Posted in Art, History, Kyoto, Museums on Jun 25th, 2008 No Comments »
Visitors to Kyoto’s Heian Shrine may have noted a building with Chinese style yellow glazed roof tiles standing just to the left of the great torii gate. This is the roof of a small tower that sits on top of a huge storehouse of Chinese collectibles, ranging from Shang bronzes to Buddhist statues, furniture, paintings […]
Posted in Architecture, History, Museums, Osaka, Technology on May 15th, 2008 No Comments »
The title says it all: this is a museum about the ancient Sayama Irrigation Pond (the oldest in the country) and the most important exhibit is a huge slice of mud of the dam built to create the reservoir 1,400 years ago (and enlarged over the centuries). This mud wall (62 meters long and 15 […]
Posted in History, Museums, Nature, Religion, Temples, Travel on Apr 14th, 2008 2 Comments »
In the Tama Hills in the western part of Saitama Prefecture stands an old temple famous for the valuable Buddhist scriptures it possesses. Now only a remnant of a much larger complex, the temple also boasts an Eleven-Headed Kannon. When I visit, the doors of the altar cabinet happen to be wide open and the […]
Posted in Art, History, Kobe, Museums on Mar 31st, 2008 No Comments »
As suits an international city, the Kobe City Museum is devoted to the themes of “International Cultural Exchange” and “Contact Between and Changes in Eastern and Western Cultures.” It has been accommodated in a former bank building with Dorian columns from the nineteen-thirties. The museum opened in 1982 after the merger of two museums that […]
Posted in History, Kobe, Museums, Nature, Temples, Travel on Mar 28th, 2008 2 Comments »
Although I had been living for a year in Kobe, I had not yet made my way to that part of the city where the hot springs of Arima are located. There was no need to play the tourist, I thought, but last weekend curiosity drove me if not to the baths themselves, at least […]
Posted in History, Osaka, Temples, Travel on Mar 19th, 2008 No Comments »
Toyotomi Hideyoshi built Osaka castle in 1585, five years before he completed the reunification of Japan. The donjon was five stories high on the outside and eight on the inside, making it a fitting symbol of the generalissimo’s rule.
[Osaka Castle - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]
After his death in 1598 Hideyoshi had himself deified and […]
Posted in History, Japan, Museums on Mar 8th, 2008 1 Comment »
Fourteen hundred years ago, Asuka (now a quiet village) was the cultural and political center of Japan. Here for the first time a unified state was established, based on the introduction of the more advanced culture, technology and administrative systems of China and Korea. Buddhism was introduced as well and the first temples were built. […]
Posted in Economy, Food, History, Japan, Web on Mar 8th, 2008 No Comments »
Watashi to Tokyo writes about yoshoku, “Japanese original Western food” as Turkey rice, American dog and Napolitan Spaghetti - a category sadly ignored by Michelin.
Ampontan has an interesting piece on the Imperial Warehouses (Gyofu) where originally the spoils of war were kept - except a Chinese rock (Korosei) of great historical importance these have now […]
Posted in History, Museums, Osaka on Feb 26th, 2008 3 Comments »
Chikatsu-Asuka is an area in southern Osaka Prefecture rich in ancient history. There are over 200 tumuli graves (kofun) from the 6th and 7th century, and also the famous Prince Shotoku is said to be buried here at Eifukuji Temple. It was therefore the obvious choice for a museum dedicated to tomb culture. The new […]
Posted in History, Kyoto, Temples, Writing on Feb 16th, 2008 1 Comment »
Sei Shonagon is in the first place famous for her Pillow Book, but she did also write poetry and was even counted among the “Late Classical Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.”
One of her poems has been included in the Hyakunin Isshu collection - it is a piece that demonstrates her quick wit, something that was expected […]
Posted in Architecture, History, Photography, Tokyo on Feb 2nd, 2008 1 Comment »
Sometimes buildings can be lost so thoroughly that you would never suspect their original existence. I am not talking about your favorite restaurant in Tokyo that has suddenly disappeared. Another one will take its place. Much more serious of the loss of things that cannot be replaced.
I am referring to the Taitokuin Mausoleum in Shiba, […]
Posted in Culture, History, Japan, Writing on Jan 19th, 2008 No Comments »
Which royal house in the world is interested in poetry? Which royals can even write poems themselves?
When the royals of this world are in the news, it is seldom for literary activities. No, they have been drunk, promiscuous, gambling… you name it. Of course there is a bias in the press for scandals, but […]
Posted in Architecture, History, Kyoto, Religion on Jan 19th, 2008 No Comments »
Do old superstitions still influence our modern lives? Are you afraid of the Devil Gate?
