A Thousand Years of Love [Odyssea Press, 2003. 181 pp. ISBN: I-4120-1335-6] is an historical novel set in ancient Japan, following the journey of Lady Kaishi, a noblewoman of the Heian Court, as she searches for her mother's grave across the sea in remote China. Moving from the newly established capital of Kyoto to Hangzhou, China, a city described by Marco Polo as “the greatest in the world,” her search takes her to the Temple of the Purple Clouds in a remarkable journey that becomes increasingly an inner voyage as well.
Avia Belle Moon is the pen name of a freelance
writer who has lived in Japan for the last decade.
She maintains a balance between fiction and
nonfiction, and has written short stories and
articles on Japanese arts and culture various
newspapers and magazines in Tokyo and Osaka,
including The Japan Times and Kansai Time Out.
A Thousand Years of Love is her first novel.
FORTENBERRY:Hello, Avia-san, and thank you for agreeing to be interviewed by MindFire. I'd like to take a moment right up front to allow you to introduce yourself to your readers. With or without breaking your nom de plume, what would you like to tell us about yourself, especially where it touches upon this new book of yours?
MOON: ...I would just like to say thank you for interviewing me and I'm happy to be here!
FORTENBERRY:I have a two specialties in East Asian studies, one in history and one in philosophy. I have a deep fascination with the Far East and think I found a kindred spirit here. But you have bested me. While I declined the opportunity to teach in Japan years ago (something I regret), you actually live in Japan. Could you reveal how your love for Japanese culture began?
MOON: I don't know if "love" is the right word here. I would say "fascinated" is better. There are too many aspects of Japanese culture that I am in conflict with to call it love, for now. Now I am still in the "dating" phase. :-)
Well, I suppose it began over 13 years ago, when I first came to Japan, and actually began living in the country. I found myself encountering extremes, such as convenience stores located next door to beautiful temples. Every day is an opportunity to learn something new, whether it be a new dish or new Chinese character, which is has been interesting for me.
FORTENBERRY:A Thousand Years of Love is a remarkable book that follows an anicent, yet still very vibrant, stylistic tradition: the pillow book, a form of diary-novel. These romantic-spiritual books were some of the earliest known (ca 700-1100 AD), yet have remarkable vitality. Despite being around a thousand years old, they are still popular today and exert strong influence and study in literary circles, such as The Tale of the Genji. This style has even influenced major Japanese films thematically -- for instance the recent (albeit a modernized adaptation) beautiful art film titled aptly enough "Pillow Book". Could you briefly explain the nature of the pillow books and how this style and subject matter influenced you? Further, why does this style still have so much universal appeal?
MOON: Well, actually my novel does not really follow the style of "The Pillow Book", in that it isn't a pillow book, which was from what I understand, a collection of writings that the court women of the Heian era kept hidden under their pillows or inside the wooden drawers of their pillows, to prevent them from being found. I referred to Sei Shonagon's "Pillow Book" to get an idea of what the Heian Period was like, in terms of lifestyle, recreation, clothing, etc. As my book is a novel, it would be more similar to The Tale of Genji, which is also a novel.
If you are referring to The Pillow Book [film] by Peter Greenaway, I just saw that once, and it didn't seem to have a lot to do with the traditional pillow books of the Heian era; what it did seem like was an erotic take on Hong Kong, and a melange of Asian culture in general, something we see a lot.
FORTENBERRY:Your book is obviously inspired by The Tale of Genji, the Murasaki Shikibu classic famous the world over. The scholar Bowring declared The Tale of Genji to be the greatest achievement of all Japanese literature because it was the first distinctively Japanese work and set the standard still followed today. A Thousand Years of Love is set in the same time period as Genji, the Heian Era (794-1156 AD). But it also echoes the very first Japanese pillow book Tosa Diary (935 AD), in that it recounts a journey both spiritual and physical that crosses a sea. I will return in a moment to explore the voyage, but wanted to touch upon the basics first. Why did you decide to do an historical novel, instead of just a modernized version of a pillow book?
MOON: I actually am doing a "modernized" version of a “pillow book" which you may read at Pillowblog.
I had absolutely no interest in doing a historical novel, which I explained in the preface of my book. Here is an excerpt from the preface that may shed some light on why I chose to write this book --
I NEVER THOUGHT I would write a novel on ancient Japan. I never sat down and said, “Well, I think I’ll write a novel on the Heian Period.” I feel the beginnings of any artistic endeavor are much deeper and complex. Something or someone compels us to
produce art.
In 1994, as I was walking around an exhibition of Heian Period art at the Kyoto National Museum, I felt myself captured by the beauty and mystery of Heian art...by a shimmering gold fan, the graceful lines of the eleven-headed Avalokites’vara.... and fascinated by the fierce expression of the Fudo Myoo Buddhist deity.
This fascination led me to read again, “The Tale of Genji.” I found myself being drawn more and more into the Heian world, and creating characters and story lines, just as Lady Murasaki Shikibu did a thousand years ago...
FORTENBERRY:I was floored by the amount of detail in your book. You chose, by the nature of the journey recorded, to visit both ancient Japan and China. Could you elaborate on the research you had to undertake in order to capture the authenticity of this tale?
