Post No. 4
Commentary by Mutsuo Shukuya
"How to Escape the Ill-Effects of Reality.”
Recently there have been some strange phenomena, such as the earthquake which occurred in the Shikai area in China and the eruption of a volcano in Iceland. These phenomena relate to the poems I discuss in this article because the latter incident impacted on people all over the world…especially about 30 countries in Europe.
No planes were able to take off or land in many areas of Europe for several days. Of course, in Japan all planes bound for England, France, Italy and other European countries were also unable to take off for a few days. I watched on the news as many European tourists in Japan were ordered to delay their departure from Tokyo’s Narita Airport.
Through the following first tanka, the author expresses how people who wait for trains in the rooms on platforms look like slaves. When you replace the phrase, "The rooms on platforms" with, 'earth,' how does it change this poem?
It means that all people in this world look like slaves. We the people of the world regard ourselves as individuals who behave freely, that is with our free will. But we must be seen like slaves interned inside our dark asylum of earth. When faced with such an incident as the eruption of the volcano in Iceland no one could fail to regard himself as a slave.
のようだねみんな奴隷のようだ
The rooms on platforms/ resemble cages somewhat
and people who wait/ for trains look like slaves
interned inside their dark asylum.
This poem was selected as one of the best works in a tanka contest for beginners. The author declares that he wrote it in order to express how all human beings look like slaves used by a huge invisible authority, but nevertheless they regard themselves as human and able to behave freely.
When we reflect on the history of the world we recall the fate of dictators who ruled countries. But fundamentally this should not be, as democracy has risen after Imperial rule in most countries. During the Roman period in Europe, the concept of democracy existed, but at the same time there were slaves.
Modern democracy might be said to have begun after the French Revolution. But this concept of democracy seems also to have existed only for white people because people in the USA , which won its independence from Britain, brought in colored people and used them as slaves.
Real democracy can be said to have become established after World War II. Although people have learned not to make slaves of others, we humans ourselves could not survive without being bound by rules which gods or natural powers have created. Nothing, including humans, could live even for a short while without natural rules, under control of God. But can human beings be slaves of God? No! It can't be possible. It is natural rule, or God, that brings up everything including human beings.
A researcher recently found through scientific experiments that human brains are influenced by signals that come from the cosmos. He declares in his book titled "Cosmic Effect on Human Brains – A Micro Cosmos in the Brain" that there have been many reports of the abnormal behavior of "lunatics" and of an increase in crime during the full moon. Werewolves' deviation at the full and new moon is not entirely a work of imagination. Animals have been known to manifest heightened sexuality, aggressiveness, and metabolism at the full and new moons.
If the human brain has an annual ring system under the direct influence of the earth's planetary motion, the assumption of an influence of the moon on brain activity is also plausible.
I used to whistle/ merry tunes in my childhood
although my mother/ prohibited this to me
fearing that I'd call demons.
The author composed this tanka to talk about the Japanese proverb, "When one whistles late at night, he calls demons." So, I would like to discuss this proverb in detail. In this case, the existence of demons is invisible to human beings.
There are many instruments, which make sounds besides whistling. Among these, drums and flutes or whistles are used in the ceremony called "Kagura" or 'Shinto dance accompanied by music and performed on a sacred occasion." That is to say, these are made in order to call spirits of the earth or of ancestors. Most people who have watched Noh plays would understand this, I think. During a Noh play, the main actor, called "Shite," dances accompanied by music, which is created by players of drums and flutes or whistles.
Among the ceremonies of initiation of Indian Yoga or Meditation, called Chinkon of Shinotism, there are also whistlings to call spirits or God. These ceremonies are not for calling demons, but proper spirits, or God. Recently I watched a TV program in which the life of a tribe in Africa was introduced. In these people's lives, I focused on a special annual ceremony in which the chief tried to whistle in order to call his god. That is to say, it is evidence that to whistle late at night is not to call demons, but proper spirits or God.
Meditation is a ceremony that an individual tries to do for himself/herself and god to form a harmonious whole. In this ceremony, there is an initiation in which one whistles the sounds "Ohoo...mu" in Yoga, and "Ohooo...." in Chinkon of Shinotism. This initiation is called "Keihitsu" and has been used for a person to call another person in ordinary ceremonies, such as "Hiko" or 'Tanka recitation" in the Annual Poetry Ceremony of New Year's at the Imperial Palace.
I noted that the author of "Cosmic Effect on Human Brains -- A Micro Cosmos in the Brain" found that an individual who is meditating and practicing Yogic breathing can avoid the abnormal effects of cosmic influence. That is to say, whistling late at night is not to call demons, but to call proper sprits, or god, and furthermore is to revive the proper activity of the human brain if we whistle in the right manner.
When I encountered and read this tanka by Yoshihiro Kuromichi, I came to recognize again how significant it is to try to meditate in ordinary life and I thus gave this commentary the title, "How to Escape the Ill-Effects of Reality.”
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