Night Boat

Review by Robin Hull

This fascinating book by Alan Spence is set in Japan of the early 18th century when that country was completely separated from the outside world and was an intensely hierarchical and feudal state. The book takes the form of a biographical novel in which the protagonist becomes a Buddhist monk – but the book, though centred on Buddhism, is more of an allegory on that period of Japanese life and history.

The story is held together by an account of the roadway from Edo, the former name of Tokyo, and Kyoto, the early capital. This highway or path, called the Tokaido, was a major and much travelled route of some 300 miles in length. In those days of little transport, the poor walked and the wealthy were carried in palanquins which required frequent stops. The Tokaido was divided into 54 stages, each with an inn. At one of these, in the little village of Hara near the foot of Mount Fuji, lived a boy, whose name was about to become Ekaku (the Wise Crane), with his father the local inn-keeper.

Ekaku felt the call to be a monk. He was highly intelligent and possessed the skills of calligraphy and drawing and the novel describes his progression from being a humble novitiate to becoming a leading Zen teacher and artist. His story is full of parable, anecdote and poetry and of his rise to fame. His teaching style is Socratic: he tells a story or quotes a verse, sometimes illustrating his concept with a drawing, and then instructs his students to ask themselves through contemplation its hidden meaning.

In the background to Ekaku’s story lies the developmental history of Japanese art. The style called Ukiyo-e (variously translated as ‘The Floating, or Fleeting, World’ – referring to the pleasure-loving ‘sake, women and song-seeking’ contemporary life of many rich Japanese) was being developed by artists such as Hokusai [1760–1849] and Hiroshige. Hiroshige [1797–1858] famously produced a series of woodcuts called ‘the 54 Stages of the Tokaido’. This included a picture of Hara with frequent drawings of Mount Fuji.

The parallel between Hiroshige’s work and that of Ekaku is obvious and, though Hiroshige is not mentioned in the book, the ‘Wise Crane’s’ art is seen as contributory to Ukiyo-e.

The book is full of fascinating parables and anecdotes of Ekaku’s interactions with other monks, poets and playwrights and also with wealthy local politicians and Samurai. Throughout his trials Ekaku is often subjected to temptation and threat, even of death at the hands of a Samurai, yet he survives into old age and fame.

Despite an apparently unattractive start this book is a profoundly moving and even a page-turning read, full of delightful descriptive vignettes of contemporary street scenes, interiors and puppet-theatres of the time.

Certainly a recommended read.

Robin Hull

Book: NIGHT BOAT – A Zen Novel

Author: Alan Spence

Publisher: Canongate