Colors of Nature

By Edna Guttmann and William Guttmann

Colors of Nature describe nature viewed as a work of art, admired and revered as treasure. It is about colors, form, textures, sound, and fragrance and about the uniqueness of each creature along with information, legends, imaginary thoughts, and historic events. It is how a significant story or tale affects early childhood by building up imagination and intensifying the ability to see and penetrate the deepness of everything as real. It is the memory of the past coming alive to understand how powerful the environment in which one lives in is. Seeing nature as sacred is to preserve and to conserve it, and as we are deeply connected to it, harming it, we harm ourselves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543462999

Edna Guttmann

Edna Guttmann is of Japanese descent, born in Presidente Prudente, Brazil, and came to USA as an immigrant in 1968. She worked as a babysitter in an American family, as teller in the Bank, and as a laboratory technician in the hospital. She studied Neo-Latin Languages at Mackenzie College, So Paulo, Brazil, and received BA in sociology at Hunter College, New York. Married for 50 years she has two grandchildren. She retired in 2008 and she enjoys classic music, sculpture, paintings and good movies. She likes cats, dogs, birds, flowers, good food, and to walk in the park and in the beach.

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Copyright © 2017 by Edna Guttmann. 768686

ISBN:    Softcover    978-1-5434-6298-2

EBook    978-1-5434-6299-9

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the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 12/08/2017

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CONTENTS

KASATO MARU

GARRINCHA

DRAGONFLY

PHOENIX

SURROUND

EAGLE

TREES

CRANES

SOUND

ANGELS

CHOUCHOU

Butterfly

SEA

CENTURY XXI

BUMBLE BEE

SPIDER

LOTUS

DUCK

VIVIAN

TIBET

PIGEON

INTUITION

CICADA

SADNESS

RAINBOW

FAITH

CLOUD

ORCHID

FIREFLY

SURFACE

TURTLE

Squirrel

GEESE

FROG

EARTH

ELEPHANTS

CHERRY BLOSSOM

MOON

ATTRACTION

VIOLENCE

HANDS

ART.

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KASATO MARU

T he quest for better life and the spirit of venture intensified the minds of Japanese people to move from a distant land to a new one. It was in 1908 when the first group of Japanese people immigrated to Brazil by the steam ship Kasato Maru. It was a historic moment that changed the life and the society of these people.

The evidence of past action transforms the present and changes the future. The family of a young woman Reiko and Kasato Maru moved into the scene as participants of the long and exciting journey to Brazil. She was 14 years old when she left her country. The amazing trip lasted 1 month and 22 days. There were days when she encountered stormy weather and she observed the sea waves moving violently causing seasickness, other days she admired the site of blue sky, the bright sun, the ocean waves slowly moving the steam ship to the new land. Sometimes the heat of a crowded third floor deck upset her stomach, and she did not want to eat, but she kept herself in good spirit and she spent most of the time reading. After dinner her father, mother, brothers and sisters sat at the bunk bed and spoke about the challenges of the new life they were about to face. At night father holding the prayer beads recite a passage of the Buddhist book asking for strength, courage and wisdom. Reiko was thrilled with the coming of new events and her wild imagination made her eyes shine as never before. The expectations to see this gigantic land and to accept it as her future home motivated her to go beyond reality by fantasizing an imaginary place, a magic brush she created to paint a colorful and beautiful land, and every night she marvels at the scenery slowly being completed.

Reiko was the oldest daughter and she remembered the grand moment when she entered inside this enormous steam ship in Kobe Japan to embark to Port of Santos Brazil. At the top floor of Kasato Maru she silently waved her hands saying goodbye to her friends. Thirty-six years later she returned to visit her country and she was amazed to see her small town did not change, her mother’s house and garden was the same. The happy childhood came suddenly as if she was reviving every moment of it. She recognized the same smell of flowers and the mountain air as if she never had left.

After Reiko’s father established as farmer in the state of São Paulo she married a young Japanese teacher and had four children. All of her children attended Brazilian school and graduated. Her first daughter became school teacher, the first boy became a medical doctor, the second daughter became a sociologist and the youngest son became a successful business man. Reiko loved Brazil as her own country, but she kept the Japanese language, culture and religion.

The drastic decision of her family to leave Japan was reinforced by an excellent publicity organized by the Brazilian government displaying pictures of fertile lands and offering thousands of acres to the immigrants. Despite the advices of friends and relatives, Reiko’s father saw a great opportunity to own a farm, his strong desire to change and start a new life gave the family the strength to confront the painful reality that was ahead them. The structure of Japanese society farming was considered a noble task. Japanese feudal period the society was constituted of samurais, peasants, artisans and merchants. The most important commodity was rice produced by the peasants. They were the ones who served the emperor and the people. Society could not survive without agriculture, and2 peasants were regarded as superior to artisans and merchants because to work in the land was a clean activity, a secure and a stable living, an honorable occupation, but to exploit people in order to earn money was a degraded task, it involved dishonesty, a tactic they believed was used by the merchants. Perhaps that was one of the reasons most of Japanese people decided to immigrate to Brazil, a country of vast fertile land, a place where to be a farmer was a noble occupation.

