足立庭園講演会レセプション 2006年6月23日在ヒューストン日本国総領事 加茂佳彦
Good Evening, ladies and gentlemen:
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to a lecture on Japanese gardens this evening. This is a very special lecture with a most interesting topic. We have two strong speakers tonight. One is Mr. Wataru Takeda who is from Japan. He is responsible for public relations activities at the Adachi Museum of Art in Yasugi-city, Shimane prefecture, Japan. The AdachiMuseum is very famous for its Japanese garden, which is considered one of the very bests in Japan. The other speaker is Mr. John Powell who studied Japanese gardens and was trained as a professional Japanese garden builder in Japan. Currently they are making a lecture tour in Texas and California. Mr. Powell operates his gardening business in Texas, which brought Mr. Takeda to Houston and other Texas cities. This morning they gave a most successful lecture regarding Japanese gardens at the Fine Arts Museum, Houston. For those who missed it, this is the last chance in Houston to be educated on Japanese gardens.
I am a layman as for Japanese gardens. Although I feel like making a comment or two on the subject, I do not want to contradict myself with what we are going to hear from our speakers later, so I think I would be better off refraining from making an unwanted layman’s comment. But let me tell you this at least. Japanese gardens are unique in the sense that they reflect the Japanese soul, the Japanese aesthetics and the Japanese philosophy toward nature. According to our traditional concept, nature is something to be awed, appreciated, not to be tamed or conquered by humans. All we can do is to become part of nature, harmonize with nature. That is the very basic concept of nature the Japanese has entertained, which gives foundation and inspiration for our cultural activities, designing Japanese gardens included.
I have never been to the AdachiMuseum in Shimane. So I very much look forward to the lecture. And I hope I can visit the museum in the near future. I believe it is definitely worth a trip even though it is not one of the traditional tourist spots. Yasugi-city is famous for its traditional folk song and dance, too. If you go there, you can enjoy one of the most magnificent Japanese gardens, the highly acclaimed Museum collection and perhaps the most popular Japanese traditional folk song and dance called “Yasuki-bushi”. Indeed, it is my hope that this lecture will provide you with inspiration to buy the Continental air-tickets to fly to Japan and the Japan Railway Pass to go to Yasugi-city to visit the beautiful gardens of the Adachi Museum and see a new hidden part of Japan.
I wish you a pleasant evening.