Mysterious Noh Performances

Noh is a traditional form of masked drama that has been performed since the 14th century.
Contemporary drama tends to focus on realism, but Noh is different and is atracting
in a completely different way.

 

Noh Stage (center) and Walkway (left)

Most Noh performances are presented indoors, but the stages all retain pillars and a roof that reflect the original covered outdoor stages where plays were performed.

Every indoor Noh stage also has a bridge-like walkway with railings, which is used as the metaphorical pathway between this world and the other world.

In some plays, the protagonist is a ghost, who appears on the stage through the pathway.
He expresses his unresolved feelings to his former foe.



Noh Actor

Many plays have just two characters. Musical accompaniment is provided only by a flautist, several drummers and a chorus.



Mask of Ghost

Noh actors move in a very distinctive way; wearing white socks, they use short sliding steps.

Noh acting is all about achieving maximum effect with a mask and minimal stylized movement.








Unchanged for centuries, Noh continues to give us a glimpse of the medieval sense of values and beauty as well as Buddhist overtones.



Tuna Auction at Toyosu Wholesale Markets

The wholesale part of Tsukiji Fish Markets moved to Toyosu on the 11th of October.
The 13th, Saturday, was the first day that visitors were allowed to look around inside the new buildings.

On the 15th, the first Monday since it opened, I visited there to see what the new markets were like.




Auction Area in Toyosu (in the middle)

Leaving home in the vicinity of Tokyo at 5:20 am, I arrived at the building at 6:30 am.
It is so good to be able to enter the area for tuna auction at 6:30 a.m. whereas visitors had to come to the gate of Tsuskiji Markets at around 2:30 a.m. to get entry tickets for the auction area.

The auction floor is on the first one, but we are led to the second one where we can look down the auction area through the glass windows.

There are number of frozen tuna on the floor. Smaller ones are in the middle and larger ones on the right side. Some viehcles carry several pieces of tuna.

Our room is silent. I cannot hear voices of wholesalers, which does not give us the feeling of being at a live auction. Hence it was less exciting than the experience in the former site in Tsukiji.





Auction Area in Toyosu (on the right side)

Viehcles carrying tuna

Fantastic World of Digital Art Museum in Tokyo

Digital Art Museum, which opened in March, 2018, is completely different from other museums.  

Flower Corridor

Stepping in through the black curtain, you are standing on a dark corridor.  You have to walk slowly, take about  20 steps forward, turn at the corner and then find yourself in front of the walls filled with colorful flowers, numerous petals of which are flying on the wall. Some of them are scattering at random while others are composing new flowers. Yes, the scenes are really fantastic, which does not exist on the earth.


There are several rooms in the museum. No route sign, however, can be seen. You are supposed to find your way to reach each of the rooms on your own.

After enjoying some displays on the first floor, you'll walk up several flights of stairs to the second floor, called Forest of Athletes.

This floor is a field of animals. Whales are swimming on the boundary wall.  Lizards are crawling  on the floor. Even flowers are growing quickly here and there.

 

Digital Aquarium

At the far end of the floor is Digital Aquarium.

Pick up a sheet of white papar on the shelves at the entrance.  It has a drawing of creature in the sea, such as sharks, jelly fish and squids. 
Color it with crayon and hand it over to the staff.

My squid named Teru starts swimming in the blue sea on the wall. It is amazing that it moves as an actural squid do. It looks as if it were alive although a squid in those colors does not exit in the sea.

So do jelly fish and sharks.

You'll find yourself enjoying watching others' creatures moving up and down as well as yours.

KAMAKURA, where you'll see Japan's backbones that Tokyo does not show

Getting on a rapid train at Tokyo Station, you’ll arrive at the city of Kamakura in an hour or so.

 

The local city, located about 100 kilometers south from Tokyo, was the seat of the Japan’s first samurai or warrior government in the 13th century while Tokyo became the seat of the military government in the 17th century, 400 years after the Kamakura government was established. Needless to say, the epoch-making age in the Japanese history exerted a strong influence on the Japanese mind. 

