The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng – July 19,2024

 

The Garden Of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, first edition Nov 2011 by Myrmidon Books

Aritomo Nakamura is the Emperor’s ex-gardener who was let go for some reason went to Malaya, and made his own garden, Yugiri, in the Cameron Highlands, a tea-growing area similar to our Munnar in Kerala. Later the heroine of the book, Yun Ling,  who was taken prisoner with her sister Yun Hong by the Japanese military in WWII, comes to live in the Cameron Highlands during the time of the Communist insurgency, and decides to build a Japanese garden in memory of her sister who suffered as a ‘comfort woman’ for the Japanese and was ultimately killed in a mine explosion.

Tea Growing in the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

That leads to the unique association of Yun Ling with Nakamura Aritomo, who promises to teach her how to build a Japanese garden. They labour  with helpers daily and ultimately become emotionally close. Aritomo is not only a gardener but had established himself as a wood-block print artist, in the tradition of the great Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). The Great Wave off Kanagawa by him, is among the most well-known works of Japanese art. It is one of the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, a series of landscape prints made by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist.

Hokusai (c1831) 'The Great Wave' at Kanagawa – the stupendous work shows the great azure wave rising and flexing its claws over a dauntless little Fuji in the distance

Ukiyo-e is the genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica. The term ukiyo-e (浮世絵) translates as 'picture[s] of the floating world.’

The novel deals at length with the ideals and aims of garden design in Japan, as these gardens get replicated in Malaysia. There are not only religious principles like Zen Buddhism, but philosophic principles of minimalistic design that pervade the structure of Japanese gardens. Rocks are distributed to emphasise some aspect of what is being commemorated in the garden. The planted trees are placed to extend the human imagination beyond the immediate physical limits. Ponds and basins of water are strategically located so that it is only upon accessing a definite point of eminence that a sudden view emerges, combining the far distant objects with the  surroundings.

Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco

The charm of restraint is an essential aspect. Beauty must be concealed so that it surprises the onlooker. The Sakuteiki (作庭記), or A Record of Garden Making, is the oldest known Japanese text on gardening practices in the shinden-zukuri (寝殿造り) estates, and dates from the late Heian period (794-1185). Aritomo in the present novel is the exponent of that tradition and brings it to bear upon the garden Yun Ling wants to design in memory of her sister, Yun Hong who perished in the war. He takes her on as an apprentice to construct the garden.

The horimono takes shape on Yun Ling's back – from the movie

Horimono refers in this novel to the practice of traditional tattooing in Japanese culture, usually describing full-body tattoos done in the traditional style. Considerable attention is given to horimono; it deepens the association between Yun Ling and Aritomo. The details of the design may also conceal something. Many ukiyo-e artists also did horimono, and the tattoo artist of such intricate body designs was called a horoshi. The multi-talented Aritomo is not only a gardener, but a ukiyo-e artist and a horoshi. In the concluding act of the novel Aritomo completes a horimono on the back of Yun Ling. It is an act of supreme artistry as well as amorous intimacy.