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paper"},{"term":"wood"},{"term":"yabusame"},{"term":"yellow"},{"term":"yohga"},{"term":"yugen"},{"term":"zenga"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Fujiland"},"subtitle":{"type":"html","$t":""},"link":[{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/feeds\/posts\/default"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/-\/Zen?alt=json-in-script\u0026max-results=8"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/search\/label\/Zen"},{"rel":"hub","href":"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/"},{"rel":"next","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/-\/Zen\/-\/Zen?alt=json-in-script\u0026start-index=9\u0026max-results=8"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"generator":{"version":"7.00","uri":"http://www.blogger.com","$t":"Blogger"},"openSearch$totalResults":{"$t":"10"},"openSearch$startIndex":{"$t":"1"},"openSearch$itemsPerPage":{"$t":"8"},"entry":[{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680767306647564241.post-8547142141643926747"},"published":{"$t":"2014-09-23T17:59:00.001-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2015-05-21T01:23:22.225-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Han-Shan"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Ian Kishizawa"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Kazuo Yagi"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"sculpture"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Shindo Tsuji"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Sodeisha"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Tottori"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Zen"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Shindo Tsuji: A Lifetime of Forgetting"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003E\u003Ctable align=\"center\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-YRghTxBhADQ\/VCIUhbvCULI\/AAAAAAAAH8k\/hce-meGgmAQ\/s1600\/I_DSC0076.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"500\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-YRghTxBhADQ\/VCIUhbvCULI\/AAAAAAAAH8k\/hce-meGgmAQ\/s1600\/I_DSC0076.jpg\" width=\"459\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003EFace, 1956\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EIn 1948 the respected Zen elder Ian Kishizawa told the sculptor Shindo Tsuji, “Forget whatever you can and express whatever remains.” Despite its enigmatic and paradoxical quality, this typically Zen-like admonition nevertheless manages to sum up the career of Tsuji (1910 – 1981), an important Japanese sculptor whose centenary is being celebrated by a major retrospective at Kamakura Museum of Art. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003ETsuji’s early career is the familiar tale of a young provincial coming to sup at the fountain of metropolitan sophistication, and seeking to make a name for himself by acquiring the expected styles and techniques. After moving to Tokyo from his home village in Tottori prefecture in 1931, he studied Western-style painting at the Independent Institute of Art, before switching to sculpture, in which his main influence was the naturalism of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin.  \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ctable cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-1ZpivGANER0\/VCIU0GZJoRI\/AAAAAAAAH8s\/NQK9Y8yoyIo\/s1600\/fa20110211a1a.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"400\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-1ZpivGANER0\/VCIU0GZJoRI\/AAAAAAAAH8s\/NQK9Y8yoyIo\/s1600\/fa20110211a1a.jpg\" width=\"313\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003EHan-Shan, 1958\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EWorking in wood, early works, like \u003Ci\u003ESummer Morning – Master Denchu Hirakushi Aged Seventy\u003C\/i\u003E (1941) and \u003Ci\u003EPoet – Study for Yakamochi Otomo\u003C\/i\u003E\u0026nbsp;(1942), won praise for their realism, despite the fact that the statue of Yakamochi Otomo looks very different from how we would imagine a poet of the Nara period (710 – 794) to look. By this time Tsuji was exhibiting his work as a member of the Japan Art Institute Exhibition. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EHaving learnt much, the rest of his career, in accordance with the instruction given by Kishizawa, was a kind of forgetting. This journey led him to greater expressiveness as well as a more profound interaction with his materials. A key event in this respect was moving to Kyoto, where in 1949 he took up a teaching post at the Kyoto City School of Art (today’s Kyoto City University of Arts). At that time, even in the center of Kyoto you could find kilns turning out pottery. To someone like Tsuji, who had already sculpted in wood, plaster, and bronze, it seemed only natural to turn to ceramics as a medium of expression. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EThere is something anthropomorphic about wood. It seems to cry out to be carved into human-like figures, as evident in Tsuji’s work. But clay is a different matter. By switching to ceramics, Tsuji’s sculpture was able to take a more abstract route, while also providing inspiration to avant-garde ceramicists like Kazuo Yagi and the Sodeisha group who wanted to escape from functionality and treat ceramic works as pure objets d’art.  \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Ctable cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-kDonJtJBe_o\/VCIVQfbt3aI\/AAAAAAAAH80\/QmIZUd-eKd4\/s1600\/%E7%8C%AB%E3%81%AE%E9%A0%AD%2B(%E9%99%B6%E5%BD%AB)%2B1956.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"312\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-kDonJtJBe_o\/VCIVQfbt3aI\/AAAAAAAAH80\/QmIZUd-eKd4\/s1600\/%E7%8C%AB%E3%81%AE%E9%A0%AD%2B(%E9%99%B6%E5%BD%AB)%2B1956.jpg\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003EHead of a Cat, 1956\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EWorking with clay enabled Tsuji to forget what he had known before and to respond afresh to the qualities of the new material. This gives these works a particular freshness and sense of discovery. Rather than working from models, as he had done with his wood sculptures, he now used his own internalized concepts as points of departure for increasingly abstract sculptures. While \u003Ci\u003ECat\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\u0026nbsp;(1956) is still just recognizable as a cat, \u003Ci\u003EHead of Cat\u003C\/i\u003E (1956) is not. Only after reading the name plate, do we perceive with a sudden pleasurable jolt the sculpture’s feline essence. His ceramic sculptures from this period represent the acme of his art, something that was recognized when he was selected to represent Japan at the 1958 Venice Biennale.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EHis work also shows a noticeable tendency towards chunky, block-like works, like \u003Ci\u003EMan Sitting on a Chair\u003C\/i\u003E\u0026nbsp;(1957) and \u003Ci\u003EMountain Man\u003C\/i\u003E (1957). These have an almost architectural feel, looking like the kind of buildings you might find on some alien world. As a devout Zen Buddhist himself – he had become a priest in 1938 – some of the ideas that spurred such abstract sculptures were from Buddhist traditions. For example, one of the works shown at the Venice Biennale, the bulky-looking \u003Ci\u003EHan-shan \u003C\/i\u003E(1958) was inspired by the 9th-century Chinese poet \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hanshan_(poet)\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EHan-Shan\u003C\/a\u003E, revered in Zen Buddhism as an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Manjusri.  \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EDespite their abstract style, these works retain a hint of the figurative, something that helps to unlock them for most viewers. However, Tsuji yearned for greater esotericism. In his subsequent career he produced pieces that moved towards greater abstraction through flatness. Looking like pieces of wall removed from some adobe desert village, these works combine warm textures with reticent formal qualities. Somewhat limited as works of art, they seem more conducive to states of Zen meditation, perhaps expressing whatever remained after a lifetime of forgetting. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EC.B.Liddell\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EThe Japan Times\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E11th February, 2011\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/feeds\/8547142141643926747\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2014\/09\/shindo-tsuji-lifetime-of-forgetting.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/8547142141643926747"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/8547142141643926747"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2014\/09\/shindo-tsuji-lifetime-of-forgetting.html","title":"Shindo Tsuji: A Lifetime of Forgetting"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-YRghTxBhADQ\/VCIUhbvCULI\/AAAAAAAAH8k\/hce-meGgmAQ\/s72-c\/I_DSC0076.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680767306647564241.post-7778425426026454905"},"published":{"$t":"2013-11-15T01:38:00.002-08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-11-17T01:43:00.429-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"2013"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Hirokazu Yatsunami"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Idemitsu Museum of Arts"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Ikkyu"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Nanquan Puyuan"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Sengai"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Sesshu"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Zen"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Sengai and the World of Zen"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-eXqHgiCwvwQ\/UoXq4E2YPtI\/AAAAAAAAFPY\/tDgkfXIqUU8\/s1600\/1020-AE-Art-Nanquan-and-Cat.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"640\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-eXqHgiCwvwQ\/UoXq4E2YPtI\/AAAAAAAAFPY\/tDgkfXIqUU8\/s640\/1020-AE-Art-Nanquan-and-Cat.jpg\" width=\"254\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003EOne of the most delightful museums to visit in Tokyo is the Idemitsu Museum of Arts. It is set several floors up in a building that overlooks the Emperor's Palace and from the viewing room, you can sit back in a comfortable armchair with a warm, free cup of Japanese tea in your hand and look out over the green moat that surrounds the royal residence. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAlthough funded by an oil company, the museum is dedicated to traditional Japanese art, with the latest exhibition being \"Sengai and the World of Zen.\" This exhibit's works—it's probably best not to call them \"artworks\"—are by a Zen Buddhist monk who lived from 1750 to 1837. Typically, these are quickly drawn, usually chaotic-looking ink paintings, often with accompanying calligraphy.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAccording to the exhibition's curator, Hirokazu Yatsunami, there is an interesting story—which may or may not be true—that Sengai was actually a highly accomplished artist until someone reminded him of Sesshu Toyo, the most famous master of ink painting who lived in the 15th century. Sesshu had also been a Zen master, though people had forgotten this because of his great artistic skill and merely saw him as an artist. From that moment on, Sengai decided not to repeat Sesshu’s mistake and started to paint in a way that would always remind people he was a Zen master first and foremost—and an artist a very distant second. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThere may well be something to this story because there are pieces like \u003Ci\u003EDaruma\u003C\/i\u003E (1827) and \u003Ci\u003EThe Willow\u003C\/i\u003E (undated), where a sureness of touch and an instinctive compositional nuance shines through despite his slapdash methods. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ENowadays, people have the sometimes-irritating habit of asking what a painting is about or what the artist’s message is. For Sengai this was the key, and art that got in the way of the message by being too impressive or awe-inspiring was bad art. Instead, his paintings aimed at disarming the viewer with humor and a sense of effortlessness. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHe also clearly wanted to raise questions in people’s minds and make them think. This is certainly the case with one of the most interesting paintings, \u003Ci\u003ENanquan and the Cat\u003C\/i\u003E (undated). \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThis is a depiction of a famous story about the Chinese Zen master Nanquan Puyuan (748-834). One day some of his monks were quarrelling over a pet cat. Displeased that discord had thus been introduced into his monastery, Nanquan immediately picked up the poor creature and dispatched it with a knife, as shown in Sengai's illustration. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThis story was accepted as a classic demonstration of the wisdom of Nanquan in nipping things in the bud, but according to Yatsunami, Sengai was unique because he was the first famous Japanese Zen master to start questioning such parables. This can be seen in the message written next to the picture, which raises the question of whether it is only the cat that should die. Was there perhaps not a less violent way to solve this problem? \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESengai's work continually comments on Buddhism in this way, without ever getting in the way of its subject or eclipsing it with showy artistry, making him the quintessential Buddhist artist. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe show also includes items and utensils used by Sengai as well as some calligraphy by Ikkyu (1394–1481), another famous and eccentric Japanese Zen Buddhist monk. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003EC.B.Liddell\u003Cbr \/\u003EMetropolis\u003Cbr \/\u003E10th October, 2013\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/feeds\/7778425426026454905\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2013\/11\/sengai-and-world-of-zen.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/7778425426026454905"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/7778425426026454905"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2013\/11\/sengai-and-world-of-zen.html","title":"Sengai and the World of Zen"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-eXqHgiCwvwQ\/UoXq4E2YPtI\/AAAAAAAAFPY\/tDgkfXIqUU8\/s72-c\/1020-AE-Art-Nanquan-and-Cat.