This is an autobiography, in which the author's life story is told not only from deep within her soul, but also from a place outside the narrator and hovering above her. It is a historical novel, telling the story of Japan's encounter with the West at the end of the 19th century, and through the years a er World War II.
This is a book of personal mythology and spirituality documenting the growth of the author's soul, starting from the age of four as she starts painting on scraps of cardboard while hiding in hand-dug bomb shelters during the bombings, and then as she grows into an intensely serious artist.
This book will be attractive to anyone interested in psychology, selfrealization, spirituality, feminism, religion, language, different cultures, or the relationship between life and death: the passionate integration of all
these themes makes this book extraordinary. And it is a compelling account of the essence of art--of the artist's role as a passionate witness, and as a constructive outsider.