Coronado's Gold by Kenneth Fenter the fifth novel in the series begun with The Run was released on Monday Sept. 23. It is now available in print and e-book on Amazon both domestically and internationally.
Today, Sept. 26 is the last day for a free giveaway of 5 copies of the new novel to those who have clicked like on the Arborwood Press Face Book Page by midnight tonight. Tomorrow I'll compile the list of likes and randomly draw five names to contact for mailing address. The names will also be posted tomorrow (Sept 27). Coronado's Gold and books by Kenneth Fenter
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Coronado's Gold by Kenneth released Sept. 13
Coronado's Gold by Kenneth Fenter was released on Friday, September 13, 2013 in print and e-book. It is available on Amazon, and on line through domestically and internationally.
Coronado's Gold is the fifth novel in the series beginning with the novel The Ruin released in 2010, followed by The Bee Tree in 2011, Pivotal Times and Gifted Times in 2012. Although all are stand alone books, the same characters continue and grow in each successive novel.
Coronado’s Gold: Four boys, Bruce, Carl, Tim and Cliff set out on a week-long fishing/camping trip in the La Plata Mountain Range of Southwestern Colorado. Bruce and Carl have just graduated from high school. It is a last opportunity for the four to bond before the Bruce and Carl leave for college. Although Cliff is the youngest he has the most outdoor experience and is the leader.
Although Cliff tries to prepare them for every emergency contingency, they are well aware that the high mountain wilderness will place them into a remote area where they must survive by their own wits and skill. It is an area that has drawn adventurers and treasure seekers over the centuries dating back to the days of the Spaniards who had owned Southwestern Colorado and explored it long before it had been re-explored by the 1859 gold rush.
Waiting for them at a high mountain valley final camp are unforeseen dangers human, predator, and supernatural.
It is a much changed foursome who walk begin their walk out of Little Cougar Creek a week later with a story to tell and a secret to keep.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Hunting grouse with the atlatl in Coronado's Gold by Kenneth Fenter
In the 40's and 50's my family would try to take a couple of days to go camping and fishing sometime during the summer. Often it would coincide with the summer rains that would come around the 4th of July and thoroughly wet down the farm's crops so that we could justify diverting the water into the reservoir that fed our home and ask a neighbor to milk the cows and feed the livestock. My dad's favorite place to camp and fish was Lost Canyon. The head was on the high slope of Hesperus Peak the tallest peak of the La Plata Mountain range. At over 14,000 feet it was majestic and we looked out on it every day from the front window of our home on Summit Ridge. Our farm was at 7,000 feet, 8 miles from the entrance of Mesa Verde Ntl. Park, 10 miles from Cortez, 8 miles from Dolores and about 12 miles from Mancos.
On those fishing trips we camped on the rim of Lost Canyon and hiked about a mile and a half down into the canyon to the creek. On more than one occasion dad would watch for what he called "Mountain Chicken" to go to roost so that the next morning he could revisit their roosting spot with the single shot .22 to bring back a couple for breakfast. I remember them to be like fried chicken and about the size of the fried chicken Mom used to harvest on the farm. I now know they were high mountain Blue Grouse. They are protected now, and there is a season. I don't know if there was one back in the 40s or not. They seemed to be plentiful then. Of course Lost Canyon had not been logged, the road was dirt and it took us several hours to negotiate the unimproved road to get to where he camped.
In the story Coronado's Gold the four high school aged boys are camping and fishing during the same era that I remember as a kid.
In Coronado' Gold Cliff and Carl decide to treat their friends with a change from fish with fresh mountain chicken for breakfast.
Carl’s internal alarm woke him, and he woke Cliff. It was a half-hour before sunup. Dawn was beginning to lighten the meadow. The two boys hurriedly put on their shoes and took up their atlatls and spears. They loaded bone point darts onto two spears each and set out for the aspen grove. Carl’s photographic memory took them precisely to the spot where they had sat at dusk the night before. Cliff had learned to mark locations so that he could return to them, so they had it double covered. He was very impressed with Carl.
On the way, Cliff had whispered the plan. They would as quietly as possible sneak close to the tree or trees where the blue grouse were roosting. Cliff was pleased to see that Carl was taking note of how he was walking silently. After a few feet, Carl too was walking nearly as quietly.
