The Garden of Evening Mists (49 page)

I release the bowstring. And even though there is no arrow, still he falls. Still he falls.

Leaving the study, I walk past the ink painting of Lao Tzu. Its emptiness glows in the shadows. I stop and look at it, this drawing made by Aritomo’s father.

Lao Tzu, the disillusioned philosopher from China, had gone to the West and was never seen or heard from again. Aritomo had also set down his thoughts and his teachings before he left: he had recorded them in his garden, and he had painted them on my body.

My decision to restore the garden is the correct one, the only one I can make. I will ensure that Yugiri will remain. For my sister. When the garden is ready, I will open it to the public. I will put up a plaque by the Pavilion of Heaven, describing Yun Hong’s life. The garden will also be a living memory of what Aritomo has made. I have told Tatsuji that Aritomo’s
ukiyo-e
must be returned to Yugiri. I will put them on permanent exhibition here. The house will have to be repaired as well. And I have to write down as many instructions as I can for Vimalya.

I must look for Aritomo’s
Sakuteiki
and give it to her. So many things to do. I will be kept busy in the coming weeks and months. I remind myself to ask my secretary – my former secretary – to go to my house in KL and send Yun Hong’s watercolour to me. It will be on display to the visitors who come to see the garden.

It is right that Yun Hong will be remembered as I gradually forget and, in time, become forgotten.

The garden must continue to exist. For that to happen, the
horimono
has to be destroyed after my death. I cannot entrust that responsibility to anyone, not Tatsuji, and not Frederik. I will have to do it myself.

The darkness in the sky is thinning when I go out to Usugumo Pond. A bird flies across the sky, returning to the mountains. A memory comes to me of the cave where Aritomo had taken me to see the swiftlets. I wonder if the aborigines are still harvesting the nests there, if the bamboo scaffolding they had used is still pinned to the walls; I wonder if I can find the cave again.

Perhaps the blind old monk Aritomo spoke to on his walk across the countryside when he was a young man was correct:
there is no wind; the flag does not move; it is only the hearts and
minds of men that are restless
. But I think that, slowly and surely, the turbulent heart will soon also come to a stillness, the quiet stillness it has been beating towards all its life.

Even as I am losing myself, the garden will come back to life again. I will work in the garden, and I will visit Frederik. We will talk and laugh and weep like only old friends can. And in the evenings I will walk in the hills. Ah Cheong will be waiting at the front door, holding out Aritomo’s walking stick to me. I will take it, of course. But I know there will come a day when I will tell him that I do not want it.

Before me lies a voyage of a million miles, and memory is the moonlight I will borrow to illuminate my way.

The lotus flowers are opening in the first rays of the sun. Tomorrow’s rain lies on the horizon, but high up in the sky something pale and small is descending, growing in size as it falls. I watch the heron circle the pond, a leaf spiralling down to the water, setting off silent ripples across the garden.

With the exception of the obvious historical figures, all characters in the novel sprang from my imagination. The visit of Sir Gerald Templer and his wife to Majuba Tea Estate and Yugiri is fictional.

The Malayan Emergency ended in July 1960, twelve years after it began. With the combined efforts of local security forces, civilians and troops from the Commonwealth, Malaya was one of the few countries in the world to defeat a communist insurgency. Noel Barber in his book
The
War of the Running Dogs
called it ‘the world’s first struggle against guerrilla Communism.’

Professor Tatsuji’s experience as a
kamikaze
pilot originally appeared (in a different and longer form) in the Asian Literary Review, Autumn 2007, Volume 5.

The chamber versions of Chopin’s Piano Concerto Nos. 1 & 2 were recorded by the Yggdrasil Quartet in 1997.

The following books were of assistance to me in the writing of
The Garden of Evening Mists
:
The War of the Running Dogs: Malaya 1948 - 1960
, by Noel Barber.

In Pursuit of Mountain Rats: The Communist Insurgency in Malaya
, by Anthony Short
Prisoners of the Japanese: POWS of World War 2 in the Pacific
, by Gavan Daws
The Journey Back from Hell
, by Anton Gill

The Comfort Women: Japan’s Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War,
by George Hicks

Blossoms in the Wind: Human Legacies of the Kamikaze
, by Mordecai G. Sheftall
Sakuteiki: Visions of the Japanese Garden
, A Modern Translation by Jirō Takei and Marc P.

Keane

The Japanese Tattoo
, by Donald Richie and Ian Buruma
Gold Warriors
, by Sterling Seagrave and Peggy Seagrave.

I am grateful to Tristan Beauchamp Russell for describing to me what life on his tea estate in Cameron Highlands was like during the Malayan Emergency.

Tan Twan Eng was born in Penang, Malaysia. His debut novel
The Gift of Rain
was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2007 and has been widely translated. He divides his time between Kuala Lumpur and Cape Town.

www.tantwaneng.com

Penang, 1939. Sixteen-year-old Philip Hutton is a loner. Half English, half Chinese and feeling neither, he discovers a sense of belonging in an unexpected friendship with Hayato Endo, a Japanese diplomat.

Philip shows his new friend around his adored island of Penang, and in return Endo trains him in the art and discipline of aikido.

