed Zielinski SibyiJe/ but there was the lack of vortex; of concentration of creative tal- ents such as made The Little Review with Lewis, Joyce, and Eliot.
Don't credit me with a knowledge of Japanese, let alone the ability to judge the style of your translation or its nearness to the original. I am delighted with the look of the edition, happy to see the W. L. portrait on the jacket (portrait now on show in N. York), and having only partially unwrapped the volume, had the second and delayed pleasure and sur- prise of finding D. P. 's cover design for Ripostes on the reverse. Looking much better enlarged to that size and with the nippon script cohering much better with the design than the heavy english lettering of the origi- nal. In short a pleasant yesterday. And the 40 year after surge of coinci- dence. W. L. 's preface for his show at the Tate and my note on La Mar- tinelli having been done without collusion . . . in a way that would have pleased Yeats' astrological yearnings.
JunzaburohasamorevitalenglishthananyI haveseenforsometime. AND if you choose such good company I can well believe you have made a good job of the "Mauberley," and trust if you also write in english or translate your own poems you will send copies both to Stock and my- self.
I have enjoyed that Janus poem more than anything I have come on for some time.
I recall Ford on one occasion re/ lack of literary comprehension in London: "That is why one feels so damn lonely. " And at the opposite extreme, it is heartening to find that another good poet exists.
One or two questions, as yr/ oxfordian friend has a vocabulary which in- cludes "ancress"/ may be he has a dictionary which includes "perries. "
? 136 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
I have no english dictionary here/ only greek and Chinese, so I can't hunt for it, and if it is a typing slip, he might correct
it before sending the ms/ to Stock (which, as above, I hope he will do]. I shall tell Stock I have asked him to.
It cant be misprint for berries, which occurs as rhyme in line preceding. Probably is oxonian, and not yankee.
Thrash-worth, or thrash-worthy / If he wants thrash-worth, let it stand.
It is stronger/ but one wants to be on guard when writing a for- eign language. You improve it, and it is set down to ignorance. Stock must know it is intentional.
(These are very fussy comments on matters of small importance, but I don't want to lose time with Stock. ) Again parr, or par. ?
Don't imagine that I ever knew how to spell in any language, and have certainly forgotten a good deal that 1 knew temporarily. I hear an Athen- ian taxi driver was lamenting that he couldn't help me to correct the greek in Cantos/ which is, at least partly, due to american printer omit- ting corrections after they had been properly set up. Besides whatever state the typescript is in, Melbourne will probably add a few errors. Does thehelenwantacapital(Helen)? peri,forperiwinkle? in1. 7? ? Ajoke that I shd/ be asking for footnotes. Darley?
At the boar's (is not necessary) ravages. so there you are
{"Stetson" is used with emphasis, no implication that reader already knows of him. )
(These two might be typing slips? )
Other Xmas items at this end. Amaral's Cantares Pisanos at last issued by Univ. of Mexico. Eva's Pisaner Gesdnge and popular edtn. pocket book Dichtung und Prosa. No. 2. Edge with the Zielinski. And at last the TRAXINIAI in London with some addenda. I will send Academia Bulle- tins slow post. Thanks for the Fenollosa fotos. And give my regards to the Minoru. It was his grandfather's foto on my mantelpiece that lowered the bamboo curtain with Ito and Kume in London, 40 years ago. And the present Minoru in Kagekiyo mask is on cover of my daughter's Italian translation of the Fenollosa-E. P. impression of that play. (They met at Venice festival. ) The TRAXINIAI translation was due to rereading the Noh translations for collected translations, and to make Verkehr with Lorenzatos greek edition of Cathay . . . a current toward inter- communications.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 137
I will ask Vanni Scheiwiller to send you some of his editions, or, as he runs on enthusiasm, perhaps the Keio Univ. will want some for their li- brary. The stone tablet text of Pivot is neater in the Italian bilingual than in the larger New Directions edtn/ and the outrage of delays and sabotage in connection with Harvard press, which should have done the Odes with seal character and sound-graph, one more infamy on the neck of this unfortunate continent.
At any rate, do send me more news as the incarcerated live on their post-bag.
135: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound TLS-1 [n. p. l 8 April 1957
Dear Mr. Pound:
I have accused myself for not writing to you. Many thanks for your cordial letter and Academia Bulletins. I felt as if I actually met you and listened to your witty causerie. I have just read through Mr. Denis Goacher's "Pictures of E. P. " in the Nimbus, and I have been keenly feeling that the world is incompatible with the wisdom of a genuine poet. Yet I believe an artist should be allowed his own vision.
MyheartwasfilledwithintensesorrowwhenI heardthenewsof Wyndham Lewis's death. I can well understand your feelings, though omnes eodem cogimur.
Junzaburo Nishiwaki won the Yomiuri prize for poetry the other day for his The Third Myth, which contains Janus poem in Japanese version. He expresses his gratitude and delight for your helpful and inspiring criticism. I hear George Darley (1795-1846), an Irish poet, was a stutterer. He says he will send you some other poems before long.
The London edition of Traxiniai came to my hand this morning. I read your version in the Hudson Review a few years ago. I will press Kitasono to translate it into Japanese as soon as possible. (I hear he has been depressed by a love affair. ) In recent years No plays written by the modern authors are on at the various theatres in Tokyo, and some of them are successful.
I think Italy must be a very pleasant country to live in. My brother-in- law is the Japanese Ambassador at Rome. I hope I shall be able to travel in
cordiali saJuti to both of you. Ezra Pound
? 138 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
Italy--where every footstep is fraught with memories--during his tenure of office.
