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| Daisen-in, Korin-in and Ryoanji |
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Okayama and Kurashiki
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Today was our one day to spend in Okayama. Unfortunately, we were all a little tired, so we slept in an extra hour and went around by ourselves instead of with the group.
First, we went to the city of Kurashiki to see the Kurashiki City Art Museum by Kenzo Tange. The exterior of the building was not that exciting, aside from the interesting and subtle texture of the concrete, but the interior space was nicely designed. We were all a little disappointed by the quality of the construction. The detailing and craft was not what it should have been, and was really distracting and unfortunate.
After that we wandered around the city for a while. We say the Oyama Memorial Museum, the Ivy Academic Hall, the Japanese Rural Toy Museum, the Ohara Museum of Art, the Ohara House, and the Achi Shrine. Of course, we didn’t go inside any of them because we were in a hurry to get back to Okayama. None of the buildings really stood out as anything amazing but experiencing the town was cool. The weather was all over the place today. It would be raining and cold one minute and the next be hot and sunny. In Kurahiki, we met this Turkish guy who had lived in Chicago for a few years so he spoke English very well. We ended up walking by his Turkish shop and buying some Turkish ice cream from him….it was all very Turkish lol. After that we headed to the Achi Shrine, and then back to the train station.
We got back to Okayama at around 3:30 and headed to the Korakuen Garden. The garden is in the picturesque style, oriented around a central lake. The landscape is a little overly controlled for me, but some of the views were still stunning. There were small buildings and gazebos around to enhance the landscape and provide stopping places along the way.
There were a few bridges along the way that we took advantage of for some more “band photos”. After the garden, we walked across the river to Okayamajo Castle. The castle was closed, but we could still get onto the grounds so we walked around and took some quick pictures.
By that time, we were all pretty tired so we headed back to our hotel, stopping at the train station on the way to try to get bullet train reservations to get to Tokyo and to get some food. We got the reservations and then went to dinner at a ramen place in the station. Of course all the ramen had pork in it, which has a tendency to make me sick, so I got gyoza (Chinese dumplings). Finally, we went home and traded pictures from the day. Our band photo gallery, hopefully, will continue to grow, because those are definitely fun.
Tomorrow we leave Okayama at 9:30 to go to Naoshima to see the Benesse Art Site and the Benesse House, all designed by Tadao Ando. The Art Site is comprised of The Benesse House, the Art House Project and the Chichu Art Museum and is focused on re-evaluating the relationship between man, architecture and nature. The setting seems like it will be very serene and I’m excited to see the architecture. Hopefully pictures will be posted of everything I’ve done pretty soon. Love you all.
Today was our one day to spend in Okayama. Unfortunately, we were all a little tired, so we slept in an extra hour and went around by ourselves instead of with the group.
First, we went to the city of Kurashiki to see the Kurashiki City Art Museum by Kenzo Tange. The exterior of the building was not that exciting, aside from the interesting and subtle texture of the concrete, but the interior space was nicely designed. We were all a little disappointed by the quality of the construction. The detailing and craft was not what it should have been, and was really distracting and unfortunate.
After that we wandered around the city for a while. We say the Oyama Memorial Museum, the Ivy Academic Hall, the Japanese Rural Toy Museum, the Ohara Museum of Art, the Ohara House, and the Achi Shrine. Of course, we didn’t go inside any of them because we were in a hurry to get back to Okayama. None of the buildings really stood out as anything amazing but experiencing the town was cool. The weather was all over the place today. It would be raining and cold one minute and the next be hot and sunny. In Kurahiki, we met this Turkish guy who had lived in Chicago for a few years so he spoke English very well. We ended up walking by his Turkish shop and buying some Turkish ice cream from him….it was all very Turkish lol. After that we headed to the Achi Shrine, and then back to the train station.
We got back to Okayama at around 3:30 and headed to the Korakuen Garden. The garden is in the picturesque style, oriented around a central lake. The landscape is a little overly controlled for me, but some of the views were still stunning. There were small buildings and gazebos around to enhance the landscape and provide stopping places along the way.
There were a few bridges along the way that we took advantage of for some more “band photos”. After the garden, we walked across the river to Okayamajo Castle. The castle was closed, but we could still get onto the grounds so we walked around and took some quick pictures.
