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snyder, the sea otter
05/09/2023
Yesterday, May 8th, Gary Snyder turned 93 years old. The zen-beat poet, original dharma bum, was a great friend of Nanao Sakaki. When they met in Japan in the 1960s, they instantly became friends and immense influences on each other's lives and writing.
To celebrate this friendship on Gary's birthday, we share here a beautiful and simples text that Nanao wrote about their time together on the volcanic island of Suwanose, in the Banyan Ashram community. The text was originally published in Gary Snyder: Dimensions of a Life, a 1991 book edited by Jon Halper and published by Sierra Club Books.
Enjoy!
Dust From my Old Backpack
1) The First Star
One evening, probably in early summer 1965, Gary Snyder & I are rambling on one of the long and narrow lanes in Kyoto, just after a brief rain.
Several Japanese gentlemen are walking behind us. We hear them speaking of us as ‘gaijins’ (outsiders). Looking back at them Gary shouts in Japanese: ‘We are Naijins’ (insiders). Leaving them open-mouthed we keep on walking. Soon we see the first star in western sky.
2) Sea Otter
1. We are on a coral reef of the Tidal Point, the southernmost point of the Suwanose Island in the East China Sea. As the solar system revolves ceaseleslly, it’s now the summer of 1967. Exited about their first dive into a coral reef, about then young people wearing snorkels, diving masks, and fins stand on the beach in a calm cove of the Tidal Point. Gary Snyder is among them. Soon we discover that he is a surprisingly good swimmer. ‘Sea otter, ins’t he?’, somebody shouts. He sometimes pushes up his head above the waves, then dives again into the coral garden. He moves further and further away from the shore.
2. By chance, the chief elder of the island passes by. He makes a sign to me to come ashore. ‘That American is going too far. It’s very dangerous to go beyond the reef. Call him back, please!’.
“You think so?”
“The Black Stream washes there the Tidal Point. You know it very well, don’t you?”
3. Three days before Gary’s arrival on the island, I rowed the small fishing boat with six islanders against the current of the Black Stream. The great oceanic river runs three nautical miles per hour at the Tidal Point. My hands still remember what a hard rowing it was even for seven men.
4. Anxious and irritated, the elder almost scolds me.
“Bring him back quickly! If not, who knows what will happen to him?”
“Gary, come back! Come back, Gary!” Wind and waves blow away my voice. Now he changes into a sea otter completely. His head shows above the waves one second or two, then instantly disappears into the blue water. Under the scorching midsummer’s sun we see him again at another unexpected spot.
5. Surprised by my shouting, with confused faces everybody gets out of the water. The elder’s half crying voice moves me. At that moment I catch a glimpse of the Sea Otter’s head near the Tidal Point. From rock to rock, like a flying goby, my body runs, jumps & flies to the Tidal Point. I signal him, using my red loin cloth as a flag. At last the Sea Otter gets my sign & swims up t me.
6. “What is the matter?”
“Are you going to swim al the way to the West Coast?”
“Should I try?”
I point to the sea. “The Black Stream runs right here. Everybody on the beach is worried about you. Let’s go back!”
“O.K.”
Now, two sea otters swim back toward the beach, fighting against the ebbing tide. When we land at last, the elder smiles at us approvingly.
7. A couple weeks before that, Banyan Ashram was born at the foot of a volcano. Everybody in the ashram was joyous and trusting each other. At that time we knew very little about the ocean or the volcano. During those few weeks the usually so active volcano remained silent. But the cicada’s song was roaring in the bamboo thicket day after day.
8. In the evening after the first diving we enjoy our humble but delicious dinner under the Banyan tree. Here comes a firefly, then the elder with presents of a bottle of homemade sake & a big Spanish mackerel. The elder teaches us many magical tricks: for example, how to locate the direction of a typhoon without any weather report. And then he tells about several sea accidents that happened on the island. Once, at the Tidal Point, a student from Osaka was carried away by the Black Stream & never seen again. A few islanders were on the beach nearby but they had n way to bring him back to the shore.
9. The next day, first passing through a semitropical woods – camellia, Fatsia japonica, palm… we all dive again into the water. The Sea Otter heads straight for the Tidal Point. He hold the elder’s adivce in his mind. But the coral garden lures him further & further into the ocean. At the end I see him swimming on the reef’s edge.
10. Our third day of diving, the Sea Otter goes beyond the reef with a spear. A couple of hours later he comes back to the ashram with three sea breams & a huge octopus.
— Mt. Akaishi, February 1989
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Nanao Sakaki and Gary Snyder, in the U.S., more then 20 years after meeting at Suwanose Island. Picture by Allen Ginsberg.
To celebrate this friendship on Gary's birthday, we share here a beautiful and simples text that Nanao wrote about their time together on the volcanic island of Suwanose, in the Banyan Ashram community. The text was originally published in Gary Snyder: Dimensions of a Life, a 1991 book edited by Jon Halper and published by Sierra Club Books.
Enjoy!