Carl would point out the bird he would throw at and Cliff would do likewise. They would load a spear and have a second ready. If they missed on the first throw, they would throw a second. They would each try for one bird. That would provide enough meat for breakfast and leave the rest of the flock untouched.
At the tree they believed to be the roost, they found grouse roosting on three different branches about twenty feet up. They had to stand back to be able to throw at a comfortable angle. Their throw would be about 35 feet, easily within range.
They both took aim and threw at the same time. Cliff’s spear flew true. Carl’s flew on by. One bird tumbled from the branch. The other birds nervously danced on the branch but did not fly. Carl loaded his atlatl calmly, took aim a second time and threw. His bird tumbled from the branch.
“Good shot, Carl,” Cliff said slapping him on the back.
Cliff picked up both birds, bound their legs, cut their throats and hung them on a branch to bleed clean before they retrieved their spears. Both darts were still impaled in the partridges. The spears had fallen free.
"They carried the birds, the size of full grown hens, back to camp in time for a cup of freshly brewed coffee.
On those fishing trips we camped on the rim of Lost Canyon and hiked about a mile and a half down into the canyon to the creek. On more than one occasion dad would watch for what he called "Mountain Chicken" to go to roost so that the next morning he could revisit their roosting spot with the single shot .22 to bring back a couple for breakfast. I remember them to be like fried chicken and about the size of the fried chicken Mom used to harvest on the farm. I now know they were high mountain Blue Grouse. They are protected now, and there is a season. I don't know if there was one back in the 40s or not. They seemed to be plentiful then. Of course Lost Canyon had not been logged, the road was dirt and it took us several hours to negotiate the unimproved road to get to where he camped.
In the story Coronado's Gold the four high school aged boys are camping and fishing during the same era that I remember as a kid.
In Coronado' Gold Cliff and Carl decide to treat their friends with a change from fish with fresh mountain chicken for breakfast.
Carl’s internal alarm woke him, and he woke Cliff. It was a half-hour before sunup. Dawn was beginning to lighten the meadow. The two boys hurriedly put on their shoes and took up their atlatls and spears. They loaded bone point darts onto two spears each and set out for the aspen grove. Carl’s photographic memory took them precisely to the spot where they had sat at dusk the night before. Cliff had learned to mark locations so that he could return to them, so they had it double covered. He was very impressed with Carl.
On the way, Cliff had whispered the plan. They would as quietly as possible sneak close to the tree or trees where the blue grouse were roosting. Cliff was pleased to see that Carl was taking note of how he was walking silently. After a few feet, Carl too was walking nearly as quietly.
Carl would point out the bird he would throw at and Cliff would do likewise. They would load a spear and have a second ready. If they missed on the first throw, they would throw a second. They would each try for one bird. That would provide enough meat for breakfast and leave the rest of the flock untouched.
At the tree they believed to be the roost, they found grouse roosting on three different branches about twenty feet up. They had to stand back to be able to throw at a comfortable angle. Their throw would be about 35 feet, easily within range.
They both took aim and threw at the same time. Cliff’s spear flew true. Carl’s flew on by. One bird tumbled from the branch. The other birds nervously danced on the branch but did not fly. Carl loaded his atlatl calmly, took aim a second time and threw. His bird tumbled from the branch.
“Good shot, Carl,” Cliff said slapping him on the back.
Cliff picked up both birds, bound their legs, cut their throats and hung them on a branch to bleed clean before they retrieved their spears. Both darts were still impaled in the partridges. The spears had fallen free.
"They carried the birds, the size of full grown hens, back to camp in time for a cup of freshly brewed coffee.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Coronado's Gold by Kenneth Fenter, A mysterious visitor
14,000 + ft. Hesperus Peak, tallest of the LaPlata Mt. range of SW Colorado. |
Good Thursday morning. In Coronado's Gold Cliff wakes up on Thursday morning to the smell of coffee brewing. They are at their final destination, Grindstone Creek Lake. Hermosa Peak looms large only a few miles away. Carl is boiling the coffee on the campfire. Tim and Bruce are fishing for breakfast. The night before Carl and Cliff had played the Native American Flute accompanied by Bruce's harmonica. Tim had danced around the fire. Later in the night Cliff had been awakened by restless horses. Cliff tells Carl:
“We had a visitor last night, so I was up for a while. I sat up and watched to see what was bothering the horses.”
“Did you see anything?”
