Japanese Thunderclap
Sta,—In reading the SPECTATOR these seven years and in visiting this country for the third time in four years, I have been struck by the recent increase in sympathetic interest in Japan. Mr Bryan Robert- son's attractive account of Tresors de la peinture japonaise at the Louvre (December 30) simply would not have been possible four years ago, when weeks went by without so much as a mention of Japan in the daily newspapers.
As an American with considerable affection for both England and Japan, I find the development most heartening. It does seem as if the wounds of war are healing at last. A second chair of Japanese studies, occupied by Professor Geoffrey Bowras, is now established, and The Times recently had a special issue on Japan. But if the past is any guide, it will be Japanese art that leads the way to a revived creative interest in Japan, and Mr Robert- son's absorbing article may well be a harbinger.
I do hope that he will not mind an amend- ment. He writes that `illustrations or scenes' of The Tale of Genii (from the Tokugawa Museum in Nagoya) date from the twelfth century and are con- temporary with the work. Actually, the work is usually dated a century earlier, about 1010. That is no great matter, but it leads me to remark, as some of your readers must know, that `Suzumush? ('Suzu- muchr in the French catalogue of the exhibition) is the only chapter omitted in Arthur Waley's masterful translation, The Tale of Genii. Waley is now unfortunately dead, but I wonder if any of your readers know the reason for his omission. Mr Robertson's handsome review is wel- come in any event, but, if it could lead to an answer to that question, or if it leads to further apprecia- tion of Japan, many of us will have additional
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