A Visit to Bert’s Soul Garden
In In the foothills by Lake Yamanaka, Japan
By Dylan Hubbell, grandson of James Hubbell, grand-nephew of Bert Hubbell
Bert Hubbell sent letters to my grandfather James and my uncles Drew, Torrey, Brennan, and Lauren for many years (Drew is my father). Not too long ago my brother Connor wrote to our great uncle that he wanted to visit someday. Bert took that to heart and held Connor to it.
“When are you coming, Connor?” Bert asked, sharing that his health had been declining and it was important for Connor to get over there. Connor signed up to work with WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and spent three months working on several farms throughout Japan’s countryside. After that experience I joined him to explore the big cities of Japan and, most importantly, to meet Uncle Bert. (pictured above sketching in his studio in 1988)
We had tried contacting Bert prior to our visit, but no one answered the phone and voicemail was full. We assumed it was just Bert being Bert. We decided to trust that we could show up unannounced in classic Bert and our grandfather James’ fashion.
We were not without some prior knowledge of how to find him. Our parents Drew and Pam (pictured above with Hiroko), and our uncle Brennan, had visited Bert and Hiroko in their youth and had given us photos of the entrance gate and vague directions of where they thought their house was located in the foothills beside Lake Yamanaka, in the shadow of Mount Fuji. We went to the local post office to get help in finding Bert and Hiroko’s home. We gave the workers the address, and they asked if we were looking for a friend.
“We are looking for our Uncle Bert!” Laughter rang through the post office; I don’t think they believed us.
They gave us maps and offered to order us a taxi so we wouldn’t have to walk in the rain, but we both agreed that Bert would prefer us showing up wet.
After walking halfway around the lake, we found the turn off and started looking for the entrance gate. At this time, the sun came out and Mt. Fuji began peeking through the clouds. A good omen of course! We must be getting close. When we arrived, there was no doubt that it was Bert’s house because a familiar Hubbellesque feeling came over both of us.
Walking through the entrance gate transported us into a magical world not unlike arriving at our grandparents’ home in Santa Ysabel. We walked down stone steps beneath tall pines growing amidst volcanic rocks covered in moss. Little clay people greeted us along the way to a wooden front door carved with Mount Fuji. We were excited to finally meet Bert and Hiroko!
After ringing the doorbell, peeking through boarded-up windows, and yelling for our great uncle, it was clear that he was not home. Little did we know that both had been very ill, and hospitalized in an unknown location. While he wasn’t there physically, we still were able to learn a good deal about him by wandering through his “Soul Garden”—Bert’s lifetime of work and prayer all in one place.
“Out of the big world of garden earth… soul garden is a miniature poem of cosmic earth… soul garden reveals the eye innerly… in heart religious for nature…a visitor pilgrim in stepping enters pilgrimage of all one… one all…”
Poetry was on display everywhere, with themes of Mother Earth, natural disasters, cycles of life, junk and waste, spiritualization vs. technology, civilization, nuclear war, the unborn, and more. His work was a prayer for all these things. The hundreds of sculptures and clay figures throughout the “Soul Garden” protect the world from the harms that come with civilization, and pray that humans can find the good.
“While we didn’t get to meet Bert and Hiroko, the spirit of their home gave us insight as to how they lived and what they cared about in this world.”
Read “Brothers in Arts: Part 1” and “Brothers in Arts: Part 2” to learm more about Bert Hubbell and his work.