Finding Common Ground In Spirit
Panelists Note Similarities Between Japanese, Native Americans
by Leigh Anne Nicholson, _J-W_ Staff Writer
They were talking trash at Haskell Indian Junior College on Monday. No, not
that kind of trash. The kind of trash you find on the ground.
At a panel discussion between Haskell faculty and staff and representatives
of Japan, the talk turned to the difficulty in balancing life between tradi-
tional and contemporary worlds.
"I was fascinated from the get-go with the notion that all the preparation
for our trip to Japan in 1990 kept listing all the differences and how
different it would be over there," said Dan Wildcat, chair of the department of
natural and social sciences at Haskell. "But the more I heard, the less
foreign it sounded."
Wildcat said all the information he heard about the culture sounded similar
to beliefs of the first Americans. "It didn't sound like Native American
world views and Japanese world views were that different," Wildcat said.
The discussion was part of the Haskell tour by Japanese representatives who
were visiting Kansas Univeristy as part of the Mid-America Japan in the Schools
Reunion Seminar. Among the people visiting Haskell were Fukushima K. Roshi,
head abbot of Tofukuji Temple in Kyoto, Japan.
"When we visited a temple in Japan, the idea was that the world was full of
spirits -- in the trees, in the rocks", Wildcat said. "The sacred isn't some-
thing that's somewhere else but around us in our everyday existence."
Akira Yamamoto, KU professor of Anthropology and Linguistics, agreed, say-
ing that some Japanese believe spirits are everywhere one looks. "You need to
take care of your environment," he said,"or you are harming potential spirits."
"It's about things coming into your culture that you've never had to deal
with before," Wildcat said.
The panel, which also consisted of Benny Smith, Haskell's assistant dean of
students, and Haskell Art Instructor Leslie Evans, talked about how the amount
of litter seemed to increase as people lose their spirituality.
"It brings to mind 'The Gods Must Be Crazy,'" said Smith, referring to the
movie where an aboriginal tribe finds a pop bottle and the havoc the discovery
creates.
"It used to be when Native Americans left a campsite, nature would take care
of what was left behind," Smith said. "They didn't leave Sytrofoam and plastic.
It has taken a long time for us to realize that we are harming the Earth."
Smith said Native Americans have places to put trash but there were other
places, too, special places that were important spiritually. "We did take care
and knew how to take care of special places," Smith said. "And now the whole
world is a special place. It gives us medicine to take care of all of us."
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E. Gaele Gillespie / University of Kansas / Lawrence, KS 66045