Vance Wood

In my research for the book I have been writting for too many years off and on, I must have read twenty-five different sources dealing with Japanese history and art. It is from a compilation of these different points of view that I presented what I have been able to glean from all the material available to me at the time.

The real conundrum is the fact that the Japanese themselves cannot tell you exactly what Kami is. It is true this word in Western Culture has a negetive conotation in relation to the Kami Kazi planes of WWII. However you have to understand that even that term Kami Kazi went back to the Thirteent-century when a hugy typhoon rose up and destroyed the fleet of Kubli Khan attempting to invade Japan. That is what Kami Kazi means; Devine Wind and it was on that basis that the suicide pilots were called to defend the Japanese homeland against what everyone knew was the inevitable invasion by the Western Powers. Good or evil I will not judge, this post is not about that issue, for me and in this context it simply is.

As I said even the Japanese cannot explane or define in English what Kami is. What it is not is a personality like we might imagine in a possion event like the exorcist. It is more like a divine presence or divine touch one might find in some sacred Icon, or that something special one experiences when viewing something as overwhelming as the Grand Canyon, or Niagra Falls.

The Mona Lisa could be said to have Kami, it is crafted in such a way so that the smile seems to change and the eyes seem to follow you about the room. I think we all have to agree that The Mona Lisa is just a painting and not a living thing but it is one of the worlds great works of art and has been considered so for centuries. The Hope diamond is said to have a curse on it, this too could be said to have a Kami even though the accounts of the curse being manifested have all been debunked.

Can I explain Kami? No, but I think I have some sort of idea what it means in the realm of art. Does this mean I believe such a thing, I believe in a divine presence, I believe in a divine touch, the Cistine Chaple is an example of that. In short it seems that the artist's philosophy tends to manifest itself in his or her artistic expression in some ways that are not easily defined or analyized.

Again this issue always seems to come back on itself without satisfactory resolution. I kind of regret bringing it up out of fear some may misunderstand what is going on here, though the misunderstanding may be more of a purpusful fault finding than an objective decision against or for something. For better or worse the concept of Kami is part of bonsai as practiced in Japan, or any other art or craft for that matter. This is why the Japanese are so good with anything they touch, it is more of a spiritual experience to them, something ingrained in the heart of their culture, it is part of who they are.

I would like to amend this post after re-reading some of the previous questions about Kami. If the Japanese cannot clearly define Kami I would suggest that you take anyone else who claims a definition with the proverbial grain of salt. Defining Kami is right up there with trying to define art and craft. In essence they all may be different manifestations of the same thing, man's ability to rise to an expression of the divine.

Did you ever wonder why the large majority of great artists in the world are men? Today some may say it is because we are all sexists and want to keep women under foot and discourage any acheivement by them. I know some may want to believe that dribble but the fact is men cannot bear children. Men express what they are, other than semen donnars, by works of art, engineering, music, and a host of things too numerous to describe, Women carry on the species and raise the generations, and men become creative in other ways. It is too bad one of the things we do well is make war, but that's another issue not for this post.