By that time, we were all pretty tired so we headed back to our hotel, stopping at the train station on the way to try to get bullet train reservations to get to Tokyo and to get some food. We got the reservations and then went to dinner at a ramen place in the station. Of course all the ramen had pork in it, which has a tendency to make me sick, so I got gyoza (Chinese dumplings). Finally, we went home and traded pictures from the day. Our band photo gallery, hopefully, will continue to grow, because those are definitely fun.
Tomorrow we leave Okayama at 9:30 to go to Naoshima to see the Benesse Art Site and the Benesse House, all designed by Tadao Ando. The Art Site is comprised of The Benesse House, the Art House Project and the Chichu Art Museum and is focused on re-evaluating the relationship between man, architecture and nature. The setting seems like it will be very serene and I’m excited to see the architecture. Hopefully pictures will be posted of everything I’ve done pretty soon. Love you all.
Miyajima and Okayama
Monday, April 27, 2009
Today, Jeff, Carisa and I explored the island of Miyajima. We woke up early and set out for the temple on the water, home to the famous Itsukushima Torrey Gate that is partially submerged when the tide comes in. There is something incredibly serene about the gate and its reflection on the water.
We finished at the Itsukushima Shrine at about 8:30, and it was already hot. We went to get a snow cone (an excellent breakfast, I must add) and met up with Derrick and Seth. The five of us decided to pay the ten dollars for a ride on the gondola/ropeway up the mountain rather than walk from the Momijidani Station to the Kayadani Station towards the top of Mt. Misen. It was a good decision seeing as the peak of the mountain was somewhere around 1700 feet up. Swinging out over a forest, with at least a 500 foot drop below you is quite an experience, especially when you’re afraid of heights. I actually did better than I was expecting, and the views were phenomenal.
At the top, we were greeted by an observatory and views of the ocean and surrounding islands, as well as monkeys. The monkeys are always my favorite, but the scenery on the mountain was beautiful. We spent quite a while with the monkeys, and then headed to the Sankido Hall and the Misen Hondo Main Hall and rest area, which was quite a hike. We reached the rest area, only to realize that it was another incredibly steep climb up to the highest observatory, the Mt. Misen Observatory. It was definitely worth the hike because the views were awesome. We got some funny pictures of each other as well.
After that, we started heading down the mountain, taking our time. We stopped along the trail to snap some pictures at the Dainichido Hall, The Reikado Hall,and some awesome “band” pictures at a dam. We stopped to check out the Daishoin Temple towards the bottom of the mountain, which was pretty nice, but it must have taken us close to 2 hours to get down, so we were all pretty tired. It was about 2 pm by then, so we went to get some food with D Choi.
We were thinking about going to a beach on the other side of the island before heading to Okoyama, but we kind of ran out of time. We ended up missing the ferry that the rest of the class took and had to get to Okoyama ourselves. Before we split up with Don, we double and triple checked that we had the correct directions, and yet, we did not. The directions Don gave us were to take “the train we took to get here” all the way to Okoyama. What Don failed to mention was that we were supposed to transfer to a bullet train at Hiroshima. So we ended up sitting on the standard train for like an hour and a half before we finally said screw it and figured out ourselves where to transfer to the bullet train. By the time we got to Okoyama (at around 8 or 9) we were all more than a little upset. The lack of organization on the trip is really starting to get to some of us, and I’m a little concerned that I won’t know my schedule for Tokyo until it’s too late to make plans with my dad’s friend and his daughters while I’m there. Hopefully I’ll be able to figure it out, because I’m really looking forward to meeting them.
Tonight we went out for food and got a few drinks, and then we just hung out and talked for a while. Now we’re all ready for bed…finally. Tomorrow we’re going to Korakuen, a picturesque garden in Okoyama, as well to Kurashiki for the City Art Museum by Kenzo Tange. I will try to post pictures asap because I have some really beautiful ones of the island.
Today, Jeff, Carisa and I explored the island of Miyajima. We woke up early and set out for the temple on the water, home to the famous Itsukushima Torrey Gate that is partially submerged when the tide comes in. There is something incredibly serene about the gate and its reflection on the water.
We finished at the Itsukushima Shrine at about 8:30, and it was already hot. We went to get a snow cone (an excellent breakfast, I must add) and met up with Derrick and Seth. The five of us decided to pay the ten dollars for a ride on the gondola/ropeway up the mountain rather than walk from the Momijidani Station to the Kayadani Station towards the top of Mt. Misen. It was a good decision seeing as the peak of the mountain was somewhere around 1700 feet up. Swinging out over a forest, with at least a 500 foot drop below you is quite an experience, especially when you’re afraid of heights. I actually did better than I was expecting, and the views were phenomenal.
