Decadence. Vitex rotundifolia, Roundleaf Chastetree, and Ango Sakaguchi, Nishikaigan Park, Niigata, Japan
On my way to the utterly splendid Aquarium - with a vast array of small sea creatures in finely maintained terrariums and aquariums - I walked through Nishikaigan Park. It's a breathing space on high dunes between the city proper of Niigata and the Sea of Japan. That park has many shrines and memorials most of which remained a mystery to me, clueless with regard to Japanese language. But I did find a monument marked in English. It was erected in a high place by the friends of Ango Sakaguchi (1906-1955) upon his death. Sakaguchi was a proponent of 'decadent' literature. And that 'decadence' was not of the soft and ripe kind. But rather, as Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) said: his prose, like vodka and gin, is brutally strong. When I was a young student and in thrall to Mishima I'd not yet heard of Sakaguchi but came to his work (in translation) later. Mishima is right!
Anyway, I was lucky on the path above the beach to see row upon row of Roundleaf Chastetree. And the color of the flowers - lavender - immediately reminded me of decadence! and hence of Mishima and Sakaguchi, who hails from Niigata.
Decadence. Vitex rotundifolia, Roundleaf Chastetree, and Ango Sakaguchi, Nishikaigan Park, Niigata, Japan
On my way to the utterly splendid Aquarium - with a vast array of small sea creatures in finely maintained terrariums and aquariums - I walked through Nishikaigan Park. It's a breathing space on high dunes between the city proper of Niigata and the Sea of Japan. That park has many shrines and memorials most of which remained a mystery to me, clueless with regard to Japanese language. But I did find a monument marked in English. It was erected in a high place by the friends of Ango Sakaguchi (1906-1955) upon his death. Sakaguchi was a proponent of 'decadent' literature. And that 'decadence' was not of the soft and ripe kind. But rather, as Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) said: his prose, like vodka and gin, is brutally strong. When I was a young student and in thrall to Mishima I'd not yet heard of Sakaguchi but came to his work (in translation) later. Mishima is right!
Anyway, I was lucky on the path above the beach to see row upon row of Roundleaf Chastetree. And the color of the flowers - lavender - immediately reminded me of decadence! and hence of Mishima and Sakaguchi, who hails from Niigata.