Rhythms, Rites and Rituals

Anglo-American writer, poet, composer, musician, Dorothy Britton (Lady Bouchier, MBE) was born in Japan and educated in Britain and the USA. A pupil of Darius Milhaud she is known for her popular Capitol Records album Japanese Sketches, hailed by the American Record Guide as a highly successful ‘translation of the koto/samisen aesthetic into occidental terms’. Capitol also commissioned a musical. In addition, she had regular programmes on NHK’s Radio Japan introducing Japanese folklore, music and musicians, for listeners abroad, as well as a twelve-year TV programme teaching English conversation to Japanese middle-school pupils and singing British folksongs with her Irish harp. Her distinguished translation of Basho’s Narrow Road to a Far Province is a classic. She is also well known for her translation of Tetsuko Kuroyanagi’s best-seller Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window, and short stories by Ryonosuke Akutagawa.

• Plate section faces page 128PrefaceList of Plates1. Rhythms Are What Divide Us 2. My Mother3. My Father4. How Marrying Changes my Father’s Life5. The Great Kanto Earthquake6. Hayama7. Mother Contacts Her First Japanese Friend8. Royal Friends9. The Japanese Language10. Winters in Yokohama11. Father’s Sudden Death12. England13. Bermuda14. Mills College, 1943-194515. London, 1945-194916. Innocence and Ignorance17. Back in Japan – 194918. Love and Sex 11419. Meeting ‘Boy’20. Society in Japan21. Marriage Customs22. Washoku and O-furo23. My Royal Neighbours24. Two Composers25. London and Paris26. Harps and Angels27. Back to Work in Japan28. Dreaming of Elephants29. Finding the Britton30. Sea Shells31. The ‘Katakana Prison’ and Mr Suzuki32. Poetry33. The Island in Between34. Marrying ‘Boy’ – 196835. The Japanese Crane – Bird of Happiness36. Comfort and Solace with TedDorothy Britton’s Published WorksIndex