“They settled down, and then I saw someone come down the trail from the lake. He stopped about half way from the lake to here and turned around. Then, when he was out of sight, I heard something. I followed the sound and, I swear, Carl, I heard a flute playing. It was pretty close to what we played. However, not exactly the same. And then it just faded out.”
“Well that’s spooky!”
“Yeah it was.”
“What did he look like,” asked Carl.
“Couldn’t see him well. He wasn’t a big guy. Walked stooped over, trying to be inconspicuous, I guess.”
Carl added the same amount of grounds he had seen Cliff use the night before and then moved the pan to let it simmer. Then he poured two cups and handed one to Cliff. Carl quizzed Cliff on whether the flute sounded exactly like the Native American flute.
When Tim and Bruce returned, they and Cliff walked up the game trail, examining it as they went. They saw no human tracks. In the dark Cliff had not been able to see whether the figure had actually been on the narrow trail, or if he had been on the grass, but the grass had not been disturbed recently.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Jersey Jim Lookout Tower in Coronado's Gold by Kenneth Fenter
Continuing Cliff, Carl, Bruce and Tim's progress up Lost Canyon, a tributary of the Dolores River, on their fishing trip in "Coronado's Gold":
The boys make a detour to Jersey Jim Lookout Tower. Jersey Jim is located near the head of Lost Canyon. In 1956 the tower was operated by my aunt Betty Porter's sister-in-law Verna Dale Porter. It was and is 90 feet tall. It is no longer a manned tower, but is a monument. It is located in an aspen forest. The photo was taken during the early spring before the aspen leafed out, but you can get a perspective of how tall the tower is.
From its vantage point at near 10,000 ft. on the western slope of the La Plata Mountain range, Mrs. Porter could monitor the entire southwestern corner of Colorado and hundreds of thousands of acres of National Forest land.
The Colorado Columbine is a metaphor in Coronado's Gold by Kenneth Fenter
In my new novel "Coronado's Gold," due to be released by Feb. 20, by Tuesday morning the boys are well on their way deep into Lost Canyon. They are in blue spruce and quaking aspen country now. They wake up to blue skies, catch a mess of brook trout for breakfast and Cliff sees his favorite wild flower, the Colorado Blue Columbine.
He sees not only the beauty of the columbine, but more. It has become a metaphor of his life and relationships.
Earlier, as a young boy he had been told wild columbines couldn't survive if he tried to transplant them, but he did it anyway.
Through his patience and tending he eventually had a wild garden of columbines, flags, strawberries, lupine and other mountain wildflowers that came back each spring and bloomed profusely. But it had taken him several patient years to get them there.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Coronado's Gold by Kenneth Fenter release Feb. 20
Coronado's Gold by Kenneth Fenter a new adventure novel will be released Feb. 20. The novel is the fifth book in the series begun with The Ruin, The Bee Tree, Pivotal Times: The Freshman Class, and Gifted Hands: Saino no Aru Te. Two of the main characters are Cliff Kelly and Angelina Martinez who have been in all of the books in the series. The majority of the characters in Coronado's Gold are carried over from Pivotal Times.
A scene from Coronado's Gold by Kenneth Fenter. In Coronado's Gold, Cliff, Bruce, Tim, and Carl set out on horseback on a Monday morning in July to go fishing in Lost Canyon. Their destination is Bear Creak near Sharks Tooth (on the left) and Hesperus Peak in the center. All are located in Montezuma County in Southwestern Colorado.
A scene from Coronado's Gold by Kenneth Fenter. In Coronado's Gold, Cliff, Bruce, Tim, and Carl set out on horseback on a Monday morning in July to go fishing in Lost Canyon. Their destination is Bear Creak near Sharks Tooth (on the left) and Hesperus Peak in the center. All are located in Montezuma County in Southwestern Colorado.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
A noble idea that failed... the Unzen, Japan chapel.
In the preceding post I told about the Christian persecutions in the mid 1600s and Father Jose Aguilar's desire to memorialize it in a chapel being built at the site of the worst of those persecutions on Mt. Unzen across the Tachibana Bay from Nagasaki.
Here is a follow up on that post.