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680767306647564241.post-4571792464484656098"},"published":{"$t":"2013-03-23T04:17:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-03-23T04:17:59.915-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"2013"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Bodhidharma"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Bunkamura"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Daito"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Enku"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Gojo Bridge"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Hakuin"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Kannon"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"koan"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Shakyamuni"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Yomeiji Temple"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Zen"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Hakuin: The Sight of One Hand Clapping"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-s44xSnkKY6M\/UU2Nsbx6FWI\/AAAAAAAAEKk\/VCc7NHu6mzs\/s1600\/Daruma+by+Hakuin.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"400\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-s44xSnkKY6M\/UU2Nsbx6FWI\/AAAAAAAAEKk\/VCc7NHu6mzs\/s400\/Daruma+by+Hakuin.jpg\" width=\"302\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003EMost people know the famous riddle, \"What is the sound of one hand clapping?\" Many are also aware that it is connected with Zen Buddhism, and some will even know that it is a famous koan by the 18th-century monk Hakuin. \u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EA koan, of course, is a paradoxical parable or query used in Zen Buddhism to elicit enlightenment. One of the interesting aspects of this famous koan is that it raises the question of what the other hand — presumably that of Hakuin himself — is doing, which is appropriate, because Hakuin more than perhaps any other famous Zen master had a dual approach to Buddhism. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOn the one hand there was his meditation and thought, expressed in his koans and other writings, while on the other there was his art, now the subject of \u003Ci\u003EHakuin: The Hidden Messages of Zen Art\u003C\/i\u003E at Bunkamura, The Museum, in Tokyo. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe exhibition brings together more than 100 works, mainly ink paintings, created by the monk throughout his life — he died on Jan. 18, 1768, aged 81. For this reason, it is possible to read the exhibition as the story of his spiritual development from a cocky young monk, rather self-consciously proud of his earliest experiences of satori (spiritual awakening), to the rather self-deprecating, comical and much-loved figure depicted in the self-portrait \u003Ci\u003EBusy Busy Beggar\u003C\/i\u003E. This lacks a precise date, like most of the works in the exhibition, but is obviously from later in his life. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt is also possible to view the exhibition in a nonlinear, nonchronological way. One of the aims of Zen Buddhism is the attainment of a state of consciousness outside the temporal and causal flow. There is plenty of scope for this in Hakuin's art because his pictorial subjects cover a wide range of subjects, each one of which can be taken as symbolic of timeless aspects of creation and existence. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHis subjects include Buddha; Kannon the Goddess of Mercy; various Buddhist saints, especially Bodhidharma, the reputed founder of Zen Buddhism; figures from Japanese folk beliefs such as Ofuku-san, the bringer of happiness, and the Seven Gods of Good Fortune; as well as anthropomorphic images of animals. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThis variety contrasts with Enku, another Buddhist monk and artist, who is the subject of another exhibition across town at the Tokyo National Museum. Limiting himself mainly to stylized statues of Buddha, Enku is much more repetitive in his art. This reflects one of the strands of Buddhist practice, namely ritualistic repetition, something that is also expressed in the prolonged spinning of prayer wheels and the chanting of mantras. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAlthough he also prayed and meditated, Hakuin's approach to Buddhism was less about losing oneself in ritualistic repetition and more about achieving unique moments of inspiration and enlightenment. This makes for much more varied and interesting art. The search for such searing moments of insight, however, led Hakuin along occasionally difficult paths — both literally, as he wandered around Japan, and metaphorically as he pushed himself to the limit. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAn early experience of asceticism led to a long period of illness. This is reflected in a couple of works on the theme of S\u003Ci\u003Ehakyamuni Leaving the Mountain\u003C\/i\u003E, in which Buddha is shown after a period of severe ascetic practices with protruding ribs and an emaciated look, testifying to the rigors of the spiritual quest. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThis contrasts with the almost insouciant serenity of Hakuin's \u003Ci\u003ELotus Kannon\u003C\/i\u003E. The Goddess of Mercy is in relaxed mode, contemplating a pond bedecked with lotus flowers. In a world that has always had so much suffering, we cannot help feeling that she is being perhaps a little remiss in her duties. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThis work seems formulaic, as if the artist were painting something he didn't quite understand. His artistic forte, and thus the thing that he seems to have understood best, was the figure of the eccentric and charismatic Zen master, like Bodhidharma, known in Japan as Daruma and the inspiration for the dolls of that name. There are many excellent examples at this exhibition, ranging from the cursory \u003Ci\u003EOne-Eyed Daruma\u003C\/i\u003E to a large, finely delineated scroll painting from Yomeiji Temple (\u003Ci\u003Esee above\u003C\/i\u003E). This shows the sage during a legendary nine-year period of meditation spent facing a cave wall, a fact that may explain why his eyeballs are so firmly lodged in the right-hand corner of his eyes. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOther powerful works center on Daito, a monk who completed his Zen training and then proceeded to spend the next 20 years under the Gojo Bridge in Kyoto with the gang of beggars who lived there. The ragged, hairy figure in his straw hat and cloak, holding a begging bowl in one hand while making a gesture to expel negativity with his other hand, is a potent invocation of the quintessential monk, a person who is half-in and half-out of the world that the rest of us live in — a world, if you like, of one hand clapping. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ci\u003EC.B.Liddell\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe Japan Times\u003Cbr \/\u003E17th January. 2013\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4571792464484656098\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2013\/03\/hakuin-sight-of-one-hand-clapping.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/4571792464484656098"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/4571792464484656098"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2013\/03\/hakuin-sight-of-one-hand-clapping.html","title":"Hakuin: The Sight of One Hand Clapping"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-s44xSnkKY6M\/UU2Nsbx6FWI\/AAAAAAAAEKk\/VCc7NHu6mzs\/s72-c\/Daruma+by+Hakuin.