私：先生の研究センター、素晴らしいそうですね。
教授：百聞は一見にしかず、一度見にいらっしいませんか。
Hyakubun wa Ikken ni Shikazu
Watashi: Sensei no kenkyuu sentaa, subarashii so desu ne.
Kyooju: Hyakubun wa ikken ni shikazu, ichido mi ni irasshaimasen ka.
Me: Professor, I hear your research center is wonderful.
Professor: Seeing is believing. Why don't you visit some time?
* * *
Hyakubun wa ikken ni shikazu means that rather than hear about something a hundred times it's better to go and see it with one's own eyes at least once. The International Center for Japanese Studies is in Kyoto and a professor friend from Tokyo University who is in the same academic society as me, recently left his job in Tokyo to move to the center. According to my friend, the center is really beautiful. I'd been wanting to visit it for some time and so was very happy when recently asked to be an observer at a research meeting on the theme "The Japanese Attitude Toward Nature." Hyakubun wa ikken ni shikazu to iimasu kara, ichido otazune shimasho (Since they say seeing is believing, I thought it would be nice to visit the center at least once). I got on the Shinkansen in Yamaguchi and headed for Kyoto.
Just as I'd pictured it, the center is a beautifully designed set of buildings on a hilltop in Kyoto. There are spacious offices and meeting rooms and a truly impressive round library building to house the center's 250,000-volume collection. The open-shelf system is also in the round: a splendid stained-glass window high up in the center of the building allows light to softly fill the space. I was told that the British Library in London was the model for the building. The head of that library is supposed to have said that the library in Kyoto is nicer than the original! My friend's office had an enormous plate-glass picture window from which the fresh greenery of Kyoto's gentle hills could be seen. It was better than a picture because he could enjoy each new season, each with its own special charm and appeal. "What do you think? Are you glad you came?" my friend asked. Feeling a little jealous, I answered, "Hyakubun wa ikken ni shikazu to iimasu ga, soozoo ijoo deshita. (They say seeing is believing, but this is better than anything I'd imagined). " What was most impressive of all, however, was the atmosphere brought to the center by the teachers working there. Though each one had his own research theme, a broad sense of academic adventure and free-thinking permeated the center. I sensed this most when I attended the study seminar and saw the way the teachers freely disagreed with each other. The theme was about how one can get a sense of a people's sense of nature by looking at the way they construct their gardens. I too participated by sharing some of my views about the differences between gardens in Japan and Europe.
The center is still under construction and I'm sure it will be even more beautiful when finally completed. Hyakubun wa ikken ni shikazu desu yo. Ichido, itte mitara ikaga desu ka (Seeing is believing. Why not consider visiting the center at least once? ).