Father Aguilar and I met with his superior Father Miazaki who was in charge of the project to build the chapel on Unzen. We showed him the designs. He had already been contacted by a friend of his on Unzen who was a Christian hotel owner who said they wanted to sponsor the windows. Father Miazaki had told him that he flatly refused their offer and only because his friend pleaded with him to at least look at the designs and hear us out, that he granted us a 15 minute audience. We met with him an the audience stretched to 50 minutes. In the end he revealed to us that he did not want the hotel people to use the chapel for weddings and commercial purposes. Father Aguilar argued that the chapel would be seen by people from around the world as a graphic depiction of what had gone on there, and so what if the local resorts transported a few brides and grooms there for their western weddings conducted by the local Catholic Priest.
Here is the follow up excerpt a year later when I visited after the church was finished.
Here is a follow up on that post.
Father Aguilar and I met with his superior Father Miazaki who was in charge of the project to build the chapel on Unzen. We showed him the designs. He had already been contacted by a friend of his on Unzen who was a Christian hotel owner who said they wanted to sponsor the windows. Father Miazaki had told him that he flatly refused their offer and only because his friend pleaded with him to at least look at the designs and hear us out, that he granted us a 15 minute audience. We met with him an the audience stretched to 50 minutes. In the end he revealed to us that he did not want the hotel people to use the chapel for weddings and commercial purposes. Father Aguilar argued that the chapel would be seen by people from around the world as a graphic depiction of what had gone on there, and so what if the local resorts transported a few brides and grooms there for their western weddings conducted by the local Catholic Priest.
Here is the follow up excerpt a year later when I visited after the church was finished.
I
was eager to show Aguilar a small window I had made for the Center from one of
the Unzen designs—The Trek From Nagasaki to Unzen. I had tried to
make it resemble a sumie scroll.
“Please
accept this for your Center,” I said.
He
eagerly held it up to the window to catch the full light.
“What
is happening up there now? Is it finished?”
He
shook his head sadly, ‘Yes, it is finished with a chain upon the front door.
The hotel owners took delivery of their coach for which they had paid $45,000
plus the cost of shipping and the cost of a team of white horses. But the
chapel has stood, unused. It is the center of a local controversy. It remains
locked. The priest in charge will not permit it to be used for any non-Catholic
purpose. No weddings, no tourism is permitted. Today that fancy coach sits in
the lobby of one of the hotels, and the imitation stained glass is
uninteresting.”
“Kawai so,
ne (Too bad right)?”
“So
ne,” he said.
Stained Glass designs for the Christian persecutions in Kyushu Japan
I'm in the process of re-issuing the non-fiction book Suteindo Garasu: Stained Glass the third book in the American Family in Japan series that I wrote back in the 1980s that began with Gaijin! Gaijin! and MoIchido: Once more. Suteindo Garasu had two themes: my culture shock upon returning to America during a time of 20% unemployment in Oregon and a three year stint of doing business as a stained glass artisan with Japan. To make a comparison it was like a ride on the world's largest roller coaster when you are prone to vertigo.
When we returned to Oregon after the two years in Japan we were fortunate in that Lora was able to secure one of the two elementary jobs that opened up in the fall of 1979 in Springfield. That meant the Fenter family wouldn't starve and we could make our house payments if I didn't have a job. And I had orders for two stained glass commissions back in Isahaya and a set of small windows for a youth center in Nagasaki. They two customers would share my plane ticket. That trip resulted in nearly three years of irregular crossings between Springfield and Nagasaki with crates of stained glass windows and lamps. In Nagasaki I stayed at The Nagai Youth Center run by Jesuit Priest Father Aguilar. His original dream of a project in Nagasaki was to build a chapel on Mount Unzen. During my trips to Nagasaki he told me about that and shared many stories about the history of the Christian persecution during the closure of Japan to the outside world during from mid 1600 to mid 1800. When the Tokugawa government closed Japan to the outside world it also attempted to purge the country of the growing Christian influence which stemmed primarily from Kyushu.
Here is an excerpt from my book Stained Glass about an almost fulfillment of Father Aguilar's Dream.
When we returned to Oregon after the two years in Japan we were fortunate in that Lora was able to secure one of the two elementary jobs that opened up in the fall of 1979 in Springfield. That meant the Fenter family wouldn't starve and we could make our house payments if I didn't have a job. And I had orders for two stained glass commissions back in Isahaya and a set of small windows for a youth center in Nagasaki. They two customers would share my plane ticket. That trip resulted in nearly three years of irregular crossings between Springfield and Nagasaki with crates of stained glass windows and lamps. In Nagasaki I stayed at The Nagai Youth Center run by Jesuit Priest Father Aguilar. His original dream of a project in Nagasaki was to build a chapel on Mount Unzen. During my trips to Nagasaki he told me about that and shared many stories about the history of the Christian persecution during the closure of Japan to the outside world during from mid 1600 to mid 1800. When the Tokugawa government closed Japan to the outside world it also attempted to purge the country of the growing Christian influence which stemmed primarily from Kyushu.
