The Bells of Old Tokyo

by Anna Sherman

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  Acknowledgments

  Daibo Katsuji and Keiko: where would I have been, without you both, and without your kindness? You made Tokyo what it became for me: 理想郷.

  I owe much to Hamish Macaskill, for first bringing me to see the Snake Lady, and for all that followed. Gratitude to Christopher MacLehose for this book’s first word; to Ravi Mirchandani for its last, and for turning sand into crystal.

  My thanks also to my copy-editor at Macmillan, Nicholas Blake; Nick carded out many errors and returned to Daibo’s coffee house its vanished top floor. In the US, I am grateful to Melanie Jackson and her diamond knife. And to Anna deVries and Josh Zajdman at Macmillan and to Nicole Dewey at Shreve Williams.

  Special thanks to Kaori Ungerer, whose intelligence and sensitivity h
ave brought lights to this book, and given it depths, that it would not have had otherwise.

  What merit this book has is light reflected from those Tokyoites who granted me interviews: Lord Tokugawa Tsunenari, who answered in granular detail my questions about time-keeping and society not only under the Tokugawa shogunate but also in the modern era. Nakayama Hiroshi at Dai-Anraku-ji, and his family, for their warmth and great generosity. Tsuchiya Kimio, who arranged for me to enter the Air Raid Memorial monument and shared his thoughts on art, literature and history. Nihei Haruyo, who spoke about the firebombs to an American stranger. The monk Tsuyoshi, formerly of Konjō-in, for his correspondence on Marubashi Chūya. Arthur Binard, for dashing off translations and discussing the language of time. Yamamoto Makoto, for offering me tea in his home, and letting me ring the Kanei-ji bell. Kobayashi Enkan and Takahashi Kazuyuki, for guiding me through Kanei-ji’s history and its hidden spaces. Naruse Takurō, who showed me around his Nagoya workshop. Miyajima Tatsuo, who explained his LEDs and the philosophy behind them. Katori Hidetoshi, who gave complex answers to simple questions, and simple answers to complex questions. Professor Katori’s universe is a beautiful one: the universe of numbers.

  I have tapped the books of many scholars, and am grateful to them for answering my questions: in particular Nam-lin Hur, whose book Prayer and Play at Sensō-ji should be read by everyone – professionals and tourists alike – with an interest in the culture that surrounds Japanese temples. Ken Ruoff, whose Imperial Japan at its Zenith is an elegant and incisive account of a brief but critical moment in Japan’s long history. Roderick Ike Wilson, whose work on Japanese waterways is indispensable: his writing is the best source in English on an extremely complex, and poorly understood, subject. I am extremely grateful to Gina Barnes, for talking me through the technical literature on Japan’s geology and archaeology. To David Hughes, for interpreting the Kigen kagura dances; to Robert Garfias, who explained post-war Imperial court music. To Jurgis Elisonas, for directing me to Suzuki Jun’s new Murasaki no hitomoto and saving me from struggling with the 1915 edition. To Cary Karacas, for explaining the ideological background of the Yokoami memorials. To Alan Cummings, for clarifying the title of Mokuami’s late play Four Thousand Gold Pieces, Like Plum Leaves; for saving me from several embarrassing errors; and especially for sharing his doctoral thesis. Liz Bridge and Helen Margolis at the UK National Physical Laboratory, for putting Katori Hidetoshi’s research into context. To Chris Drake, for translating the Gensei poem inscribed on the Zodiac bell; for his rigorous notes on that difficult text; and for thoughtful commentary on the Shōwa emperor’s tanka, which was performed for the Kigen ceremonies.

  All mistakes and misinterpretations are, of course, my own.

  This book exists in this form because of a chance meeting in 2009 with Professor Hashimoto Koji, his lovely wife Hashimoto Haruko, and their oldest daughter. I will always be grateful to Professor Hashimoto for his nonchalance in explaining difficult ideas to a non-physicist. I’m also grateful you were wearing that CERN T-shirt, sensei. What are the odds?

  To my first teacher of Japanese, Nakajima Reiko, thank you: for answering every question, for reading the dictionary with me (the many, many entries on time and timekeeping), and for going on research trips. I am also grateful to my teachers at the Naganuma School, especially Morimura Fuyuko, who always put up with my mistakes, both the trivial and the terrible. I saw my first Bell of Time on one of Morimura sensei’s trips. This book would not have the form it has, without her class.

  I am grateful to Eguchi Ken, philosopher king of translators and once and future footballer, who went with me to Nagoya and to Dr. Katori’s Todai labs. Also to Yoshida Kozue, who translated on visits to Kanei-ji and at meetings with Tsuchiya Kimio. Many thanks to Shizuko Richardson and Yamada Toko, who taught me Japanese when I moved back to Oxford, and for sourcing materials.

  Thank you to Jens Wilkinson, who arranged visits to Dr. Katori’s laboratories. To Kusakari Hidenori of World Wildlife Fund Japan, for arranging my interview with Lord Tokugawa Tsunenari. To Waga Setsu at the Mandarin Oriental, for her interest in this book, and for arranging interviews; also to Iida Takashi at the Tokyo American Club, for his great efforts on my behalf. Many thanks to Kubota Maho of SCAI the Bathhouse, for arranging the interview with Miyajima Tatsuo.