There is a story that when, after the last war, Norman Douglas applied to the Italian Government for permission to return to Capri, he was told that no foreigner was allowed to settle in Italy. "I do not wish to live in Italy," he replied, "I wish to die there. " His request was granted.
May I ask you some questions?
1. Or through dawn-mist
The grey and rose
Of the juridical
Flamingoes: "Mauberley" IV
What is the meaning of the juridical in this context?
2. Who is Headlam? ("Mauberley")
John Espey says that Headlam is the Rev. Stewart Headlam, though
Friar and Brinnin say that he is the R. Rev. Arthur C. Headlam, the Bishop of Gloucester.
Please forgive me for the trouble I am causing you.
In exchange for your kindness, I am sending you Japanese No Plays,
Confucian Analects by Dr. Legge, and T'ao Yiian-ming in Chinese char- acters, which I am sure you will like.
136: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki TLS-1 St. Elizabeths. 11 April 1957
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
I wonder if what Ito would have called your "brother in row" is the Ambassador my daughter met when the Minoru took the
Noh to Venice?
I hope Junzaburo will continue to "derocher," but wish you would both get in touch with Noel Stock, now. (Occidental vulgarity, we live in eternity, but magazines do not, and the better a periodical the more pre- carious its existence, and the greater the need to get the best available matter printed before the editor goes bust. )
I dont think Kit Kat knows enough english to translate TRAX-
INIAI.
Sincerely Yours, Ryozo Iwasaki
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 139
BUT am convinced the Noh technique is only way of doing it properly, in whatever language.
No poet shd/ be depressed by a love affair/ if accepted he can enjoy it/ if given the "heave-ho" it shd/ improve his prosody and versification. And Kit Kat must be several years younger than I am.
When you get to Italy you must spend a few days with my descendents at Schloss Brunnenburg--Tirolo, Merano.
"juridical"/ gravity of the bird, the general legal attitude/ etc.
I shd/ say the lizard is professorial/ at least one memorable occasion of main body of said animal, utterly impassive, returning to in- spect the excited movements of its own tail knocked off by a cat. Of course situation much more serious for tail (irrevocable), whereas lizard cd/ replace same with patience.
Headlam, Stuart (or Stewart), member of rhymers club, I dont think he attained prebebde.
Do you know Dr. Kojiro Yoshikawa? He has sent his East-flow West-flow to Sheri, my copy hasn't come.
If you can persuade yr/ publisher to extend his operation by sending re- view copies of your "Mauberley" to h. de campos, r. dr. franco da rocha 232, s. paulo, Brasil
AND to Stock, and to Eva Hesse O'Donnell, Franzjosef str/ 7. vi, Miinchen 13, Germany
I think they wd/ spread the glad tidings.
Also to Garcia Terres, Universidad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico. The Ministry of Education in Brazil, and Mex. University are publishing the Spanish Pisans, and Portuguese 17 Cantos.
The venerable Chiang encourages me with the jail sentence of King Wen and Confucio and other respectable chinamen.
In just what sense do you use word "stutterer" re/ Darley? 1 take it [it] is J. N. who is sending poems. Quicker to send 'em to Stock, and he will print 'em and send on more copies.
Jo Bard lecturing in the Canary Isles, rhymes with yr/ use of the very Possum in the preterite.
And I shall be grateful for the To Emmei.
cordiali saJuti Ez P
? 140
SECTIONIII: 1956-68
137: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound
TLS-2 Keio University, Mita, Minatoku, Tokyo, Japan. 24 June 1957
Dear Mr. Ezra Pound:
I've received a parcel containing Italian Kagekiyo, Con/ucio, Cantos, Iconogra/ia and Lavoro ed Usura, etc. the other day. Many many thanks for your kindness and all those wonderful books Mrs. Mary de Rachewiltz sent me. In particular Iconogra/ia and Confucio are so beautiful that they fairly take my breath away. In exchange for her kindness I sent her my "Mauber- ley" and Japanese Masks, which I'm sure she will like. And also I sent you Japanese Masks and Taiga. Ikeno Taiga (1723-76) is one of the Southern School Artists. He had a true enthusiasm for Chinese culture, and was earnest in Chinalizing the Japanese landscape, as the Augustan poets in England used to Latinizing the English world.
J. N. 's Janus poem will be published in Edge no. 5. He's deeply grateful to you. I sent my "Mauberley" to Mr. Stock, h. de campos, Eva Hesse O'Donnell, and Garcia Terres last month.
Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Fenollosa's death, a biog- raphy was published in Tokyo. I'm writing now an essay on Mr. Pound and Fenollosa. Donald Davie, a young critic and Fellow of Trinity College, paid a great homage to The Chinese Written Character in his Articulate Energy. How and when did you happen to be acting as literary executor of Fenollo- sa? (Fenollosa's name first appeared in your letter. To William C. Williams, 19 Dec, 1913. ) Please tell me the circumstances.
One of my students is writing a doctor thesis on Yeats's plays. She had been in England for three years, and brought back some photographs of Yeats's mss. May I ask you some questions?
1. DoyouknowthedatewhenYeatsstartedAttheHawk'sWell?
2. Did Yeats actually write the first draft at Coole Park, being quite independent from your assistance?
3. TowhatextentdidyouhelpYeatsintheprogressofwritingAtthe Hawk's Well, or other plays, if any?
4. CanyougiveusastatementinwhichyoutestifyYeats'szealforthe Far Eastern art, etc? (including the Noh, of course. )
May I publish your letters in the Japanese magazine, omitting too personal passages (e. g. Kit Kat's knowledge in English) and adding some foot-notes?
