“Pray, you try Japanese Hokku, my American poets!”

Noguchi's direct invitation to Western poets to experiment with the Japanese short poetic form · Essay, 'A Proposal to American Poets', 1904

• Art
• Poetry

“His Greek temperament and French culture became frost-bitten as a flower in the North.”

A vivid characterisation of the cultural tensions Noguchi perceived in Lafcadio Hearn · Essay, Lafcadio Hearn in Japan

• Art
• Solitude

“Nobody seemed to understand my English, in the ability of which I trusted.”

A wry recollection of the young poet confronting the limits of his English after arriving in America · Autobiographical essay, The Story of Yone Noguchi

• Memory
• Poetry

“Art for them was not a question of mere reality in expression, but the question of Faith.”

Presenting artistic creation as an act of spiritual conviction rather than simple representation · Essay, The Spirit of Japanese Art

• Art
• Faith

“They were the singers of life and joy, not of death and tears.”

Describing an ancient poetic spirit that affirmed vitality even in the presence of death · Essay, The Spirit of Japanese Poetry, 'The Earliest Japanese Poetry'

• Death
• Joy
• Poetry

“It was the time when nobody asked who wrote them, if the plays themselves were worthy.”

Contrasting artistic worth with the modern preoccupation with authorship and reputation · Essay, The Spirit of Japanese Poetry, 'No: The Japanese Play of Silence'

• Art
• Fame

“The real poet in the Japanese understanding is primitive, as primitive are the moon and flowers.”

Associating authentic poetry with elemental simplicity and closeness to nature · Essay, The Spirit of Japanese Poetry, 'The Japanese Hokku Poetry'

• Art
• Nature
• Poetry

“The gesticulation of Nature and Life emphatically drawn on the little pieces of ivory.”

Capturing how miniature art can embody the movement and vitality of the natural world · Essay, Through the Torii, 'Netsukes'

• Art
• Beauty
• Nature

“The noisy time has slipped away even gracefully at Kyoto.”

Evoking Kyoto as a place where modernity seems softened by continuity and tradition · Essay, Through the Torii, 'Kyoto'

• Memory
• Time

“The mere existence of them as flowers is slight; but it is our imagination that makes them great.”

Suggesting that imagination transforms natural objects into sources of profound beauty · Essay, Through the Torii, 'The Japanese Plum-Blossom'

• Art
• Beauty
• Nature

“I feel only glad to know that the best art always comes from Nowhere, and never carries a particular badge of East or West.”

Arguing that great art ultimately transcends national and cultural boundaries · Essay, Through the Torii, 'A Japanese on Whistler'

• Art
• Beauty

“The true seeker of truth never sees truth, because he is truth itself.”

Presenting truth as something lived rather than merely observed · Essay, Through the Torii, 'Truth'

• Faith
• Truth

“Truth is truth, not less, not more, under any circumstances.”

A concise affirmation that truth does not depend on appearance or circumstance · Essay, Through the Torii, 'Truth'

• Truth