 

I’d like to recommend you to see three Buddhist temples there as well as a famous  Shintoism shrine. The temples include Hase-dera, Kotoku-in and Engaku-ji. I’d say that it’s important to visit them in the order where I showed above. 

 

The first temple, the Hase-dera temple, is well-known for a Kannon image which is said to be curved in the 8th century. The standing image is around 9 meters high and characterized by ten small heads about its main crown, signifying the Deity of Mercy’s attempt to seek out all those in need of help. People believe that the Kannon Deity saves them from various hardships in their life, and they have donated small images to live up to its mercy.  So you’ll be surprised to see a large number of images in the precinct.   

The second one, the Kotoku-in temple, is famous for the great statue of Buddha, casted in the mid 13th century.  The seated Buddha, named Amida-Nyorai, is in the symbolized posture when Buddha enlightened 2500 years ago. It stands outdoors on the ground and is so huge and overwhelming with its height of 13 meters.  That is the main and only image of the temple, and people believe that he leads them to the Western Paradise or the Pure Land where they could be reborn and live a happy life if only they now chant the nenbutsu --- I obey the Amida sutra in Buddhism. --- to receive his protection. The temple is included in the Jodo or Pure Land sect of Buddhism.

The third one, the Engaku-ji Zen-Buddhist temple, was built in the late 13th century. It is located in the north area of the city while the former two temples are in the southwest. You’ll see greater architectures made of unvarnished woods, arranged in a line on a valley’s upslope towards the top of a mountain, surrounded by several- hundred-year-old cider trees which soar in the sky. What are impressive here is the structures such as gates and houses, not images of Buddha, which would indicate that the Zen philosophy is quite different from those of other sects of Buddhism.   In addition, the temple was strongly related to the national crisis we experienced in the century, the attacks by Mongol force which reached Europe. 

 

 

Each temple has its own idea for salvation, based on a sutra that it puts emphasis on among many Buddhist scripts that have been developed for 2500 years. People has come to accept each of them, depending on occasions, although it shows a different practice in a daily life. The ideas are now deeply incorporated into our mind to the extent of coexisting without any conflicts.  You might be able to find the differences in appearances of the images and the architectures.

 In addition, the city boasts the Tsurugaoka-Hachiman-gu shrine, one of the most popular Shintoism shrines, built in the 12th century when the military government was established there.  It enshrines Hachiman, the Shinto God of War, which gave proper indication to any visitor of the shoguns’ authority and prosperity.  You’ll be surprised to see its one-mile-long approach designed with the laws of perspective, heading from a beach to a hillside where the main alter house stands. There stand three red or vermillion gateways and a pair of stone-made dog-like guardian statues, which give you a completely different feeling from the Buddhist ones you see in the temples.

 

More than one million people visit here to celebrate the New Year’s Day.  This is also a reality of Japanese culture that you come across.  Coexisting would be a key word to gain access to the variety of Japanese culture.

 

 

What is a Japanese castle like?



Picture 1   Donjon of Osaka Castle

WE have many castles or Shiro around the country.  They were originally built in the 16th to 18th centuries by feudal lords. But most of existing castles are replicas which were  built in the 20th century.  A good example is Osaka-jo Castle in Osaka,  which has an enormous donjon(see Picture 1), and are very popular among people.  Japanese castles commonly consist of moats, stone walls, watch towers, a donjon and several buildings such as Honmaru and Ninomaru.

YOU'LL also find similar castles in local cities.  They are generally not so big as that in Osaka, but they have unique ideas in the designs made by local lords.
Here we have a report on a local castle called Ueda-jo by Ms. J. O., who visited the city of Nagano, located about 200 kilometers northwest of Tokyo.

Picture 2  Yagura-mon of Sanada-jo Castle

The castle was built in 1583, during the Age of Civil Wars, by Sanada  Masayuki, a local lord who was respected with his distinctive strategies.

