Tagore and the Japanese experience
Subrata Kumar Das spots good scholarship in a new work on the poet
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), one of the most widely travelled persons of his age, visited Japan three times: in 1916, in 1924 and in 1929. It is worth mentioning here that Rabindranath's visits may be counted as five since on his away back in 1916 and 1929 he landed in Japan. Before him, we had some more people from the Bangla-language zone visiting Japan and writing on different aspects of the country, but Rabindranath's visit became a milestone in the timeline of Japan-Bengal, i.e., Japan-India relations. During his five tours the myriad-minded author met a huge number of people, from the prime Mmnister of Japan to lesser mortals, among whom were writers, artists, musicians, educationists, politicians, and journalists He delivered a good number of lectures and befriended a number of Japanese. All his lectures, explanations, references and related information have been bound in two covers by Supriya Roy, a dedicated worker of the Rabindra-Bhabana, the Tagore Memorial Museum and Archive and Research Centre of Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, India. "It was some time in 2003, when Prasantakumar Paul, the Tagore biographer, told me that Rabindranath had expressed, in a letter to Prasantachandra Mahalanobis, a desire to see all the lectures in Japan collected in a book to be called Talks in Japan. In fact, an attempt was underway because two files exist in the Rabindra-Bhabana Archives entitled, 'Japan I' and Japan II'. These files contain scripts of some of these lectures, mostly in handwriting of Leonard Elmhirst with corrections by Rabindranath. There are also typed scripts and some incomplete newspaper clippings. Prasantakumar suggested that I work on these and complete Rabindranath's unfulfilled wish." The editor of the book has thus acknowledged the source of inspiration that encouraged her to take the initiative. The lectures, delivered by Rabindranath on his 1916 tour of Japan, include 'India and Japan' (First speech in Japan, before an audience of 3000 people on 01 June), 'Ideals of Art' (10 June), 'The Message of India to Japan' (11 June, reprinted with a few changes as 'Nationalism in Japan I' in Rabindranath's book Nationalism), 'Address in Bengali' (13 June. As most among the Japanese audience could not understand English, Rabindranath thought of delivering the speech in Bangla which was translated in Japanese by Rikhang Kimura), 'Paradise' (14 June), 'The Spirit of Japan' (02 July, later published under the title 'Nationalism in Japan II' in Rabindranath's book Nationalism). Among all the above-mentioned speeches, 'Ideals of Art' is not a complete one; it is simply a paragraph. It is the synopsis that Rabindranth spoke on the occasion. What Rabindranath wrote to Rathindranath in this respect was "... I had spoken on art at the Art School here. I send you a copy of this. Ask Pramatha to translate this for Sabuj Patra. But do not publish the English version in The Modern Review. I plan to enlarge it." The editor of the current book has commented: "However, this did not appear in Sabuj Patra. The enlarged version of this speech was later published in Personality (1917) as "What is Art?" The address given on 13 June was actually given in Bangla and so was given such a title. Kabiguru started his second tour of Japan on 29 May 1924, which ended on 22 June in the same year. The lectures on this tour included: 'To the People of Japan' (3 June), 'Address to Women' (5 June), 'To Women' (5 June), 'Address at The Imperial University, Tokyo' (9 June), 'Address at The Imperial University, Tokyo-2'(10 June), 'Women's University , Tokyo' (10 June), 'International Relations' (11 June), 'My School' (12 June), 'To Japanese Artists' (12 or 13 June), 'The Place of Science' (16 June), 'The Child World' (17 June), The Schoolmaster' (18 June), 'Freedom and Education' (18 June), 'To the Indian Community in Japan' (20 June), 'The Soul of the East' ( on board, someday after 22 June). The third trip of the poet started in January 1929. This time he left Japan for Canada on 28 March and reached Yokohama on 10 May again. In Talks in Japan these two visits have been counted as a single one. The speeches delivered during this period are: 'The Scared Mission of Women' (27 March), 'The Philosophy of Leisure' (12 May), 'Traveller through Life' (13 May), 'On Oriental Culture and Japan's Mission' (15 May), 'Ideals of World Politics' (17 May), 'Ideals of Education' (3 June). Talks in Japan is a very handy anthology of some of the speeches of Rabindranath. It is true many of these speeches have appeared in many other anthologies of Rabindranath. Many were published in different periodicals and newspapers in Japan or Bangladesh. But in Talks in Japan we have some speeches that were never published earlier. Moreover, the other point obvious is the editor's open confession on which speeches could not be compiled in this book owing to unavailability. These are: 1. Address at Otani University on 17 June 1924 2. Address at Miss Tsuda's school on 16 May 1929 3. Address at Nichi Nichi on 23 May 1929 The editor has included three different articles: '1916: The First Trip', 'The Second Trip', 'The Third trip' along with 'Acknowledgement' and 'Introduction'. The twenty two photographs of Rabindranath taken in Japan have, no doubt, elevated the quality of the book. Rabindranath's sketch by Mirra Richard done in Tokyo and two paintings by Rabindranath on board S. S. Shanghai Maru recall many more moments associated with the poet. Along with all these there is a small annexure with some news clippings published in some Japanese newspapers on Rabindranath's visits. 'Personalities' helps readers get quick references of the people talked about in Rabindranath's speeches or in related issues. As for the titles of Rabindranath's speeches, there is much scope for questions as well. Did the poet himself decide on such titles as 'Address in Bengali', 'Address at the Imperial University, Tokyo', et cetera? There is little doubt Supriya Roy has done a great job in bringing all the available speeches of Rabindranath before us. It will inspire similar interest in the poet, which can only contribute enormously to Rabindranath research in relation to Japan and Bangladesh.
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