  In Tokyo, I owe much to Caroline Trausch. Caroline died in 2017 but will forever be la dame aux lumières. I am also indebted to Yamaguchi Nahoko, Aaron Hames and Henry Tricks; to Betsy Wiedenmayer Rogers for introducing me to String Theory manga. I am very grateful to Monica Anstey, for sharing her heart, her mind, and her fax machine. To Mumi Trabucco, always willing to visit the ends of the earth for photographs and adventures. To Kyoko Hunter, for facilitating my interviews with Tsuchiya Kimio. To Geeta Mehta, whose lectures on Tokyo architecture opened up the city’s culture beyond its skyscrapers and temples. To Komatsu Taka, for sharing his strength. And to Matsubara Yoshi, for discussing Kanto loam with me, and for his family’s friendship with mine, which is an honor.

  In Hong Kong, for their great generosity, thanks to the Mole Sisters, Leslie and Caroline. In Nagoya, to Hamanaka Masashi, for discussing String Theory.

  In England, special thanks to Lionel Mason for introductions, patient explanations of extra dimensions in space (but not time), for friendship, and for believing in this book when it was still in its infancy; to Alison Etheridge for the same. And to Chang Heuishilja, for her painstaking translations of Japanese tracts on geology. At the Nissan Institute in Oxford, the librarians: Izumi Tytler, Yuki Kissick, Hitomi Hall and Rie Williams. Also to Fusa McLynn for several corrections to my manuscript. In Oxford, I am grateful to Robert Chard, Bjarke Frellesvig and Jenny Guest for welcoming me into classical language classes; and to Brian Powell for sharing his erudition and for editing a late version of the manuscript.

  Special thanks to Simon Collings, who, with a few light touches, greatly improved early drafts. And to James Baer, who influenced the book’s structure, and whose sensitive editing saved me from several mistakes.

  I am grateful for friendship and encouragement from Simon Altmann, Charlotte Apostolides, Ewen Bowie, Giles Goodland, Simon Hornblower, Ito Mitsuko, Maria Stamatopoulou and Nadine Willems. I am also indebted to Vivian Lee, Elizabeth Factor and Diviya Madhvani. And to Lucien Senna and Marlene Hauser, the Muses.

  Profound thanks to my teacher and friend Madoka Chase Onizuka, 心: for what I owe, I have no words.

  And to my parents, William and Carole Sherman, who have always believed that ideas were as important as people; who insist on kindness to strangers; and the necessity of learning foreign languages. For love and support, to Matilda Buchanan, and the McKuins: Joel, Bob, Mary and Andrew. And to Babak Pahlavan.

  Thank you, Neva Sibucao. Your work underpins mine.

  Thank you, Alex and Laura, for sharing the world of this book. You are both more beautiful than any word could ever be. I wish for you both your own adventures.

  This book is dedicated to Ian, first reader and believer.

  Advance Praise for Anna Sherman’s

  The Bells of Old Tokyo

  “Anna Sherman’s beautifully written evocation of Tokyo resembles no other. Her purposeful roaming, ever grounded by her beloved Daibo Coffee Shop (now gone) in Aoyama, took her to places few visitors have heard of and to people few will ever meet. This is no history or guidebook. It is a meditation, a prose poem on the city and time.”

  —Royall Tyler

  “A tour-de-force mapping, in four-dimensions, of the amazing place we call ‘Tokyo.’ I realized I barely know the city.”

  —Liza Dalby, author of Kimono, The Tale of Murasaki, Geisha

  “Zuihitsu meets travelogue. A compelling, insightful personal account.”

  —Bjarke Frellesvig, author of A History of the Japanese Language

  “Absorbing. Intriguing. The Bells of Old Tokyo will be read and enjoyed far beyond Japan. Every reader will want to relive Sherman’s experiences in the ci
ty.”

  —Brian Powell, author of Japan’s Modern Theatre

  “The Bells of Old Tokyo is a lovely, elegaic, poetic travelogue. It gracefully evokes the magnificent and tragic history of this great city.”

  —Gary J. Bass, author of The Blood Telegram

  “An enchanting read, drawing you into Sherman’s Tokyo world in a way that makes you wonder why you shouldn’t fly there right this minute, with her book as the only guide you’ll ever need. Compelling observations of Japanese culture, language, and history … A travelogue mapped by the city’s bells through time. We are privileged to visit the bells that still exist alongside Sherman’s own journey, and to discover the empty spaces … which draw us deeper into the life of the city as it was and might have been. This book invites us to consider what resounds and remains in our imagination when time eradicates the known. The portraits of each section of the city are finely detailed and are enhanced by the essaying on the meaning of time, language, history: a surprise at every turn.”

  —Xu Xi, author of Habit of a Foreign Sky and The Unwalled City

  A Note About the Author

  ANNA SHERMAN was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. She studied Greek and Latin at Wellesley College and Oxford before moving to Tokyo in 2001. The Bells of Old Tokyo is her first book. You can sign up for email updates here.

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  The Bells of Time

  Hibiya