Etiam atque-etiam vaJe, P. S. Minoru started for Paris several days ago. Ryozo Iwasaki
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 141
138: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki TLS-l St. Elizabeths, D. C. 21 August 1957
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
No literary prize or jury award can alter the weight of a consonant or change the length of a vowel, but on the practical side, if
you have some sort of Japanese Academy or authoritative body, it could do no harm to bring Junzaburo Nishiwaki's work to the attention of the Swedish Academy; I do not recall their having yet honoured Nippon.
139: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound TLS-l [n. p. ] 3 September 1957
Dear Mr. Ezra Pound:
Thank you for your nice letter of the 21st; I enjoyed every word. We can conscientiously recommend Mr. J. N. most heartily. We are now looking into the proper procedure, and I believe we must get a letter of recom- mendation from you. He'll write you a letter asking a favour. I'll send you some materials one of these days.
The opening ceremonies of the xxix International PEN Congress was held in Tokyo yesterday. The congress will spend four days in Tokyo before moving to Kyoto for the final two days and the closing session. Its highlight will be a symposium on the theme of the current meeting: "The Reciprocal Influence of Eastern and Western Literature on Writers of the Present Day and of the Future, both in Relation to aesthetic Values and to Ways of Life. "
We can find the following names in the list of Congress members: Mr. Karl Shapiro, Mrs. John G. Fletcher, John Dos Passos, John Steinbeck, Elmer Rice, Alberto Moravia, Stephen Spender etc.
We shall enjoy viewing of Noh play tomorrow afternoon.
Sincerely yours. Ryozo Iwasaki
ever yours E Pound
? 142 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
140: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki TLS-1 [n. p. ] 6 September 1957
Dear Ryozo
It would be most improper for me as a private citizen to recommend J. N. formally.
I can express an opinion to you as a friend, but believe nominations can come only from organized official bodies belonging to the writer's own country or from authors who have already received the Nobel Award.
Also, not being able to read Japanese, I have only a hunch and one of his poems in English to go on.
I should be delighted if I am right in my guess, and if he gets the Award.
AS to the pollution of the orient by introduction of tainted minds from the Occident and Mesopotamia
God help you. There is a popular english ditty "Heaven will pRotecT the working girl. "
Let us pray that some of the real criteria/ wasn't it Mat Arnold: "The best that has been known and thought. "
For gods sake get hold of the real occidental classics and consult people who are faithful to them.
AND make a start by attacking the great lie that the jews gave the world religion.
The whole of India and China and Greece ought to oppose this. The his- tory of mediaeval europe is that of a conflict between maniacs and sav- ages, with a dash of malevolence, greed of conquest, pollution.
Theremaybenorighteouswarsinthe"SpringandAutumn"butI have never heard of either Bhudists or Taoists using religion as a pretext for slaughter. Nor is it Confucian.
I wonder if Elmer Rice is an innocuous centenarian or at least a contem- porary whom I had thought extinct {that must have been Cole Rice).
I hope NO influence brought by that set of Pens will get into Tokyo. But give my cordial greetings to Rice, if it is the old relique, and to Fletch- er's widow, neither of whom will be carrying "influence. "
I dare say this will arrive after the conflict, but you can store it for next time.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 143
Hagoromo is a sacrament. And a glory. Tami Kume danced the tennin part before the Emperor at the age of six. And remembered it in London, where he showed us the movements in 1917 or about then. Later a Toku- gawa and some daimyo gave bits of Noh and Kiogen privately in his stu- dio in Paris. These are things to remember.
ever yours Ezra Pound
141: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound
TLS-l Keio University, Mita, Minatoku, Tokyo, Japan. 9 September 1957
Dear Mr. Pound:
At your kind suggestion we have officially made an application to the Swedish Academy for Dr. Junzaburo Nishiwaki as a Nobel prize candidate, and we should be grateful if you could send us a word of recommendation for his work, which we might use as an important reference to be filed in among the necessary documents.
142: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki
TLS-l St. Elizabeths, D. C. , 11 October 1957
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
I am very glad to hear of your committee's decision. It would be presumptuous of me to express an opinion on the
qualities of a man's writing in a language which I am, unfortunately, un- able to read, or to have views as to his status among other writers whose work is whoJJy unknown to me.
From what I have seen [of] Dr. Junzaburo Nishiwaki's work in English there is no possible doubt of his sensibility and the range and quality of his culture.
I shouldbedelightedtohavemyguessconfirmedbythose competent, as seems to be indicated by your letter. And I should partici- pate in the pleasure of any honour that may be done him.
cordially yours Ezra Pound
Yours sincerely Ryozo Iwasaki
? 144 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
143: Shiro Tsunoda to Ezra Pound
TLS-1 1156 Karasuyama-cho, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. 13 January 1958
Dear Mr. Pound:
Excuse me for my rudeness in writing you a letter without anyone who introduces me to you. While I was studying modern poetry in the Univer- sity of Miami, Florida, as a Fulbright Exchange teacher under the sponsor- ship of U. S. Office of Education, I was much interested in and deeply appreciated your poetry and study of Noh. Now teaching English and American literature in a senior high school, I am going to publish my thesis on "The Influence of Chinese Poetry and Japanese Tanka and Noh on Mr. Pound's Poetry. " But I have come to several points on which 1 would like to ask you questions. You went to London in 1909 but did you study Noh from Mr. Fenollosa's manuscripts before that? You put the title Personae to the collection of your poems published in London in 1909. How did you think of the title Personae (etymologically Per = through, Sona = sound) mean- ing the mask or the role as was shown in Greek play. Did you not think of highly artistic mask of Noh plays, though you perhaps got a hint from Browning's Dramatis Personae? While you were absorbed by painting and sculpture, were you interested in any of Japanese or Chinese paintings?
