Lost Japan

by Alex Kerr

  Glossary

  bonkei – art form involving the creation of a miniature landscape on a tray

  danmari – ‘pantomime’ scene in Kabuki during which the actors move in slow motion as if in darkness, oblivious to each other’s presence

  fukusa – silk cloth used by tea masters to wipe utensils during tea ceremony

  fusuma – sliding paper doors used to divide the open space of a house into rooms and corridors; both sides of the framework are covered with several layers of strong paper, making them heavier than shoji

  geisha – (lit. ‘person of the arts’) professional female entertainer or companion

  genkan – (lit. ‘hidden barrier’) entranceway or foyer; shoes are left here on entering a house

  geta – traditional wooden clogs

  giri-ninjo – conflict between love and duty, the subject of many Kabuki plays

  goma – symbolic geometrical arrangement of ritual utensils placed on a table before the altar in Esoteric Buddhist temples

  haboku – ink-painting style, known as ‘splashed ink’, which features the sparse use of ink and highly abstract compositions

  haiku – seventeen-syllable poem

  hakama – loose trousers worn by men with kimono

  hanamichi – (lit. ‘flower path’) walkway which is separated from the main stage in Kabuki and used as a dramatic device

  hibutsu – (lit. ‘hidden Buddha’) important Buddha figures which are hidden from view and only rarely displayed

  hiragana – cursive script used to transcribe syllabic Japanese

  hogai – scholar or artist who works outside official systems

  hossu – fly whisk, an ancient symbol of seidan, used to ‘brush away the flies of care’

  ikebana – traditional art of flower arrangement

  Kabuki – form of traditional Japanese theater characterized by elaborate costumes, stylized acting and the use of male actors for all roles

  kai – special gathering for cultural (e.g. an ikebana display) or commercial (e.g. an auction) reasons

  kang – large Chinese sofa

  kanji – Chinese calligraphic characters used in Japanese script

  kaomise – (lit. ‘face showing’) performance of Kabuki held in Kyoto in December, featuring leading Kabuki actors

  karayo – ‘Chinese-style’ calligraphy; see also wayo

  kaso – phenomenon of depopulation of rural areas

  kata – characteristic ‘forms’ of movement in Kabuki; distinctive patterns in the traditional arts

  katakana – script used primarily to transcribe foreign words into syllabic Japanese

  katsu – meaningless shout, used in Zen to shock or surprise and thereby lead to enlightenment

  kaya – see susuki

  keaki – (zelkova) a precious wood

  keren – crowd-pleasing acrobatic tricks in Kabuki

  kiseru – long, silver tobacco pipe, often used in Kabuki

  koan – illogical Zen Buddhist riddle, used as a meditational tool to achieve enlightenment

  koto – thirteen-stringed musical instrument

  kuge – Kyoto’s highly cultured court nobles of old, descended from the Heian-period’s Fujiwara family and having semi-Imperial status

  kura – storehouse, traditionally used to store furniture and decorations

  kuroko – Kabuki’s black-clad stage attendants who are supposedly invisible to the audience

  kuruwa – enclosures or walled areas within a city, which were inhabited by courtesans

  ma – distinctive, spatial rhythm featured in traditional Japanese music; rests between notes

  machiya – town house

  matcha – Japanese-style tea ceremony

  men – (lit. ‘face’) front of an object

  mu – concept of ‘nothingness’ which lies at the core of Zen

  nageire – style of ikebana known as ‘thrown flowers’, in which flowers are dropped into a basket or vase

  natsume – lacquered tea caddy used in tea ceremony

  oku no in – inner sanctuary of a temple complex

  onnagata – male actors who play women’s roles in Kabuki

  pachinko – gambling game played on a vertical pinball machines

  pai-lou – multi-tiered decorative gates of China; in Japan, found only in Chinese-influenced temples such as Manpuku-ji Temple in Kyoto

  samisen – three-stringed musical instrument

  saniwa – cleared area of raked sand, used in ancient times to stage divinations and the judgment of criminals, from which the Zen raked-sand gardens originated

  seidan – term originating in fourth-century Taoist gatherings: the art of ‘pure conversation’

  seiza – the position of sitting on one’s knees required on formal occasions and in many traditional arts, such as tea ceremony and sometimes calligraphy

  sencha – Chinese-style tea ceremony

  shikishi – square calligraphic plaque

  shino – type of thatch, cut in spring after the leaves have fallen from the stalk

  Shinto – polytheistic indigenous religion of Japan

  shoji – sliding paper doors constructed from a wooden framework, covered on one side with a sheet of paper; see fusuma

  sudare – bamboo blinds

  suki – playful architectural style which focuses on details, strongly influenced by tea ceremony

  susuki – long grass with blade-like leaves which, when cut and bound, is known as kaya and is used as roofing thatch; the grass appears in scrolls and poems as ‘autumn grass’

  tanzaku – rectangular calligraphic plaque

  tatami – woven floor matting, used as a unit of room measurement

  tatebana – formal style of ikebana known as ‘standing flowers’

  tokonoma – decorative alcove found in most Japanese homes in which flowers, a scroll or other artworks may be displayed

  torii – entrance gate to a shrine

  tsubo – traditional unit of land measurement in Japan, defined as one square bay or two tatami mats (3.3 m2)

  tsuka – mound; at Fushimi-inari Grand Shrine in Kyoto, the word is used to denote collections of small altars or mounds bearing symbolic artifacts

  tsutsumi – shoulder drum

  ubu – (lit. ‘infant’) objects which appear at auction for the first time after having been stored in the kura for decades

  wabi – (lit. ‘worn’ or ‘humble’) emphasis on simplicity and humble, natural materials; first incorporated into tea ceremony, wabi has come to symbolize all that is unostentatious in the traditional arts

  waka – thirty-one-syllable poem

  wayo – ‘Japanese-style’ calligraphy originating in the Heian period, which the kuge developed into a range of delicate and flowing styles; the term is used in contrast to karayo – ‘Chinese-style’ calligraphy – the more rigorous and individualistic form favored by monks and the literati

  yago – actor’s ‘house name’, which is shouted by members of the audience at dramatic moments during a Kabuki play

  yobai – (lit. ‘night crawling’) pattern of courtship in rural areas, now rare, where the male enters his chosen partner’s house at night to sleep with her; if all goes well, the process results in a marriage

  yukata – summer-weight cotton kimono

  Zen – Japanese school of Buddhism, introduced in the twelfth century from China, which teaches the achievement of enlightenment through inner contemplation

  THE BEGINNING

  Let the conversation begin...

  Follow the Penguin Twitter.com@penguinukbooks

  Keep up-to-date with all our stories YouTube.com/penguinbooks

  Pin ‘Penguin Books’ to your Pinterest

  Like ‘Penguin Books’ on Facebook.com/penguinbooks

  Listen to Penguin at SoundCloud.com/penguin-books

  Find out more about the author and

  discover more stories like this at Penguin.co.uk

  PENGUIN BOOKS

&
nbsp; UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia

  India | New Zealand | South Africa

  Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

  First published by Lonely Planet Publications 1996

  Published with a new Preface in Penguin Books 2015

  Text copyright © Alex Kerr, 1993

  Adapted from Utsukushiki Nippon no Zanzo (Shincho-sha, Tokyo, 1993) copyright © Alex Kerr, 1996, 2015

  Calligraphies © Alex Kerr, 2015

  Cover from University of California, Berkeley.

  Calligraphy by Alex Kerr

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  ISBN: 978-0-141-97975-5