In ancient Japan (and even to some extent in modern Japan) certain directions were considered as negative and especially the northeast - called Devil Gate - was seen as a quarter from which demons could assault you.
We are in the realm […]
Posted in History, Kobe, Religion, Temples on Jan 16th, 2008 No Comments »
The Ikuta Shrine stands at the origins of Kobe, so it could not be more right that it also stands in the middle of the Sannomiya shopping center of the modern city.
[Ikuta Road, leading to the shrine]
But that is not its original location. The Ikuta Shrine used to be situated at Sunayama, a hill near […]
Posted in History, Japan, Sake, Travel on Jan 6th, 2008 2 Comments »
Only a day trip away from the Kansai area you can find many interesting destinations, some famous, others completely unknown. One such hidden town is Katsuyama, a former castle town deep in the Chugoku mountains of northern Okayama prefecture, close to the border with Tottori. Despite its far away location, Katsuyama is surprisingly easy to […]
Posted in History on Sep 4th, 2007 No Comments »
Talking about horrific hair extensions… I happened to come across this article by Na-Young Choi in Asian Folklore Studies (Nanzan University) called “Symbolism of Hairstyles in Korea and Japan.” Mr Choi writes:
First, hairstyles were thought to fend off evil influences; second, they were a means to express an ideal of beauty; third, they were an […]
Posted in History, Kyoto, Travel on Apr 28th, 2007 No Comments »
The Hozu River is the designation for the upstream section of the Katsura River, between the Hozu Bridge in Kameoka City and the Togetsu Bridge in Arashiyama. The river originates in the Tanba mountains and finally, south of Kyoto, flows into the Yodo River. It changes name three times, because the upper reaches above […]
Posted in History, Museums on Apr 7th, 2007 No Comments »
The history museum of Hiroshima Prefecture stands in the Castle Park of Fukuyama, and not in the capital, Hiroshima. But Fukuyama was selected for a good reason: it is the site of Kusado Sengen, a medieval port city in the Ashida River delta that flourished in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods and in its heyday […]
Posted in Culture, History, Kyoto on Mar 6th, 2007 3 Comments »
Do you know the difference between the Three Sen Houses of Tea, the inheritors of the tradition of wabi-cha from Sen Rikyu?
When in 1591 Sen Rikyu was killed by Hideyoshi, his heirs dispersed to seek refuge in the provinces. Hideyoshi was however persuaded by his generals to restore the house of Sen Rikyu and […]
Posted in History, Temples on Nov 23rd, 2006 No Comments »
Asuka, in the southern part of the Nara basin, is the cradle of Japanese civilization. In Asuka the first Japanese capital was founded and here Japan was transformed from a loose alliance of clan lords to a state with a clear national consciousness.
Asuka contained magnificent palaces and courtly residences, as well as Japan’s first-ever Buddhist […]
Posted in History, Museums on Nov 18th, 2006 No Comments »
The Shinjuku Historical Museum is one of the best of the many city museums about local history in Tokyo. It highlights Shinjuku’s past as a post town.
The displays (all on the basement floor) start with a short section about archeological materials excavated in the ward and another one about Shinjuku in the Middle Ages with […]
Posted in History, Temples on Nov 16th, 2006 No Comments »
Shuzenji, a popular spa town in the center of the Izu Peninsula, is more than hot baths and copious meals. Around the year 1200, just after the founding of the shogunate in nearby Kamakura, the town was the stage of a dark tragedy, that has also left its mark in a sinister legend. How many […]
Posted in History, Museums on Nov 12th, 2006 No Comments »
The Shinagawa Historical Museum stands a short walk from Omori Station. It has a permanent exhibition in two rooms about the history of the part of Tokyo that today is called Shinagawa City.
[Photo © Ad Blankestijn]
The ancient history centers on the Omori Shell Mounds and the Jomon pottery discovered there. This tableland at the coast […]
Posted in Film, History, Japan on Nov 11th, 2006 2 Comments »
After reading Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves, I felt like making my own list of favorite samurai films and this is what I came up with:
Miyamoto Musashi aka Samurai (1954-56) by Inagaki Hiroshi. In three films Inagaki follows the exploits of Japan’s greatest legendary swordsman. The first film is rather sentimental (due to the time […]
Posted in History, Museums on Nov 11th, 2006 No Comments »
Sakai City, just south of Osaka, is first and for all famous for the huge 5th century Daisen Kofun, popularly called the “Nintoku Tumulus,” the largest grave mound in Japan, belonging to an early Yamato king.
[Sakai City Museum - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]
The museum stands S of this tumulus (which you have to see on […]