As for your poem, "The Tree," whose first five lines run as follows: I stood still and was a tree amid the wood,
Knowing the truth of things unseen be/ore;
Of Daphne and the JaureJ bow
And that god-/easting couple old
That grew elm-oak amid the wold.
Did not you think of an old man and woman symbolized by pine-trees in Takasago, one of the best and most illuminating Noh plays, when you wrote "that god-feasting couple old"?
And as for "The Encounter," what is meant by the last two lines which run:
Her fingers were like the tissue
Of a Japanese paper napkin.
If you kindly answer these questions, it will be a great help to a study of
the East and West flow of literature and I am much obliged to you.
If you are still interested in Noh plays, I will gladly send you the photos of the performances of Nohs recently presented by such schools as Umewa- ka, Kanze, Hohsho, Kongo, etc. Some of the Americans in Tokyo such as Dr.
Ulmann, Fulbright professor, are very eager to study Noh.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 145
I will translate into English any of the plays which you want and send it to you.
Hoping that I receive your answer, I remain,
144: Ezra Pound to Shiro Tsunoda
TLS-1 (fragment) St. Ehzabeths Hospital. 18 January 1958
Sincerely yours, Shiro Tsunoda
. . . I can't switch back to work on Noh this moment, but am having dif- ficulty in making some people understand that only the Minoru or some otherNohcompanywithwhichI amunacquainted,butnotBroadway, would be able to do Traxiniai as I want it done. . . .
145: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki
TLS-1 [Schloss Brunnenburg] 18 November 1958
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
I have at last got back to (my) archives
and yesterday opened Fenollosa's notes on Prof. Mori's lectures on the History of Chinese Poetry.
In 1968 when the present editor visited with Pound in Paris, the poet wrote a note to the librarian at the University of Virginia granting permis- sion for access to a microfilm copy of the Fenollosa notebooks. All the notebooks of Fenollosa sent to Pound by Mary Fenollosa were at that time under lock and key, and it would have been impossible otherwise for me to have read them. At the time, Hugh Kenner's microfilm of part of the notebooks had been stored at the library of the University of Virginia.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 131
133: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound
TLS-4 1-34, Mita, Minatoku, Tokyo, Japan. 30 November 1956
Dear Mr. Pound,
I am sending you the Japanese translation of your poems to-day. It has meant a great deal to me. I have no words to apologize to you for publishing your poems without permission. The Waste Land has been translated by several hands in our country, but "Hugh Selwyn Mauberley" has never been put into Japanese, and some favourable comments to my translation have appeared in Japanese newspapers. But I must confess it was a very difficult task. I wonder what it will seem to you. I want you to tell me what effect it has on you.
I had a very pleasant journey to Kobe the other day, and found that Ernest Fenollosa's lock of hair had been buried at Homyoin, Enjoji Temple in Otsu, near Kyoto. I enclose photographs of the grave, which was built by Mr. Laurence Binyon and other foreigners. The weather was most over- whelmingly lovely. He sleeps among the cedar grove and beautiful ferns by the Lake Biwa (i. e. lute). Vale! Valel
Yours very sincerely, Ryozo Iwasaki
? 132 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
Appendix 1
Contents of Selected Poems of Ezra Pound (Japanese Translation)
Preface by Junzaburo Nishiwaki "Sestina: Altaforte"
"Rome"
"The Garden"
"The Spring"
"Dance Figure"
"Gentildonna"
"To Kalon"
"Ladies"
"After Ch'u Yuan"
"Fan-Piece, for her Imperial Lord" "In a Station of the Metro" "Alba"
"Papyrus"
"To Formianus' Young Lady Friend" "The Lake Isle"
"Epitaphs"
"Homage to Quintus S. F. Christianus" "Moeurs contemporaines (Stele)" "Canto I"
"Canto IV" (abridged)
"Hugh Selwyn Mauberley"
Appendix 2
January in Kyoto
Janus, old man,
Your name is damp and grey and too prolonged A ring to rattle in my verse;
You double-faced, diluted churl of churls,
You corn-dull, poppy-wilted, beaver-brown.
By Junzaburo Nishiwaki
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 133
You snow-eater, a parasite on roots and berries, Iconoclast of gins and perries,
You're really one of the pariah dogs
Yelping, thrash-worth, at the belated gods.
I knowthedeitieswouldratherinflate
And flow in pipes than in metric odes, but now You suddenly brought us shy myth,
When we, disguised as Zeus and Hermes, went Looking for orchids that will hang oblong and dim At cuckoo-crow at the hell lady's door.
In the Hiei foot-hills by pebbly-purring streams.
We went into a peasant's cottage to see
How one cleans and adorns one's range
With a sprig of rue and a tangle of hips
To honour the bluff god of the kitchen fire.
