The Road Through Miyama

You don't have to care about pottery to enjoy this book. I don't and felt bereaved when I finished it. I found Leila Philip's tactfully discrete description of her life in Miyama a joy. If you've spent some time in Japan you can appreciate how very difficult her experience was, yet she lived it with grace and patience. I love that she understood that to learn she had to accept the way things are or were which is unusual for someone as young as she was. Part of my sadness in finishing the book was knowing that the Miyama now is probably nothing like the Miyama in the mid-1980's. I'm sure most of the older people she wrote about are gone and that the town has probably become ugly with modernization. There probably isn't much truly artisan pottery made either. I hope to get there some time soon to find out. I wanted so much to know how the pottery turned out after some of the firings Miss Philip described. It seemed important to me, but it wasn't to be. That's okay, this book is still a "5" and it would be a "10" in a ten point system. I have ordered her second book about the family farm in upstate New York. I'm looking forward to receiving it.

When a blond, blue-eyed American spends 2 yrs as a potter in a small Japanese village, a good story is bound to result. The Road Through Miyama is full of the history and personalities of this small town originally settled by Korean potters brought to Japan at the beginning of the 17th century. In her walks about the village, American Leila Philip comes to learn about art and life in this country. Through lyrical and spellbinding prose, Philip takes her readers on a tour of a world most of us can't even imagine. Far more than a travelogue or a discussion of the ancient art of pottery, The Road Through Miyama gently shows us how to lead a different life.

Very clearly illustrates some important aspects of Japanese culture through the eyes of a Gaijin. Made me fall in love with pottery and life in Japan all over again.