Friday, October 13,
2017
We filled our taxis
and headed for a small, family-run Noh Theater, where a mother and son,
representatives of the proprietary family’s third and fourth generation,
offered a lesson in a few of the essentials of the oldest (over 650 years) dramatic
art form still practiced. The original
venues were outdoors, with a roofed main stage and a flanking stage,
representing a bridge for traveling characters as they arrived and
departed.
Hidden beneath the
main stage are large pottery vases that enable the sounds made by actors’
stamping feet to vary according to the desired dramatic effect. In Noh, each
sound, gesture, step, piece of scenery, and prop is chosen or executed in order
to have maximum impact and meaning with minimal movement.
Noh dramas, performed
in ancient Japanese, are often based on traditional tales involving a supernatural
being interacting with human characters; the pine trees depicted on the
backdrop represent a passageway allowing deities and spirits of the dead to
enter the action.
Masks are a vital
element of Noh dramas and are highly respected objects, handed down for
centuries and stored with great care. A
single mask, depending on the side the actor presents to the audience, or even
the tilt of the actor’s head, can display varying emotions or demeanor. (Side note: Horned masks always represent
women, a custom that carries over into the traditional headdress worn by
Japanese brides; the white fabric is meant to cover their horns!)
Music for Noh
productions is provided by singers and by several instruments. A couple of
members of our crew tried their hands at beating the hand drum, held in their
left hands at their right shoulders while squeezing the drums’ cords and
intoning just the right bellow.
Then it was on to
the costumes, and three lucky women (including yours truly!) had the chance to
try on a couple of silk kimonos (red for youth) and another lovely robe (pale
purple signifying royalty).
A co-ed ensemble of
then arrived onstage from afar (via “the bridge”) to learn how to walk the Noh
way and not fall off the stage, despite the fact that they were not allowed to
look down at their tabi (two-toed socks) clad feet. The rest of us were happy to remain safely in
our seats!
Our lessons
complete, we watched a brief performance by the young man, who has been
assisting in the family enterprise since age 3!
He has taken the family mission to preserve this ancient art form and
keep it alive for new generations of Japanese and visitors to heart. His mother does presentations similar to the
one we experienced today to school groups and others over 200 times each year; this
gracious woman has committed her life to fostering cultural communication
beyond borders!
We made a brief
stop at the Kyoto Confectionery Museum, located next door to the theater. Confections are big in Kyoto and this museum,
operated by a candy-making family, has a small gallery exhibiting sculpture and
other works of art constructed out of sweet doughs. An unusual concept, and no photos were
allowed, so feel free to let your imaginations run wild, or have a look at http://sharing-kyoto.com/see_Kyogashi_Museum
. I’m not sure we would have stopped had
it not been right next door to our primary destination this morning.
En route to lunch,
we walked through the large Syokoku-ji Temple Complex, established in the late
14th century and rebuilt in 1605 after a fire. It contains a number
of sub-temples, a large temple bell which is symbolic of the relationship
between China and Japan at the time of the temple’s foundation, and the largest
temple meeting hall in Japan.
As we left the
temple, we walked through an area with distinctly American-style brick
buildings. It is the campus of Doshisha
University, founded by the first Japanese to graduate from an American University.
In 1864, Joseph Hardy Neesima defied an overseas travel ban and traveled to
Massachusetts, studied at Phillips Andover, graduated from Amherst College, and was ordained after study at
Andover Seminary. Upon returning to
Kyoto as Japan’s first ordained Protestant minister, he founded Doshisha
University, which to this day maintains a relationship with Amherst
College. Four members of our group live
in Amherst and as we passed by a building bearing a the name Amherst House, we
all felt a special connection to a place half a world away.
We cut through the extensive
Imperial Palace Gardens, now a public park, to a hotel with a restaurant
overlooking a lovely strolling pond and water garden, where we had lunch and
then struck off on our own for the afternoon.
We took a cab to
the Kinkaku-ji Temple, better known as the Golden Pavilion. This is the symbol of Kyoto, and even on this
cloudy day punctuated with a few rain drops, it was mobbed with visitors. The chance to see the gold-leaf clad temple
on the shore of a quiet pond, surrounded by yet another wonderful garden, was
worth being overtaken by the swarms of school groups that were also visiting
this afternoon. Though there was some
jostling to get into position for the best photo ops, the presence of the
school kids lead to one of the sweetest encounters of the trip. A small group of students politely asked if
they could practice their English with us.