The old baucis-and-philemon tree rustled its top: "Reverend sirs, you are early. Well now. "
My friend, a Ben Jonson scholar at the university, And a complete parr angler, could speak
The Yase doric: "Look what we've got,
Such lovely slender buds; may we leave
These things with you by this mercury bush,
As we're going to see Emau Convent up there? " Again we went out into loam land, dreaming
Of Angels and pottery crystal-beaming:
This time as tinkers we wandered . . .
Post-orchid journey it will be named.
A redolent trek, there was a smell
Of yellow plum blossom in the turnip fields.
"Who is it walking with you, strangers? "
"It is a woman. "
She is in holy visibility:
That was an old woman with the help of a stick On her way from Shu-gaku-in to Iwakura
To draw out money, the account book on her head, Nicely done up in a peony-patterned cloth Probably to ransom her helen out of peonage.
She had a leer like a boar
And had a stutter like Darley;
? 134 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
But it might be thunder if she chose to parley. Excited by our indignation on the boar ravages,
With fury and frothing she made a Delphic utterance: "It only took them a night to devour
A middlesex acre (as Macaulay says) of your yams; Last year they shot a huge one, but nobody
. "
Could bear him away, so there you are
So saying she glowered at us and passed by.
Now I come to the second nonnes tale:
We greeted the ancress in a most elegant way; Unrobed, aproned, head tonsured as azure as
The kingfisher's wings, sweeping up fallen leaves Among the landscape stones green with moss, Herself indistinguishable from the blue.
"Good morning, Madame Eglantine, may I
See your garden? Wonderful!
And do you happen to know my relation
Who is a prioress living near Kitano-Tenjin? "
"I wouldn't know, sir. But how odd, when I've been Of the same tribe nearly all my life.
Bo tree, that. Very, very rare. "
"Perhaps you could let me have a twig in the spring; I'd like to graft it on a stock . . . mulberry it is. " Enlightenment . . . an entwining of rose and bay. "By all means. Secretum secretorum! "
When we returned full circle to the roots
Of our orchids, we maundered to sanctify
Fertility . . . magic jabber . . . over cups of tea.
The wife decanted golden mead to immortalize
Our chats and our pseudo-godliness, but we tried Hard to hide our mortality . . .
Biographical Note: J. Nishiwaki was born in 1896. He graduated at Keio University but later studied English literature at Oxford University. He is the author of a number of books on English and European languages and literature and has translated Eliot's The Waste Land into Japanese. He has published several books of poems and although his output has been small, he is one of the most influential of modern poets in Japan to-day. He is at present Professor of English literature at Keio University.
. .
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135
134: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki
TLS-2 [Pmk: WASHINGTON D. C. ) 28 December 1956
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
It has been a most delightful Xmas, and I have you to thank for two of the pleasant surprises. Your elegantly printed "Mauber-
ley" {&- other poems), and J. N. 's Janus Poem, the latter most opportune, as Stock has started a magazine which badly needs it. Edge, edited by Noel Stock
436 Nepean Rd. , East Brighton S. 6, Melbourne, Australia
Started with the highest aims of any review since Ford's English Review in 1908. To whom I trust you and Junzaburo will contribute at once. He has printed a few translations of mine and the long-needed Zielinski SibyiJe/ but there was the lack of vortex; of concentration of creative tal- ents such as made The Little Review with Lewis, Joyce, and Eliot.
Don't credit me with a knowledge of Japanese, let alone the ability to judge the style of your translation or its nearness to the original. I am delighted with the look of the edition, happy to see the W. L. portrait on the jacket (portrait now on show in N. York), and having only partially unwrapped the volume, had the second and delayed pleasure and sur- prise of finding D. P. 's cover design for Ripostes on the reverse. Looking much better enlarged to that size and with the nippon script cohering much better with the design than the heavy english lettering of the origi- nal. In short a pleasant yesterday. And the 40 year after surge of coinci- dence. W. L. 's preface for his show at the Tate and my note on La Mar- tinelli having been done without collusion . . . in a way that would have pleased Yeats' astrological yearnings.
JunzaburohasamorevitalenglishthananyI haveseenforsometime. AND if you choose such good company I can well believe you have made a good job of the "Mauberley," and trust if you also write in english or translate your own poems you will send copies both to Stock and my- self.
I have enjoyed that Janus poem more than anything I have come on for some time.
I recall Ford on one occasion re/ lack of literary comprehension in London: "That is why one feels so damn lonely. " And at the opposite extreme, it is heartening to find that another good poet exists.
One or two questions, as yr/ oxfordian friend has a vocabulary which in- cludes "ancress"/ may be he has a dictionary which includes "perries. "
? 136 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
I have no english dictionary here/ only greek and Chinese, so I can't hunt for it, and if it is a typing slip, he might correct
it before sending the ms/ to Stock (which, as above, I hope he will do]. I shall tell Stock I have asked him to.
It cant be misprint for berries, which occurs as rhyme in line preceding. Probably is oxonian, and not yankee.
Thrash-worth, or thrash-worthy / If he wants thrash-worth, let it stand.
It is stronger/ but one wants to be on guard when writing a for- eign language. You improve it, and it is set down to ignorance. Stock must know it is intentional.
(These are very fussy comments on matters of small importance, but I don't want to lose time with Stock. ) Again parr, or par. ?
Don't imagine that I ever knew how to spell in any language, and have certainly forgotten a good deal that 1 knew temporarily. I hear an Athen- ian taxi driver was lamenting that he couldn't help me to correct the greek in Cantos/ which is, at least partly, due to american printer omit- ting corrections after they had been properly set up. Besides whatever state the typescript is in, Melbourne will probably add a few errors. Does thehelenwantacapital(Helen)? peri,forperiwinkle? in1. 7? ? Ajoke that I shd/ be asking for footnotes. Darley?