At the top, we were greeted by an observatory and views of the ocean and surrounding islands, as well as monkeys. The monkeys are always my favorite, but the scenery on the mountain was beautiful. We spent quite a while with the monkeys, and then headed to the Sankido Hall and the Misen Hondo Main Hall and rest area, which was quite a hike. We reached the rest area, only to realize that it was another incredibly steep climb up to the highest observatory, the Mt. Misen Observatory. It was definitely worth the hike because the views were awesome. We got some funny pictures of each other as well.
After that, we started heading down the mountain, taking our time. We stopped along the trail to snap some pictures at the Dainichido Hall, The Reikado Hall,and some awesome “band” pictures at a dam. We stopped to check out the Daishoin Temple towards the bottom of the mountain, which was pretty nice, but it must have taken us close to 2 hours to get down, so we were all pretty tired. It was about 2 pm by then, so we went to get some food with D Choi.
We were thinking about going to a beach on the other side of the island before heading to Okoyama, but we kind of ran out of time. We ended up missing the ferry that the rest of the class took and had to get to Okoyama ourselves. Before we split up with Don, we double and triple checked that we had the correct directions, and yet, we did not. The directions Don gave us were to take “the train we took to get here” all the way to Okoyama. What Don failed to mention was that we were supposed to transfer to a bullet train at Hiroshima. So we ended up sitting on the standard train for like an hour and a half before we finally said screw it and figured out ourselves where to transfer to the bullet train. By the time we got to Okoyama (at around 8 or 9) we were all more than a little upset. The lack of organization on the trip is really starting to get to some of us, and I’m a little concerned that I won’t know my schedule for Tokyo until it’s too late to make plans with my dad’s friend and his daughters while I’m there. Hopefully I’ll be able to figure it out, because I’m really looking forward to meeting them.
Tonight we went out for food and got a few drinks, and then we just hung out and talked for a while. Now we’re all ready for bed…finally. Tomorrow we’re going to Korakuen, a picturesque garden in Okoyama, as well to Kurashiki for the City Art Museum by Kenzo Tange. I will try to post pictures asap because I have some really beautiful ones of the island.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Hiroshima and Miyajima
Sunday, April 26, 2009
It’s now 8 pm and I am on an island called Miyajima. This morning I woke up in Hiroshima at about 9:30, after drinking with Jeff the night before. Today was his birthday so we were preemptively celebrating. I packed up and talked to Andrew for a little and then met our group in the lobby of our little hotel at 10:30. The hotel was actually nice. It’s a chain called the Toyoko Inn and we all had individual rooms. It was a nice break from the constant crowd of traveling in a big group.
This morning we went to Peace Park in Hiroshima, the Atomic Bomb Memorial. On the way, we passed by the A-Bomb Dome, a building that was close to the central blast of the bomb, but somehow managed to remain standing, though everyone inside died instantly. The structure of its once green dome remains, and it has been preserved as a reminder of the ramifications of nuclear war.
Peace Park, the memorial and the museum were designed by Kenzo Tange, a Japanese architect. The memorials were beautifully aligned with the dome from a specific spot on the way to the museum. The building itself is very simple, but it seems to suit its purpose very well. It becomes almost a blank slate on which the story of August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima can be written. The museum is lifted up off the ground floor, allowing a consistent view of the park, the memorial and all the way back to the dome.
Inside the museum, I read countless stories of lost lives, lost siblings, lost parents or spouses. The worst were the stories of lost children. The museum is arranged to tell the history of the event, so there is a lot of build up to the actual bombing. It gives the visitor a glimpse at what life was like in Hiroshima in the years leading up to the fatal attack. A good portion of the museum was spent just explaining how a nuclear weapon works, and its effects on the human body.
The question I was struck by (simply because I don’t know my history well enough) was why Hiroshima? Why was Hiroshima chosen as the main target of the U.S.? After going through the museum, it seems that Hiroshima had developed into one of the major military cities in Japan at the time. Unfortunately, it was also an educational and cultural center. I think the major reason it was chosen was because it did not have an Allied prisoner of war camp.
It is gut-wrenching that at 8:15 in the morning on a hot, sunny summer day, an entire city was leveled and thousands upon thousands of lives were lost in an instant. To be honest, I felt terrible being an American anywhere near the city. It really has nothing to do with being patriotic. It has everything to do with respect for human life. War is such a terribly ugly thing, and seeing the museum at Hiroshima served as a strong reminder of what destructive, hateful little creatures we people can be. Going to this place and seeing the vast amounts of devastation done in an instant was horrifying, but recognizing how long it has affected people’s lives and the livelihood of that city is even more petrifying.
