Uichiro Sasamori papers

Collection

Identifier: MSD-1891-001

Staff Only

Collection Statement

A rolled oversize document made by Uichiro Sasamori. Information about its translation can be found in records in the DePauw Digital Library, http://digital.library.depauw.edu/index.php and in the alumni vertical file. Also in the file are photographs of Uichiro Sasamori and biographical information about him.

Dates

1891 - 2010

Biographical Sketch

Uichiro Sasamori was born January 14, 1867 in Hirosaki, Japan. He received his PhB degree in 1891, STB in 1892 and PhD in 1893 from DePauw; and an LLD from Baker University in 1909. He married Miss Toshi Mikami in Japan in 1895. Mr. Sasamori was paster at Deshima Methodist Episcopal Church, 1893-1895; teacher of philosophy, 1893-1895; president of Chenzei Gakuin, Tokyo, 1905; National Delegate to the World Conference of the YMCA at Christiana, Norway, 1902; and Natioanl Delegate to the Students' Federation Conference, Loro, Denmark, 1902; first fraternal delegate of the Japan Methodist Church to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Baltimore, Maryland, 1908. He died June 12, 1911 in Japan. Source: Alumnal Record 1920, listing number 1140.

Extent

6.5 Cubic Feet (1 rolled document (unrolled) and one vertical file)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Translation of the scroll

Attached are the results of several calligraphers’ efforts to distill the meaning of the Sasamori scroll that I sent to you. The students and teachers of calligraphy who made this effort are located in San Francisco, at Duke University, and in Japan. They were contacted by my teacher at the Urasenke Foundation, Sensei Jessica Rosenberg. We would be very grateful to know if any of the scholars at DePauw have a different reading of the scroll?

As you will read in the attachment, the writing on the scroll refers to “a tiny voice of heaven and earth,” or “a slight sign of the universe.”

The initial characters could be read as “Gracefully accept and obtain,” or “We wait,” or “A deep realization or perception.”

So my own uninformed and gai-jin translation of these attempts at gleaning the literal meaning of the characters might read something like:

“Embrace the soft whisper of the universe…”

By: Michael Fischer

Item physical description

One rolled document with a wooden rod threaded through an opening at the top of the document and a smaller half-cylindrical rod at the bottom with a two-color flat string tie. There is writing in Japanese characters on the inside that appears to be the text and a small amoount of writing on the outside of the document near the tie slosure that appears to be a title. The sixze is approximately 18 x 78 inches.