Meiji Jingu and Ikebukuro

Day 17 (-14) Icons.

There are so many icons of Japan advertising industry. Hello Kitty is well known, but what I didn't know was that she has no mouth because "she speaks from the heart!"
The other one is Pekko Chan. This one 'speaks to my heart' as this is also Sakurako's nickname,(lives in Kyoto and having a baby any day now!) as that is what she looked like as a little girl! Sort of!



Today was still raining so we planned local activity. Our first stop was Harajuku, and a wander down Omotesando Dori (see previous blog) to the Oriental bazaar, Japanese souvenir shop. We then headed back to the station to see Meiji Jingu Shrine; a Shinto Shrine dedicated to the souls of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. They died in 1912 and 1914, and the shrine was built to venerate them. The current buildings were completed in 1958 from public donations after it was destroyed in the Tokyo bombing. The entrance to the Shrine has a 40ft high Tori (gate) made of Japanese cypress; the gate symbolises the separation of the outside world from the spiritual world.
There is a huge forest of trees 120,000 of 365 different species donated by the public. Located in various parts of the garden, are a tea house a fishing spot and an Iris garden, 150 varieties of Iris and 1500 plants- a sight to behold!! (seen in Summer a few years ago)
From there we went north to Ikebukuro to show Gerry the area where I lived before.We called in at the Metropolitan Plaza and Art space, where I said there are often private exhibitions on in the small halls. We went up the huge escalator (4 floors in one go) and came across an Art show, many of the works we enjoyed very much.
Back down to the lower level there was a photo exhibition of daily life, school kids, sport etc, fabulous, and opposite a show of creative writing and art. It was hard to know exactly what this was. My Japanese didn't manage that far. Lots of original books and work areas where people could ??what?? and with other works often by children copying the syle of the book or story in their own individual style- hard to explain.
The showpiece was this fabulous boat! with moving parts The jaw oepend teh wings moved and the wheels on top turned round. There was also a book about it photos taken with small dolls in situ, and a story line But also a fabulous one where each page was cut out and as you turned it the boat gradually took shape.
We finishe dthe day with a little shopping and then dinner of Ebi (prawn) tempura at Meguro station.

Minka painter

Day 3 (-28)

I am no great fan of mobile phones, (mine is a SoftBank one) but I love the phone manners in Japan exemplified by the announcement on the train that people generally follow.
"Please turn off your phone when near the priority seats (risk of doing someones pacemaker in!) In other areas switch it to silent mode and refrain from talking on the phone!" Bliss! If someone does talk they cover their mouth with their hand, turn away and speak in whispers. Maybe Japan phones have better pick up of voice, as they never seem to need to yell like in Australia and USA.
############################

Today I went to see the Mukai Junkichi Annex I missed yesterday. Today it was HOT again, so I was pooped when I got to the House, after following a superb little map from the web site. "Turn at the post box, take right hand road at tobacconist etc" It is often hard with some maps, as they may only mark the main streets, and a main street may be little to us, and therefore you stand at the corner trying to decide if this counts as a street, or is it a lane to ignore, or is it it?

The Annex is the former home of Mukai Junkichi, (1901- 1995) who was a war reporter and artist, and on his return was saddened at the loss of the historic Minka buildings (left) which were rapidly disappearing as a result of intense economic development. Mukai traveled to all parts of the country and depicted them with accurate realism and vividness. The main collection of his paintings is in a room that has huge doors opened They are almost a metre thick, I read later (and noticed outside) that he had a store house transported from Ichizaki in Iwate Prefecture and this is the right half of the house. He painted them solitary in the fields, with a background of magnificent snowy mountains, or huddled together in a small hamlet. The changing seasons figure prominently in all his works. My favourite is of a narrow road with houses on each side, and at the end of the road the world seems to drop away to the green cloud covered mountains in the distance, but still so close. He was painting right up to his death at 94 which was sudden after a brief episode of pneumonia.
On the way home I had to change at Shibuya (and I saw the monkey that is reported on the Age news web site, and TV here of course, however I did not see the net wielding policemen!) and called in for some air-conditioned respite at Seibu department store.
On the 8th floor I came across an exhibition of Ikebana, or at least arranged flowers. It was only after I looked at a couple that I realised they were hand made, putty stuff. There was a class on later, (I didn't do it) but I did have a brief chat to to one of the organisers who was very proud of her piece, Rightly so! Couldn't take photo but got a card.

Ebisu

I headed up to Ebisu today to take in the New Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography Exhibit Still / Motion, about video and moving images as Art. Some images were stunning, some puzzling and some downright weird. A weird one was a bowl of fruit (videos thankfully not live!!) gradually turning to almost dust, (seen that before I think) but next to it a dead hare gradually turning to liquid!! A highlight was the work of Yasumasa Morimura, a Japanese "appropriation artist" (means like it sounds) he borrows images from historical artists (ranging from Manet to Rembrandt), and inserts his own face and body into them. His work engages with issues of gender, and challenges both Western and Japanese notions of good taste. This work was obviously Vermeer. This consisted of a video of him dressed like this reading a letter (silently) then at the end turning towards us in the familiar pose. He also had a mock up of the painting of The letter, but she had a trombone and a laurel wreath on her head, and he, as Vermeer was painting her. Initially when I saw the poster I presumed it was a Vermeer exhibition , then looking closer I thought "that's not right!"

I loved the symmetry of this view looking down to the Museum cafe.

The Gallery is in the Yebisu Garden Place, built on the former Yebisu beer factory. (moved, not defunct)

The place is reached from Ebisu station via a walkway taking you 5 minutes to 'walk' to the Plaza.

