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While in Kyoto I happened to catch this wedding party coming down the street in a rickshaw. The bride doesn’t seem to be enjoying the occasion as much as the groom. Maybe the expressions would be reversed if he was wearing the hat instead.
In the hills at the back there was a solitary pond covered with duckweed, known as the Yasutamizawa. There was a minute island in the pond and on it stood the Shirahebizuka, a five-storied stone tower. The surrounding morning air was noisy with the twittering of birds.” (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, p. 37)
This past weekend I began reading Yukio Mishima’s famous book for the first time (subsequent review posted here). I came upon the above passage, and as the picture of the scene arose in my mind while reading I realized that I had actually photographed it last year. I dug through my pictures to find the above. It seems nothing has changed in the subsequent 60 years.
Of course, when I took the picture I had no idea what I was taking a picture of. In fact, I probably only took the photograph because of the crane (on the log on the right). I’m glad that the island and stone tower made it into the photo though.
If you plan to visit the golden pavilion (kinkakuji or 金閣寺) on a trip to Kyoto I would strongly suggest you read this book first. It will make your experience there far more meaningful.
The pond seems to be called anmintaku (安眠沢) even though the translator, Ivan Morris, used an alternative reading of the characters (yasutamizawa). The stone tower also has a different reading of hakujanotsuka (白蛇ノ塚). Ivan Morris used the kun reading of the kanji to come up with shirahebizuka.
Here is another scene from the book.
In my last entry on the topic I noted that I didn’t know if all of the Maiko dashing about Kyoto were real or not. In the afternoon there were many in the Gion neighborhood, but most were probably just regular people who got dressed up and made up to look like Maiko.
At night we saw the above, real Maiko dash from her okiya to an ochaya so I’m quite confident she wasn’t just some tourist who paid to look the part. You can tell the difference between a Geisha and a Maiko in a number of ways. Those include the hair (Maiko usually don’t have wigs and have more adornments in their hair), longer obi (going all the way to the armpits for Maiko), shoes, and red around the eyes (for Maiko).
Somehow, a few months back, I stumbled upon Kanji Clinic, a website featuring the writings of Mary Sisk Noguchi. She writes a piece for The Japan Times six times a year. All of her past essays for the paper are on her site. I started at #1 and am reading several a week. I’ll be sad when I catch up and then have to wait two months for the next installment.
I’m up to #39 which I read yesterday. It included the following which I will share with you so you can get a taste:
“Back in 1930, Shojiro Ishibashi (石橋, Stone-Bridge) dubbed his new tire company “Bridgestone,” now also internationally known for its bicycles. Just think, if plugging English keywords into the names of Japanese companies had become a trend, millions of drivers the world over might be cruising around not in “Toyotas,” and “Mitsubishis,” but in “Richfields” (豊田, Toyota), and “Triple Diamonds”(三菱, Mitsubishi).”
Whether you are learning Kanji or just interested in them, there is much of interest in her fun little columns.
I took the above picture on March 29, 2007. As you can see, that’s just a little too early in the year for the cherry blossoms to be going nuts from this angle. On the same day, looking the other way, I also took this picture so it’s not like you won’t see any blossoms late in March in Kyoto. If you plan to visit Kyoto, Arashiyama (嵐山) is not to be missed.
In Seibu’s second game last season, pictured above, they lost to the Rakuten Golden Eagles. They ended up losing more than they won in 2007. This year their fortunes took a dramatic turn for the better as they won the Pacific Coast League. Let’s see if the Seibu Lions can go all the way in 2008. All will be decided in a little over two weeks.