Nature, Nature Japanese Nature

Not one but three cruel ironies are being played in Japan as the country tries to comprehend the apocalypse of the past two weeks. The Japanese prize nature, beauty and order, yet the tsunami has mocked all three. It has been distressing to see a people whose culture values cleanliness, refinement, delicacy and graciousness, wandering around in the clothes they fled in and sitting on the street near giant saucepans waiting to be served from soup kitchens.

The love of nature is the very basis of Japanese aesthetics. They show their joy at the arrival of ‘sakura’ or cherry blossoms with picnics, tea parties, musical concerts and special meals. The Japanese cherry tree is not cultivated for its fruit-- it is not fruit-bearing—but purely for its ephemeral beauty while in blossom.

The Japanese homes, the sliding partitions are invariably painted with scenes from nature. Traditional wooden homes flimsy looking, are not built as fortresses against the elements but rather intended to blend in with the surroundings because the Japanese approach to nature is different from the western desire to subjugate it to man’s will.

They are taught that there is no dichotomy between man and nature and this temperament finds expression in traditional scrolls or ink drawings where nature dominates. The artist instead of treating nature as a backdrop for depicting people lets nature take pride of place while limiting humans to marginal figures. Although, the ultra uncontrolled Japanese gardens with its clipped and pruned tress and rakes stones is the opposite; an attempt to bring some order into nature’s occasional unruliness.

The passion for beauty and exquisite refinement immediately strikes any new visitor to Japan. You enter into a new universe where its subtle aesthetic sensibility is woven into the fabric of daily life. Everywhere you look, you see delicate mannerisms, the ticket inspector on a train who turns to the seated passengers and bows before leaving the compartment; shop assistants wrapping mundane purchases in beautiful paper with as much care as they would a sacred offering for a temple.

Anything that offends their aesthetic sensibility is shunned. Worshipper’s shoes outside a Hindu temple may be strewn randomly, but outside Buddhist and Shinto temples in Japan, the slippers that you put on before entering as tucked into each other and arrayed neatly in a line on the steps. If a monk at the shrine chances upon a pair that is uneven or slightly askew, he will instantly bend down and straighten it.

The television pictures of the devastated towns and mile upon mile of debris would be agonising for any nation, but it has to be excruciatingly painful for a nation that has turned love of beauty into something as reflexive as blinking. Japanese conduct in public is a perfect manifestation of how this pursuit of refinement, transported into the external domain brings harmony and order. Very rarely do you see anyone speaking loudly. There is no aggression. And they must certainly never push, elbow or jostle. Even now, surrounded as they are by horror and calamity they are unlikely to abandon their customary decorum.

It is this consideration and respect for others that allows almost 130 million people to live together peacefully despite one of the highest population densities in the world and boast of one of the lowest crime rate in the industrialized world. There qualities of politeness, honesty and genteelness will enable the Japanese to come through this catastrophe with their dignity intact.

They are already in display; no one is looting (unlike New Orleans hurricane Katrina or during the Gujarat massacre) or panicking and people are queuing up for water and food. In the midst of flattened towns and muddy fields where one their homes stood, people are still seen on television bowing and talking to each other is the most formal courtesy. Even in normal times, vending machines stand undamaged by vandals. Pedestrians bend down to remove a tiny scrap of paper from the immaculate pavement.

A Tokyo resident who was in a restaurant when the earthquake struck told to the interviewing camera crews that everyone ran out into the street. But when the tremors subsided, they all walked back in and formed a line to settle their bills.

Such is the country and people of Japan. I really admire their manners and intellect. I would request you to join me in spending two minutes praying to god to bring back relief and order into their soft and humble lives.

Goodbye.                                                           

Courtesy: TOI