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Uji is now a suburb to the south of Kyoto and its bridge over the river was first constructed in the 10th century. At one end sits a modern representation of Murasaki who introduced the bridge into the last chapters of her novel, translated by Arthur Waley as The Tale of Genji.
I sat by the bridge for half a day some years back watching the water flow in one direction while foot passengers and traffic moved across at right angles.
On return to London, the physicality of the bridge returned qua metaphor, both as expressed by that particular bridge passage and as suggested by all modes of transition - though these might shift. In the poems that follow that metaphorical gesture repeats and may be interpreted idiosyncratically by separate readers.
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Tom Lowenstein has taught English in London and at Northwestern University since the mid-1960s. The final volume of his trilogy based on work in north Alaska was published in 2009, followed by one last volume in 2021. He studied Sanskrit and Pali at SOAS, Cambridge and the University of Washington. His previous books of poetry include Filbustering in Samsara, Ancestors and Species, and Conversation with Murasaki. Shearsman also publish his prose fantasia, From Culbone Wood - In Xanadu.
