Marc Keane on “The Name of the Willow”

Genji Kyoto garden designer Marc Peter Keane sits by the Ukifine Garden he designed and talks about his new book.

In this video, Genji Kyoto's garden designer Marc Peter Keane talks about the meaning behind names, and how we can see the world differently if we change the names we give to things.  For the zen garden in our hotel lobby, Marc chose the name Ukifune, or "drifting boat", as a tribute to the chapter in the Tale of Genji that bears the same name. 

In Murasaki Shikibu's novel, written 1,000 years ago, "drifting boat" is used as a metaphor for the character who was torn between two lovers, not knowing which way she was being tossed.  In the Ukifune Garden, Marc used a boat-like stone to represent that character, known as Ukifune, going across the Uji River in a boat with one of her two suitors.  The moss-laden stone is further used to symbolize our planet Earth adrift in the galaxy, carrying nature and all of us through the evanescence of life. 

In his latest book, called The Name of the Willow, Marc takes us further on his exploration of "what's in a name".  Starting with what we call a willow tree, he examines the organic and inorganic life forces that surround the tree - the river that nourishes and shapes, the deer that eat the leaves, the foxes that eat the rabbits and fertilize the earth... - they all come together to make the willow what it really is.  

If we see things that way, we realize that nothing is a fixed, individual entity, but a confluence of forces and an aggregate of interactions.  Perhaps that is the reality of the world. 

We quote an excerpt from the book:

“The names we give things separate them out from the pack, distinguish them from other things. It is one way we use language to make sense of the world and yet, as a consequence, we see the world through the lens of differences rather than one of connections. 

“If, instead, we gave things names that showed how they are inextricably connected to one another, then our entire worldview would shift.”

To enjoy Marc's gardens at Genji Kyoto (Ukifune garden in the lobby , Tsubo pocket gardens in guestrooms, rooftop Sky Forest Garden) book a stay on our website genjikyoto.com.

To order The Name of the Willow and other books by Marc Peter Keane: mpkeane.com.

Marc has written fiction and non-fiction works related to gardens, gardening and nature, including Sakuteiki, a translation of Japan's oldest gardening treatise.