I began listening to a book on tape, or CD that is, on my way to school this morning. I chose this particular book because it didn’t have any connection to my school project and would give me a chance to change my minds focus for the short time I was driving. I am listening to Ireland by Frank Delaney.

I have just a 40 min. drive to school, when the traffic is clear as it was this morning. I listened to the introduction and the first short segment or short story on the CD. The book is about a young man in Ireland who has a storyteller visit his family. He became fascinated with the stories the man is telling and after he leaves, researches the history of Ireland and then goes out to find this storyteller, learning even more of Ireland’s history in the process.

Irish history = no connection with my school project on Judo, women’s history and Japan. Or so I thought. Until I started listening.

The Author, Frank Delaney, is a skilled storyteller and in his Authors Note talks about history and storytelling, in relation to Irish history. He wrote;

“Imagination and emotion insist on playing their parts in every history, and therefore, to understand the Irish, mere facts can never be enough; this is a country that reprocesses itself through the mills of its imagination.

But we all do that; we merge our myths with our facts according to our feelings, we tell ourselves our own story. And no matter what we are told, we choose what we believe. All “Truths” are only our truths, because we bring to the “facts” our feelings, our experiences, our wishes. Thus storytelling- from where it comes- forms a layer in the foundation of the world: and glinting in it we see the trace elements of every tribe on earth.”

I had to go get the book and read this in print. It seemed to speak directly to me about the histories and stories I was trying to write, and did not just apply to Irish storytelling. “Imagination and emotion insist on playing their parts in every history” and “Mere facts can never be enough.” This is where my stories seem to fail or at least have become boring. Who wants to read fact to fact, no matter how skillfully it is written. (Not that I claim that much skill) Just linking this fact to the next fact, leaves out the emotion and does not let either the writer or the reader into their imagination.

He goes on to say “we merge our myths with our facts according to our feelings, we tell ourselves our own story.” And this is what I envisioned when I conceived of writing about the women in judo’s history, a merging of facts, both within the old myths and known histories with new discoveries of previously undiscovered stories of women’s judo. I wanted to include the emotions and feelings of these women who had up to now had their stories obscured or whose stories had just disappeared in time, leaving only fragments to be discovered again.

Delaney continues by saying “no matter what we are told, we choose what we believe. All ‘Truths’ are only our truths, because we bring to the ‘facts’ our feelings, our experiences, our wishes. This seems to be a very important concept to understand when writing stories and one that I will have to keep in mind as I rethink my writing once again.

I also was intrigued by what the author said about storytelling and how important it is. “Thus storytelling- from where it comes- forms a layer in the foundation of the world: and glinting in it we see the trace elements of every tribe on earth.” The storytellers: “possessed brilliant powers; they brought the long-gone past to life vividly, without what he called ‘the interference of scholars. Those professors,’ he said “ They dry out history in order to put it down on paper” In his father’s view a tale with the feeling taken out of it had “ no blood and was worth very little”

Drying out history so it could be put down on paper. How easy it is to write this way, to take out the emotion and reduce our history down to just facts. I know that I am guilty of this at times, as I try to tell the stories I have discovered and are putting down on paper. And here the Author describes his view of a story of only facts as being worth very little. This description brings me back to the goal I have when writing my histories, I want these stories to have value, to have interest and to show the upcoming generations of women and girls that they were there in the beginning along with the men. That they do belong in the history of the sport, and they belong today.

Delaney also wrote about the storytellers themselves; “They had counterparts all over the globe- India, South America, China. Such travelers wandered into a village, spread a rug under a shady tree, and began a daylong tale of the country’s old times. They called up dragons and fire and mountains and maidens and gods. Wary villagers who drifted forward to hear what was being said always stayed to the end. Whatever the topic, the audience knew they could be assured of vitality and drama- great events told in bright colors with huge spirit. Thus the traveling storyteller and his oral tradition shaped much of the world’s culture and character.”

Even though I am writing and not a traveling storyteller, this still applies. Today, our books travel for us, telling our stories, bringing people into their history, telling their stories. I want my writing to be this for my readers, a transformation of the history they may have already been told. I want to bring my reader into the story of judo and into the sports future stories as well.

The section of the CD I was able to listen to this morning ended with; “The wisest men tell us that everything, sooner or later, changes. And all change commences with a specific moment. We say to ourselves,” I won’t do this again, I must become different.” And we succeed- eventually.” And so I will try again. I know what I don’t want my stories to look like, I know that I won’t do it this way again, I must become a different writer to tell my story the way I want too, with emotion and feelings intact, not just the facts.