Yasunari Kawabata

Karsh, Yousuf, 1908-2002 · 1969

We met at Kawabata's house in Kamakura, just behind a great bronze Buddha, near the sea. He had two houses, really, a low sprawling, old one of traditional architecture, and a new wing still under construction that was mostly western in concept. Both stood in a beautiful Japanese garden. The surroundings were eclipsed however by the presence of our serene and gracious host, whose every utterance, every movement, held beauty. One felt his gentle understanding at all times... After several pictures had been taken, I asked whether he had some work of art that might be included. He said, 'Yes. Yes, I will go and fetch something that will please your eye.' And with much ceremony and tenderness he brought out a square wooden box. Inside it lay a piece of funerary sculpture (haniwa) about two millennia old, an earthenware portrait of a child's head with a nose that perfectly echoed Kawabata's own (Karsh, 1976).