Just a few more Sakura

So I'm writing about the Sakura/ Cherry Blossoms again but only because of how amazingly incredibly beautiful they are. My parents and their friends visited last week and the week before and lucky for them the arrived at the perfect time of year when the sakura blossoms began to fall. One of the most beautiful spots in all of Kyoto during the sakura season is the Philosopher's Path, which is lined on both sides with tons of cherry blossom trees overlooking a small canal. When the cherry blossoms fall, their petals blanket the surface of the water and make the canal flow pink. Here's a picture of me when I'm all dressed up to go to a job interview on the day I went to the Philosopher's walk.

Along the Philosopher's Path where Japan's greatest modern philosopher, Kitaro Nishida once strolled

Speaking of job interviews, one of the offers I received was for a firm in Kyoto called FOBA. It's somewhat unknown and off the architectural mainstream, but they do some interesting work. I would be all for working there except for the pay and the hours. The pay is nonexistent and the working hours are 66 per week from monday through saturday. It's pretty insane, but that seems to be the norm for architecture firms in Japan. Unpaid internships (i.e. slave labor, indentured servitude, whatever you want to call it) for really long hours have become the custom here because there is such a long line of foreign students just itching to work in their office at whatever cost. Even a smaller more obscure firm like FOBA said that they get several applications from foreigners per week, even per day asking to work there for free. Apparently this has led to an environment where foreign workers and interns aren't appreciated at all as they are very very very readily and easily replaced. So, I'm trying do decide if such an experience is worth it and I think I will probably go through with it and take the hit to my savings account as working in a Japanese architecture firm was one of the goals I had when deciding to come here on the Light Fellowship.

That little diversion aside, here's a image of one of my favorite snacks and my favorite type of mochi, Sakura Mochi. Readily available during the sakura season, sakura mochi is roughly pounded rice still coarse unlike most mochis with red bean paste in the middle and wrapped in a cherry tree leaf. The leaf is one of my favorite parts as it imbues the mochi with a slightly salty yet sweet flavor that is characteristic of the cherry tree leaves and blossoms. I often stop at every mochi store I see and sample their sakura mochi searching for the best one. This particular one was from a shop near the intersection of Shirakawa-dori and Imadegawa-dori and it was very very good.

Delicious sakura mochi near ginkakuji

Finally, here is a picture of the sakura blossoms hanging down into Ryoan-ji, the most famous zen rock garden. I had visited this temple and garden before to contemplate its serenity in the summer, but coming at spring with the cherry tree drooping over the wall was a completely different experience. Delicate flower petals fluttered gently on the wind and settled lightly to rest on the mossy rocks and dissolved into the chalky white gravel. I would highly recommend coming to Kyoto during the cherry blossom season to see this and all of the many many other beautiful sakura sights that I was unable to include in my posts.

Weeping sakura hanging into the garden of Ryoan-ji

Some Architecturing: Frank Lloyd Wright and Shin Takamatsu

Dear readers, sorry for the delay in posts, but things have been hectic here in Kyoto. Two weeks ago was the week before spring break so I had tests and midterms etc. and the following week was spring break for which I went to Vietnam with some of my friends. Anyways, here is a post that I have been meaning to write a little blurb on for a while about some of the architectural sights I've been seeing here.

I recently went to visit the Yamamura House near Kobe originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and also not so recently visited Shin Takamatsu's Week Building project in Kyoto. Both projects exhibit a strong affection for details in an exuberant manner that might be called ostentatious by some minimalists. Most of today's architecture has focused on the minimalist aesthetic, cutting back on sculptural detail in favor of clean lines and increased economy. Other sculptural modern architecture such as that of Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid design their flowing lines and curves at a super-human scale that is fairly removed from our immediate tactile perception. In addition, Takamatsu and Wright's works, despite being in Japan, do not exhibit the sort of minimal "Zen-like" aesthetic commonly associated with Japan and Japanese design in general.


"Week Building" Facade

Shin Takamatsu developed an early affliction for a technical and mechanical tectonic expression. Takamatsu's "Week Building" was completed in 1986 and expresses a fascinating robotic tectonic that embodies the zeitgeist of the Japan's Bubble Economy at the time. Riding the wave of technology, trade, and speculation, the high-tech mechanical and man-made was seen as the hope for Japan to rise as a leading power in the 20th century. This fetishization of technology carried over into the aesthetics of Takamatsu's work of which the "Week Building" is a prime example. In place of capitals, the transition between pillar and lintel is expressed with a hinge-like joint.

Handrails, bridges, and beam connections are all connected via a similar round member. Despite their appearance the hinges and joints does not move, yet the give the impression of a flexible, machine-like transforming building that operates based off motion and movement. Technology as an agent of mobilization for Japan's economic development is the underlying theme of this shopping complex. Takamatsu's sculptural details are perhaps an excessive tectonic statement, however this excess is representative of the excess of the bubble age. Nonetheless, they provide an interactive tactile experience when wandering through the now-deserted building's grounds.