Here is an excerpt from my book Stained Glass about an almost fulfillment of Father Aguilar's Dream.
When
I got to the Center, Aguilar was excited. During the fall, they had begun
construction on the chapel at Unzen. “I think now is the time to talk to them
about Stained Glass,” he said.
“I
was in hopes that we could get in on the talks before they had actually begun,”
I said.
“Well
it has been a very busy fall,” he apologized. “As you know the Holy Father,
Pope John Paul will visit Nagasaki in February. This has taken most of the time
of the priest in charge of the project. It has been impossible to talk to him
at length, but he has agreed in principal that you should do the stained glass
for it eventually.”
“How
would I go about arranging something?”
“First
I think we should go there and look at the progress,” he said. “If you have
some time this trip we can go. Perhaps my sister and niece would like to go
there too.”
He
had the next morning free, and he asked his sister and niece if they would like
to drive to Unzen. The niece was delighted. The sister wasn’t interested.
“It
will be even colder up there, than it is here,” she said in Spanish.
“But
my dear sister, there will be sun shining. As the air warms, it rises. It will
be warm on the slopes of the mountain tomorrow morning,” Aguilar told her.
“In
my experience, while it is true warm air rises, the tops of mountains tend to
be freezing,” she continued.
By
nine the next morning we were on our way to Unzen. Aunt Rosario stayed at the
Center.
The
air was crystal clear and Unzen loomed proudly on the far side of the Sea of
Chijiwa. The volcanic peak was snowcapped, but the lower slopes were bare.
Aguilar
switched seamlessly between Spanish and English as he visited with Maria Eleana
and me while we drove along the seaside, through the resort town of Obama and
up the switchbacks of the steep mountain, which was not unlike Mt. Fuji in
appearance. The cone and its foothills formed the Shimabara Peninsula. On the
outskirts of Unzen town we pulled off the pavement onto a rutted muddy drive
several hundred feet long and pulled up next to where cement mixer trucks were
pouring foundations. Aguilar spoke briefly with a hard hatted worker who led us
to a prefab metal building. The construction shack was crammed with drawing
boards, several desks, a telephone and a table with rolls of drawings. The
chapel would look like a miniature cathedral with a tall spire on the entrance
end. It would be dedicated in May or June.
The
engineer described the details of the chapel to Aguilar who asked many
questions. Finally there was a pause, and the engineer asked Aguilar a
question. Aguilar began. I heard the word “suteindo
garasu, meka (maker), watashi no
chapel
(my chapel), ojozu (very
skillful).
The
engineer listened intently then cocked his head about 45 degrees and sucked in
his breath sharply, “Sahhhh”.
The
engineer spoke and I could hear Kumomoto Suteindo Garasu, the name of a company
in Kumomoto that made an awful, garish, plastic overlay, imitation glass that
faded in about two years if exposed to the sun.
We
left not long afterward with a copy of the blueprint page showing the windows
and their dimensions. I also took several photos of the architectural concept
drawing.
We
walked up the road a few more yards to see through a break in the hills. From
that point we could look down to the east to the Ariake Sea. “This spot was
chosen because from here you can see the location of Hara Jo where Amakusa
Shiro and his Christian ronin and farmers
held off the Imperial Army until the Dutch navy helped by
bombarding it from the sea and broke down the defenses,” Aguilar explained.
We
drove on into town and stopped at one of the large hotels for lunch. During
that lunch Aguilar struck up a conversation with one of the hotel managers who
came to the table. The manager expressed the joy the hotel owners had about the
church and what it would mean to them in terms of tourism.
After
lunch, Aguilar parked in the lot of another huge hotel and the three of us
walked up the hillside.
“Here
is the site of the worst of our Christian persecutions,” he said. We walked to
a jumble of rocks lying in a pool about thirty feet across. On the rocks above
the pool stood a concrete cross about four feet high with arms three feet wide.
