Nov 24 – Chris Mosdell at home

October 16, 2019 / John Dougill

Wordsmith Chris Mosdell has had a high profile career as scriptwriter, lyricist, poet, author, performer and experimentalist, working with some of the top people in Japan. We are delighted therefore to announce an opportunity to hear firsthand from this most original of writers, who will be coming from Tokyo specially for the occasion. (Participation limited to WiK members, and reservations are now fully booked.)

The event will take place in the late afternoon at Chris Mosdell’s attractive house in Okazaki (see pics below). He will talk about his early work with Sakamoto Ryuichi and Yellow Magic Orchestra, his experimentation with visual music, his collaboration with the poet Tanikawa Shuntaro, as well as his newer work with anime movies and collective poetry. Refreshments provided. Afterwards those who wish will adjourn to a local soba shop.

Place: UTA YOMI DORI 京都市左京区岡崎法勝町83-1
83-1, Okazakihoshojicho Sakyo-Ku, Kyoto 606-8333
(UTA YOMI DORI is the name of the house. It is actually the Heian name for the bush warbler – literally translated as “The bird that recites poetry”.)

Directions: If you’re starting at the traffic lights in front of Okazaki Jinja on Marutamachi Dori, cross over and walk down the street opposite. (There’s a big supermarket on the corner.) At the junction at the bottom of the road, veer slightly right and continue down, past the ryokan “Rakuyoso” and take the next left (before you reach the hotel Jardin de Fleurs!). UTA YOMI DORI is 100 yards on the right.

Time of event: 4.30 pm (doors open from 4.00)

Fee: The charge for this special occasion will be Y4000, which includes a signed copy of Chris’s latest publication, The Radicals (normally selling at ¥5000).

(From the back cover): THE RADICALS is a collection of narratives pertaining to the ontology of a nation––a poetic shrine to a people, a culture, and a social milieu––built on the roots of a country’s written language. From the founding components of kanji (ideograms), the bushu (radicals) document the historic landscape of Japan––its literary figures, its heroic warriors, and its emperors, artists, gods and warlords––through interwoven characters and continua that embody a spirit of place.

Via a series of emblematic pictograms (sun, woman, tree, fire, king) the centuries of the Eastern Isles are envisaged, with poems exemplifying the anthems of a nation, the seasons’ rice-planting songs, the sutra to the gods. Yet, against the bedrock shores of the Kingdom of Yamato (ancient Japan), wave after wave of hyperkinetic imagery from the hub of Mosdell’s contemporary creative centre, the immense metropolis of Tokyo, crash in. Here is an allegory of the Japanese identity. A mosaic, a thousand shards gathered up to represent a vast momentous chronicle of a country.