According to old documents, the lord  Sanada didn’t build  a  donjon. The reason would be that he regarded it as something impractical for wars, nothing but a decorative building in good appearance. Instead, he enforced the defensive power of gates and watch towers. This picture  shows the front view of  Yagura-mon, a gate which is unique in having two Yagura or watch towers at a gate. You see a two-storied bulding on the right which is connected with another two-storied one on the left through a corridor on a stone wall.  The gate was restored in 1994. You can enter both Yagura to see how warriors inside defended the gate against enemies.
(Admission fee is 250 yen, including  the municipal museum on the castle site.)

Picture 3  "Sanda ishi" stone

Walking around the castle, you'll find a huge stone among many stones that make up stone walls. This is named "Sanada  ishi" stone. 
It's 2.5 meters wide and 3 meters high.
The size of stone is supposed to correspond to the power of war lord, and Sanada stone would be a symbol of the clan's strength.
The small local castle became famous as an invincible fort.  It completely succeeded in rejecting overwhelming attacks repeated twice by Tokugawa clan, the largest power at the time that built a huge castle at Edo (present Tokyo).

Unfrotunately, Honmaru, or the main building where the Sanda lord lived, didn’t remain. we can, however, walk around a wide open area where Honmaru used to be, seeing three existing Yagura-mon gates stand at the corners in the south, north and west.

A funny story I've heard is that Sanada shrine there provides Omamori or a charm, and it's popular for students to buy the charm wishing success in exams.
This charm is connected with the historical fact that the castle never fell (or lost).
It might give you an invincible power.

<More information>
Tourists who are interested in Japanese castles would be recommended to visit the cities of Himeji and Kyoto as well as Osaka. Himeji castle is famous for its magnificent architecture covered with white plaster, and Nijo-jo castle in Kyoto is characterized by its gorgeous pictures inside buildings.   
 

Omotesando --- An intersection of Japan's contemporary and traditional cultures

Omotesando, which refers to the main approach to Meiji-Jingu shrine, would be an intersection of  Japan's religious tradition and comtemporary culture.

Walking on the street might remind you of Champs-Elysees St. in Paris or Unter den Linden St. in Verlin, but we are sure that you'll find yourself in the Japanesque atmosphere when walking through the approach.


Starting with Ishidoro or a big stone lantern (but not used as the light today), the approach has hundreds of Zelkova trees on the both sides, leading us to our cultures now and then.
















First you'll see the world first-class brand-name shops such as Gucci, Givancy, Celine, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Dior, and Chanel stand side by side along the street with distinctive architectures, which would indicate  elegance of the street.  

Omotesando might surpass Ginza,  which has been the most famous in Japan, in  gorgeousness.













New businesses such as Apple and Nike join the exhibition with their simple and modern displays.

Apple's shop adopts a glass-made front wall at full size.




Needless to say, you'll find a cafe terrace to spend a pleasant time with your partner,  looking over the street.







Going down the concave street, you'll see full of people on the sidewalks  enjoy wandering with friends or family.







Nine out of ten, you'll come across a line of young women and men who are waiting for something.

The line starts at a popcorn shop, KuKuRuZa, which originated in Seatle in US and now gets more popular here in Tokyo.
(The board says "the tail of  line.")
 










Here is Omotesando Hills, a modern building uniquely designed insides, where  corridors are inclined as pallarel to the downhill street outside. About 100 fashionable shops are open.

The 12-storied architecture has six floors on the ground due to the height restriction, which means 6-storied under the ground.

On the opposite side,
KIDDY LAND, a shop of small toys and goods with cute characters such as Sanrio's Kitty and Desney's, stands with bright sign,  swallowing young girls and boys.






Oriental Bazaar, a souvenior shop providing with Kimono, pottery, and Ukiyoe at reasonable prices, shows up in a traditional architecture with red pillars and green roofs.







