The 100 Bus

Note to self: do not take the number 100 bus along Higashioji-dori on a Sunday afternoon at the peak of the autumn tourist season.

I generally don't take the bus - anywhere - Kyoto, New York, Paris, Los Angeles.  It is a silly and fairly unpleasant way to travel.  The whole point of using mass transit is to arrive at your destination quickly and efficiently.  A bus cannot avoid or bypass traffic snarls.  So while you may not have the stress of driving, your forward progress is nonetheless halted.

I got on the 100 bus around Heian-jingū Gate hoping to dash across town to the Kyoto National Museum.  The bus was completely full when it arrived at the stop, but somehow, disregarding convention and safety, we packed at least another dozen people on board.  Buses in Japan are very small compared to those you find in the US, so this is a real claustrophobic nightmare.

Everyone is wearing winter coats including me.  It's hot.  There is no air-conditioning and the windows are all shut tight.  I didn't want to violate some Japanese code of conduct by opening a window, perhaps sacrificing the comfort of others for my own needs.  I suffer thinking that at each approaching stop everyone will get off.  They don't.  In fact, a few new people manage to stuff themselves onto the bus.

Meanwhile, outside on the street the traffic is crawling along like a stoned tortoise.  I could literally walk faster.  I wrestle with the idea of getting off and hoofing it, but the distance to the museum is pretty great.

I finally arrive at the Kyoto National Museum completely frazzled and sweating.  And what greets me just past the entrance?  A 90-minute queue to get into the special exhibition.  My whole reason for going to the museum was because I had a free ticket which was expiring.

I skip the special exhibition and head for the permanent collection.  This too was packed, visitors slinking slowly past each display in an orderly line as if on a conveyor belt.  This is no way to see art.  I refuse.  I search in vain for the one gallery that is if not empty, at least not thronged with these art zombies.  In the end I set a new personal record for quickest museum visit, blazing through the whole building in less than 20 minutes.

I must thank Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi for saving my afternoon.  Once outside the museum I sat in the garden contemplating the new Heisei Chishinkan wing of the museum, the amazing modernist structure which he designed.  I was already a fan of his without realizing it.  He also designed MoMA in New York and the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures in Tokyo.

Tofukuji (東福寺): notes and impressions (II)

The tree in the temple garden: simultaneously birth, life and death.  Cool and warm, green and red.  Setting sun warming my head and hands and the wood under my stockinged feet.  A cool breeze protests.  Shadows stretch.  Maple leaves float without branches or stems, delicate lacework.  Filtered light, random spotlights touching the shadows.  The Insai Tokuda painting - black ink across four fusuma, white tinged with age.  Perfect gesture, abstract expressionism slashing into/against pure representation.  Masterly use of negative space.

The ultimate Japanese blunder

So after almost nine months in Japan I have made the ultimate Western blunder in the worst possible place.

Removing shoes.  At a temple.

I have not carried a Kyoto guide book with me since returning to Japan in September.  With a day off from work I decided I would do some extemporaneous exploring.  I found myself in the northern part of the city where I happened upon the Eizan train line.  I remembered taking a funny little two-car electric train last year to or from Ryoan-ji Temple.  Unfortunately the train I was on last year was not the Eizan; it was the Randen.  Similar trains.  Completely different lines.

This was not really a problem.  I found a stop on the train map with a temple I'd never been to and set out into the light afternoon drizzle.

Jisso-in Temple, originally built in the 13th Century, is way off the tourist map.  Except for a few autumn foliage obsessives who come to see the trees reflected in the high-gloss floors of the temple, the place is fairly empty.  It is set in the foothills of the Kitayama mountain range.  Iwakura, the name of the area, gave me the distinct impression of a mountain ski town somewhere.

Despite my nonchalant approach to this outing, I did want to know if the temple before me was indeed Jisso-in.  I walked up to the ticket window and inquired.  The woman inside said something brusquely in Japanese accompanied by some fraught gestures.  I looked down and realized I was standing on a small carpet with my wet shoes.  I stepped back and apologized.  She was still agitated.  Huh?  What?  Oh shit!  It was not my wet shoes or the carpet.  I was standing on the low, slatted platform where one removes one's shoes before entering a temple.  I stepped back onto the concrete, removed my shoes and approached the window again in my stocking feet.

