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[letterhead: The Institute of Art Research / Ueno Park, Tokio/ Telephone, Shitaya 3487/ Mail address, P.O. Box Shitaya 14, Tokio] Tokyo, Sept. 27th, 1937 Dear Mr. B. Berenson, I am greatly pleased to receive your letter of Sept. 1st. My long silence does not mean anything, except that I am still being troubled by the illness of my wife, who is recovering fortunately, but very slowly indeed, and that with this troubled state of mind and with my household all in disorder -- as for the management of my family I am dependent upon my wife entirely & her inactivity or rather absence from home for about a year has put everything about me into complete disorder -- I had barely energy enough to work on anything except my immediate duty in the office. This summer was exceptionally severe & my health has impaired a great deal. I am feeling much better now with cool autumnal weather. Of course I take great pleasure in the progress of the new edition of Florentine drawings. I shall be overjoyed to get it, as you kindly say in your letter, although I am afraid it must be an expensive book, which I am not sure whether I am worthy to be given one. If you allow me, I am really longing to see it. Of the periodical Bijutsu Kenkiu which this Institute has been & is publishing monthly, it is still going on. Formerly I had a special fund to distribute some copies abroad. Unluckily that fund was withdrawn sometime ago, and that is the reason why I had to cease sending them to you. I have been trying hard to get some other fund to continue free distribution but so far my attempts were all unsuccessful. Now that this regrettable Sino-Japanese trouble has occurred, I am despaired of getting any financial help for art-matters. It is painful for me to ask you to buy them, but if you can, it gives great happiness to me. I am working very hard to make that journal representative of the new artistic studies done in the Far East & I am very happy to say that the merit of the journal in that sense is being established both in the country and abroad. That is a part of my work, which of all persons I want you to see & really I am pained and ashamed to have become unable to give the journals to you as before. When it became finally clear that I had to stop free distribution this summer, I have printed circular letters to tell that my friends abroad, but for you I have still been hesitating to send that letter, vainly hoping that I might find some other means to realize my wish. I send you herewith that letter, in which are mentioned the particulars about the subscription of the journal. If you would kindly subscribe, I shall be very happy. My wife being still ill, & myself being weak in health, I do not think I can come to Italy in a near future. The country which I must visit as soon as possible is China, because I am concentrating on the history of Chinese art, but both my health & the present condition would not allow me to go there for the moment. Meanwhile I have been writing series of articles on the Far Eastern Masterpieces in American Collections. These articles are results of rather minute studies, both historical & iconographic, of important things in America, which I hope would make some basis for further studies in Chinese and Japanese things. Most of these articles were published in the Bijutsu Kenkiu, but as they have arrived at a quantity which would make a book, I intend to publish them in a form of a book, sometimes next year. I anticipate the pleasure of sending it to you. By the way, some of my lectures, which I had delivered in English in my last visit there, were printed. I send you two of these, which I hope you would look through at your leisure. On reading them please remember that they are nothing more than lectures with popular character, which are not meant for great experts such as you are. Please remember me to Mrs. Berenson. I do hope that she has recovered from her illness. You say you have missed meeting Mr. Tucci after his return from Japan. I like him very much but during his stay in this country, he was so busy that I had hardly chance to meet him so fully as I could wish. Please remember me to him in case you see him. Yours ever, Yuki |