At the boar's (is not necessary) ravages. so there you are
{"Stetson" is used with emphasis, no implication that reader already knows of him. )
(These two might be typing slips? )
Other Xmas items at this end. Amaral's Cantares Pisanos at last issued by Univ. of Mexico. Eva's Pisaner Gesdnge and popular edtn. pocket book Dichtung und Prosa. No. 2. Edge with the Zielinski. And at last the TRAXINIAI in London with some addenda. I will send Academia Bulle- tins slow post. Thanks for the Fenollosa fotos. And give my regards to the Minoru. It was his grandfather's foto on my mantelpiece that lowered the bamboo curtain with Ito and Kume in London, 40 years ago. And the present Minoru in Kagekiyo mask is on cover of my daughter's Italian translation of the Fenollosa-E. P. impression of that play. (They met at Venice festival. ) The TRAXINIAI translation was due to rereading the Noh translations for collected translations, and to make Verkehr with Lorenzatos greek edition of Cathay . . . a current toward inter- communications.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 137
I will ask Vanni Scheiwiller to send you some of his editions, or, as he runs on enthusiasm, perhaps the Keio Univ. will want some for their li- brary. The stone tablet text of Pivot is neater in the Italian bilingual than in the larger New Directions edtn/ and the outrage of delays and sabotage in connection with Harvard press, which should have done the Odes with seal character and sound-graph, one more infamy on the neck of this unfortunate continent.
At any rate, do send me more news as the incarcerated live on their post-bag.
135: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound TLS-1 [n. p. l 8 April 1957
Dear Mr. Pound:
I have accused myself for not writing to you. Many thanks for your cordial letter and Academia Bulletins. I felt as if I actually met you and listened to your witty causerie. I have just read through Mr. Denis Goacher's "Pictures of E. P. " in the Nimbus, and I have been keenly feeling that the world is incompatible with the wisdom of a genuine poet. Yet I believe an artist should be allowed his own vision.
MyheartwasfilledwithintensesorrowwhenI heardthenewsof Wyndham Lewis's death. I can well understand your feelings, though omnes eodem cogimur.
Junzaburo Nishiwaki won the Yomiuri prize for poetry the other day for his The Third Myth, which contains Janus poem in Japanese version. He expresses his gratitude and delight for your helpful and inspiring criticism. I hear George Darley (1795-1846), an Irish poet, was a stutterer. He says he will send you some other poems before long.
The London edition of Traxiniai came to my hand this morning. I read your version in the Hudson Review a few years ago. I will press Kitasono to translate it into Japanese as soon as possible. (I hear he has been depressed by a love affair. ) In recent years No plays written by the modern authors are on at the various theatres in Tokyo, and some of them are successful.
I think Italy must be a very pleasant country to live in. My brother-in- law is the Japanese Ambassador at Rome. I hope I shall be able to travel in
cordiali saJuti to both of you. Ezra Pound
? 138 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
Italy--where every footstep is fraught with memories--during his tenure of office.
There is a story that when, after the last war, Norman Douglas applied to the Italian Government for permission to return to Capri, he was told that no foreigner was allowed to settle in Italy. "I do not wish to live in Italy," he replied, "I wish to die there. " His request was granted.
May I ask you some questions?
1. Or through dawn-mist
The grey and rose
Of the juridical
Flamingoes: "Mauberley" IV
What is the meaning of the juridical in this context?
2. Who is Headlam? ("Mauberley")
John Espey says that Headlam is the Rev. Stewart Headlam, though
Friar and Brinnin say that he is the R. Rev. Arthur C. Headlam, the Bishop of Gloucester.
Please forgive me for the trouble I am causing you.
In exchange for your kindness, I am sending you Japanese No Plays,
Confucian Analects by Dr. Legge, and T'ao Yiian-ming in Chinese char- acters, which I am sure you will like.
136: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki TLS-1 St. Elizabeths. 11 April 1957
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
I wonder if what Ito would have called your "brother in row" is the Ambassador my daughter met when the Minoru took the
Noh to Venice?
I hope Junzaburo will continue to "derocher," but wish you would both get in touch with Noel Stock, now. (Occidental vulgarity, we live in eternity, but magazines do not, and the better a periodical the more pre- carious its existence, and the greater the need to get the best available matter printed before the editor goes bust. )
I dont think Kit Kat knows enough english to translate TRAX-
INIAI.
Sincerely Yours, Ryozo Iwasaki
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 139
BUT am convinced the Noh technique is only way of doing it properly, in whatever language.
No poet shd/ be depressed by a love affair/ if accepted he can enjoy it/ if given the "heave-ho" it shd/ improve his prosody and versification. And Kit Kat must be several years younger than I am.
When you get to Italy you must spend a few days with my descendents at Schloss Brunnenburg--Tirolo, Merano.
"juridical"/ gravity of the bird, the general legal attitude/ etc.
I shd/ say the lizard is professorial/ at least one memorable occasion of main body of said animal, utterly impassive, returning to in- spect the excited movements of its own tail knocked off by a cat. Of course situation much more serious for tail (irrevocable), whereas lizard cd/ replace same with patience.
Headlam, Stuart (or Stewart), member of rhymers club, I dont think he attained prebebde.