Kanji
marks were made almost illegible by the lichen growing over them.
“To
this pool men and women from Nagasaki were brought in the winter, if they were
believed to be Christian. They were told by the soldiers that if they would
cast away their belief, they could return to Nagasaki unharmed. If not, they
were stripped and alternately dipped into the scalding water and then into the
snow bank. Many did not survive that torture. Those who did were returned to
Nagasaki to be executed by crucifixion,” he explained.
“That
is why this chapel is so important, people come from all over the world to see
this place, but there is no signboard, there is no book, there is nothing to
commemorate it here at the site of that awful time.”
It
was difficult for Aguilar to take much time away from the Center and we were
running late, so instead of taking the main road back down the mountain he
drove to the end of the main street and entered a narrow paved lane that switch
backed down the back side of the mountain. His old Toyota station wagon managed
it fine, but I prayed that
the brakes were in good working order. It took only a few minutes
to get to a cutoff about two miles on the Nagasaki side of Obama. There was no
traffic, no buses or trucks to impede our progress. It was a single lane road
for the most part with an occasional cut out. At each hairpin curve a large
parabolic mirror let the driver know if a vehicle approached.
Unzen
had received some snow in December, but it had melted off
wherever the sun hit it. The narrow road
was completely clear of snow.
“The
problem is we have no funds to put things like real stained glass in projects
such as this. The engineer said they were thinking of putting in the imitation
glass from Kumomoto.”
“It
is a shame they plan to put in that imitation crap,” I said. “It will lose its
color in a couple of years, and from what I hear it is more expensive than I am
with the real thing.”
“Ah,
there is no comparison,” he said. “This memorial chapel deserves the real
stained glass. But, alas the windows are very big. I am sure the church has no
money for that much glass work. Besides, the architect or the builder is
probably a relative or friend of the maker in Kumomoto,” Aguilar explained to
Maria Eleana in Spanish and then translated into English for me.
Maria
Eleana began speaking to Aguilar. I loved the sound of her voice and of her
accent. I had grown up with Mexican-Americans in Colorado and remembered the
language to be rapid fire. Maria Eleana’s speech was slow, rich and her voice
tremendously expressive. Aguilar listened attentively as he negotiated the
curves on the winding road.
“Of
course!” he said. He threw his head back and laughed. “That is the answer. The
wealthy businessman tries to buy his salvation by donating lavishly to the
church. Maria Eleana has suggested we do it here as at home. At home if the
poor church needs stained glass the local Patron will step forward and donate
some money and his name will appear on a little bronze plate beneath as the
proud donor.”
“Do
we dare approach the hotel owners about each donating a window? Are there nine
hotels at Unzen?” I asked.
“There
are many more than that. There are at least nine large hotels and many more
smaller ones,” he said equally excitedly.
“How
would we go about it?”
“I
think first they would want to see some design. And then we would need to
arrange a meeting with the hotel association and present the idea.”
“I’ve
been thinking about the designs since you told me about this project two years
ago. At the Center don’t you have several books that have stories and paintings
of the years of persecution?”
“Yes,
I have many books on the subject.”
“And
of course Oura Cathedral is an important element,” Aguilar
said.
And
Hara Jo.”
“The
trail from Nagasaki to Unzen.”
“How
about the story you told us of the boy and the charcoal?”
“St.
Dominic? Yes that would be good.”
“And
you are getting ready to receive the Pope. What if I could tie that to Urakami?”
“That
would be the entire story. The triumph of faith and human spirit over tyranny!”
He said excitedly.
Later
that afternoon Aguilar talked his sister and niece into going with us to the
school and convent at Junshin.
The
city was preparing for the first visit of a Pope to Japan. He would be in
Nagasaki from February 25 to the 28. Aguilar would give a reception for the
priests who would come from all over Japan to see their spiritual leader. He
would make several public appearances—at the Urakami Cathedral, the Martyr
Museum, and the Peace Park. His only non-public appearance would be at Junshin Women’s
College.
I began drawing
the designs that night after retiring early to my room.
The
atmosphere was perfect for such a task. The tokonoma
had
been set with a new arrangement of orchids. A very old looking, long sumie ink scroll of
a flock of Japanese canes hung on the wall behind the flower arrangement. After
I had spread my futon and moved the
portable table to the edge of it, I could use the edge of the futon as a cushion
to sit on.