Some language trivia... I wondered why it was Yebisu, not Ebisu (one of the 7 gods) turns out you can no longer write 'ye,' as the syllable 'ye' (only ya, yu, yo) and corresponding kana have almost completely disappeared from modern Japanese and been replaced by 'e'.

View, left is part of the main centre area with department store in the background. The display is one of Cosmos flowers, obviously changing with the seasons.

Kosode

A lesson in Japanese fashion as Art.

I had a wonderful afternoon at the Suntory Museum of Art (not to be confused with the Suntory Museum!) The exhibition was Kosode: Haute Couture. Kimonos of the Edo Period. Originally a lower-class outer garment and an upper-class undergarment,Kosode literally meaning small sleeves, became the principal outer robe in the 16th century, evolving into the modern kimono. The name refers to the small size of the wrist openings which distinguish it from the oosode (large sleeves). Kosode designs for the court and samurai classes in the Edo period were often based on literary themes taken from famous Japanese and Chinese poems. Kosode are made with two main pieces joined at the back center so they hang from the shoulders to the ground in both the front and back. Two shorter pieces are sewn to form rectangular sleeves. Two pieces half the width and length of the main fabric add extra width when sewn to the front. Another piece of cloth diagonally crosses the front panels to form a collar.
Designs evolved as skills developed especially in types of dyeing, as well as Korean influences and edicts about how much embroidery was allowed on garments. This latter led to robes having design just at the hem area.
Unresist dyeing is just that, either total immersion in dye or painting dye on, in varying shades and tones.
Other dyeing techniques center on two basic types of resist dyeing--paste resist (which includes stencil dyeing), and shaped resist (shibori). A resist is just what the word implies, a substance or process that stops dye from dyeing the fabric in certain places. Paste resist may be divided into freehand resist applied by a squeeze cone and stencil dyeing.
"Shibori" is often translated "as tie-dye," but this is a fr cry from our tie dyeing of the 60"s!! The bag at left is Shibori, each white dot a tiny area picked up tied off into a pattern then dyed. One Kimono had a whole sweep of the fabric done this way in a wave from hip to left side of hem, then embroidery and painted on dye on the other part. Such labour intensive work!
Yuzen is a mixture of freehand paste resist and painting, and it also may include stencil and shibori work. The decorative flexibility possible with this combination of techniques led to fabulous designs. Design motifs are first outlined in paste resist, then the dyes are applied in such a way as to give subtle gradation of tone. Both delicacy and extravagance are characteristic of yuzen, and traditional motifs and decorative concepts are most common. Embroidery and gold leaf application often finish a yuzen composition.
In the display of gorgeous garments was a "fumigation box" made to burn incense, over which the kimono was draped after use,the kimono releasing a scent as the wearer drifted past!

Shibuya

Today I went to Shibuya; a slow day to accommodate the heat, but a 'cool change' well a drop of 4 degrees and a warmish breeze and the threat of rain, was welcome.

I went to see the The Springtime of Russian Avant-Garde exhibition at BunkaMura. It was not really my favourite stuff, but certainly came across a few artist I had not heard of (not surprising really!) I did enjoy the work of David Burliuk & Niko Pirosmani. Burliuk it seems is one of the stars of the Russian Avant-Garde & the "Father of Russian Futurism."
Pirosmani was a 'naive' self taught painter from Georgia (Russia!) who mainly achieved posthumous fame, as he painted to sell his works, but finding attention with his work in 1895 from creating signboards for cafes and shops.

As I headed back to the Shibuya Crossing (one of the busiest intersections in Tokyo I was fascinated by the patience of the Japanese (not just at this crossing.) I have almost never seen anyone jay-walk, they all wait dutifully even if there is no traffic. This is a crossing when it is all cars or all people, and what a crowd is heading for me! Weaving one's way through is an art form I think

I finished off my day with a quick meal at the Ebi Tendon shop at Meguro. Tendon is food served over rice; in this case prawn and vegetable Tempura.

Art in Art Deco Space

One of my favourite places in Tokyo is the Teien Art Museum, the previous Art Deco style home of Prince Asaka, the eighth son of Prince Kuni, who lived here with his princess Nobuko, the eighth daughter of Emperor Meiji. He was a great fan of the Art Deco Movement of the 1920's and 30's and this building preserves the Art Deco style. The principal parts were designed by French designer Henri Rapin (1873-1939), and many of the decorative features to be found inside were imported from France and other countries. One feature is the glorious Lalique doors. However, the basic plan of the building and some parts of interior decoration were undertaken by architects of the Imperial Household Department, adding an authentically Japanese feel to the Art Deco style.

This time the exhibition was “Summer Villa: The Sculptures, Drawings, and Prints of Katsura Funakoshi in Art Deco Space.” I had never heard of him but the advertisement picture took my fancy. Katsura Funakoshi was born in Morioka, Japan in 1951, and is especially known for his partially deformed figures that he created, the enigmatic, androgynous Sphinx series in 2006. This exhibition introduced the Sphinx series, camphor wood sculptures, the long 'ears' being leather, including new pieces, as well as a selection of the best work from each previous period of the artist’s career. This included the drawing for the studies of the statues. Strong charcoal drawing that are wonderful in themselves.

I was intrigued by this information. seems very Japanese!
Summer Villa Dress Code Discount
Visitors wearing clothing or accessory made of wood may enter by paying the group ticket rate.The sculptures of Katsura Funakoshi are made of camphor wood. We can see the shape and smell; but we cannot touch the artwork itself. Please bring something made of wood with you and touch it; it will help you imagine how the sculpture feels.
For example: Wooden buttons, wooden beads necklace, wooden sandals, handbag with wooden handle