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680767306647564241.post-2788015138346330569"},"published":{"$t":"2013-01-31T19:29:00.000-08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-01-31T19:29:06.118-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"2012"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"awa no ao shi"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Etsuko Watari"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Isamu Noguchi"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Mirei Shigemori"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Tofuki-ji"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Watarium"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Zen"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Zen garden"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Mirei Shigemori: The Garden as Zen and Art"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-ol-dVa3rK0A\/UQs2dfjhymI\/AAAAAAAADx8\/WvDEtlvj4MQ\/s1600\/2012%2B02%2B18%2BMetropolis%2BMirei%2BShigemori%2B1.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"400\" width=\"267\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-ol-dVa3rK0A\/UQs2dfjhymI\/AAAAAAAADx8\/WvDEtlvj4MQ\/s400\/2012%2B02%2B18%2BMetropolis%2BMirei%2BShigemori%2B1.JPG\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003EThe Japanese garden's beauty is unique. While other lands can boast equally or even more beautiful outdoor spaces, nowhere else is the garden considered to be so much a work of pure art as in Japan. It is therefore unsurprising that the Watarium Museum of Contemporary Art has focused on Japan's great garden designer Mirei Shigemori, who transformed the art before his death in 1975. \u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EStarting from an interest in ikebana and the tea ceremony, Shigemori published a 26-volume History of the Japanese Garden, visiting over a thousand Japanese gardens from 1932-38. His first major project came in 1939; an avant-garde design for the Kyoto Zen temple Tofuki-ji's garden. In total, he designed over 200 gardens in a variety of styles, while remaining faithful to the traditional Japanese spirit. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EShigemori does not fit easily inside a museum. The Watarium makes a brave attempt, recreating elements of his famous Tofuku-ji design. This includes a reconstruction of a chessboard-style moss garden as well as a dry Zen garden with gravel raked into ripples emanating outwards from stone cylinders. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ETo these are added items of his calligraphy, pottery, furniture and personal items — like the coat he wore when overseeing work on site. Video installations (no English) show an interview, his gardens, and a short documentary with newly discovered photos of Shigemori's collaboration with Isamu Noguchi, when the famous Japanese-American sculptor was working on a Japanese garden for the Paris UNESCO building. The pictures show Noguchi and Shigemori hunting for special rocks in a stony riverbed. Shigemori favored awa no ao shi, a rock with subtle green tones found only on Shikoku, according to museum curator Etsuko Watari. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe exhibition might strike the average visitor as baffling and esoteric, but its chief pleasure is trying to work out exactly what Shigemori's aesthetic was. The gardens shown through photos and videos seem to show the expression of a common spirit in various ways. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EUnlike the English landscape garden, which uses a romanticized version of nature as its ideal, or the French formal garden with its deadening symmetry, the principles behind Japan's gardens are more elusive. The obvious points are stylization and use of symbolism. Partly, this is an attempt to maximize use of space with artful arrangements of elements that poetically evoke something vaster. Gardens often recreate grand vistas, with rocks representing mountains, and beds of gravel the sea. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn one of Shigemori's true masterpieces, \u003Ci\u003EKyokutohtei\u003C\/i\u003E, a garden he designed for a private residence, he takes this technique to the ultimate level: the garden is surrounded by a wall made of partly burned wood. This creates a shiny, black backdrop suggestive of the infinite depths of the universe. Given the fact that this was made in 1951, a few years after WWII, the burnt surfaces also suggest the horrors of the atomic bomb. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EUnfortunately, Shigemori designed only one private garden in the entire Kanto region, so this exhibition presents an ideal opportunity to get acquainted with the work of this seminal artist and his chosen medium. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/\u003EC.B.Liddell\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/metropolis.co.jp\/arts\/art-reviews\/mirei-shigemori-2\/\"\u003EMetropolis\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E18th February, 2012\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/feeds\/2788015138346330569\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2013\/01\/mirei-shigemori-garden-as-zen-and-art.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/2788015138346330569"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/2788015138346330569"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2013\/01\/mirei-shigemori-garden-as-zen-and-art.html","title":"Mirei Shigemori: The Garden as Zen and Art"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-ol-dVa3rK0A\/UQs2dfjhymI\/AAAAAAAADx8\/WvDEtlvj4MQ\/s72-c\/2012%2B02%2B18%2BMetropolis%2BMirei%2BShigemori%2B1.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680767306647564241.post-4218811159704594231"},"published":{"$t":"2011-11-29T16:56:00.000-08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2011-11-29T17:04:42.435-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"2007"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"aesthetics"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Arthur Waley"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"book review"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Donald Richie"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"jimi"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Metropolis"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"yugen"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Zen"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Book Review: \"A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics\" by Donald Richie"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-SIkIJnTSJJY\/TtV960DqOII\/AAAAAAAABqA\/-bYYF87h0SM\/s1600\/Richie.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" dda=\"true\" height=\"200\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-SIkIJnTSJJY\/TtV960DqOII\/AAAAAAAABqA\/-bYYF87h0SM\/s200\/Richie.jpg\" width=\"138\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003ETHERE ARE TWO KINDS OF FOREIGNERS: The one who visits the holiest zen garden and sees nothing but a dirty pond, a bit of gravel, and some shrubs, and the other who finds infinite spiritual wonders in a small, misshapen clay tea cup. Most of us living in Japan exist between these two poles of stolid cynicism and excitable, awestruck reverence for Japanese culture.