Following the Brush: An American Encounter With Classical Japanese Culture

by John C. Elder

An American professor recounts the year that he and his family lived in Kyoto, Japan, discussing his experiences with an elementary school, a calligraphy class, a Go club, and Noh acting

Genres: Memoir, Japan

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally like books where professor-or-other-specialist goes to another culture and uses their special expertise to observe and have insights. I don’t really know what Prof. Elder’s expertise was, and this is a pretty thinly written long travel article. The best is his experience of Go, and a different teaching method. Otherwise, I’m not really sure why he was there, although they had a good time. Also, it was published 25 years ago, before Japan’s economy went kaput. Meh.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book after John Elder read excerpts on his learning the game Go in a program for the One-World Library Project. I appreciated his humble seeking of knowledge in both calligraphy and Go, and the commitment he showed to both. He really captured what it is like for an outsider to try to learn the secrets of a foreign culture.

[Robbin Vokes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good insight into Japanese culture, and an amazing commitment to his pursuit of the classical arts.

[Steve Chisnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast and welcoming read of an American family in Japan now decades ago. But this is the summary judgment of it, as well.

Elder's prose is easy and self-effacing as he stumbles through some of the newness of cultural surprises. But we know very little about why he is there, why they engage in the activities they do, etc., and since each brief chapter feels a stand-alone essay on one aspect of the culture (calligraphy, Go, Noh theater, schooling), we sense little in the way of Elder or his family's thinking hard about their adapting. The children seem to do best after some difficult settling in, but since they are all staying for only a year, each open door to culture seems more a visit than an enduring revealing.

To be sure, I am contrasting Elder's book to other writers of the same era on Japan, Alex Kerr and Alan Booth, for instance. Following the Brush is an easy step into Japan. especially for readers who may know little about it. But since Elder spends most of his time in the traditional spheres of Japanese art and pastimes, we learn little about the larger workings of the country, of the lives of its people, or the long thinking such an experience might demand of us.

[Hubert · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ernest memoir of a professor's year abroad with family. Presented in seven moderately interlinked essays, the language seems too academically wrought given the substance of the text, which encircles themes of cross-cultural understanding, absorbing Japanese culture as a foreigner. But it's a worthy publication worth reading.