In 1989 Nigel Harris, the VFI's Japan based researcher, lodged a report entitled 'Tulse Luper in Japan'. It went missing almost immediately. The VFI's Director of Archives was sacked, his assistant promoted, and a rudimentary computer database - dependent on barcodes - was set up. Nigel's missing report was given the barcode 09334571-2. In 1995, suitcase 03 was discovered in changing room 7 of a disued swimming pool in Gorton, Manchester, England. The combination of numbers which unlocked sc03 was 093345712. Inside was Nigel's report and an envelope which contained a drawing in Tulse Luper's hand.
Nigel Harris
The VFI's Japan based researcher
March 1989.
TULSE LUPER IN JAPAN
While at Tokyo's National Library on an unrelated matter, I noticed an entry in the
main library index showing that they have a volume by Tulse Luper. I asked the librarian
to fish-out the item from the basement. It turned out, in fact, not to be a book,
but a small, badly worn, leather bound attache case. The catches were rather stiff,
but they did open with a bit of gentle persuasion. Inside the case I found a small
wooden box beautifully decorated with marquetry, and some papers in Japanese.
The wooden box is of a type unique to Japan, a puzzle-box which can only be opened
by manipulating panels in the right order. Unfortuntely, it is one of the more complicated
designs with perhaps 16 or 20 movements. Without the illustrated key, I didn't have time to figure it out before having to return it to the Library vaults. The paperwork
looked more promising, but as my understanding of written Japanese is rudimentary,
I wasn't unable to make much sense of it. I did notice katakana transliterations
for Tu-ru-su Ru-pah, but beyond that it's mostly guesswork at present. A Japanese student
I showed the documents to mentioned some reference to Sei-Shonagon, a clue to Luper's
bed time reading perhaps?
Although I hesitate to jump to an early conclusion, I may have discovered evidence
of Luper's visit to Japan.
April 1989. FOLLOW-UP RESEARCH
1) Maho-bako are ingenious devices, fine examples of the Japanese craftsmens art.
As the Japanese have nelected to give them a proper name, the name quoted here, Maho-bako
(literally 'magic-box') is probably a Luperism. All Maho-bako come from a particular region of Japan 20 - 50 km South-East of Mt. Fuji, and are not widely available outside
that region. Luper's box was almost certainly obtained there. Despite their ingenuity,
all boxes I've seen are pretty much alike; rectangular, always decorated with marquetry, and enclosing a simple interior. Some models have a secret drawer. The number
of sliding panel movements ranges from around 6 to as many as 50. (Luper's has 21).
A maho-bako was used by George Sanders in the vintage sci-fi film The Village of
the Damned - based on Wyndham's Midwich Cuckoo - to test the telepathic powers of the alien children. Once one had learned
how to open it, they all knew.
2) Tulse Luper's Japanese texts are still awaiting translation, but further examination
has revealed the following. A brief examination by a Japanese researcher indicates
that the text was almost certainly written by a native Japanese. Both the fluency
and the natural flow of the calligraphy seem to confirm this. Several pages seem to be
the first draft of a translation from English. The exact source material, the destination
of the final translation and the name of the translator are unknown. The mention
of Sei-Shonagon is significant. This author from Heian Period Japan is well known for
her poetic lists, for example "the list of things that quicken the heart." It's been
suggested that Tulse Luper had found some hidden meaning in her lists, and had intended to make this research known to the Japanese. But I fear that these few manuscript
pages would be little more than an outline, or introduction.
