Author: Iris

Monkey Business

This afternoon, Pumpkin and I were startled out of our Sunday contemplation by noise from “upstairs”. At first I thought something had loosened and fallen. Pumpkin however made his way into the kitchen immediately and looked into the garden, growling. When I couldn’t find anything amiss, I went back to what I was doing.

A few minutes later, more noise, and when Pumpkin kept staring and growling and I took a closer look, I finally noticed them too:

Going into my third year living here, this is the first time I see monkeys – Japanese macaques to be precise – in this neighborhood, even though I’ve noticed warning signs nearby. So I thought, they were safely on the other end of town (aka: in Arashiyama’s monkey park.)

But no, two males had been visiting and were romping on the roofs and in the trees for a while before making off again. Now I wonder if some of the noises coming from the roof in some nights were also monkeys on the prowl. Then again, this was the first time Pumpkin got upset and growled throughout their visit. He now sleeps at the back of my chair again, keeping close watch over me, I guess.

It surprised me that they were pretty big but at the same time only have a very short tail. I wonder if they’ll be back and if I should be worried sleeping with open windows…
Sorry, I was a bit too slow taking pictures, these are the best ones.

Summer is Coming!

Today was the first day this year with more than 30 degrees! In other words: summer has officially started in Kyoto. My windows can stay open now, the duvet from my bed is on standby while I’m using the covers only (pyjamas will become optional in a few more weeks), and I’m looking into buying special summer items that dissipate heat.

Interestingly, I really didn’t need to check the thermometer to deduce that it’s summer now. I found out by a simple fact: Pumpkin is sleeping on my desk now.

Yesterday evening, he still squeezed behind me on my office chair (Side note: how come cats always use up 50% of your space, no matter what size it is?) but today, he prefers the cool wood of the desk in the coolest room of the house.

To be perfectly honest, it does annoy me a little. He has absolutely no business being so cute, and when he’s sleeping right next to me, I feel like canoodling him every 30 seconds or so. Goodness, I have stuff to do!

Hachidai Jinja

At the end of May, I decided to explore my neighborhood and visit Hachidai Jinja, a famous shrine that dates back to the 13th century, when the whole area was very much outside of Kyoto still. In fact, the Ichijoji village (named after a temple that ceased to exist in 1335) was only incorporated into Kyoto City in 1931. But I digress.

The main deity of the shrine is Susanoo-no-mikoto, the brother of the sun goddess. While Yasaka Jinja (the shrine celebrating Gion Matsuri) is the head shrine for Susanoo, Hachidai Jinja is often called the “northern Yasaka”. Interestingly, Saginomori Jinja, which is even further north, also enshrines Susanoo-no-mikoto, but perhaps he was added to the local pantheon there a bit later.

Hachidai Jinja once had much larger precincts, but today it is fairly small. Passing through a torii, a steep slope leads to the main part, and the main hall (built 1926) lies on top of a few more steps. People come here to pray to exorcise evil spirits, for academic success and matchmaking, among other things.

The shrine is also responsible to provide protection from “directional evil”. It protects the city in particular from evil that comes from the north-east, and was once one of 12 shrines that protected the city.

Nowadays Hachidai Jinja is famous for its connection to a single event: The fight between Miyamoto Musashi and the Yoshioka clan at Sagarimatsu Pine, in 1604. At the time, the pine stood still on the shrine grounds, and it is said that young Musashi went to pray before the fight. However, he changed his mind when he realized that he should only rely upon his own strength and went into battle without prayers. The gods must have favored him regardless, since he was able to wipe out the entire clan during that night.

At the spot of the fight, the fifth descendant of the famous pine still stands to this day; at the shrine itself, the stump of the original tree has been enshrined in a glass case. Next to it, erected only in 2002, stands a statue of Musashi, imagined at only 21 years old (as he was during the fight) and holding his two swords.

It was nice to explore the history of the neighborhood, even though I wouldn’t call the shrine itself spectacular. Unfortunately, even though it is pretty high up in the Higashiyama mountains, there is no view from the precincts; for that you should visit Shisen-do temple just below the shrine. I have done that, of course, and will report about this visit in due course.

Fangirling…

I spent almost the entire day fangirling over people.

In the morning: Bati-Holic or rather: their leader Nakajima-san. I swear, it was for work though – we’ve had an interview because I want to write about them in my next WUIK newsletter (subscribe!) in honor of their 20th Anniversary concert next month.

Learning about the indie music scene in Japan and how things changed for the group was very interesting. Nakajima also shared a few personal things like what he did right out of uni and we went into details about our cats. These bits will probably not make it into the newsletter. However, since we were talking for 2 hours, there’s plenty of material.