But such knowledge comes at a terrible price. The enigmatic Endo is bound by disciplines of his own and when the Japanese invade Malaya, threatening to destroy Philip’s family and everything he loves, he realises that his trusted
sensei
– to whom he owes absolute loyalty – has been harbouring a devastating secret. Philip must risk everything in an attempt to save those he has placed in mortal danger and discover who and what he really is.

'A powerful first novel about a tumultuous and almost forgotten period of history.'
Times Literary 
Supplement

‘Eng’s graceful prose evokes a time and place that is little known or remembered now, making it both exotic and familiar, and his beautiful narrative is woven with strong images and characters… a gift to read.’
Mary Foster,
San Francisco Chronicle

'A remarkable book… about war, friendship, memory and discipline.'
Ian McMillan
, The Verb
, Radio 3

'Vivid … strong narrative … rich in imagery and action … I was so totally hooked that everything else had to be put on hold until I had finished it.'

Sharon Bakar,
The Star
(Kuala Lumpur)

‘An easy pleasure to read... Yes, there are moral and political complexities, but Tan Twan Eng generally deals with them with disarming lightness. Plus, his prose… is smooth and often even delicate.’

Sam Jordison, guardian.co.uk

‘…remarkable debut saga… measured, believable and enthralling.’
Publishers Weekly

‘Strong characters and page-turning action make this a top pick for historical fiction.’

David A. Berona,
Library Journal

‘Rain is a gift indeed, as robustly absorbing as it is achingly poignant.’
Elysa Gardner,
USA Today

‘…
a stunning debut which heralds the author's arrival as a major literary talent.’
The Southern Reporter

Tan Twan Eng spins out his complex, nuanced story with skill and grace. His style is assured and clear, his imagery powerful, often beautiful.'

Rick Sullivan,
Adelaide Advertiser

‘Anyone who thinks the novel is in decline should read this one.’
Frank Wilson,
Philadelphia Enquirer

‘Unusually clever and evocative… tragic tale of love and betrayal beautifully told.’
Geelong Advertiser

‘The novel reveals an emotional depth coupled with a heartfelt exploration of a dramatic moment in a community's history…A richly rewarding read.’
Wilhelm Snyman
,
Cape Times

‘…an engrossing story of interlocking worlds.’
Alan Cheuse,
Dallas Morning News

‘…a riveting, poignant story about a young man’s unwitting role in a tangle of wartime loyalties and deceits. This is truly an epic novel in all respects.’
Alan Caruba, Bookviews.com

‘…beautifully written… exciting, interesting and evocative.’
Bookgroup Info

‘A masterful achievement.’
The Age
,
Melbourne
Longlisted for THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2007

HARDBACK 978-1-905802-04-3 PAPERBACK 978-1-905802-14-2 E BOOK 978-1-905802-51-7

Western China, 1196:

Yun Cai, a handsome and adored poet in his youth, is now an old man, exiled to his family estates. All that is left to him are regrets of a growing sense of futility and helplessness and the irritations of his feckless son and shrewish daughter-in-law. But the ‘poison dragons’ of misfortune shatter his orderly existence.

First, Yun Cai’s village is threatened with destruction by a vicious civil war. His wayward second son, a brutal rebel officer seems determined to ruin his entire family. Meanwhile, Yun Cai struggles to free an old friend, P’ei Ti, from a hellish prison- no easy task when P’ei Ti is the rebels’ most valuable hostage and Yun Cai considers himself merely a spent, and increasingly frightened old man.

Throughout these ordeals, Yun Cai draws from the glittering memories of his youth, when he journeyed to the capital to study poetry and join the upper ranks of the civil service: how he contended with rivalry and enmity among his fellow students and secured the friendship of P’ei Ti. Above all, he reflects on a great love he won and lost: his love for the beautiful singing girl, Su Lin, for which he paid with his freedom and almost his life.

Yun Cai is forced to reconsider all that he is and all that he has ever been in order to determine how to preserve his honour and all that he finds he still cherishes. Only then can summon the wit and courage to confront the warlord General An-Shu and his beautiful but cruel consort, the Lady Ta-Chi.

‘A riveting story.’
John Green,
The Morning Star

‘An evocative and epic tale of love,honour and valour in the midst of civil war.’
femalefirst.co.uk
 

HARDBACK 978-1-905802-10-4 PAPERBACK 978-1-905802-37-1 E BOOK 978-1-905802-46-3

Central China, 1264.

When Mongol armies storm into the Middle Kingdom, the descendents of Yun Cai (
Taming Poison
Dragons
) are trapped in a desperate siege that will determine the fate of the Empire. Guang and Shih are identical twins, one a heroic soldier idolised by the city he defends, the other a humble doctor. In the midst of war, jealous conflicts over Shih’s wife and concubine threaten to tear the brothers apart. Enemies close in on every side – some disturbingly close to home. Can the Yun family survive imprisonment, ruthless treachery and Kublai Khan’s bloody hordes? Or will their own reckless passions destroy them first?

Breaking Bamboo
is the second instalment of a trilogy set in Song and Yuan Dynasty China, charting the trials and adventures of the Yun clan.

HARDBACK 978-1-905802-40-1 PAPERBACK  978-1-905802-38-8 E BOOK 978-1-905802-47-0