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003EExactly where you lie on this continuum will determine how much you appreciate this small book by Donald Richie. The acknowledged don of resident gaijin writers in Japan, Richie first came to these shores in 1947 as a cub reporter for the US military publication \u003Cem\u003EPacific Stars and Stripes\u003C\/em\u003E. What is notable at the start is the way Richie attempts to set his book apart by (a) calling it a \"tractate,\" and (b) asserting that an exploration of Eastern aesthetics is not compatible with the ordered, logical, and analytical \"conventions of a Western discourse.\" While \"tractate\" is similar in definition to dissertation, its connotations call to mind the mysticism of the Hebrew Talmud and Neo-Platonic philosophy, something that seems borne out in Richie's declared intention to allow unspoken factors to \"guide his brush.\"\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\"Most likely to succeed in defining Japanese aesthetics is a net of associations composed of listings or jottings, connected intuitively, that fills in a background and renders the subject visibly,\" he writes in the preface.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EGiven Richie's age — 83 — one is tempted to think that he's employing these tricks to set up easier and more tolerant ground rules for what follows or, to put it more bluntly, giving himself an old man's license to ramble on. The incessant abstraction and definition of terms by words that are themselves undefined gives great stretches of the book a vague, misty character or, worse still, the feeling of reading a dictionary without the alphabetical organization. To be fair to Richie, he seems as much aware of this as anyone else.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\"But such a subjective term as 'taste' (even under a rubric as generous as good-sense equals good-taste) needs to be codified,\" he writes at one point, apparently regretting his decision to turn his back on the certainties established by the \"conventions of a Western discourse.\" Luckily, he soon moves away from such wordism and throws in more actual examples. \"This is \u003Cem\u003Ejimi\u003C\/em\u003E, usually translated as simple 'good taste,' though it does have a pejorative edge. When a plainish kimono is worn in a group wearing brighter garments, a close friend might remark (with a smile): \"Isn’t that a little \u003Cem\u003Ejimi\u003C\/em\u003E?\"\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ERead with patience and a degree of faith in the undoubted erudition of the writer, this little book eventually has much to say. As the above quote suggests, much in Japanese aesthetics is determined by social dynamics and one-upmanship. In one of the many small boxes that pepper the main text, Richie writes that \"[Japanese aesthetics] still serve to separate status and class.\" This is aesthetics as a line of defense against social turbulence and changes caused by economic forces. The salient features of Japanese culture—\u003Cem\u003Ewabi sabi\u003C\/em\u003E, \"less is more,\" Zenism, etc.—thus appear as attempts to constantly outflank and counter the gaudy flash and panache of the nouveau riche.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EJapanese aesthetics are revealed as the product of this social competitiveness, of the desire to find yet more subtle shades of meaning and beauty than the next guy. This has often led to an effete pretentiousness and an overabundance of subtlety, as in the appositely named Arthur Waley's definition of the term \u003Cem\u003Eyugen\u003C\/em\u003E, quoted in the book: \"To watch the sun sink behind a flower-clad hill, to wander on and on in a huge forest with no thought of return, to stand upon the shore and gaze after a boat that goes hidden by far-off islands… such are the gates of yugen.\" The kind of person who reads that and thinks, \"Great! Where can I buy some?\" then this book is for you. As for me, I enjoyed it for all the wrong reasons. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cem\u003EC.B.Liddell\u003C\/em\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMetropolis\u003C\/em\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cem\u003E28th December, 2007\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4218811159704594231\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2011\/11\/book-review-tractate-on-japanese.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/4218811159704594231"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/4218811159704594231"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2011\/11\/book-review-tractate-on-japanese.html","title":"Book Review: \"A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics\" by Donald Richie"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-SIkIJnTSJJY\/TtV960DqOII\/AAAAAAAABqA\/-bYYF87h0SM\/s72-c\/Richie.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680767306647564241.post-4383990894193053291"},"published":{"$t":"2010-10-23T01:40:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2011-02-19T00:45:26.312-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"2001"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Edo-Tokyo Museum"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Eison"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"history"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"hossu"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Japan Times"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Kamakura Japan"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Kublai Khan"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Mongols"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"NHK"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Nichiren"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Sung"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Tokimune Hōjō"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Tokiyori Hōjō"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Zen"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Exhibition: Tokimune Hōjō"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_SFhgk2FUcYg\/TMKewdEKFKI\/AAAAAAAABDI\/t5BmvKUdkaw\/s1600\/Mongol+Invaders.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"263\" nx=\"true\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_SFhgk2FUcYg\/TMKewdEKFKI\/AAAAAAAABDI\/t5BmvKUdkaw\/s400\/Mongol+Invaders.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELeaves left by the divine wind\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003EWhen England was conquered by the Normans in 1066, it was profoundly changed. We might expect the same to have been true in Japan's case if it had fallen to the invading Mongols and their Chinese and Korean auxiliaries in 1274 or 1281. Two things prevented Mongol success. One was the famous kamikaze typhoons, which on each occasion wrecked large sections of the invasion fleets. The other was the unwielding resistance of the Japanese themselves and their leader Tokimune Hōjō (1251-1284). To coincide with the current NHK Sunday night historical series on TV, the Edo Museum Tokyo is staging an exhibition of Kamakura artifacts focused on the heroic events of Tokimune's life.