Next I slaughtered the name of the temple.  I asked (in Japanese) if this was Jisho-in Temple.  The first woman was apparently so outraged she asked her younger colleague to deal with me.  This more calm and attractive woman corrected me: "Jisso-in".  I repeated what she said, or thought I did.  She said it again, emphasizing the s sound.  I said it again.  She said it again.  And again.  And again.  I took my ticket and slunk away still trying to pronounce the name of the temple correctly.

I hoped the beauty and serenity of the temple and garden would whisk my mind away from my faux pas.  But I could not enjoy anything after that.  I was too embarrassed.  Even as I write I cringe when I think about my gaffe: wet Doc Martin boots in the no-shoes zone.  How could this happen?  I've never done this before.  The shoe removal area is always so obvious at temples.  It is impossible to miss.  Ugh!

I cursorily made my way through the temple and gardens, returned my stockinged feet to their big, ugly boots and moped back to the train.

Gion Odori

Each of the five hanamachi (geisha district) in Kyoto holds an annual odori (dance performance).  The first such performance happened in 1872 as part of a civic effort aimed at showcasing the art and culture of Kyoto after the capital was moved to Tokyo.  Most of the odori take place in the spring around the time of the cherry blossom.  Because the world of the geisha is rather secretive and the geisha houses are essentially private clubs (you need an introduction from an existing client to gain admittance), this is an opportunity for the general public to see them do what they do.

Gion Odori, performed by the Gion Higashi Kabukai (Gion-East Song & Dance Society), is relatively new (1950s) and the only odori that happens in the autumn.  Following on my chance encounter with a maiko, I decided to go.

The Gion Kaikan Theatre has seen better days.  It is not shabby in a quaint eccentric kind of way.  Rather, it appears to have had a poorly executed renovation in the 80s and has not been updated since.  Despite the drab setting the performance was brilliant - graceful, beautiful and perfectly Japanese.

The event began with the optional tea ceremony.  As an absolute beginner eager to understand this mysterious ritual that is so deeply embedded in the Japanese culture, I paid the extra ¥500.  This performance seemed to be a take-out version of what I imagine a real tea ceremony is.  The maiko were immaculate in appearance and gesture, but the attendants were lacking the same charm.  It was a hurry-up experience like eating at a diner where the waitress is trying to turn covers.  This I could have skipped.

I was happy to see the audience was for the most part dressed very smartly, men in jackets and quite a few women in kimonos.  It felt like the Metropolitan Opera in New York.  Also, like the opera, the odori crowd was mostly gray-haired.  I was an outsider by not only my nationality, but also my age.

I didn't know what to expect really.  I read a brief synopsis in English beforehand that said the theme of this year's odori was inspired by the paintings found on fusuma (sliding doors) in Kyoto's most famous temples.  There was to be a prologue and six scenes.

The curtain rose on a side stage revealing the musicians and chorus.  I was a little surprised to see that there were no men and no one under 50.  The main curtain rose and four maiko were posing as if in a still-life painting.  Soon they were floating around the stage, their movement fluid, like a leaf caught in a gentle breeze or the current of a stream.  I imagine their training is not only dance, but also perhaps t'ai chi and zazen.

The music and singing are rhythmic and hypnotic.  I can only compare it to Gregorian chant heard in a traditional Catholic mass where the listener is lulled into a spiritual trance.  There is a narrative which is sung both as a chorus and solo, though my extremely limited Japanese means I have to rely on the movement of the dancers to tell the story.  The wonderfully simple background paintings also help, placing the action in each of the four seasons.

The last scene and finale is interesting because there are geiko (the preferred term for Kyoto geisha) that appear that were not in the previous scenes.  Like the grande dames of Broadway, beneath the makeup and elaborate kimonos, one can see their age and somewhat fading beauty.

After the performance I stopped by the cafe Rinken for a drink.  As I sat there reflecting on the evening the maiko from the odori pass by still in costume.  They bow slightly acknowledging the barman.  Yeah...a very special evening in Gion.

On the menu...

Working in the smallest kitchen ever - one burner, no oven and a counter top that measures 27 X 45 cm (a little smaller than a folded newspaper) - somehow I'm still able to eat pretty well.