Dust From my Old Backpack
1) The First Star
One evening, probably in early summer 1965, Gary Snyder & I are rambling on one of the long and narrow lanes in Kyoto, just after a brief rain.
Several Japanese gentlemen are walking behind us. We hear them speaking of us as ‘gaijins’ (outsiders). Looking back at them Gary shouts in Japanese: ‘We are Naijins’ (insiders). Leaving them open-mouthed we keep on walking. Soon we see the first star in western sky.
2) Sea Otter
1. We are on a coral reef of the Tidal Point, the southernmost point of the Suwanose Island in the East China Sea. As the solar system revolves ceaseleslly, it’s now the summer of 1967. Exited about their first dive into a coral reef, about then young people wearing snorkels, diving masks, and fins stand on the beach in a calm cove of the Tidal Point. Gary Snyder is among them. Soon we discover that he is a surprisingly good swimmer. ‘Sea otter, ins’t he?’, somebody shouts. He sometimes pushes up his head above the waves, then dives again into the coral garden. He moves further and further away from the shore.
2. By chance, the chief elder of the island passes by. He makes a sign to me to come ashore. ‘That American is going too far. It’s very dangerous to go beyond the reef. Call him back, please!’.
“You think so?”
“The Black Stream washes there the Tidal Point. You know it very well, don’t you?”
3. Three days before Gary’s arrival on the island, I rowed the small fishing boat with six islanders against the current of the Black Stream. The great oceanic river runs three nautical miles per hour at the Tidal Point. My hands still remember what a hard rowing it was even for seven men.
4. Anxious and irritated, the elder almost scolds me.
“Bring him back quickly! If not, who knows what will happen to him?”
“Gary, come back! Come back, Gary!” Wind and waves blow away my voice. Now he changes into a sea otter completely. His head shows above the waves one second or two, then instantly disappears into the blue water. Under the scorching midsummer’s sun we see him again at another unexpected spot.
5. Surprised by my shouting, with confused faces everybody gets out of the water. The elder’s half crying voice moves me. At that moment I catch a glimpse of the Sea Otter’s head near the Tidal Point. From rock to rock, like a flying goby, my body runs, jumps & flies to the Tidal Point. I signal him, using my red loin cloth as a flag. At last the Sea Otter gets my sign & swims up t me.
6. “What is the matter?”
“Are you going to swim al the way to the West Coast?”
“Should I try?”
I point to the sea. “The Black Stream runs right here. Everybody on the beach is worried about you. Let’s go back!”
“O.K.”
Now, two sea otters swim back toward the beach, fighting against the ebbing tide. When we land at last, the elder smiles at us approvingly.
7. A couple weeks before that, Banyan Ashram was born at the foot of a volcano. Everybody in the ashram was joyous and trusting each other. At that time we knew very little about the ocean or the volcano. During those few weeks the usually so active volcano remained silent. But the cicada’s song was roaring in the bamboo thicket day after day.
8. In the evening after the first diving we enjoy our humble but delicious dinner under the Banyan tree. Here comes a firefly, then the elder with presents of a bottle of homemade sake & a big Spanish mackerel. The elder teaches us many magical tricks: for example, how to locate the direction of a typhoon without any weather report. And then he tells about several sea accidents that happened on the island. Once, at the Tidal Point, a student from Osaka was carried away by the Black Stream & never seen again. A few islanders were on the beach nearby but they had n way to bring him back to the shore.
9. The next day, first passing through a semitropical woods – camellia, Fatsia japonica, palm… we all dive again into the water. The Sea Otter heads straight for the Tidal Point. He hold the elder’s adivce in his mind. But the coral garden lures him further & further into the ocean. At the end I see him swimming on the reef’s edge.
10. Our third day of diving, the Sea Otter goes beyond the reef with a spear. A couple of hours later he comes back to the ashram with three sea breams & a huge octopus.
— Mt. Akaishi, February 1989
Nanao Sakaki and Gary Snyder, in the U.S., more then 20 years after meeting at Suwanose Island. Picture by Allen Ginsberg. a brewer in prague
05/09/2023
prague, czech republic
prague, czech republic
Prague is definitely one of the places where Nanao Sakaki has sown some of his most fertile seeds! He crossed Czech Republic in 1990. On the occasion, together with Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman and Andy Clausen, he was invited by the revolutionary leader and playwright Václav Havel (recently made President of the Republic) to participate in a Czechs’ official celebration. The country who had just emancipated itself from the communist regime. That same year, it was also published the first anthology of Nanao in the Czech language, translated by Jiří Wein.
Nanao reads his poems in Prague in 1990
![Václav Havel com Nanao Sakaki e Andy Clausen]()
Václav Havel with Nanao Sakaki and Andy Clausen
But his passage through Czech territory, in a way, is not over yet. In his centennial year, some celebrations are being organized by Nanao's admirers, scholars and friends in the country. On January 1st, the day of his birth, a great tribute in Prague was performed by the members of the Nanao Sakaki Projekt – a collective of poets, actors, musicians and dancers who, since 2011, have been creating works based on his texts.