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt is hard to connect emotionally with a period so different from our own. This is especially the case as many of the items and pictures on display seem so worn or faded, or are mere copies. Some original silk paintings with religious themes are now so dim as to appear like vanishing dreams. Another problem, even for Japanese, are the difficult to read scrolls and documents on display. These include everything from official and diplomatic correspondence to diaries and poems. One of the most interesting items is a copy of the letter sent from the court of Kublai Khan in 1268 ‘politely’ demanding tribute from the small island.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EPerhaps the most spectacular piece of writing is an original sutra scroll from the brush of Nichiren (1222-1282), one of the great characters of the period. This 1281 scroll in good condition shows the unique calligraphy of the Buddhist monk who was at the forefront of the religious tumult of the period. His kanji in different sizes with long, sweeping brushstrokes that cut across each other, create an almost Gothic density, and hint at his complex and powerful mind. Often at odds with the authorities, Nichiren claimed that the Mongol invasions were the result of disbelief in his own Lotus Sutra which he preached as the essence of Buddhism. An old, smoke-damaged scroll portrait, sitting side by side with a recent pristine copy, shows a rather pugnacious exterior but with a hint of kindness. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe portraits are one of the strengths of the exhibition. The best of these, however, are the wooden sculptures which show a high degree of individualization. Tokimune’s father Tokiyori is represented in a rather amusing pose with his knees jutting outwards on each side as his feet poke forward. The wooden statue of the monk Eison, made to commemorate his 80th birthday in 1281, shows him holding a \u003Cem\u003Ehossu\u003C\/em\u003E, a kind of ceremonial whisk made from white bear hair and a symbol of religious authority. The long white hair of the hossu echoes Eison's long drooping eyebrows, creating a charming effect \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWhile courtiers had great influence in the Heian period (794-1185), the Kamakura period (1185-1333) was a time dominated by soldiers and monks. The Mongol threat gave these two groups even more importance. After the first exploratory attack by the Mongols in 1274, Japan prepared for further invasion in two ways. The regent Tokimune, based at the military capital of Kamakura, mobilized the country's military might, while the priests and the people sought to defend Japan through prayers to gods and buddhas.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe eclipse of Kyoto's court culture by these two groups helped not only to stave off invasion, but also gave Japanese culture a new vigor and depth. This was a time when many Zen monks came over from the tottering Sung state in southern China to be welcomed by the Kamakura nobility, who absorbed their teachings. Several fine Chinese celadon vessels on display attest to Kamakura Japan’s strong links with the doomed Sung state which fell to the Mongols in 1279. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe weapons displayed include many fine examples of Japanese swords, including several that belonged to the Hōjō clan, as well as a couple of suits of Japanese armor, painstakingly made from small lacquered pieces of metal woven together with cords and weighing up to 20kg. Armed with these weapons and entrenched behind palisades, the samurai were able to offer stern resistance when a vast Mongol armada returned to the site of the earlier invasion in 1281. The Mongol weapon of choice was the composite bow. The great strength of this weapon can be inferred from the strung and unstrung examples on display. Remove the strings and the bow completely bends the other way. Used in unison with cavalry tactics, this weapon had proved invincible over the wide open spaces of Eurasia. Japan however was a different proposition. The narrow spaces and rocky coasts, sternly defended, kept the Mongols at bay for several weeks until the weather was able to take a hand and wreck the invasion fleet. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAmong the artifacts of this historic event is a large ornate copper anchor recovered from a wrecked Chinese ship. Instead of anchoring an invading vessel, it was put to service as a temple bell, thanking the gods for the \"divine wind\" and the defeat of the Mongols, a deliverance that allowed Japan to change at its own pace.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cem\u003ETokimune\u0026nbsp; Hōjō\u0026nbsp;and His Time runs until May 27, 2001,\u0026nbsp;at the Edo Tokyo Museum \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003EThe Japan Times\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E11th April, 2010\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4383990894193053291\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2010\/10\/exhibition-tokimune-hojo.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/4383990894193053291"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/4383990894193053291"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2010\/10\/exhibition-tokimune-hojo.html","title":"Exhibition: Tokimune Hōjō"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_SFhgk2FUcYg\/TMKewdEKFKI\/AAAAAAAABDI\/t5BmvKUdkaw\/s72-c\/Mongol+Invaders.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680767306647564241.post-1409110641490981170"},"published":{"$t":"2010-06-07T06:30:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2010-06-20T04:15:31.239-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"2000"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Daruma"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Gitter–Yelen Collection"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Hakuin"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Motsugai"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Nantembo"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Sengai"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Shoto Museum"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Zen"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"zenga"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Exhibition: Zenga from the Gitter-Yelen Collection"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_SFhgk2FUcYg\/TB34IQ9oiFI\/AAAAAAAAA5A\/EYDZ7lbHIA4\/s1600\/soga-daruma.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"400\" qu=\"true\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_SFhgk2FUcYg\/TB34IQ9oiFI\/AAAAAAAAA5A\/EYDZ7lbHIA4\/s400\/soga-daruma.jpg\" width=\"177\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003EArt that makes it all look easy\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003EArt unfortunately shares its etymology with words like artifice and artificial, and all too often that is just what art amounts to – self conscious affectation. This contrasts with the almost religious role art is supposed to fulfill as a pure, spiritual impulse designed to touch us in profound ways, the artist existing as the conduit through which some higher truth is revealed. Japanese zenga – calligraphy and pictures, ingenuously painted by Zen monks, often under the stimulus of inspiration – sound ideally located within this conceptual space of what art ideally should be.