In the afternoon, I went to see a friend and her woodblock prints in a joint exhibition of her woodblock print class. This is an annual event and we always meet there. By now I am already expecting some types of print (there is always somebody who makes Buddhas, another one always makes a scene from noh etc.) and it’s fun to recognize some of the artists, so to speak. Yes, my friend’s pieces are very memorable too!

Anyway, so much fangirling is tiring… and Pumpkin didn’t appreciate being left alone all day. So, I’m off to bed now!

The Kyote

A few weeks back, I have discovered a newsletter from a fellow Kyoto denizen who calls himself (or possibly just his newsletter): The Kyote.

It’s a newsletter about what’s going on in Japan at the moment, with a focus on what’s trending on (Japanese) twitter. In the second half, there is a deep(er) dive into a historic crime that shocked Japan at the time (a bit like my Sada Abe case). He publishes every Sunday at 19:00.

This week’s edition is titled “Vibrator* Racing”. Yes, it’s exactly what it means, and yes, it’s a totally serious project. The writer appears to have a certain nerdy humor though… Here’s a little gif:

The link to this particular newsletter with a more detailed explanation is here:
https://thekyote.substack.com/p/14-vibrator-racing
Enjoy…

(Re-) Visit

Last weekend, mostly to get new photos for the “deep dive” feature of my WUIK newsletter, I visited the Garden of Fine Arts again. And: it grows on me.

Part of this is certainly the fact that this time around, I went in the early morning when the sun illuminated the place much better (remember that it’s 2 floors underground) and gave it a more bright and uplifting atmosphere.

The other part is that now I know that the Last Supper and Last Judgement from the Sistine Chapel in Rome were reproduced almost on the original scale. The Last Judgement in particular takes up all three floors of the museum space, and somehow, I can appreciate both paintings much more because of this.

Afterwards, I went to the nearby Kyoto Institute Library and Archives, which I recently (re-) discovered. The entire second floor of the building is just the library with plenty of nooks and crannies to lose yourself in – and books too, of course.

On the first floor, there is a small museum, and this is where I discovered Yasuo Hayashi. He’s now 96, a ceramic artist from Kyoto, and somehow, his works look like MC Escher has discovered the third dimension:

I really enjoyed this exhibition (it’s on until June 9 if you’re in town) and will try to find out more about this artist. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take photographs, but I got a list of books showing his works that I can get from the library above.

The Izu Dancer and Other Stories

Yasunari Kawabata and Yasushi Inoue

This is a collection of four short stories by the two authors above. The stories are literary fiction, in other words: Not much is happening, really, but they provide an interesting glimpse into the Japan of the 1950s.

The Izu Dancer was the first story by Kawabata to appear in English; the foundation stone of international fame that eventually led to the Nobel Prize in 1968. It’s about a troupe of dancers from the Izu Peninsula who travel through Japan in summer to make money. The youngest one catches the eye of an equally wandering student, but when he finds out that she’s only 13, he is content with sharing the road only.

The other stories are all by Yasushi Inoue.

The Counterfeiter describes the life of Hosen Hara, a childhood friend Keigaku Onuki. While both show artistic talent from a young age, it is the latter who becomes a famous painter. The former eventually produces forgeries of his friend’s artwork. Inoue asks the question whether this outcome was inevitable.

In Obasute, Inoue traes the legend of abandoning old people on a mountain and relates it to the inner dynamics of a family: Their matriarch has just turned 70 – the age for the legendary abandoning – but at the same time, his younger sister abandons husband and children to pursue her own life.

The Full Moon details the rise and eventual fall of Kagebayashi, who is made president of a company just before the annual moon viewing celebrations. We hear about leechers and hangers-on as well as of his enemies, all this with the backdrop of the harvest full moon. One of them will be Kagebayashi’s last…

While Kawabata has become famous as the first Japanese to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968, Yasushi Inoue is less known abroad. He is, nevertheless, considered one of Japan’s greatest modern novelists and his work has received numerous awards: The Akutagawa Prize (1950 for The Hunting Gun), the Mainichi Press Prize, the Kikuchi Kan Prize to name just a few. Born in 1907 in Hokkaido, he died in 1991.

Discover Inoue and get the four stories from amazon.

Neighborly Issues

It’s May and the weather is getting warmer – we are now in the mid-twenties on an average day. Already in early April, I’ve moved back to the front room to sleep and I can now keep my windows open 24/7.

Pumpkin seems to be still cold in the night as he’s still sleeping in my bed, and even though I’ve switched to the lightest duvet I have, he’s providing an extra heat source warming my back. Soon, he’ll move towards my feet and then somewhere else, so this is temporary anyway.