Do you know Dr. Kojiro Yoshikawa? He has sent his East-flow West-flow to Sheri, my copy hasn't come.
If you can persuade yr/ publisher to extend his operation by sending re- view copies of your "Mauberley" to h. de campos, r. dr. franco da rocha 232, s. paulo, Brasil
AND to Stock, and to Eva Hesse O'Donnell, Franzjosef str/ 7. vi, Miinchen 13, Germany
I think they wd/ spread the glad tidings.
Also to Garcia Terres, Universidad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico. The Ministry of Education in Brazil, and Mex. University are publishing the Spanish Pisans, and Portuguese 17 Cantos.
The venerable Chiang encourages me with the jail sentence of King Wen and Confucio and other respectable chinamen.
In just what sense do you use word "stutterer" re/ Darley? 1 take it [it] is J. N. who is sending poems. Quicker to send 'em to Stock, and he will print 'em and send on more copies.
Jo Bard lecturing in the Canary Isles, rhymes with yr/ use of the very Possum in the preterite.
And I shall be grateful for the To Emmei.
cordiali saJuti Ez P
? 140
SECTIONIII: 1956-68
137: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound
TLS-2 Keio University, Mita, Minatoku, Tokyo, Japan. 24 June 1957
Dear Mr. Ezra Pound:
I've received a parcel containing Italian Kagekiyo, Con/ucio, Cantos, Iconogra/ia and Lavoro ed Usura, etc. the other day. Many many thanks for your kindness and all those wonderful books Mrs. Mary de Rachewiltz sent me. In particular Iconogra/ia and Confucio are so beautiful that they fairly take my breath away. In exchange for her kindness I sent her my "Mauber- ley" and Japanese Masks, which I'm sure she will like. And also I sent you Japanese Masks and Taiga. Ikeno Taiga (1723-76) is one of the Southern School Artists. He had a true enthusiasm for Chinese culture, and was earnest in Chinalizing the Japanese landscape, as the Augustan poets in England used to Latinizing the English world.
J. N. 's Janus poem will be published in Edge no. 5. He's deeply grateful to you. I sent my "Mauberley" to Mr. Stock, h. de campos, Eva Hesse O'Donnell, and Garcia Terres last month.
Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Fenollosa's death, a biog- raphy was published in Tokyo. I'm writing now an essay on Mr. Pound and Fenollosa. Donald Davie, a young critic and Fellow of Trinity College, paid a great homage to The Chinese Written Character in his Articulate Energy. How and when did you happen to be acting as literary executor of Fenollo- sa? (Fenollosa's name first appeared in your letter. To William C. Williams, 19 Dec, 1913. ) Please tell me the circumstances.
One of my students is writing a doctor thesis on Yeats's plays. She had been in England for three years, and brought back some photographs of Yeats's mss. May I ask you some questions?
1. DoyouknowthedatewhenYeatsstartedAttheHawk'sWell?
2. Did Yeats actually write the first draft at Coole Park, being quite independent from your assistance?
3. TowhatextentdidyouhelpYeatsintheprogressofwritingAtthe Hawk's Well, or other plays, if any?
4. CanyougiveusastatementinwhichyoutestifyYeats'szealforthe Far Eastern art, etc? (including the Noh, of course. )
May I publish your letters in the Japanese magazine, omitting too personal passages (e. g. Kit Kat's knowledge in English) and adding some foot-notes?
Etiam atque-etiam vaJe, P. S. Minoru started for Paris several days ago. Ryozo Iwasaki
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 141
138: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki TLS-l St. Elizabeths, D. C. 21 August 1957
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
No literary prize or jury award can alter the weight of a consonant or change the length of a vowel, but on the practical side, if
you have some sort of Japanese Academy or authoritative body, it could do no harm to bring Junzaburo Nishiwaki's work to the attention of the Swedish Academy; I do not recall their having yet honoured Nippon.
139: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound TLS-l [n. p. ] 3 September 1957
Dear Mr. Ezra Pound:
Thank you for your nice letter of the 21st; I enjoyed every word. We can conscientiously recommend Mr. J. N. most heartily. We are now looking into the proper procedure, and I believe we must get a letter of recom- mendation from you. He'll write you a letter asking a favour. I'll send you some materials one of these days.
The opening ceremonies of the xxix International PEN Congress was held in Tokyo yesterday. The congress will spend four days in Tokyo before moving to Kyoto for the final two days and the closing session. Its highlight will be a symposium on the theme of the current meeting: "The Reciprocal Influence of Eastern and Western Literature on Writers of the Present Day and of the Future, both in Relation to aesthetic Values and to Ways of Life. "
We can find the following names in the list of Congress members: Mr. Karl Shapiro, Mrs. John G. Fletcher, John Dos Passos, John Steinbeck, Elmer Rice, Alberto Moravia, Stephen Spender etc.
We shall enjoy viewing of Noh play tomorrow afternoon.
Sincerely yours. Ryozo Iwasaki
ever yours E Pound
? 142 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
140: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki TLS-1 [n. p. ] 6 September 1957
Dear Ryozo
It would be most improper for me as a private citizen to recommend J. N. formally.
I can express an opinion to you as a friend, but believe nominations can come only from organized official bodies belonging to the writer's own country or from authors who have already received the Nobel Award.
Also, not being able to read Japanese, I have only a hunch and one of his poems in English to go on.
I should be delighted if I am right in my guess, and if he gets the Award.
