Abstract

An exhibition of original manuscripts by William and Dorothy Wordsworth shown alongside those of Matsuo Bashō. This is the first time any manuscripts by William and Dorothy Wordsworth have been lent to public institutions in East Asia for over twenty-five years; and it introduces the work of Dorothy Wordsworth to new audiences in Japan. These internationally significant manuscripts are shown alongside new work by contemporary UK and Japanese artists which has been inspired by the poetry and prose of all three writers.

Although William and Dorothy Wordsworth lived a century apart from Bashō and in two very different cultures, it is, perhaps, surprising to find that there are a number of similarities between both their writing and the ideas that lay behind it. The Wordsworths and Bashō were innovators in their time. We anticipate that the wide range of contemporary work included in this project will give readers and visitors to the exhibition at Kakimori Bunko ways of seeing their words and manuscripts afresh – to see them as lively, exciting, living documents – and as part of a creative and radical continuum that stretches from the past through to the present.

The writing of William and Dorothy Wordsworth and Bashō also emphasises, in different ways, the importance of our emotional response to an experience of nature, developed through our active imagination - an approach which is shared by many of the contemporary artists in this exhibition. It is an important part of this project that the 2016 JAER Conference, held at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies, is hosting a special symposium as part of the conference entitled 'Wordsworth, Bashō, Walking Poets - the Value of Nature in the 21st Century'.