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe current exhibition at the beautiful Shoto Museum in Shibuya features the first return visit to Japan of around 100 such works from the American Gitter–Yelen collection. Once again, in the story of Dr. Kurt Gitter, who snapped up many of the pieces as bargains in the 1960s, we have an example of Japanese art being better appreciated by a foreigner than by the natives. This is hard to understand, however, because many of the works have such an immediate appeal. Who can fail to be charmed by Sengai's \u003Cem\u003EHotei\u003C\/em\u003E, one of the Seven Lucky Gods, depicted sprawling on his back like a big kitten, using his famous bag as a giant pillow? Perhaps the very reason these works are so prized now, led to them once being despised: they made art look too easy.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe roots of zenga lie in two aspects of kanji. First, the picturesque quality of these Chinese ideograms and, secondly, the unconsciousness and therefore unaffected way in which these complex, hand–remembered characters are habitually drawn. The abstract and expressionist twists and bursts of ink created by the shodo brush stokes are alive with images. For example, a series of screens appears as if an eel dipped in ink has just finished slithering and bouncing off the paper.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHakuin (1685–1768), a monk who both helped to revive Zen Buddhism and was instrumental in the development of zenga, is the artist best represented here. His Daruma figures show the interplay of written and pictorial art. The figure of Daruma, the Japanese name for Bodhidarma the 6th century monk who founded Zen, stares out from the flourishes of Hakuin’s kanji. Recognizable by his trademark hooked nose, beard, ear–ring, and intense, staring eyes, this is the original of the popular daruma doll with which politicians or businessmen commence a campaign, painting in one eye at the start and one on completion. Producing literally hundreds of these Darumas, including the \u003Cem\u003EGiant Daruma\u003C\/em\u003E (1751), he distributed them liberally as good luck tokens. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe images created by Hakuin and his followers include various traditional gods as well as scenes from the everyday life of monks. The most effective image in this latter category is undoubtedly Nantembo's \u003Cem\u003EProcession of Begging Monks\u003C\/em\u003E (1924) painted with a childlike genius on two hanging scrolls. One scroll depicts a train of monks coming down from their mountain monastery to receive alms, while the other one shows them immediately re-ascending. It is hard to separate such an image from some kind of satirical intent.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMuch of the work has a clearly religious function, but often the sacred themes are a mere excuse to produce an image that is simply cute, charming or amusing. Motsugai’s \u003Cem\u003EDaruma \u003C\/em\u003Eof 1861 is an endearing picture to anyone who has ever suffered a hangover. By all accounts Motsugai was a trained martial artist of powerful physique, but this daruma appears to have been painted with a brush in one hand and a bottle in the other, with skewy lines and a beard represented by some remarkably wimpish strokes. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOne of Hakuin’s paintings shows the Seven Gods of Good Fortune celebrating the Year of the Rat with rats wearing clothes. Although the overall effect is humorous, the resemblance of the rats’ heads to human skulls reminds us that the ridiculous and the sublime are never far apart. In the wry characterization of rats as humans or vice versa lies the Buddhist message that all life is interchangeable in the absence of spiritual development. \u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe Asahi Evening News\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cem\u003E27th October, 2000\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1409110641490981170\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2010\/06\/exhibition-zenga-from-gitter-yelen.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/1409110641490981170"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/1409110641490981170"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2010\/06\/exhibition-zenga-from-gitter-yelen.html","title":"Exhibition: Zenga from the Gitter-Yelen Collection"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_SFhgk2FUcYg\/TB34IQ9oiFI\/AAAAAAAAA5A\/EYDZ7lbHIA4\/s72-c\/soga-daruma.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6680767306647564241.post-3265835448403485935"},"published":{"$t":"2010-04-09T06:21:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2015-07-03T22:55:05.150-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"2008"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Aum Shinrikyo"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"doublethink"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Dr. NakaMats"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"ESP"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Kansai Time Out"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"ki"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Masaru Ibuka"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Mika Ishida"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"mysticism"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"science"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"scientific purism"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Sony"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Yoichiro Sako"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Yoshihiro Otsuki"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Zen"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"You’ve Got to Have Ki: Japan’s tendency to mix science, mysticism, and the paranormal"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_SFhgk2FUcYg\/S78ph1v_cVI\/AAAAAAAAAxg\/6yTGAzDUTlQ\/s1600\/Nakamats.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"601\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_SFhgk2FUcYg\/S78ph1v_cVI\/AAAAAAAAAxg\/6yTGAzDUTlQ\/s640\/Nakamats.jpg\" width=\"640\" wt=\"true\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EOne of the most commented upon features of Asia's intellectual culture is the ability of individuals to subscribe to several competing and apparently contradictory belief systems. The Chinese famously combined their native Taoism and Confucianism with imported Buddhism, and now appear to have little difficulty in declaring themselves Communists while pursuing the path of Capitalism. Likewise the Japanese: Renowned for praying at Shinto shrines, getting married in Christian-style chapels, and living materialistic lives, they are nevertheless packed off to the next world by Buddhist priests.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003ETo people from the mono-faith West – be they Christian, Muslim, or dogmatic atheist – this sort of mix-and-match doublethink might seem fuzzy-minded or even look like a cowardly and superstitious attempt to hedge one's bets vis-à-vis whoever’s really in charge up there. Alternatively, it can be viewed more positively, as an open-minded and liberated way of thinking – a readiness to think outside the box, or at least dip into several boxes.