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Alone In Kyoto
Created on 2007-03-25 08:27:39 (#12573889), last updated 2007-07-31
127 comments received, 38 comments posted
Basic Account [Gift]
67 Journal Entries, 3 Tags, 0 Memories, 0 Virtual Gifts, 1 Userpic
Basic Info| Name: | grass_pillow |
|---|---|
| Birthdate: | 1986-05-10 |
Bioこんいちわ, みんあ！ 私の名前はレイチエルタートルダブです。きょうとうに住んでいる時、これは私の日記です。読んでください。
Hello, everyone. My name is Rachel and this will be my livejournal for the time I spend studying abroad in Kyoto. I will attend Doshisha University from March 28th until August 1st. This will be a personal record of my days, as well as an easy and fun way for family and friends to check up on me and see that I haven't disappeared from this earth entirely.
First, to explain the name of my journal. I first came across the image of the "grass pillow" through Lian Hern's young adult fantasy series Tales of the Otori, Book Two: Grass For His Pillow . It contains the following poem:
The deer that weds
The autumn bush clover
They say
Sires a single fawn
And this fawn of mine
This lone boy
Sets off on a journey
Grass for his pillow
----------- Manyoshu
What a nice expression, I thought. Grass for his pillow. . .
I encountered this phrase again in Natsume Soseki's novel: Kasa Makura; the English title is The Three Cornered World. According to the translator, Alan Turney: "Kusa Makura literally means The Grass Pillow, and is the standard phrase used in Japanese poetry to signify a journey. Since a literal transaltion of this title would give none of the connotations of the original to English readers, I thought it better to take a phrase from the body of the text which I believe expresses the point of the book."
Aha! Clearly a meaningful and relevant term for my time abroad, don't you agree? It captures the essence of my trip: to journey!
Second, to explain the title of my journal: "Alone In Kyoto" is an instrumental piece by the French music duo Air. Although I shall not be entirely alone in Kyoto ( I shall meet up with fellow UCR students and perhaps some facebook-friends), I shall be venturing out into the unknown and spending a great deal of time in a crowded city of strangers. I hope they shall not all be strangers when I leave, but I anticipate I shall listen to this melody many times before returning home.
I am about to embark on a new journey. At 1 AM on Tuesday morning, I shall be on a plane destined for Japan. I hope you will all come along with me and read as I travel. Who knows where this journey shall take me...... to new people, new languages, new foods, new days, and new nights, where I may sleep with grass for my pillow.
Hello, everyone. My name is Rachel and this will be my livejournal for the time I spend studying abroad in Kyoto. I will attend Doshisha University from March 28th until August 1st. This will be a personal record of my days, as well as an easy and fun way for family and friends to check up on me and see that I haven't disappeared from this earth entirely.
First, to explain the name of my journal. I first came across the image of the "grass pillow" through Lian Hern's young adult fantasy series Tales of the Otori, Book Two: Grass For His Pillow . It contains the following poem:
The deer that weds
The autumn bush clover
They say
Sires a single fawn
And this fawn of mine
This lone boy
Sets off on a journey
Grass for his pillow
----------- Manyoshu
What a nice expression, I thought. Grass for his pillow. . .
I encountered this phrase again in Natsume Soseki's novel: Kasa Makura; the English title is The Three Cornered World. According to the translator, Alan Turney: "Kusa Makura literally means The Grass Pillow, and is the standard phrase used in Japanese poetry to signify a journey. Since a literal transaltion of this title would give none of the connotations of the original to English readers, I thought it better to take a phrase from the body of the text which I believe expresses the point of the book."
Aha! Clearly a meaningful and relevant term for my time abroad, don't you agree? It captures the essence of my trip: to journey!
Second, to explain the title of my journal: "Alone In Kyoto" is an instrumental piece by the French music duo Air. Although I shall not be entirely alone in Kyoto ( I shall meet up with fellow UCR students and perhaps some facebook-friends), I shall be venturing out into the unknown and spending a great deal of time in a crowded city of strangers. I hope they shall not all be strangers when I leave, but I anticipate I shall listen to this melody many times before returning home.
I am about to embark on a new journey. At 1 AM on Tuesday morning, I shall be on a plane destined for Japan. I hope you will all come along with me and read as I travel. Who knows where this journey shall take me...... to new people, new languages, new foods, new days, and new nights, where I may sleep with grass for my pillow.
ConnectInterests (39):
banana yoshimoto, california, cats, cherry blossoms, denshijisho, donald keene, donald richie, doshisha, endo shusaku, haiku, hummingbirds, japan, japanese, karaoke, kawabata yasunari, kyoto, liza dalby, love, manga, mishima yukio, natsume soseki, nihon-go, oe kenzaburo, poetry, reading, sakura, shiga naoya, soba, stuffed animals, sushi, tempura, tokyo, totoro, udon, university of california, vegetarian, vegetarian cooking, waka, writing
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