APRIL IS RUSKIN IN JAPAN MONTH AT THE RUSKIN ART CLUB
Two presentations this month will highlight the traditional craft aesthetics of Japan and John Ruskin's enduring influence on Japanese thinkers and artists today.
John Walker was born in Bloomington, Illinois in 1963.
He has degrees from University of Southern Maine (BA in Philosophy) and School for International Training (MA in Education), but was primarily educated by a life of travel. Hemmingway led him to Spain in 1984 and later, a wayward angel opened the door to a life and career Japan. In 1990, he began as a language teacher in Kyoto, then, in 1999, established an English school in the city’s northern ward. Enamored by Japanese culture, he began visiting temple markets in search, first of hand-woven bamboo baskets, and later, objects with spiritual significance. It was only a mater of time before he encountered the work of one of Japan’s most celebrated Buddhist poets, the artist, calligrapher, ceramicist, Otagaki Rengetsu (1791–1875). In 2004, he purchased his first scroll by Rengetsu. Over the last 19 years, has collected her ceramics, calligraphy and painting avidly, mounted a retrospective at the Nomura Art Museum of 2014, co-translated over 900 of her poems in English, and co-authored a book on her life and work: Otagaki Rengetsu – Poetry and Artwork from a Rustic Hut (2014) Amembo Press, Kyoto.
"More than 200 years after her birth in Kyoto, Rengentsu, whose name means "Lotus Moon," continues to inspire. The delicate moods of her poetry, the subtlety of her brush and the presence of her simply crafted objects feels sacred. This power to move the human heart rises neither from her talent nor training, but from sorrow. Rengentsu suffered a series of tragedies at an early age, yet found her way to a spiritual life of modest observations and communion with nature. Rengentsu's poems illuminate tiny vignettes of personal experience and the challenges of the human condition. In essence, they are about loss and how we may yet live in grace and wonder at with what remains and what shall come." -- John Walker
Dr. Kazuya Oyama: Lecturer & Assistant Professor of Literature at Doshisha University (2017-present).
A specialist in Japanese poetry of the Edo Period (1600-1867), specifically waka, the 5-line, 31 syllable poetic form (cousin of the haiku, the 3-line, 17 syllable form widely known in the West). He was the archivist for many years at Reizei House, the Japanese National Poetry Archive in Kyoto. He has written extensively on the poetry of early Edo emperors and the subject of the present symposium, Otagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875). He co-authored a monograph on the poet and artist (Otagaki Rengetsu: Poetry and Artwork from a Rustic Hut, 2014, Amembo Press, Kyoto. He has co-translated Rengetsu‘s entire poetic oeuvre of more than 900 poems into English. He has been a consultant to the national broadcaster of Japan (NHK) for their documentary films and books on Rengetsu.