Memories of Wind and Waves: A Self-Portrait of Lakeside Japan

by Junichi Saga, Susumu Saga (Illustrator), Shin'ya Yamaguchi (Editor)

"When I close my eyes, all I see is clear, bright water." So remarks one of the people whose memories, told in their own words, make up this record of a vanishing way of life in small-town, lakeside Japan. "Memories of Wind and Waves" gathers the richly detailed stories of thirty-three elderly men and women who spent their lives working on or around Japan's second-largest lake, Kasumigaura. Though just forty miles from Tokyo, the area was throughout much of the twentieth century very rural and poor - a world away from the capital that we know today. Many people tell of working late into each night in a struggle to survive, supplementing their main livelihood from fishing with a bit of farming or other work. Yet these are people who lived so close to nature - in some cases literally on the lake - that a great many of their reminiscences are not about hardship but about just how beautiful the place was. Through this rare, rich oral history we come to know a world very different from our own, inhabited by people like the woman who was married off at nineteen to a riverboat captain and was "steaming mad" to find there was no toilet on board the ship where they were to live, and that she was expected to stick her rear end over the side to relieve herself; or Catfish Kyubei, who, when he dived underwater to catch catfish with his bare hands, stripped completely naked first, to make his body as cold as the fishes' so they wouldn't sense his presence. Since the lives of many of the storytellers actually span the twentieth century, these people have been witness to remarkable changes, with much of the work they once did by hand and in extremely difficult conditions having now been industrialized, mechanized, or made obsolete. They take great pleasure in remembering a time when the lake and the lives of the people around it were more closely intertwined. Their stories present a little-known, very human face of modern Japan and, perhaps more importantly, deal directly and in a plainspoken way with the issues that concern us all - family, work, love, and memory.Dr. Jun'ichi Saga is a medical doctor with a general practice in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Lake Kasumigaura. He began taping his elderly patients' reminiscences about forty years ago when he realized what a wealth of detail and information they contained. He has published numerous works of local history and ecology, three of which are available in "Memories of Silk and Straw," "Susumu's Saga" and "Confessions of a Yakuza." In his spare time he does ink painting.Juliet Winters Carpenter is a professor of English literature at Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts and one of the foremost translators of Japanese literature working today. Her translations include Kobo Abe's "Beyond the Curve," Fumiko Enchi's "Masks," Ryotaro Shiba's "The Last Shogun," Jun'ichi Watanabe's "A Lost Paradise," and Machi Tawara's "Salad Anniversary."

Genres: Japan, Nonfiction, History, Memoir, Japanese History

271 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2002

About the author

Junichi Saga (佐賀 純一 Saga Jun'ichi?, born 1941) is a Japanese countryside physician and writer whose work records countryside experiences of numerous individuals (typically, his patients).

Reviews

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had previously read a book by former Japanese doctor and historian Junichi Saga, Confessions of a Yakuza, and quite enjoyed it. So when I learned that he had two other books I decided I would read those as well. The first of the two I read was Memories Of Wind And Waves (2002). The other is Memories of Silk and Straw. It is essentially oral histories from Saga's patients-thirty-three elderly men and women who spent their lives working on or around Japan's second-largest lake, Kasumigaura, 60 km northeast of Tokyo in Ibaraki. These stories are mostly from sturdy fishermen and their wives, but some remembrances are from town folk and even one by a local geisha. Saga has done a great service in allowing these people to describe a different time and way of life that was harsh, but also more innocent. There are illustrations in the book by his father, who was also a man of medicine. It was a fascinating portrait of times past in Japan.

[S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe just for japanophiles, but a poignant history of poverty and charm in pre-war Japan. We are all richer now

[Bookish Tokyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah what a joyous read this is. A true treasure trove of memories held by people long departed, about a Japan that in many ways is also very different. The stories are seen through the clear but sepia tinged memory of people nearing the end of their lives.
.
I could have read this for a thousand pages more. The stories of what life was like on the lake, the rivers or on the farm were really interesting. This is an excellent portrayal of working class life in Japan, filled with much difficulty but also filled with joy. There are so many nuggets of information in this book that I found fascinating. From the tips and tricks of fisherman on lake Kasumigaura to the local festivals and the brief life of a German expat.
.
I haven’t read anything quite like these books, the other book ‘a memory of silk and straw’ that show a face of Japan rarely seen in Japanese translated literature. These stories are filled with authenticity and warmth and I now want to visit the areas in which these stories come from. I expect that much has changed since these stories were told, a point that many of these people reflected on. What I did like though is that they missed the past, but that nostalgia didn’t interfere with seeing the present in equally positive terms.
.
Reading about memories and stories somehow make me feel closer to the country that has given me a home and a family. I wanted to have tea with these people so badly and I ask them more questions about their memories and experiences.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the author/editor did a great job of arranging the stories, so that each tale segues smoothly into the next. I wish I could visit the area back when the water was so clear and clean, and the lakes and rivers were filled with fish.