Zuihitsu
23/01/2020
I found this recently
in an arcticle about the Pillow Book in the London Review of Books. I
liked it.
Zuihitsu:
'..something in
which you write down things you've seen or heard, said or thought,
the useless and the serious, that in which one is quite well versed
as well as shallow musings that one simply feels it would be a shame
to forget.
Unable to capture
things in a subtle or delicate style, one is likely to include akward
or tasteless things that may make the writing disapointing to read.
However, because a Zuihitsu is not embellished, character, ability
and learning show, making it all the more interesting.
Zuihitsu. Made up of
the Kanji characters 'To Follow' and 'The Brush'.
I was talking to a
friend, a new friend and she told me both her ex husband and her son
had ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, that is). My
response was 'It's just a label' (and to myself, unarticulated
somewhere in the back of my head 'Labels are for jam jars'). But
maybe a label helps sometimes, makes the thing acceptable, less
daunting and more defined and manageable. Before the label ADHD,
someone might be seen as impusive, as restlessness, disorginised and
disruptive. These behaviors in turn, would result in castigation,
punishment and shame.
My writing space is a
zone of Zuihitsu and my writing has qualities of Zuihitsu. An
awkwardness, a searching for authenticity, sometimes tasteless and
verging on incomprehensibility. I find little time for polishing, for
finishing. I like to take a thought or idea and see where it takes
me..following the brush..
Zuihitsu. I now have a
name for it.
Kintsugi is another
Japanese word. A Japanese Art Form, where breaks and repairs are
treated as part of an object's history. Broken ceramics are carefully
mended by an artisan using a laquered resin often mixed with powdered
gold. Kintsugi means Golden Journey.
My writing is also
Kintsugi (I am not really an artisan, but I am apprenticing myself).
Through my writing I seek to repair the broken or damaged vessels of
my psyche, to make them a new and beautiful, the scars and damage
that life inflicts apon us all, healed and visible, more beautiful
than before.
The nearest we have in
English to Zuihitsu is miscellany 'a group or collection of different
items, a mixture.' which doesn't really cover it. A ramble, might be a better word for it.
Zuihitsu:
'..something in
which you write down things you've seen or heard, said or thought,
the useless and the serious, that in which one is quite well versed
as well as shallow musings, that one simply feels it would be a shame
to forget.
Unable to capture
things in a subtle or delicate style, one is likely to include akward
or tasteless things that may make the writing disapointing to read.
However, because a Zuihitsu is not embellished, character and ability
and learning show, making it all the more interesting.'
Follow the brush.
'So you write..' she
asked me.
'Sometimes, I try..'
'What kind of thing?
'I'm working on my
Zuihitsu, it's got elements of Kintsugi in it.'
**Quizical Look**
'You should look it
up.'
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