Heiroku Sushi,  an inexpensive sushi bar where plates of sushi rest on a circular conveyer belt, serves a wide variety of sushi including California roll, avocado roll and so on.





Colorful commerical displays appear when you cross an intersection where the road  changes from downhill to uphill.

The advertisements might overwhelm you in size and height.


 
H&M, a Swedish apparel company, soars before you, too.













On the right, at the halfway point of the uphill,  you'll find a musium of Ukiyoe, called Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum  of Art, which possesses a large collection of valuable woodblock prints (about 14,000).

Ukiyoe enthusiasts will find numerous masterpieces during the Edo Period (the 17th -19th centuries) .



Going up for a while, if you don't miss a small shop sign, Matsubara-an Keyaki, you'll have a chance to know one of Japan's noodle cultures, Soba noodle.

The buckwheet noodle is commonly  taken for lunch, served with various toppings such as tempura or deep flied dish of fresh vegetables and fish.

The entrance of restaurant is on the 4th floor of a modern building, where you'll see Noren or a traditional short curtain with the shop name on it, hanging from the eaves.

At last, a few minutes walk takes you to the top of Omotesando, where the Zelkova street faces a deep forest.


Crossing the pedestrian walk,
you see a huge Torii gateway on your right.

Unlike the triumphal arches in Paris and Verlin, the wooden gateway is simple and natural, harmonized with nature.

It has a role of clearly distinguishing the sacred area of shrine from the worldly area you've come from.



Walking on a path paved with gravel,  you are coming closer to Meiji-Jingu Shrine, which enshrines Emperor Meiji and Empress Syoken.

The emperor ruled in 1868 -1912, and achieved Meiji Restoration which drastically modernized the country from its fuedal system. 


The Shinto architecture represents what we have kept embrasing for centuries as a token of worship and appreciation to ancestors and nature.

Zen practice in Tokyo.

What is Zen?     How is Za-Zen practiced?I think many tourists have learned of the words.
Zen signifies a kind of Buddhist thinking, and Za-Zen is a means of realizing the thoughts.  The two terms may be confused, but that doesn't matter much.
What you imagine from them might be a Japanese mysticism as a method of mental training similar to Yoga in India.

Being much simpler than Yoga, Za-Zen is common among us in having an oppotunity to see inside of ourselves. It really gives us a sort of self-salvation, and is never hypnotic suggestion or a tricky magic.
Many parents have their boys and girls practice it for several days during their summer holidays, and  some athletes often take the method to keep mental stability when in bad shape.

Zen sect of Buddhism, originated in China in the 6th century, has developed in Japan since the 13th century, when Samurai or warrior class took the rule of the country.  Za-Zen has been the most  important means for monks of the sect to attain enlightenment, the ultimate goal of Buddhism.
Nowadays many Zen temples are open to people who want to try the unique way of meditation, where you silently sit on the flour in a distinctive style. All you prepare for the lesson is only easy cloths for you, but geans are no-no.



In the course for beginners,
a senior monk instructs some manners of the practice, walks slowly around the trainees during the meditation lasting about 40 munites,
and taps them on the shoulder with the ritual slender plate when they sway their backs and/or heads without keeping minds relaxed and still.

I spent such a calm and tranquil hour at a temple when I was young.
I clearly remember that I was much impressed with peaceful mind after the deep meditation. That wasn't described in words, a completely different state  of mind from daily life.

To those interested in the oriental way of thinking,
I recommend to read the following books, which was written in English in 1930s  by D. T. Suzuki, who was a professor of Kyoto university and had made lectures on Zen in London, NewYork and other cities abroad.

According to him, Zen is not a philosophy of metaphysics, and nor is a religion as it is understood by a common meaning.  It is an intuitive mind related to human existence, which defies intellectual understandings.
Does it make sense?


In addition, he pointed out greater influence of Zen on Japanese culture than other sects of Buddhism, and found common ideas between Zen and our sense of esthetics in Bushido, or the ethical code of Samurai warriors, the tea ceremony, poetry, and other arts.