Hiroshima has made strong efforts to continue on as a city of peace, serving as a reminder to the rest of the world of the consequences of war. Japan itself refuses to research, develop or have nuclear weapons. To be honest, I’m glad I went there, just because it made the realization that this terrible thing actually happened in the world more real. I won’t go into too much detail about the stories I read or the charred memoirs I saw because I know my Mom and sister read this, but there was more than one point that I couldn’t help but cry. To be honest, I was somewhat appalled that everyone around me wasn’t crying or mourning to some extent. I read every little plaque, every little story I could find, because these are real people with lives and deaths that are deserving of respect and consideration. Children who never got to grow up, those who lost parents, people who survived with life-long deformities or have cancer today…all of this shit really happened in one second. I must have spent at least 2 hours in the museum…in fact some people got worried and came back to get me after more than half of the group left without me. By the time I came out, I was stunned. I felt so bad because today is Jeff’s birthday, and I was just not in a celebratory mood.
Of course, we’re on a fast-paced schedule here so I tried to put it behind me, and get ready for Miyajima. We took a train ride and then a ferry to the island. We got in at around 4 or 4:30. Our hotel is called the Morinoyado Inn and offers traditional Japanese style rooms that are incredibly nice. I’m rooming with Trudy and Carisa tonight.
We all went out and wandered for a little while, checking out the island. It reminded me a lot of Hawaii on the approach, but it’s definitely colder here. There is a famous shrine that is out in the water when the tide comes in. We’re going to try to get some pictures of it tomorrow at high tide. There are also a few temples, but what we’re really interested in is another monkey park.
At 6:30 we were served dinner as a group. It was a very traditional dinner and, to be honest, was comprised of a bunch of crazy shit that I never thought I’d eat. It wasn’t terrible…everything was edible, but still, not really my favorite. There was just way too much fish. There was even octopus and squid…there was even fish in the desert. I wasn’t really feeling it.
Tomorrow we have until about 4:30 to explore (Don keeps reminding us that we’re on vacation right now) before we go to the next place on our list: Okayama. Our plan was to do karaoke for Jeff’s birthday tonight, but there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of that on the island. We decided to celebrate it tomorrow because that’s when it will be his bday in the US anyway. Hopefully, we’ll have some more options then.
For tonight, my plan is to take a traditional (meaning public) Japanese bath and then hang out/drink with Jeff and Carisa. Hopefully, tomorrow will consist of a visit to a shrine, monkeys and another train ride before we do some karaoke in a new city. Until then…
It’s now 8 pm and I am on an island called Miyajima. This morning I woke up in Hiroshima at about 9:30, after drinking with Jeff the night before. Today was his birthday so we were preemptively celebrating. I packed up and talked to Andrew for a little and then met our group in the lobby of our little hotel at 10:30. The hotel was actually nice. It’s a chain called the Toyoko Inn and we all had individual rooms. It was a nice break from the constant crowd of traveling in a big group.
This morning we went to Peace Park in Hiroshima, the Atomic Bomb Memorial. On the way, we passed by the A-Bomb Dome, a building that was close to the central blast of the bomb, but somehow managed to remain standing, though everyone inside died instantly. The structure of its once green dome remains, and it has been preserved as a reminder of the ramifications of nuclear war.
Peace Park, the memorial and the museum were designed by Kenzo Tange, a Japanese architect. The memorials were beautifully aligned with the dome from a specific spot on the way to the museum. The building itself is very simple, but it seems to suit its purpose very well. It becomes almost a blank slate on which the story of August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima can be written. The museum is lifted up off the ground floor, allowing a consistent view of the park, the memorial and all the way back to the dome.
Inside the museum, I read countless stories of lost lives, lost siblings, lost parents or spouses. The worst were the stories of lost children. The museum is arranged to tell the history of the event, so there is a lot of build up to the actual bombing. It gives the visitor a glimpse at what life was like in Hiroshima in the years leading up to the fatal attack. A good portion of the museum was spent just explaining how a nuclear weapon works, and its effects on the human body.