(This is a common occurrence in Japan.) They introduced themselves and
had a list of questions about where we were from, what we’ve seen in Kyoto,
etc. After our conversation, they asked
if their teacher could take our photo with them and then they presented each of
us with a handmade bookmark as a thank you.
It was a lovely moment, and reminded us of an encounter we had with a
group of young students in rural Turkey.
(In that case, they and their teacher helped us find our way back to the
road we’d wandered off!)
From the Golden
Pavilion, we taxied to the closest subway station and took one of Kyoto’s two
metro lines back to the center of town to visit the Nishiki Market, a long,
covered stretch of shops and stalls selling everything from two-towed socks to
sea urchins. We had a matcha ice cream cone,
which tasted pretty much what you’d expect powdered green tea ice cream to
taste like; we didn’t ask for a second helping!!
Tonight, we had a
farewell dinner at a local dinner. We
were seated at low tables on tatami mats and our feet were in a well below the
table. The courses kept coming and the
wine kept flowing and everyone had their fill of both! Spirits were high and it was a great finale
to a memorable two weeks. This trip was
focused on Japan’s culture and Road Scholar provided an excellent program. We toasted Chiaki, who has shepherded us from
day one, warmly; she’s worked really hard to ensure we were where we were
supposed to be when we were supposed to be there. Our other guides, who joined us for specific
parts of the trip, were excellent as well.
Late tomorrow
morning, we leave for the drive to the airport in Osaka, a trip that should
take between two and three hours. Our
flight out is late tomorrow afternoon and, even allowing for a three-hour
layover in San Francisco, we’re scheduled
to be back home before we leave Japan; there’s nothing like crossing the International
Dateline to mess with your head!
Thanks for reading,
and we hope to see you next time.
**************************
Random
notes, gross generalizations, and stray observations made throughout the trip
in no particular order, and with no attention paid to complete sentence
structure or punctuation:
We were struck by
the extensive system of raised-pattern sidewalk markings for the blind –
parallel lines for straightaways, dots for intersecting paths and crosswalks. In one ladies’ room, there were even raised
dots to indicate where feet should be placed relative to the toilet.
There was lots of bowing
-- by and to everyone along the way.
No street names in
many cities. Instead, locations are
indicted in terms of the nearest intersection.
Hats and caps
embroidered with English words -- often nonsense phrases.
Cloth panels hung at
the entrances to shops and restaurants, indicating that the establishment is
open for business, a remnant of the time they were used to keep the road dust
out.
Frequent queries
about where we were from as we encountered locals wherever we went.
In this
non-religious country, there are Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples
everywhere, sometimes on the same grounds, and there is much cross-pollination
and coexistence between both systems in the lives of typical Japanese.
Architecture as an
expression of status – a raised room indicated entry to the domain of someone
of exalted status, likewise, a raised ceiling.
Stepping up into a building was a signal that shoes must be removed; in
some places, slippers (provided) can be donned, but in others, e.g. where
tatami mats cover the floors, not even slippers can be worn. And then, there’s the whole matter of
special slippers to be worn in the bathroom, and nowhere else…
In Japan,
traditional construction relied on wood and paper, which were constantly
endangered by fire. Consequently, in an
effort to invoke protection by higher powers, images of dragons breathe water
instead of fire.
Vending machines
everywhere, selling everything.
Matcha (green tea
powder) is also ubiquitous – garishly green ice cream, cakes, candies and
pastries.
Golf is big in
Japan, with Top Golf-like driving ranges a common site, sometimes so close that
one is in sight of another.
Taxi cabs are as
clean as everything else in Kyoto. Seats
and headrests are protected with embroidered or lacy, sparkling white fitted
covers. White-gloved drivers are often in
uniforms that have military overtones, with gold –accented epaulets on their
jackets. Taxis have automatic doors to
open for boarding passengers and keep departing ones in the car until they’ve
paid their fare!
The tidiness of
Japan extends to its political advertising.
With a snap election approaching, we’ve noticed the appearance of white
message boards of a standard size, segmented into six numbered rectangles of
equal size. Originally, the boards were all blank; now, candidate posters (of a
standard size – of course!) are beginning to neatly fill the spaces – in order!
Maps are not
necessarily oriented with North at the top of the page. Ergo, check the compass rose before checking
the map!
Oh, and did we
mention the toilets?!?