Walking Through Tokyo*

31 March 2010
Another beautifully sunny day but still rather cold and as it wasn’t Monday or the Emperor’s Birthday the Tokyo National Museum was open and we spent the morning there. The museum has a collection of about 110,000 pieces and is able to only display a small proportion of these at any one time so it generally has themed displays. Hardly surprisingly the current theme is “Cherry Blossom” and many of the painted screens, manuscripts and illustrated books had cherry blossoms portrayed in them. The explanations in English were very good. Inevitably it was the ceramics that attracted us from the Jamon-period pottery from before the fourth century BC through classical tea-ware to Edo period highly decorated porcelain. Pub quiz detail coming up: The Jomon era in Japan lasted from 10,000BC to 300BC and was the first civilisation in the world to make and kiln-fire pottery; in fact the name ‘Jamon’ means “cord patterns” and refers to the impression made by twisted cord on the pattern of the clay – a decorative technique still used today by some Japanese potters such as Shimaoka Tatsuzo and some UK craft potters. The museum also had some astounding ceramic pieces of Sue stoneware, made using a super heated kiln technique. Other pieces which stood out were the inevitable teabowls (only one from a Living National Treasure) and a piece of 17th century Oribe ware from the Mino kilns which displayed a bold technique of combining two different clays in a flat plate which has a radical design that made it appear so fresh and modern – superb.

We also greatly enjoyed the huge sweep of Japanese art including scrolls and screens, colourful Buddhist mandalas as well as exquisitely serene statues of the Buddha, through amazingly intricate laquerware as well as Samurai armour and weapons and one of the highlights for G was in the calligraphy gallery – a letter written by Matsuo Basho, the 17th century Haiku poetry master.

A most enjoyable morning, mad e better by the lack of other people in the gallery – they had probably gone to the Blockbuster exhibitions in other parts of town – art from Villa Borghese and the paintings of Frank Brangwyn. The next ‘Blockbusters’ are exhibitions of work by Lucie Rie and ceramic vessels for the tea ceremony and we’ll miss them both!
In the afternoon we made a huge trek across the city to visit a classical Japanese garden Shinjuku Gyoen. To get there we had to walk through several busy traffic-choked Tokyo streets – an unusual activity as most pedestrian walkways are either beneath or above ground. As we have mentioned earlier the city is packed full of excellent places to eat (Tokyo has more Michelin stars than anywhere else in the world), many of them inexpensive, so we were amazed to see a huge queue outside the Krispy Kreme Donuts store! Anyway we got to the park and of course the sun had disappeared behind a blanket of thick grey cloud and the half of Japan that hadn’t been in the park on Monday were here today to see the cherry blossom. We enjoyed our walk around the gardens, which are surrounded by soaring skyscrapers, and saw several ladies wearing kimonos for their afternoon walk in the park. G is working on a haiku that includes cherry blossom, kimonos and skyscrapers...

On our way back we found an amazing Department Store selling a vast range of goods – we were rather overwhelmed but did manage to buy a new suitcase – after 96 days of travel we have acquired so many bits and pieces that the luggage we bought with us will not hold them all!
Tomorrow we take another bullet train journey and go to stay in Kyoto.

This year's spring goddess is a merciless flirt
This article was in the Asahi Shimbun on March 30 and we’d like to share it with you
In romantic relationships, it is said that when you are kept waiting by another person, you develop stronger feelings for that person. Apparently, this year's spring goddess is playing with our emotions. Just as the Japan Meteorological Agency announced that the cherry blossoms were blooming in Tokyo, a wintry chill set in. Soon after the buds began to open, they tightened once more. Spring has yet to arrive in earnest.
Tuesday was Feb. 15 in the lunar calendar. It was also the anniversary of the death of Saigyo (1118-1190), a poet of the late Heian Period (794-1185) who loved cherry blossoms. "I pray that I would die/ Under the cherry blossoms in spring/ In February when the moon is full" is one of his famous poems. Under the modern calendar, it seems strange to think of cherry blossoms blooming in February, but, according to the lunar calendar, we are under February's full moon.
Just as he had prayed, Saigyo met his death in February in the lunar calendar. Although he died on the 16th, one day after the full moon, the great poet is remembered on the 15th. "When flowers are blooming/ Remember Saigyo" is a haiku by Genyoshi Kadokawa (1917-1975), the founder of Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co.
I once interviewed the publisher's son, Haruki Kadokawa, who is also a haiku poet. He told me how he was fascinated by Mount Yoshinoyama in Nara Prefecture, which is famous for its cherry blossoms and where Saigyo once lived. Kadokawa described the mountain where 30,000 cherry trees bloom as "a mystical place where majesty, glamour and awe blend together." He also said, "Cherry blossoms connote the universe."
Cherry blossoms bloom and fall. The Japanese language is rich in phrases that describe the transition: matsu hana (waiting flowers), hatsu-hana (first flowers) and hana no kumo (clouds of flowers), to name a few. Hana-fubuki (flower blizzard) likens the scattering of petals in the wind to a blizzard. Hana ikada (flower raft) describes the petals floating in water. The sight of nagori no hana (vestigial flowers) and osozakura (late-blooming cherry blossoms) makes us feel melancholic at the passing of spring. There must be many more. I doubt there is another plant whose transition is expressed in so many ways.
According to the weather forecasts, the spring warmth will likely return Wednesday and will be followed by days of pitiless rain. "I had a dream/ Of spring wind scattering flowers/ When I awoke/ I had an uneasy feeling" is another poem by Saigyo. Even after nearly a millennium, our longing for spring's cherry blossoms has not left us.