MOON: Well, basically I relied on different sources-- 1)academic material on the Heian Period in English; 2) Children's books on the Heian Period in Japanese; 3) Japanese academic material; 4) Trips to Kyoto/Nara; 5) Japanese movies and videos, etc. These
sources all seemed to balance each other nicely.
For example, consider this excerpt from Chapter 4:
He rode up to the verandah and handed the letter to Lady Kaishi with a long wooden stick carved at the end to hold the letter.
She took it, staring at his hands red from cold. “Go inside and warm yourself by the brazier!”
He nodded his head gratefully.
I could not find the information I needed on exactly how messages are delivered in the academic material, yet I did in the children's material, and then only a picture of this scene. Here is another excerpt:
IT WAS THE DAY of the Winding Water Banquet. Various people of the court were walking up the path to a stream in a garden of the Greater Imperial Palace.
Lady Kaishi sat on a circular straw mat on green moss next to a shimmering stream, waving a fan painted with clouds and pine trees.
Spring was here! It felt wonderful to be out, not to sit all scrunched up like a ball, huddled over the charcoal brazier, every bone in her body cold.
Spring was here! She put her hand on the green moss and felt the earth trembling with life. Everywhere was green, as if the ground was a huge carpet.
Above her the sun shone through the pink white petals of the cherry blossoms, sparkling and fluttering in the breeze. A tiny blossom floated and glided in the wind before it settled down into the shimmering stream. She stared at it until she heard dum dum dum. She looked up.
A musician dressed in white outer robes walked up the path, beating a small hand drum, followed by Yoryusen wearing a purple outer robe with a design of white butterflies spreading their wings. He carried a wooden scepter in his right hand, the sun shining through his tall lacquered hat, bathing his face in a rosy glow.
Her heart pounded in rhythm with the hand drum as she watched him, waving her fan furiously in front of her face.
He saw her and nodded, sitting on the opposite side of the stream.
The whine of the Japanese panpipe filled the air. Another musician walked up the path, followed by the Dragon Woman and her attendant, holding up the two ends of her scarlet robes.
She sat down a few feet away from Yoryusen.
A few members of the court exchanged glances and whispers, staring at her.
“Just out of mourning, yet look at her, with those bright red robes, like a moth to his flame.”
“Like a spider catching a fly. What causes the flame of desire to burn so strongly within her?”
The Lieutenant from the Imperial Police walked up the path last, dressed in robes the color of white oak, patterned with gold Chinese vine. He sat down a few feet away from Lady Kaishi.
She fanned her face furiously, feeling terribly exposed without her curtain of state.
He began rubbing his ink stone back and forth in the block on the lacquer table next to him, until a puddle of ink formed. He dipped his brush into it and began writing. A wooden duck holding a red lacquer bowl of sake floated down the stream. He stopped the duck, picked up the cup and drank. When he’d finished, he read a tanka poem out loud."
This scene emerged from actually watching the Winding Water Banquet ceremony, which is still performed at the Jonangu Shrine in Kyoto, and then trying to imagine how it would have been performed a thousand years ago.
FORTENBERRY:Was it purposeful that you chose the Heian Period over any other? For instance, the most popular classical age of Japan is the later feudal age of the shogunates (finalized by the Tokugawa and not ending until the modern). But by choosing this earlier period -- when the clans, courts, and future feudal society of Japan were emerging fully -- was it pure nostalgia for the pillow book/Genji form, or because you needed this time period specifically? I wondered, because of the nature of the journey explored. It did not dwell solely in Japan (like Genji), but bridged the Chinese and Japanese worlds. The Heian Era was the last in Japan that had direct and deep Chinese influence. China was not the overlord at this time and Japanese culture was growing more distinct by the day, however China was still very much the Classical origin of their civilization, perhaps like ancient Rome to latter day Medieval Europe. Is this why you chose to explore this unique era? Or some other reason?
MOON: I am interested in the Heian Period because of its attention to beauty and the combination of elegance and mystery. The Lotus Sutra was practiced in daily life as well, which is the Buddhist canon that I believe in as well. I am interested in ancient China as well, and everything just seemed to fall into place. Also, I am part Japanese, and can relate to what it would be like to be a part of two different cultures.
FORTENBERRY:Not only factually, but stylistically you did an excellent job capturing the heart of your text. The lines flowed beautifully like haiku and the images presented were paintings, as if rendered by ukiyo-e artists. A brief example: "Like ladies in waiting, the sleeves of her five inner robes competed to outshine each other before the sun retreated." Your landscapes often mirrored your inner soulscapes, and vice versa. How hard was it to capture this ethereal quality?
MOON: I don't think I could have written this book anywhere but in Japan. There is an ethereal quality here, especially in Kyoto, a tranquility which I have not seen in other parts of Asia, which although are very dynamic, lack the peaceful quality that Japan
has. I think I was able to capture the tranquility of Japan by simply living here and immersing myself in the culture.
He rode up to the verandah and handed the letter to Lady Kaishi with a long wooden stick carved at the end to hold the letter.