Aguilar had loaned me several books from the Center, and
these I spread out before me as I tried to decide where to start. Some of the
books had block prints or ink sketches to accompany stories. Most of them had
originally been written in either Spanish or Latin. Several had been translated
into English or had short English paragraphs in the margins.
I decided to try to draw them in logical order to tell the
story and began with a woman being tested with the
fumie.
In the western room off the tatami rooms stood an
eighteen inch tall glass case which protected a
HakataNingyd a type of painted clay doll made in Fukuoka. Her
kimono
style fit those in the pictures. I used it as a model to draw the figure of a
woman. To her left stood a samurai with sword in
hand. Facing her was an official in the formal clothing of the Seventeenth
Century. Looking on from behind the woman stood a young woman.
I debated what to do about the faces. The figures were
fairly easy with the flowing kimono and stylized
clothing of the samurai, but the faces
were a problem. I didn’t want to use enamels melted into the glass if I could
avoid it. I struggled with that problem for nearly a day. I had drawn the
facial outlines with cheekbone and hairline, but no eyes, no mouth or nose. I
tried to visualize how the faces might be done as a mosaic with many pieces.
Traditionally they would be painted on with enamels and fired.
My eyes finally glazed, and I stared out the sliding glass
doors into the narrow Japanese garden. Koi fish
occasionally broke the surface of the small pond. Water rustled down the long
rock-filled course way from a small waterfall. I daydreamed. My back was tired
from sitting cross legged on the tatami bent over the
short coffee table refining the sketches. I looked away from the garden back to
the tokonoma.
The tokonoma was divided into
two sections. One half was open from the floor to the ceiling and contained the
flower arrangement and scroll. The other half of the
tokonoma
was open from about waist high to the ceiling. The lower portion was cabinetry
with drawers in which ink stone, paper, and other calligraphy paraphernalia
were kept. The open area, above the cabinet might at some time in the
future house the family shrine. That day the space contained only a simple
ceramic Japanese doll that had no face. Many Japanese dolls, especially the
paper dolls had no faces. Paper doll’s faces were made by stretching thin pure
white rice paper over a cotton base.
I erased all attempts at facial features, redrew them to
further emphasize the high cheekbone, and colored them in flesh tones without
facial detail. Somehow, it seemed fitting. If it were a Western design, it
should represent the oppression of the individual with faces that emphasized
individual features. In this case, each figure would represent the faceless
thousands rather than the individual.
The second design showed the boy,
Dominic,
hand outstretched as the soldier lay the burning
charcoal in his hand. The third showed a man strapped to a pole suspended above
the rocky, boiling pool at Unzen. Fourth was of the castle Hara Jo burning in
the background with the boy samurai/messiah Amakusa
Shiro, leading the ronin samurai and farmers
with pitchforks, fighting the imperial troops at the front gate. The fifth
design showed the woman and her three daughters being consumed by yellow flames.
The sixth design depicted a priest holding out his hand to bless a woman in
kimono
and man in traditional hakama. A stained
glass rose window glowed behind the arched roof to symbolize the Oura Church
and the return to the Church of the Kakure
Kirishitans, the Hidden Christians.
The seventh window showed a white haired man in white frock standing with arms
outstretched beneath the entry to the Urakami Cathedral. In front of him stood
a crowd of men, women and children in a combination of Western clothes and
kimono.
Two slightly smaller designs were for the front of the
church. One showed a long line of stooped prisoners with their soldier guards
winding their way up the steep slopes of Unzen. The top turret of Hara Jo
showed in the background. It was not geographically correct but was
to
represent the location of the memorial chapel that stood at a point where one
could look toward Hara Jo in one direction, Nagasaki in another direction and
the summit of Unzen in the third direction. The final design was of
a
monument at the Daimyo graveyard in
Omura, a tall rectangular stone standing perhaps fifteen feet tall and topped
with a four sided stone cap.
The stonemason
had removed a section of the original stone at the top on
one corner, carved a cross,
and
replaced and mortared the
stone to make the joint invisible. Centuries of
weathering had revealed the cut and the
cross had been discovered by archaeologists who
had carefully removed the piece of stone.
When I was satisfied with the sketches, I transferred them
to stiff 11x17 drawing
boards, colored them with special water soluble ink pencils and blended the
colors with a damp watercolor brush to create an effect as near to actual glass
coloring as possible.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)