Thank you so much for this! I am getting so much out of your essays, these are all things i don’t know about the culture of the period and they give so much depth to reading Genji. Really enjoying these essays, please keep going!
This is extraordinary performance! And the music! Thank you so much for posting this. I feel the music resonating in my very bones. Your description of life in Loyang brings its sophistication to life.
Thank you so much for reading it and isn’t the music incredible! I’m so glad the music resonated with you I thought that was a fantastic performance, isn’t the dancing beautiful?
The dancing is beautiful, the music incredible. I kept thinking it is absolutely amazing that it is still performed. I remember from my Noh classes the teacher talking about how to continue teaching its traditional music, performance, etc when there is such a challenge in cultivating interest in learners, and the money for the theater to keep going. The commitment is phenomenal.
LA Opera has made a huge effort to draw and draw young people... but the last time we were there a month ago, it was --as always-- gray hairs :) I suppose that is just how it goes... but no matter what the imperial household, as long as it may exist in Japan, will keep these customs alive. The Japanese are the great preservers of silk road cultures in addition to their own.
It does! One of the short stories I’ve been working on is called all the peonies of Chang’an after the famous poem. I think it sounds like the best place in the world to have lived, so cosmopolitan. And I’m so glad you notice the Sashiko! I don’t think and all those years living in Japan I put two into together that the pattern was the same as the song 🎵
I knew about the gagaku connection but not the trail back to Lake Qinghai. That was fascinating. It also made me remember a travel book I used to love by Vikram Seth called From Heaven Lake, that I haven't looked at in many years. Must track it down again. Look forward to reading your story too!
I love Vikram Seth and adored that book too! I am going to post my story in a few weeks. I don't think they will care. I almost feel a bit embarrassed by it. I always feel that way about my fiction --like it is immature and stupid!
Aha - I knew you would love that book! Keep reminding yourself you are a prizewinning writer and have every reason to be confident about sending your fiction out into the world!
Thank you so much for this! I am getting so much out of your essays, these are all things i don’t know about the culture of the period and they give so much depth to reading Genji. Really enjoying these essays, please keep going!
Thank you so much, Maya! I really appreciate your comments so much. XOXO.
This is extraordinary performance! And the music! Thank you so much for posting this. I feel the music resonating in my very bones. Your description of life in Loyang brings its sophistication to life.
Thank you so much for reading it and isn’t the music incredible! I’m so glad the music resonated with you I thought that was a fantastic performance, isn’t the dancing beautiful?
The dancing is beautiful, the music incredible. I kept thinking it is absolutely amazing that it is still performed. I remember from my Noh classes the teacher talking about how to continue teaching its traditional music, performance, etc when there is such a challenge in cultivating interest in learners, and the money for the theater to keep going. The commitment is phenomenal.
LA Opera has made a huge effort to draw and draw young people... but the last time we were there a month ago, it was --as always-- gray hairs :) I suppose that is just how it goes... but no matter what the imperial household, as long as it may exist in Japan, will keep these customs alive. The Japanese are the great preservers of silk road cultures in addition to their own.
Lovely essay. Doesn't Loyang sound like a wonderful place to have lived! I was waiting for the sashiko mention, and you delivered!
It does! One of the short stories I’ve been working on is called all the peonies of Chang’an after the famous poem. I think it sounds like the best place in the world to have lived, so cosmopolitan. And I’m so glad you notice the Sashiko! I don’t think and all those years living in Japan I put two into together that the pattern was the same as the song 🎵
I knew about the gagaku connection but not the trail back to Lake Qinghai. That was fascinating. It also made me remember a travel book I used to love by Vikram Seth called From Heaven Lake, that I haven't looked at in many years. Must track it down again. Look forward to reading your story too!
I love Vikram Seth and adored that book too! I am going to post my story in a few weeks. I don't think they will care. I almost feel a bit embarrassed by it. I always feel that way about my fiction --like it is immature and stupid!
Aha - I knew you would love that book! Keep reminding yourself you are a prizewinning writer and have every reason to be confident about sending your fiction out into the world!
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