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EThis tendency towards inclusive – if not always logically compatible – thinking also extends to Japan’s scientific and technological communities. With a less purist outlook than their counterparts in the West and a residual interest in what once passed for 'science' in these parts before the shining light of Western rationalism descended, Japan's technocrats often appear very unscientific, in a way that recalls the mysticism, astrology, and alchemy of Europe's great groundbreaking scientists of the 17th century – Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, and Robert Boyle.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003ESeveral years ago, perfect proof of this came in the story that the Daioh Temple of Rinzai Zen Buddhism was holding a special \"information service\" to pray for the preservation of data stored on computer discs and had launched an on-line virtual temple. The chief priest, also claimed to have received about 5,000 requests for prayers, presumably many of them from Japan's tech-savvy whizzes, who saw a timely donation to Cyber-Buddha as perhaps the ultimate back up for their data.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EJapan's lab scientists also like to mix and match proven science with the grey areas of pseudo-science, superstition, and new age insights. Perhaps no finer example of this kind of brain exists than Yoshiro Nakamatsu, a.k.a. Dr. NakaMats, who is a successful scientist and inventor and – quite frankly – a bit of a fruit bat. Alongside his sterling work on the early floppy disc and digital watch, he has also spread his scientific genius in more unorthodox directions. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EWhile there is at least some practical aspect to his musical golf putter – it emits a harmonious musical tone when the ball is correctly struck – his design for the \"Dr. NakaMats House,\" a habitation that he claims will achieve energy self-sufficiency by converting 'cosmic rays' into electricity is science adulterated with generous doses of new age or old-fashioned oriental mysticism.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EIt may be easy to dismiss a failed Tokyo gubernatorial candidate who promotes his own spray–on anti–impotency cure, claims his special diet will enable him to live to 144, and deprives himself of oxygen to spark new ideas, as an eccentric crank or a one off. It is less easy, however, to explain away the connection of one of Japan’s major hi-tech companies with the pseudo-scientific and mystical realms.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EBetween 1990 and 1998, the Sony Corporation, the world's leading consumer electronics company, ran a research facility that investigated a range of psychic phenomena, including extra sensory perception (ESP) and ki, a supposed form of 'bio-energy' and 'energy flow' common in traditional Asiatic medicine. Supported by Masaru Ibuka, one of the company's founders, the lab was headed by Yoichiro Sako, a mathematics and computer science graduate from Tokyo University who had previously worked on voice recognition technology. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003ESako conducted experiments on ki by measuring physiological changes, like pulse and skin temperature, while ki practitioners attempted to alter a patient's ki energy. Another experiment involved one ki practitioner putting ki energy, into a glass of water and then having another practitioner detect which glass contained it.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EAn ESP experiment involved writing or drawing on pieces of paper that were crumpled up and placed either between the subject's fingers or in his or her ear. The subject then tried to identify what was on the papers. Sako claimed a success rate of 97.1 per cent when he presented these findings at the 1996 conference of the Society for Scientific Exploration, an organization consisting of scientists interested in UFOs, the paranormal, and other scientific anomalies.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003ESony's interest in the commercial potential of harnessing the paranormal was signaled the same year when a company executive Mika Ishida spoke to Wired magazine.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\"Sako's main interest is in pushing on the boundaries and definitions that shackle traditional science,\" she said. \"There might be a new type of communication system out there, a system that transmits data through mediums we've never before considered. We don’t know, but we're trying to find out.\"\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EIn 1998, the company finally made a statement that Sako's research had in fact been successful, while at the same time pouring cold water on the project and announcing that it was being closed down.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\"We found out experimentally that, yes, ESP exists, but that any practical application of this knowledge is not likely in the foreseeable future,\" a Sony spokesman Masanobu Sakaguchi told the South China Morning Post.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EWith the death of Masaru Ibuka, the lab's most powerful supporter, in December 1997, the facility's days had been numbered. Other factors were the adverse international publicity that Sony's foray across the sharply delineated scientific boundaries was causing. Yoshihiro Otsuki, a Waseda physics professor represented the scientific purists at home. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\"By pouring money into paranormal research,\" he said, \"Sony might as well be denying that its products can be trusted.\"\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EBut the real problem faced by Sony's blending of Western science, Eastern mysticism, and the paranormal was that it wasn't the only one attempting this synthesis. During the period the lab was operating, the Aum Shinrikyo cult rose to prominence. Its mix of Eastern religion, pseudo-science, and laboratory development echoed Sony's more altruistic efforts. The cult also did a good job attracting the kind of elite science graduates who would otherwise have found good jobs at scientific institutions or tech-driven companies like Sony. Unfortunately many of them had studied chemistry, including sarin gas.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003EWith a vision of a group of spiritually evolved scientists surviving a catastrophe to rebuild civilization – derived partly from science fiction writer Isaac Asimov's \"Foundation\" novels – the group effectively muddied the waters for companies like Sony, and helped push Japan towards the state of knowledge apartheid that exists in the scientifically purist West.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003EKansai Time Out\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"fullpost\" style=\"font-size: large;\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003EAugust 2008\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/feeds\/3265835448403485935\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2010\/04\/youve-got-to-have-ki-japans-tendency-to.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/3265835448403485935"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/6680767306647564241\/posts\/default\/3265835448403485935"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/fujiland-mag.blogspot.com\/2010\/04\/youve-got-to-have-ki-japans-tendency-to.html","title":"You’ve Got to Have Ki: Japan’s tendency to mix science, mysticism, and the paranormal"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_SFhgk2FUcYg\/S78ph1v_cVI\/AAAAAAAAAxg\/6yTGAzDUTlQ\/s72-c\/Nakamats.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}}]}});