Acorn (Dotori): An Essay Collection

An essay collection by a Japanese physicist and poet of the Meiji-Taisho era. He observes and describes nature, objects, and people with a calm, even-tempered touch. There is none of the emotional excess so often found in essays. Because of this, you are drawn in without any needless interference, as if you were seeing the scenes reflected in his eyes right before your own. And yet it is never bland. In his writing, affection for his subjects permeates every line. There were many fine passages, but let me transcribe one paragraph that struck me in particular.

Among the things that ought to be recorded in my record of the past but have not yet been are three house cats. Strangely enough, in the land of longing these domestic animals are no different from people at all. They open their mouths and they speak. My own heart, too, gets across to them just as it is. When it comes to the dead, even a beautiful memory is bound to carry a bitter taste, but in the memories of these animals there is never any bitter aftertaste. That, too, must be because they did not speak while they were alive. -p147. A Record of the Past

<Acorn (Dotori)> Minumsa, 2017, Terada Torahiko, translated by Kang Jeong-won