Break the Mirror

by Nanao Sakaki

Poetry. Asian American Studies. The 82 poems presented here are an elegant mixture of taut language vigorously sourced in classical Asian literature and a fresh, startling vernacular. "Wandering Japanese poet, environmentalist, friend of Snyder and Ginsberg, concerned humorist, Sakaki writes what can only be characterized as stretch haiku. Combining Buddhism's compassion for all life with Taoism's strong identification with nature, which he then brings into contact with everyday things, Sakaki strikes sparks of recognition. The poet himself translates from the original Japanese into English (and sometimes the other way round) with the help of friends, giving the poems an interesting vernacularc impact. Enjoyable"--Donald J. Pearce, Library Journal.

Genres: Poetry, Japan

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Nanao Sakaki was a Japanese poet, author of Bellyfulls and leading personality of The Tribe, a loose-knit countercultural group in Japan in the 1960s and 70s. He was born to a large family in Kagoshima Prefecture, and raised by parents who ran an indigo dye-house.

After completing compulsory education at age twelve, he worked as an office boy in Kagoshima. He was a draftee radar specialist stationed in Kyushu in the military, and surreptitiously read Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Kropotkin, Marx, and Engels as time allowed. After the war, he went to Tokyo, living in an underpass near Ueno Station, working for a short time at a foundry in Amagasaki, then as a turner, and then for some two and a half years running errands for Sanehiko Yamamoto's office.

Around 1952-3 he moved to the San'ya district and lived off the generosity of his neighbors, spending all his time studying English and reading. After two years there, he moved to Shinjuku, became interested in primitive art, and collaborated with a wood sculptor. They visited forests all over Japan for some three years. During this time, Sakaki began to write poems expressing a deep relationship with the forests. This led to exhibitions combining poetry and sculpture in Kagoshima in 1955 and in Ikebukuro in 1959.

Sakaki and the sculptor then went separate ways, Sakaki returning to Shinkuju and becoming friends with Neale Hunter. The two of them made a practice of never sleeping in the same place twice. They co-translated some of his poems into English and published them in Tokyo 1961 as the book Bellyfulls. Gary Snyder sought out Sakaki after Hunter introduced him to this book in India. Snyder and Sakaki shared many interests, including linguistics, Bushman ethnology, Sanskrit, Japanese archeology, Marx, Jung, Nagarjuna, and revolution.

It was also around this time that Sakaki helped create and lead "The Tribe", and led these friends to Suwanosejima to build the Banyan Ashram. Bellyfulls was reprinted in the US in 1966, and starting in 1969, Sakaki made several trips to the United States, exploring the wilderness, writing, and reading poetry. He spent about ten years in the United States, primarily in San Francisco and Taos, New Mexico, but also walking widely.

Sakaki was married twice and had two sons in Hokkaido, Yuki and Mizu Araki; another in New Mexico, Issa Sakaki Merrill; and a daughter, Maggie Tai Sakaki Tucker. At the time of his death in 2008, he was living with friends in the mountains of Nagano prefecture.]

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I see what Sakiki is trying to get at: he wants to officiate a marriage between the simplicity and wholesomeness of Issa, and the naive sincerity of the Beat poets. The problem is that he outlived all the rest of the Beats, in several ways. They took drugs and wrote awful stuff and generally encapsulated the worst selfishness that the boomers were infamous for. But Sakiki stuck out like a sore thumb. He's too modest, too kind, too childlike to be spoiled by those temptations.

It's a good, even a great thing to return to one's childhood. Sakiki does this through the simplicity of a second language he never quite conquered. But the endearing lack of articles, verbs, and direct objects wears thin after the dozenth poem. It makes him sound less like a child and more like the racist caricature of someone who is far from fluent in English. This limited approach doesn't afford as many poetic opportunities as I think Sakiki wants it to, however.

From what I can tell, he seems an excellent translator of Issa and also a decent writer of Haiku in his own right. That's where he should have stayed. Western narrative poetry doesn't suit him. The litanies and anaphora don't suit him. The trite political commentaries don't suit him. Certain philosophies, especially Wabi Sabi, suffer immensely if presented in the wrong format. I can't stand reading extensive prose about the transience of life, because the medium contradicts the message. Only small, sparse poems like Haiku can capture what they're getting at. Only brief, baffling stories of the Zen masters do them justice, not long biographies. There's a reason why Koans are short and sparse: if they were longer, or even denser, they would undo the tension of the chinese finger trap. They say more by saying less. That's the primary wisdom of the East, and it culminates in a tendency toward silence, which might be one of the ultimate forms of wisdom.

The west is infamous for its verbosity, its cycle of bingeing and purging, endlessly, on all topics. Even our hermits and mystics refuse to write concisely; everything tends toward the ego, which essentially tempts fate by asking how much readers will put up with. The Eastern masters, by contrast, are refreshingly short. The Tao Te Ching is compact and explosive. I think Nietzsche learned a valuable lesson from the Buddhists, because his Aphorisms stand out almost singularly against the backdrop of Western linear excess. Unfortunately, Sakaki dips his toes into that, as modestly short as his ramblings are. He tried his hand at the modified Modernist poetry as simplified by the Beats, and what results is a quaint and underwhelming outing.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful poems. Discovered at a lecture/poetry reading featuring Gary Snyder. Here's one:
"If you have time to chatter
Read books
If you have time to read
Walk into mountain, desert and ocean
If you have time to walk
sing songs and dance
If you have time to dance
Sit quietly, you Happy Lucky Idiot"

[Riaz Ujjan · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have time to chatter
Read books
If you have time to read
Walk into mountain, desert and ocean
If you have time to walk
sing songs and dance
If you have time to dance
Sit quietly, you Happy Lucky Idiot

[Joana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soil for Legs

Soil for legs
Ax for hands
Flower for eyes
Bird for ears
Mushroom for nose
Smile for mouth
Songs for lungs
Sweat for skin
Wind for mind
Just enough.

[Carolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nanao's words just stay with you.

[Craig Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Japanese World War II veteran who witnessed the plane carrying the atomic bomb to Nagasaki, Nanao was a friend of Gary Synyder and Allen Ginsberg and it's useful to think of him as splitting the difference between the two. His best poems combine Snyder's crystalline eye for natural detail--the two spent time together in both Japan and the American Southwest--with Ginsberg's direct (and sometimes sort of obvious, at least for members of the choir like me) political commentary. Waht sets him apart is his unfailing sense of humor and encompassing generosity. Not all of the poems are five star, but the collection will stay on my shelf of necessary books.

[Lobeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

i'm usually not into poetry, but this collection of nanoa sakaki's nature-based poems is both beautiful and hilarious. the style of poetry - something my friend termed "lunatic poetry" - is lovely, graceful and flowing, weaving experiences and descriptions of nature, wisdom about life, and humor. i have laughed myself to tears while reading these poems.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy is a trip. His poetry is simple, quirky, and like no one else that I know of. He touches on the simple beauty of life itself and the complexity of our corrupt world in a way I have never heard the two concepts combined before.

[Rob Woodard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful, cranky, joyous, sometimes angry collection of poems from the late wandering Japanese poet. Zen, ecology, and the coming end of the superheated capitalist world are the topics (in one way or another). Highly recommended for people who like Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, etc.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

soil for legs... some lines just stay with you for a while.

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful poetry collection.