Detail of Column Joint

Perhaps the greatest master of sculptural details to come to Japan was Frank Lloyd Wright. His (in)famous Tokyo Imperial Hotel was devoid of plain surfaces as nearly every sill, wall, and ceiling was detailed in his unique style. While here in Japan building the Imperial Hotel, Wright designed an initial scheme for the Yamamura House in 1918 that was carried out by his assistants, Arata Endo and Makoto Minami, in 1924 after Wright's departure. The Yamamura House is full of similar sculptural details and the ubiquitous use of the famous Oyaishi stone. Wright's custom-designed furniture and sculptures create a rich tactile experience for the senses.

Central Dining Room

Although the original design was fairly devoid of any association with Japanese traditional housing types (aside from perhaps the low horizontality naturally found in most of Wrights "Prairie Style" buildings), Endo and Minami added several washitsu (Japanese style tatami mat rooms) as well as staggered shelving similar to those found in traditional Japanese Shoin mansions. The inclusion of such uniquely Japanese elements like the staggered shelving, which was admired by Bruno Taut in his 1930s writings on Katsura Villa, presaged the West's soon-to-be-rediscovered fascination with Japanese architecture.


Custom Furniture in Study with Staggered Shelves

Today, both Wright's Yamamura House and Takamatsu's Week remain deserted and devoid of their originally intended functions. Whereas Takamatsu's suffers from the economic depression, ironic considering the spirit it embodied of a rising economic power, Wright's is devoid of permanent inhabitants and functions merely to preserve the memory of Wright's intervention in a wealthy Japanese suburb. Just as the West no longer looks towards Japan as an economic or architectural role model, the movement for scupturally focused architectural design has been forgotten in time as well.

Ground Entrance to Yamamura House

What is This? 10

Spotted: At one of, if not, Japan's most significant works of architecture, the Katsura Detached Palace, I found this stone. Carefully tied with a black rope and placed in the center of the pathway leading up to the entrance of the main building. A belated Easter Egg? A modern art installation, perhaps? What is this?


Answer: This is the traditional Japanese symbol for "no entry". I'm quite sure this marker wouldn't work at all in America because it doesn't really prevent one from physically entering an area. Anyone could just walk past this rock with a string, however the bound rock creates a psychological barrier that prevents one from passing it. I've noticed that everyone in Japan is quite conscious of the rules and my being here has made me more aware of what actions are okay and what are not. We are bound by the rules and shouldn't pass this rock, which is itself a reminder of ourselves, bound with a rope and restricted in movement. It works quite effectively because it makes one conscious that the decision to walk past this rock will also be a decision to break the rules.

View of the pond on the grounds of Katsura Villa

My visit to the Katsura Detached Palace was quite pleasant. As you can see from my pictures, the Momiji season has started in Kyoto. "Momiji" refers to the time when the maple leaves begin to change color to a fiery red. To go to Katsura it is necessary to make a reservation quite far in advance and you can only enter the grounds on a guided tour. I was a little disappointed that we couldn't go into the palace itself, but I understand their concern about preserving this national treasure. I certainly admire Katsura for its Sukiya (rustic and restrained) style of architecture as well as the profound beauty present in the well-integrated composition of buildings and landscape. Many of the design patterns on the sliding doors and screens of the complex are quite abstract and still appeal to the contemporary eye. There are many books written about Katsura that describe its interior in great depth, but it would have been nice to see the interior for myself and to experience it with my own haptic senses.

What is This? 9

Spotted: Japanese tombs decorated with 2-D black and white cats with glass marble eyes. New lawn decorations, or perhaps an extension of the Japanese obsession with cuteness into the afterlife? Egyptian guardians of the afterlife? What is this??


Answer: I'm actually still not quite sure what these flat cats are for, but I imagine it's to keep other cats away from these tombs, which happen to be the tombs of the Nobunaga clan. That's right, the Oda Nobunaga clan that unified much of Japan during the Warring States Period. I found it amusing that the Japanese would find it less offensive to have these flat cats than a real cat on the tomb of one of Japan's most significant historical figures. I happened upon Nobunaga's tomb when I was exploring grounds of Daitokuji, the 700 year old Zen temple next door to my apartment. There was a cemetery attached to one of the sub-temples and on its grounds was the humble tomb of Oda Nobunaga. I was also surprised at its simplicity when compared with Ieyasu Tokugawa's (the final unifier of Japan) tomb in Nikko. The cemetery was largely devoid of greenery, but the plots had unusual colored gravel or sand surrounding the tombstones. A patchwork of arid colors graced the grounds of this cemetery to create a beautiful scene unknown in America's largely grassy graveyards.


Sand and gravel in cemetery plots