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Tetsunori Koizumi, Director

“Ame nimo makezu kaze nimo makezu (Neither rain nor wind will dampen my spirit)” is a well-known poem by Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933), a Japanese novelist and poet from Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture in Northern Japan. Having expressed his resolve to develop a healthy body so that he would not be bothered by snow in winter and summer heat, Kenji inserts a line later in the poem, which goes: samusano natsu wa orooro aruki (On cold summer days, I get upset and walk in worry).

Why would Kenji Miyazawa get upset and walk in worry on cold summer days? Although he was not a farmer himself, Kenji knew very well what cold summer days would mean for agricultural crops as a teacher in agricultural science at Hanamaki Agricultural High School. As a region known for rice, fruits and other agricultural products, the weather was a big worry for farmers in Hanamaki, and cold summer days would have been a bad news for their crops.

That was how it was back in the twentieth century. Today, farmers are more worried about hot summer days rather than cold summer days, for Hanamaki in Northern Japan is not spared from the phenomenon of global warming that affects every region of our planet, and is getting worse year after year.

A decade or so ago, we used to be shocked with the news headline that goes: “The city of … sets a new high temperature record.” But not anymore, for a new high temperature is recorded in so many places of the world year after year, the news about the record high temperature tends to be pushed aside by other breaking news. For those of us who are going through another brutish summer heat this year, we are tempted to rephrase a line, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” which Bob Dylan incorporated into his Subterranean Homesick Blues, as: “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the temperature goes.”

Of course, we will have to wait and see how 2022 will match up against another hot year like 2007, when 15 countries set the record for high temperatures. But many places in the world are reporting record high temperatures. United Kingdom, for example, has been hit by a number of heat waves this summer. On July 17, Coningsby, Lincoinshire recorded the temperature of 40.3˚C, the highest temperature ever recorded in UK history.

How is it in Iwate Prefecture in Northern Japan? According to the Japanese calendar, August 23 is designated as shosho, or the 14^th of the 24 indicators of seasonal change, when the summer heat starts to subside as an indication of seasonal change from summer to autumn. Yet, on that day, Kamaishi, a coastal city in Iwate Prefecture, recorded the high temperature of 35.4˚C. The temperature exceeding 35˚C belongs to the category of “Extremely Hot Summer Days,” according to the definition introduced by the Japan Meteorological Agency back in 2007, as the previous categories of “Summer Days” (25~29˚C) and “Hot Summer Days” (30-34˚C) were not enough to cover the frequent occurrence of the high temperatures exceeding 35˚C all over Japan. As for Tokyo located in the central region of Japan, this summer has already exceeded the previous high in terms of the number of “Extremely Hot Summer Days.”

One consequence of the increased frequency of “Extreme Hot Summer Days” observed all over Japan is the loss of interest in Haiku-composition. “Cicadas’ chorus” used to be one of kigo, or seasonal terms, for summer often employed by Haiku enthusiasts. However, since it is so frequently used by so many people this summer, “cicadas chorus” does not appeal to the poetic sensibility of the Japanese as much as it used to. A new, more appealing kigo is needed if Haiku-composition is to continue as one of the favorite cultural activities for the Japanese.

What about walking, then? If Kenji Miyazawa used to get upset and walk in worry on cold summer days, how would he walk on hot summer days, or extremely hot summer days? There is no question that he would continue to get upset and walk in worry on hot summer days, especially on extremely hot summer days, for “Extremely Hot Summer Days” are bad news for farmers as well as for others. Would we ever return to “Normal Summer Days” when farmers walk in satisfaction watching their crops grow as they should, and hikers walk in exhilaration watching passing clouds without the fear of heat strokes? The answer would be in the negative unless all of us in the world wake up to the reality of global warming and make concerted effort to reverse it.

Tetsunori Koizumi, Director

On Sunday, May 8, 2022, a subway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, became the venue for performance for Bono and The Edge, two aging members of Irish rock group U2. One of the songs they sang was “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” which was included in their album titled War, released in 1983. The song, which begins with the line, “I can’t believe the news today,” expresses the sense of horror the members of U2 felt about the bloody incident that took place in Derry, Northern Ireland, on Sunday, January 30, 1972, when British solders shot and killed unarmed civilians who were marching in protest against internment without trial.

