Meet our Writer of the Week author Rebecca Copeland of The Kimono Tattoo. Catch an exclusive excerpt from her book before tuning in to the podcast on Saturday, February 26th at 6 pm EST for our interview with her.
Rebecca Copeland is a writer of fiction and literary criticism and a translator of Japanese literature. Her stories travel between Japan and the American South and touch on questions of identity, belonging, and self-discovery.
The Kimono Tattoo, her debut work, takes readers on a journey to Kyoto, Japan, and into a mystery that interweaves family dynamics, loss, and reconciliation.
Her academic writings focus on modern Japanese women writers, their battles against conservative literary expectations, and their wonderful, at times subversive creativity. She has translated the works of writer Uno Chiyo and novelist Kirino Natsuo. Her translation of Kirino’s The Goddess Chronicle won the PEN Translates Award, English PEN in 2013, and The Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature, 2014-2015. As a junior in college, Copeland had the opportunity to spend a year in Japan, where she studied traditional dance, learned to wear a kimono, and traveled, making ridiculous mistakes in the Japanese language. Afterward, she earned a Ph.D. in Japanese literature at Columbia University, and she is now a professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
Excerpt from The Kimono Tattoo
Her letter was simple. “Come home now,” she wrote. “It’s urgent. Meet me at the Benibana Inn, Shiobara Hot Springs in Nasu. I’ll be there by 5 p.m. on May 7.” We agreed not to contact one another until Father had died, but the urgency in Satoko’s letter compelled me to act. I hurriedly packed and caught a flight to Narita, then took the train to Shiobara. My connections were bad, and by the time I got to the Benibana, I’d been on the road for two days. It was an odd place to meet. I appreciated that it was far from Kyoto, and that’s probably why Satoko chose the site. But there were inns closer to Kyoto that would have been equally discreet. By the time I reached the inn, Satoko had already checked in. But she was not to be found in her room, the gardens, or the baths. When she still had not returned by 6 p.m., I decided to go look for her. I walked briskly along the stone path until I came to the suspension bridge spanning the Hōkigawa River. Uncertain where to go, I stepped out onto the bridge and looked down on the rushing waters below. I shivered against the damp mist rising up from the spray. The sun had set, and the river was etched in shadows. Even so, from the bridge, I saw what looked like a woman resting along the rocky shore just out of reach of the water. She was lying on her stomach with her head cradled in her arms, her hair spread haphazardly around her. Difficult to discern in the waning light, she seemed to be wearing a richly patterned kimono. I hurried down from the ridge unable to imagine how she had come to be there. Had she slipped? As I drew closer, I realized she was not wearing a kimono. She was naked. Had her body been painted? Stumbling over the rocky ground I crept up beside her, calling to her. She didn’t move. I jostled her shoulder, noticing when I did her skin was cold to the touch. I also noticed the design coloring her back, legs, and arms was not paint. It was a tattoo. Or tattoos. Across her left shoulder ranged a design of red maple leaves, each leaf so finely wrought you could feel them shimmer in the light of the newly risen moon. Along the other shoulder was a cluster of cherry blossoms, tissue pale, almost translucent. From the branches of both the maple and the cherry dangled tanzaku poetry slips. If it were lighter, I’m sure I could have read the poems on each of the slips. That’s how fine the tattoos were. Hesitating, afraid of what I’d see, I rolled the woman over. Her eyes were open, staring but unseeing. And her mouth was covered in a thick dark blood. “Satoko!” The Kimono Tattoo, pp. 36-38 (slightly edited for word count).
Learn more about Rebecca & her book by visiting her website & following her across social media
Website: http://rebecca-copeland.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/kimono.tattoo
Twitter: @StlRebecca
Instagram: rebecca.copeland.3576
A new Writer of the Week will be featured on the blog every 2nd and 4th Monday at 8 a.m. EST on the blog. Please follow The Writing Wall on Twitter or on Instagram for updates and announcements. Readers may also tune in to the podcast every 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month at 6 p.m. EST on multiple platforms as we interview Writers of the Week, poets, authors, and more. Visit LinkTree for more platforms. Followers can now become a supporter or sponsor on BuyMeACoffee for exclusive behind-the-scenes at Season 4, promotion, events, and more.