Check below a video and some photos of Nanao Sakaki Projekt's performance that happened on Nanao's birthday.
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The Nanao Sakaki Projekt on stage, January 1, 2023
Nanao's celebrations also merited the release of the 3rd edition of Jít Nalehko…: básně japonského poutníka [Take it easy...: poems of a Japanese pilgrim], with Nanao's poems translated into Czech by Jiří Wein. The book can be purchased on the publisher's website, Dharmagaia.
Now, enjoy a poem that Nanao dedicated to the city that welcomed him and continues to welcome him on his centennial!
Praue
(Nanao Sakaki)
Once upon a time
I was a glass cutter in Prague.
That time
They called me Rainer Maria Rilke.
Once upon a time
I was a violinist in Prague.
That time
They called me Franz Kafka.
Once upon a time
I was a flower gardener in Prague.
That time
They called me Karel Capek.
Once upon a time
I was a brewer in Prague.
That time
They called me Nanao Sakaki.
Nanao reads his poems in Prague in 1990
Václav Havel with Nanao Sakaki and Andy Clausen
But his passage through Czech territory, in a way, is not over yet. In his centennial year, some celebrations are being organized by Nanao's admirers, scholars and friends in the country. On January 1st, the day of his birth, a great tribute in Prague was performed by the members of the Nanao Sakaki Projekt – a collective of poets, actors, musicians and dancers who, since 2011, have been creating works based on his texts.
Check below a video and some photos of Nanao Sakaki Projekt's performance that happened on Nanao's birthday.
The Nanao Sakaki Projekt on stage, January 1, 2023
Nanao's celebrations also merited the release of the 3rd edition of Jít Nalehko…: básně japonského poutníka [Take it easy...: poems of a Japanese pilgrim], with Nanao's poems translated into Czech by Jiří Wein. The book can be purchased on the publisher's website, Dharmagaia.
Now, enjoy a poem that Nanao dedicated to the city that welcomed him and continues to welcome him on his centennial!
Praue
(Nanao Sakaki)
Once upon a time
I was a glass cutter in Prague.
That time
They called me Rainer Maria Rilke.
Once upon a time
I was a violinist in Prague.
That time
They called me Franz Kafka.
Once upon a time
I was a flower gardener in Prague.
That time
They called me Karel Capek.
Once upon a time
I was a brewer in Prague.
That time
They called me Nanao Sakaki.
prima di andare a dormire
2023/02/06
rome, italy
rome, italy
Italy is definitely one of the places where Nanao's poetry is still constantly blooming. From Rome, especially for the Nanao Global Year celebrations, we received a recording of Prima di andare a dormire, a musical version, in Italian, of the poem I Mumble Before Going to Bed, by Nanao Sakaki!
The translation and adaptation into Italian is by Maura Zerella and Ciro Zerella. She sings backing vocals and he sings lead vocals, in addition to playing keyboards and shamisen. The guitar is by Gerardo Danna, the drums by Gaspare Vitiello, and the bass by dear Gary Lawless! Recording, mixing and mastering is by Raffaello Piscareta, from Mood Records, based in Atripalda, Italy. The bass recording for Lawless was done by Jud Caswell at Frog Hollow Studio, in Brunswick, Maine, USA.
Lawless also sent us a letter Nanao wrote to him, telling of his desire to one day read his poems in Italian – a dream that comes true on his centennial.
Check out the song and the letter, and below, the original English version of the poem.
Grazie, arigato, thanks!
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The translation and adaptation into Italian is by Maura Zerella and Ciro Zerella. She sings backing vocals and he sings lead vocals, in addition to playing keyboards and shamisen. The guitar is by Gerardo Danna, the drums by Gaspare Vitiello, and the bass by dear Gary Lawless! Recording, mixing and mastering is by Raffaello Piscareta, from Mood Records, based in Atripalda, Italy. The bass recording for Lawless was done by Jud Caswell at Frog Hollow Studio, in Brunswick, Maine, USA.
Lawless also sent us a letter Nanao wrote to him, telling of his desire to one day read his poems in Italian – a dream that comes true on his centennial.
Check out the song and the letter, and below, the original English version of the poem.
Grazie, arigato, thanks!
I Mumble Before Going to Bed
In seven minutes
You fall asleep.
In seven hours
You wake up.
In seven days
You are tired of a job.
In seven years
You forget your friends.
In seventy years
You are gone.
In seven hundred years
Nobody knows you.
In seventy thousand years
No human being on the earth.
In seven hundred million years
The Milky Way disappears.
In seven hundred million light years
Somebody sleeps on your bed.
April 1st, 2000
In seven minutes
You fall asleep.
In seven hours
You wake up.
In seven days
You are tired of a job.
In seven years
You forget your friends.
In seventy years
You are gone.
In seven hundred years
Nobody knows you.
In seventy thousand years
No human being on the earth.
In seven hundred million years
The Milky Way disappears.
In seven hundred million light years
Somebody sleeps on your bed.
April 1st, 2000