Singing “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2022 serves as a poignant reminder not just to Bono and The Edge but also to all of us that similar bloody incidents are still taking place in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world today, fifty years later since that bloody incident in Derry, Northern Ireland. We can sense the pain and frustration of these Irish artists, knowing that that they are still singing, “How long, how long must we sing this song?” which is the third line of “Sunday, Bloody Sunday.” It is the sad reality of the world that the kind of violent incident that took place on Sunday, January 30, 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland, now takes place not just on Sundays but on any day of the week somewhere in the world.

During one week of this July, in 2022, the world was shocked by two violent incidents that took place in the US and Japan. On Monday, July 4, a lone gunman killed seven people and injured 47 others when he opened fire at the Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. Needless to say, the Fourth of July is a festive occasion for Americans as they celebrate their Day of Independence with parades on city streets and picnics on municipal parks. That festive mood was abruptly broken by the violent act of this lone gunman. On Friday, July 8, another violent shooting by a lone gunman took place—this time in Japan—when Shinzo Abe, the former Prime Minister, was shot to death at one of his election campaign stops in Nara. What is shocking about this incident to the Japanese as well as to the people around the world is that it took place in a country where the gun ownership is strictly controlled. As a matter of fact, the lone gunman who committed this violent act used one of his self-made guns, for he was able to collect enough information on the Internet to make his own guns.

Where does the human impulse towards these violent acts come from? In Buddhism, greed, hatred, and delusion are often cited as the root causes of violent acts and misconducts. For example, this is how the Buddha instructs his lay followers: “Kalamas, a person who is greedy, hating, and deluded, overpowered by greed, hatred, and delusion, his thoughts controlled by them, will destroy life, take what is not his, engage in sexual misconduct, and tell lies; he will also prompt others to do likewise.” (Anguttara Nikaya, III.65) Unwholesome actions of greed, hatred, and delusion—known together as the Three Poisons (kilesa)—appear often in the Buddha’s talks to his lay followers. As another example, consider the following statement by the Buddha: “Greed, hatred, and delusion of every kind are unwholesome. Whatever action a greedy, hating, and deluded person heaps up—by deeds, words, or thoughts—that too is unwholesome.” (Anguttara Nikaya, III.69) The Buddha makes explicit here that unwholesome actions of greed, hatred, and delusion are committed by deeds, words, or thoughts.

There is no question about the harm done to others when unwholesome actions take the form of bodily deeds. However, as the Buddha makes it clear, unwholesome actions of greed, hatred, and delusion also stem from words or thoughts. Indeed, considering how an unwholesome thought hatched in the mind can lead to bodily assaults or verbal attacks, we need to pay special attention to delusion as the root cause of all unwholesome actions, as the Buddha describes the danger of a deluded person as follows: “Whatever deed a deluded person performs by body, speech, and mind is also unwholesome. When a deluded person inflicts suffering upon another under a false pretext—by killing, imprisonment, confiscation, censure, or banishment—thinking, ‘I am powerful, or I want power,’ that too is unwholesome.” (Anuguttara Nikaya III.111) What is disheartening about the Buddha’s message here is that his warning about the danger of a deluded person with power is as relevant to the world today as it was to the world in his day.

How do we live in the world full of unwholesome actions of greed, hatred, and delusion? The Buddha’s advice to us is quite simple yet very clear: “Of such a one, pacified, released by proper understanding, calm is the mind, calm his speech and act.” (The Dhammapada, 96) What the Buddha is telling us is that we need to develop proper understanding of the way we tend to be overpowered by greed, hatred, and delusion by fostering wholesome actions of our body, speech, and mind. Only when we—and the people around us—develop such understanding, Sunday becomes, as it should, the day of rest and relaxation for all of us. Otherwise, U2 will have to keep singing: “How long, how long must we sing this song?”

Author Archives: tetsukoizumi

How do we walk on extremely hot summer days?

How long must we sing this song?