You may remember that my bedroom doesn’t have curtains, only shoji that cover the front windows. And since I keep the windows open, the shoji must be open as well, or the whole ventilation idea is a bit moot. So far so good.

Except that my neighbor across from me has done some renovations of her own and created a brand new office that’s a bit further back in her house but exactly opposite my bedroom window. So far so good.

Except that the new lamp she’s using to stay awake when she works through the night, well… it burns with the intensity of a hellfire – and illuminates my bedroom. Just a wee bit more brightness and I could read. So far so no good.

Even though light doesn’t really bother me when I try to fall asleep, I felt the need to address the issue. I took it up with the husband, told him what was up and requested a curtain… *blush* And it did appear just a day or two after! Even half closed, it makes an enormous difference, and my bedroom is now dark and cosy again once I turn off the light. That was easy!

The next question is now how to broach the issue of her kids who play baseball right in front of my bedroom window in the morning. For a deeply entrenched night owl like me, being forced to wake up before eight – and that almost daily – is pure torture. And, honestly, if your kids can play for half an hour before they even have to leave for school, you’re waking them up too early. *grump* But how do I tell her that?

150th Miyako Odori

All the way back in February this year, I was invited to a press conference of Gion Kobu, one of Kyoto’s five kagai – geiko/maiko districts. This year, they celebrated the 150th Miyako Odori, a public dance performance with geiko and maiko held every April that was established in 1872. I have written a piece about its history on my medium page, have a look at Geiko and Maiko Celebrate 150th Miyako Odori.

The press conference featured talks by a professor of Doshisha university about the history of the Miyako Odori and a talk by the dance master Yachiko Inoue, whose school is exclusively responsible for the choreography – and that for 150 performances.

Afterwards, we were introduced to the painter who designed this year’s poster and to two of the three maiko who made their debut on stage this year were presented and we were allowed to have a few questions. They were shy and a bit uncomfortable, and no matter how mature they may seem thanks to their makeup and dress, at the end of the day, they are just some giggling teenagers after all.

A few days later, we were invited back to take promotional photographs of the kimono and the stage setting, again with a Q&A of maiko as well as of the dance master. I found it very interesting how unabashedly the photographers directed the girls to “turn that way, look here” etc. To me, who has always heard the maiko referred to respectfully as maiko-san, it was quite a new experience.

So was watching how the main promotional photo was taken of the two maiko in full dress on stage. The dance master sat at the end of the stage directing them how to smile and hold the props etc. This part alone – one photo for each of the eight scenes – took several hours; sadly I was busy in the afternoon and had to leave at noon.

Finally, as the highlight of the entire backstage experience, I received an invitation to the final dress rehearsal of the Miyako Odori on March 31st. Once again, there were interviews with this year’s first performers and the dance master. The entire theater was filled with invited people, and while the press had to sit at the very back, we were the ones allowed to take photos. Here are a few that I took during the 150th Miyako Odori.

Weekend Project # 5

My style has always been very casual. Until I finished my PhD, I wore jeans & t-shirts practically exclusively. Being body-conscious and even called ugly to my face, this was the perfect uniform to hide in for years.

However, once I moved to Asia, I understood that I needed to upgrade my style to be taken seriously in my male-dominated profession. While male professors always could and still can get away looking mildly unkempt (“he must be a genius!”), female professors who don’t look the part are a no-go (even in the West, I might add).

In Hong Kong, I splurged on a professional stylist who taught me about colors that suit me best and what looks good given my body shape. And while I still prefer a casual sweater to a frilly shirt, I’ve been trying to dress according to the advice I’ve been given ever since, mostly at least. Only the makeup I haven’t fully embraced, but that one’s on my Project 50 by 50 list and I’m making slow progress on that front.

One of the easiest way for a woman to change her style is with accessories. For me, that means: jewellery, even though I don’t own anything that has true monetary value beyond the sentimental. I especially like necklaces with bold pendants, and they make wonderful souvenirs no matter how short or local the trip. I always try to buy handmade pieces from local artisans, but one of my favourite pieces is still this one:

It’s just some cheap, mass-produced plastic-on-metal necklace that I bought mostly for the color some 20 years ago at Utrecht station in the Netherlands. As you can see, the strings were very much worn out, so I didn’t use it for a long time.

However, I finally found some time and the right parts to replace the strings, and I chose some with a little more pizazz to it. The difficult part was to fit the strings into the end pieces, my tools were too big and not quite up to the task. I’m glad that I’ve cultivated my patience quite a bit since I came to Japan, and while it doesn’t look perfect, I prevailed in the end. On to the next 20 years!