The medieval heritage of "merry England" is to be seen everywhere in the country in two contrasting forms. On the one hand, there are the many monasteries, which only survive today as "bare ruined choirs", the destructive handiwork of Henry VIII. On the other hand, there are the stately cathedrals still to be seen in every provincial city, representing the spiritual power as opposed to the secular power to be seen in the castles. Many of them are in the South, extending Westwards from Canterbury, Chichester and Winchester, by way of Salisbury and Exeter, to Bath and Wells. Then in the East we move Northwards from St Albans, Ely and Norwich, by way of Lincoln and York, to Durham and Carlisle, and finally in the North-West to Chester and St Asaph. The buildings are all medieval, astonishing Japanese visitors, who only know the Middle Ages as "dark ages", but the darkness is rather in their minds.
Peter Milward was born in London on October 12, 1925, and educated at Wimbledon College (a Jesuit high school). He entered the Society of Jesus in 1943, and after various studies he went on to specialize in the Classics and English at Oxford University. He came to Japan in 1954 and after further studies was ordained priest in 1960. From 1962 onwards he has taught English literature at Sophia University in Tokyo. In addition to founding the Renaissance Institute, the Hopkins Society of Japan and the Chesterton Society of Japan, he has published some 400 books, mostly as textbooks for Japanese students, many of them translated into Japanese, but now most of them out of print. Several of his books, especially those on the drama of Shakespeare and the poetry of Hopkins, have been published in England and America. Even in retirement he is still teaching and writing, as he enters his 88th year (or beiju).