Kasato Maru like any other steam ship had a history. This cargo and passenger ship was built in 1900 in Liverpool and was named Potosi. Then, it was sold to the Russians to transport troops and it was named Kazan. During Russo-Japanese war it served as hospital ship, but it was sunk by Nippon destroyer in 1904. When Japan took possession of the Russian port in 1905 Kazan was recovered from the bottom of the sea and restored by the Japanese navy and it was named by the emperor as Kasato Maru. In 1906 this ship was chosen to be the portal of Japanese immigrants to Brazil. After holding many missions, in 1930 Kasato Maru was sold to a fishing company, and in 1945 it was sunk by the soviet navy off the Kamchatka Peninsula. This steam vessel possessed steel shell, six cargo holds, three converters, two propellers, chimney and machinery of triple expansion. Kasato Maru mission was noble in time of peace and war. She was damaged many times, but she was restored and survived. In Brazil and in Japan Kasato Maru represented the new era of interchange between Brazil and Japan.

Reiko gave a human face to this ship because she saw in this vessel a courageous woman born to hold many responsibilities. Kasato Maru lived for 45 years and carried out many historic events. To the immigrants she was the vessel that brought many hopes and dreams by transporting audacious people to different parts of the world. To the military she served as troop carrier carrying armed forces to fight the enemies. To the injured soldiers she was the shelter, a moving hospital to assist the wounded. She was captivated and admired by many and she was blessed by the emperor. Her last journey was to travel to the deep ocean water as fishing ship to track down food for her people. Kasato Maru ignored all the risks to challenge the vast deep ocean to a cause. She was built with strong structure and beautiful shape. She was the vessel that runs in the veins of many immigrants as a vital source that gave new life, she was the change seen today, and she became the memory of an unforgettable journey that transformed their lives. She was the energy force, the conductor of strength, the realization of many aspirations. She was the one who challenged the adversity of an Ocean and confronted dangerous situations to fulfill the magnitude of the immigrant’s dreams.

Reiko died long time ago in Brazil and she is buried with her husband and her oldest son. Her gravestone is crafted in Japanese style and the name of the family is written in Japanese character. At the other side of the continent Kasato Maru is buried in the bottom of North Pacific Ocean surrounded by volcanos and wild sea creatures. Reiko and Kasato Maru are closely related for it was Kasato Maru who brought her family to Brazil by expanding a large population of Nissei and Sansei, and inducing agriculture, fruit culture and floriculture throughout the state of São Paulo and Paraná. This new population introduced an efficient system of farming and they were dedicated in the plantation of rice, corn, coffee, potatoes, flowers and fruits. They opened Japanese schools and preserved their language and tradition. Kasato Maru is not forgotten but alive, for she was the one who opened the channel for people of all races and introduced throughout the world a new generation of population. Both, Kasato Maru and Reiko completed their mission, one as a human being and another as a vehicle.

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GARRINCHA

I t is often said: Forget the past and live only the present, it is the best way to enjoy life. However how can we live the present by ignoring the past? The history of civilization is based in the past events and the development of any society is consequence of the past, and as a human being I am the result of my past. Every cause can generate limitless effects. Every act has positive or negative consequence. The state of happiness or unhappiness, joy or sadness is consequence of the natural process affecting all human being throughout time. Today, yesterday and tomorrow is related and bonded as one. The past and present actions are continuously interacted while the present’s actions are shaping the future.

Manuel Francisco dos Santos (10/28/1933-1/20/1983) was a soccer player and received nickname Garrincha because as a child he liked to hunt small passerine name garrincha which is a popular bird of his home town Pau Grande. Every afternoon he walked to the forest with a bag full of small stone and carried slingshot he built from a branch of a tree with Y shape, and each side he attached a rubber strip, and in the end of these 2 strips he tied a piece of small leather where the stone is held to target the passerine.

He was a wild child, and his left leg was 6 centimeters shorter and it was curved inward and the right leg bended outward. Since very young he played soccer and boogied every day with the ball as his favorite toy. He was born of a poor family and he only reached first grade education and went to work as a young child in a factory. Married at the age of 19 his life was marked by one tragedy after another. Mixture of Indian and half black he demonstrated at very young age how to dribble the ball backwards leaving his friends confused and unable to follow him. It was with this natural given talent that he gracefully played by disclosing a great ability to dance with the ball around the stadium. There will never be another Garrincha, he left a legacy, not only as a kind human being but also as a great soccer player who brought joy to all the viewers of his time.

Garrincha’s legs deformity made him famous once he knew cleverly how to trick the opponent’s eyes. He created a line of attack by dribbling the ball skillfully leaving the challenger confused. Before he kicked the soccer ball he danced with it for few seconds giving the audience a stunning show. No one ever knew in which direction the ball will go, a spectacle nobody will forget! He was a champion, a clown, a human being with misshapen legs that shaped his life as a soccer star. He surely drove a strong message to people of his generation by demonstrating how he overcame his physical disability. At the age of 50 he died of cirrhosis of the liver a consequence of abusive alcohol. His last years he suffered and was forgotten as great player of soccer, but at his funeral millions of fans attended to pay tribute to this great man.

I miss those good old days when there was no aggression in the soccer field. The two giant teams always stood tall to show their talents by competing outstandingly. The passion for sport games will always remain through time, however when rules of the game change, the players also change. Perhaps it is the money that dictates the rules. To win the game is the ultimate goal, it is a competition of two brilliant teams, but