AS to the pollution of the orient by introduction of tainted minds from the Occident and Mesopotamia
God help you. There is a popular english ditty "Heaven will pRotecT the working girl. "
Let us pray that some of the real criteria/ wasn't it Mat Arnold: "The best that has been known and thought. "
For gods sake get hold of the real occidental classics and consult people who are faithful to them.
AND make a start by attacking the great lie that the jews gave the world religion.
The whole of India and China and Greece ought to oppose this. The his- tory of mediaeval europe is that of a conflict between maniacs and sav- ages, with a dash of malevolence, greed of conquest, pollution.
Theremaybenorighteouswarsinthe"SpringandAutumn"butI have never heard of either Bhudists or Taoists using religion as a pretext for slaughter. Nor is it Confucian.
I wonder if Elmer Rice is an innocuous centenarian or at least a contem- porary whom I had thought extinct {that must have been Cole Rice).
I hope NO influence brought by that set of Pens will get into Tokyo. But give my cordial greetings to Rice, if it is the old relique, and to Fletch- er's widow, neither of whom will be carrying "influence. "
I dare say this will arrive after the conflict, but you can store it for next time.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 143
Hagoromo is a sacrament. And a glory. Tami Kume danced the tennin part before the Emperor at the age of six. And remembered it in London, where he showed us the movements in 1917 or about then. Later a Toku- gawa and some daimyo gave bits of Noh and Kiogen privately in his stu- dio in Paris. These are things to remember.
ever yours Ezra Pound
141: Ryozo Iwasaki to Ezra Pound
TLS-l Keio University, Mita, Minatoku, Tokyo, Japan. 9 September 1957
Dear Mr. Pound:
At your kind suggestion we have officially made an application to the Swedish Academy for Dr. Junzaburo Nishiwaki as a Nobel prize candidate, and we should be grateful if you could send us a word of recommendation for his work, which we might use as an important reference to be filed in among the necessary documents.
142: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki
TLS-l St. Elizabeths, D. C. , 11 October 1957
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
I am very glad to hear of your committee's decision. It would be presumptuous of me to express an opinion on the
qualities of a man's writing in a language which I am, unfortunately, un- able to read, or to have views as to his status among other writers whose work is whoJJy unknown to me.
From what I have seen [of] Dr. Junzaburo Nishiwaki's work in English there is no possible doubt of his sensibility and the range and quality of his culture.
I shouldbedelightedtohavemyguessconfirmedbythose competent, as seems to be indicated by your letter. And I should partici- pate in the pleasure of any honour that may be done him.
cordially yours Ezra Pound
Yours sincerely Ryozo Iwasaki
? 144 SECTIONIII: 1956-68
143: Shiro Tsunoda to Ezra Pound
TLS-1 1156 Karasuyama-cho, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. 13 January 1958
Dear Mr. Pound:
Excuse me for my rudeness in writing you a letter without anyone who introduces me to you. While I was studying modern poetry in the Univer- sity of Miami, Florida, as a Fulbright Exchange teacher under the sponsor- ship of U. S. Office of Education, I was much interested in and deeply appreciated your poetry and study of Noh. Now teaching English and American literature in a senior high school, I am going to publish my thesis on "The Influence of Chinese Poetry and Japanese Tanka and Noh on Mr. Pound's Poetry. " But I have come to several points on which 1 would like to ask you questions. You went to London in 1909 but did you study Noh from Mr. Fenollosa's manuscripts before that? You put the title Personae to the collection of your poems published in London in 1909. How did you think of the title Personae (etymologically Per = through, Sona = sound) mean- ing the mask or the role as was shown in Greek play. Did you not think of highly artistic mask of Noh plays, though you perhaps got a hint from Browning's Dramatis Personae? While you were absorbed by painting and sculpture, were you interested in any of Japanese or Chinese paintings?
As for your poem, "The Tree," whose first five lines run as follows: I stood still and was a tree amid the wood,
Knowing the truth of things unseen be/ore;
Of Daphne and the JaureJ bow
And that god-/easting couple old
That grew elm-oak amid the wold.
Did not you think of an old man and woman symbolized by pine-trees in Takasago, one of the best and most illuminating Noh plays, when you wrote "that god-feasting couple old"?
And as for "The Encounter," what is meant by the last two lines which run:
Her fingers were like the tissue
Of a Japanese paper napkin.
If you kindly answer these questions, it will be a great help to a study of
the East and West flow of literature and I am much obliged to you.
If you are still interested in Noh plays, I will gladly send you the photos of the performances of Nohs recently presented by such schools as Umewa- ka, Kanze, Hohsho, Kongo, etc. Some of the Americans in Tokyo such as Dr.
Ulmann, Fulbright professor, are very eager to study Noh.
? SECTIONIII: 1956-68 145
I will translate into English any of the plays which you want and send it to you.
Hoping that I receive your answer, I remain,
144: Ezra Pound to Shiro Tsunoda
TLS-1 (fragment) St. Ehzabeths Hospital. 18 January 1958
Sincerely yours, Shiro Tsunoda
. . . I can't switch back to work on Noh this moment, but am having dif- ficulty in making some people understand that only the Minoru or some otherNohcompanywithwhichI amunacquainted,butnotBroadway, would be able to do Traxiniai as I want it done. . . .
145: Ezra Pound to Ryozo Iwasaki
TLS-1 [Schloss Brunnenburg] 18 November 1958
Dear Ryozo Iwasaki
I have at last got back to (my) archives
and yesterday opened Fenollosa's notes on Prof. Mori's lectures on the History of Chinese Poetry.
