Japan Will Turn Ablaze! | Page 9

he understands perfectly and is
rejoicing in the Knowledge of His Truth. I have just had a little talk
with him and he told me how happy he was and that he expects to write
his letter to the Master this evening."
[Photograph with the following caption:]
Mr. Kanichi Yamamoto, the first Japanese Bahá'í with four of his sons.
The three oldest boys were given Persian names by 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
Taken in Berkeley, California in 1920.
Mr. Yamamoto rewrote his letter four times before he was satisfied.
"He felt that he could not write in English, so I told him that I thought it
would be all right for him to write in Japanese. I was sure the Master
would understand the spirit of his letter. Mr. Yamamoto said that
although his letter was written in Japanese, the Master fully answered
him."
Mr. Yamamoto wrote other letters to 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Japanese. At the
time no one in the Holy Land could read Japanese. 'Abdu'l-Bahá's
secretary recorded that He said, "I will turn to Bahá'u'lláh, and He will
tell me what to say." He always answered Mr. Yamamoto's questions.
Mr. Yamamoto later lived in the Berkeley-Oakland area of California.
When 'Abdu'l-Bahá visited Oakland in 1912, Mr. Yamamoto had the
privilege of arranging a meeting for him at the Japanese Independent
Church. 'Abdu'l-Bahá's talk is quoted in Ch. 6.

Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to Mr. Kanichi Yamamoto

[Tablet of 1902]
O thou who art attracted by the Word of God to the Kingdom of God!
Turn with the whole of thy being to God, forget aught else save God,
and supplicate God to make thee a sign of guidance in the midst of
people who are veiled from God; perchance they may be guided to the
Orb of all horizons, enter the kingdom of harmony, drink of the cup of
the love of God, rejoice at the manifestation of the Kingdom of God,
taste the delight of the mention of God, and shelter themselves in the
shadow of the Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God.
This beseemeth the believers; this is the qualification of the sincere;
this is the path of the knowers; and this is the utmost aim of the faithful.
Exert thy utmost power that thou mayest share this great bounty.
(1902)

[Tablet of January 1903]
O thou who hast addressed 'Abdu'l-Bahá!
Verily, I pray my Lord to teach thee a language and writing of the
Kingdom which will satisfy thee, so as to dispense with all things; for
that spiritual writing and instructive tongue are eloquent, clear,
laudable, legible, read by the tongue and preserved in the heart. Blessed
is he who knows it in the world of man!
Know, verily, that the Ocean is waving, the Sun shining, the Stars
dawning. (Understand what I say!)

The tree will grow, the earth will send forth hyacinths(9) and give
blessings, and man will become of the heavenly angels. Feed on the
light of guidance and impart light to the people. The bird will warble
melodies unknown save by the birds of heaven; then tear asunder the
veil and see the realities of things with the eye of God. Verily, thy Lord
guideth whomsoever He willeth unto the Straight Path!
The Promised Spot will be made a racecourse for the steeds of the race
of Knowledge and the lights of the Merciful will shine upon it. The
dispersed ones will return to the Center of Gathering and the birds will
return from the meadows of the world unto the Nest of Harmony. This
is a preordained matter.
As to thee: Thou hast borne every difficulty and hardship and soon will
be rewarded by God with a good reward. He will destine to thee all that
is good, and choose for thee the manifestation of His mercy among the
servants; that they may thus see that the Sons of the Kingdom have
gone out(10), while there hath come a soul from the remotest horizon
who hath entered the Kingdom of God.
(January 1903)

[Tablet of (Date unknown)]
O thou youth of God!
Thank God that thou hast found thy way to the Radiant Kingdom, torn
asunder the veil of superstition and learned the reality of the mysteries.
All the people have formed a god in the world of thought, and that form
of their own imagination they worship; when the fact is that the
imagined form is finite and the human mind is infinite(11) . Surely the
infinite is greater than the finite, for imagination is accidental (or
non-essential) while the mind is essential; surely the essential is greater
than the accidental.
Therefore consider: All the sects and peoples worship their own

thought; they create a god in their own minds and acknowledge him to
be the creator of