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| JapanVisitor.com
Review of "Way of the Baby: A Book of Five
Grins" |
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| Way of the
Baby: Secrets of Mastering the Parent
is another book that seeks to tap into the
Eastern or Japanese “way,” the path that dictates
form and brings enlightenment. This small
book, though, is not devoted to flower arranging
or a martial art but rather how to raise a
parent. Western readers seeking ways of understanding
their little of bundle of joy may experience
that “a-ha” moment of recognition when reading
this text. The original text was written by
Seiya Kuramoto, a seventeenth-century samurai
from Gunma, Japan. It documents how babies
come to master their parents. It is divided
into five sections: The Earth Book, The Water
Book, The Fire Book, The Wind Book, and The
Book of the Void. At the end The Earth Book
section, there is a list of nine main principles.
For example, in The Earth Book, #5 is “a toy
appears more interesting in the hand of another.”
And, so indeed it does. And, so indeed will
all parents nod in recognition. This book
is thus a How To aimed at the pre-literate
set. Parents are thus left to disseminate
and consider how the little one is progressing
in its domination of the household. The translation
appears fairly literal. This is not criticism,
but rather a comment on the organization of
the text, which, like Japanese prose, allows
for and encourages digression. To some Western
readers, this may be disconcerting at first.
If you go with the flow of the book as a whole,
you will enjoy it.
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