ALTERNATIVE TO NOH AND KABUKI

Image via Wikipedia
Most people have heard of Kabuki and Noh, but Japan has another trditional form of theater - bunraku.

Bunraku is a kind of puppet theater. The puppets are quite large, and each puppet is operated by three puppeteers. The puppeteers are visible on stage, but they are dressed all in black with black hoods over their heads to help the audience "filter them out".

The puppets have gorgeous costumes and are capable of very sophisticated movements. In fact,sometimes it is easy to forget you are seeing a puppet and not a human actor. The sets are very impressive too. If you attend a Bunraku performance you should take a lunchbox. The whole performance lasts about 4 hours, with a lunch break in the middle. People eat their obento in the auditorium or in the lobby on seats and benches provided.

Bunraku is not theater for children. The stories are similar to kabuki, and sometimes the same plays are performed in both. However Bunraku performances are much cheaper to attend than kabuki, possibly because Bunraku is designated a cultural treasure in Japan and subsidized by the government.

  

2012 & THE END OF THE WORLD

Image via WikipediaDid you hear the world is going to end in 2012?

According to the prophecies of Nostradamus, and also Baba Vanga (sorry? who?), and also according to the Mayan Calendar, we are running out of time. Natural disasters on an unheard of scale (floods, earthquakes, plagues) are already occurring and World War Three is imminent.

Do you believe this? Do I believe it...? Actually, that's not the important question we should be asking.

IF the world is going to end, it will. If there are going to be natural disasters, then they will happen.  Fear or panic won't make any difference. None of us know whether we'll be struck down tomorrow or next week by sickness or violence or random accident, so with our fragile mortality in mind, we should all ask ourselves the really important question...

How do I want to spend today?

Big Circumstance

One of my favorite songs from way back is  Anything Can Happen by Canadian musical poet Bruce Cockburn  It's on his album Big Circumstance (a really great album!) Bruce Cockburn is one of my favorite singers.

You could have gone off the Bloor St. viaduct
i could have been run down in the street
you could have got botulism anytime
i could have gone overboard into the sea

Anything can happen
to put out the light,
is it any wonder
i don't want to say goodnight?

I could have been hit by a falling pane of glass
you could have had shark teeth write "finit"
we could have been nailed by some vigilante type
in a case of mistaken identity -- obviously

Anything can happen
to put out the light
is it any wonder
i don't want to say goodnight?

We could have been lynched and tarred and feathered --
been on a plane that crashed in flames --
could have done the neutron melt together
but here we are just the same!

You could have been daggered in the dead of night
You could have been gassed inside your car.
I could have been walking in the open fields
and been drilled through the head by a shooting star

Anything can happen
to put out the light
is it any wonder
i don't want to say goodnight?

Related articles

• George Lucas Believes World Will End in 2012 (newser.com)

JAPANESE TEMPLE IN THE SNOW

There's a small local temple in Yamashina called Honkokuji.  It nestles at the foot of forest clad hills. To find it you must walk up to Biwako Canal from Misasagi and cross the red bridge. Your first tantalizing glimpse will be the red gate amid the trees. Passing through that you will see a second gate guarded by two fierce looking golden  giants. Straight ahead the main hall with a statue of a stern but gentle monk with one arm outstretched, to the left a pretty bell tower with a large golden bell.

The fish on the roof of the second gate, a small torii, an elegant Asian dragon and various other details also also gleam gold against the wooden buildings and the trees. This temple has  a lot of gold, which I'm told is unusual in Kyoto (with the notable exception of Kinkakuji.)


I often visit this photogenic little temple to take photographs. I went there recently in the snow on New Year's Eve. If you're ever in neighborhood, it's a pleasant way to spend an hour or two.

Oh, and unlike Kinkakuji, it's free, and it's never crowded!

Related articles

• Winter Wonderland in Kyoto (eatplayrove.blogspot.com)
• Snow at New Year (eatplayrove.blogspot.com)

MY FAVORITE BRIDGE IN KYOTO

Kyoto has a lot of bridges. Some of them are very old and famous, like Togetsukyo over the Hozu River in Arashiyama. But my favouite bridge is small and off the beaten track. It's on a small road in Yamashina that ends with Honkokuji Temple. . In spring the bridge is surrounded with cherry blossom. In summer the startling vermilion paint and gold detail create wonderful contrast with the green leaves. In Autumn the colors of cherry and maple echo the colors of the bridge, and in the winter snow it was dazzling!

Related articles

• Winter Wonderland in Kyoto (eatplayrove.blogspot.com)
• Autumn in Kyoto (eatplayrove.blogspot.com)

WINTER WONDERLAND IN KYOTO

There's a canal carrying water from Lake Biwa to Kyoto that runs along the foot of the mountains behind the JR station in Yamashina. The path beside the canal is a lovely place at any season, and one of my favorite places to bike or walk. It's very lovely in Spring because the sides of the canal are lined with cherry blossom trees, and in Autumn the colored leaves over the canal are so beautiful. But over this New Year holiday it snowed in Kyoto, and turned the canal walk into a winter wonderland.

Even though I am so familiar with the path, it seemed like a brand new place. Branches weighted down with snow hung over the dark water. The whole world seemed to be changed to monochrome, all shades of gray except for occasional splashes of color - a red bridge, a pink camellia, a yellow light reflecting on the snow.

I walked along, my boots crunching in the newly fallen snow, until the light faded away and left strange shapes glowing whitely in the darkness. Finally I turned off the path and walked down the road to Yamashina JR Station. Even the station looked other-worldly that night.

SNOW AT NEW YEAR

 

When I woke up on 31st December it was snowing. Probably it had been snowing most of the night because all the rooftops and the ground were well covered.  

I really LOVE snow! 

I suppose I've never lived somewhere that has snow all winter, so I've never had a chance to get tired of the inconvenience. But I'm certain I could never become immune to to the breathtaking beauty of snow. And I suspect that for me it would make the cold and the slippery paths and the snow shoveling and the wet clothes and the dirty, damp thaw all worth it.

I bolted my breakfast, dug out my only pair of waterproof boots and the rest of my wet weather gear, and set off with my camera for the supermarket... the LONG way. I think that the most magical part of snow is while it is falling. All sound is muted, all color covered or blurred with white. 

I really LOVE snow!

I took many photos of the streets near my apartment from beneath my umbrella. I'm going to write several posts about the New Year snowfall in Kyoto. More coming soon.

JAPANESE STYLE GIFT BOX

Here is an example of exquisite Japanese packaging. This pretty little box is made from a single circle of card, cleverly folded to form a shallow container that can be opened and closed again.
Inside was Japanese sugar candy, but it's all gone now.