The question I was struck by (simply because I don’t know my history well enough) was why Hiroshima? Why was Hiroshima chosen as the main target of the U.S.? After going through the museum, it seems that Hiroshima had developed into one of the major military cities in Japan at the time. Unfortunately, it was also an educational and cultural center. I think the major reason it was chosen was because it did not have an Allied prisoner of war camp.
It is gut-wrenching that at 8:15 in the morning on a hot, sunny summer day, an entire city was leveled and thousands upon thousands of lives were lost in an instant. To be honest, I felt terrible being an American anywhere near the city. It really has nothing to do with being patriotic. It has everything to do with respect for human life. War is such a terribly ugly thing, and seeing the museum at Hiroshima served as a strong reminder of what destructive, hateful little creatures we people can be. Going to this place and seeing the vast amounts of devastation done in an instant was horrifying, but recognizing how long it has affected people’s lives and the livelihood of that city is even more petrifying.
Hiroshima has made strong efforts to continue on as a city of peace, serving as a reminder to the rest of the world of the consequences of war. Japan itself refuses to research, develop or have nuclear weapons. To be honest, I’m glad I went there, just because it made the realization that this terrible thing actually happened in the world more real. I won’t go into too much detail about the stories I read or the charred memoirs I saw because I know my Mom and sister read this, but there was more than one point that I couldn’t help but cry. To be honest, I was somewhat appalled that everyone around me wasn’t crying or mourning to some extent. I read every little plaque, every little story I could find, because these are real people with lives and deaths that are deserving of respect and consideration. Children who never got to grow up, those who lost parents, people who survived with life-long deformities or have cancer today…all of this shit really happened in one second. I must have spent at least 2 hours in the museum…in fact some people got worried and came back to get me after more than half of the group left without me. By the time I came out, I was stunned. I felt so bad because today is Jeff’s birthday, and I was just not in a celebratory mood.
Of course, we’re on a fast-paced schedule here so I tried to put it behind me, and get ready for Miyajima. We took a train ride and then a ferry to the island. We got in at around 4 or 4:30. Our hotel is called the Morinoyado Inn and offers traditional Japanese style rooms that are incredibly nice. I’m rooming with Trudy and Carisa tonight.
We all went out and wandered for a little while, checking out the island. It reminded me a lot of Hawaii on the approach, but it’s definitely colder here. There is a famous shrine that is out in the water when the tide comes in. We’re going to try to get some pictures of it tomorrow at high tide. There are also a few temples, but what we’re really interested in is another monkey park.
At 6:30 we were served dinner as a group. It was a very traditional dinner and, to be honest, was comprised of a bunch of crazy shit that I never thought I’d eat. It wasn’t terrible…everything was edible, but still, not really my favorite. There was just way too much fish. There was even octopus and squid…there was even fish in the desert. I wasn’t really feeling it.
Tomorrow we have until about 4:30 to explore (Don keeps reminding us that we’re on vacation right now) before we go to the next place on our list: Okayama. Our plan was to do karaoke for Jeff’s birthday tonight, but there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of that on the island. We decided to celebrate it tomorrow because that’s when it will be his bday in the US anyway. Hopefully, we’ll have some more options then.
For tonight, my plan is to take a traditional (meaning public) Japanese bath and then hang out/drink with Jeff and Carisa. Hopefully, tomorrow will consist of a visit to a shrine, monkeys and another train ride before we do some karaoke in a new city. Until then…
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Has It Really Been A Week?
So...I'm not quite sure how a week went by, but apparently it did. It's currently 11:30 pm on Saturday, April 25th and I am in Hiroshima. Let me fill you in on what's happened in the past week.
Sunday was supposed to be another day of touring around, but I was pretty exhausted. It ended up being a work day. I uploaded a bunch of pictures and worked on the sketch up model for our design project.
Monday was a standard class day...Japanese and studio. Our project was progressing nicely, and I just realized that I haven't put up any pictures of either one of our projects, so I'll work on that.
Tuesday we went back to Osaka to see some...well some bathrooms in the park of a castle designed by Endo Shuhei (a famous Japanese architect). Later that evening, we went to his office and spent some time with him. I guess he could be called a "paramodern” architect. He tends to focus on one specific idea on each group of projects he does. His work has been separated into these different areas of exploration. Some of his work is called "Gravitecture", in which he allows his buildings to be formed or influenced by the force of gravity. He also has collections of works he has titled "Bubbletecture" and "Rooftecture". These focus on redefining architectural elements and their implications and use in the formation of space. The meeting with him was really interesting, and though he is not my favorite architect, his ideas about space and form are really interesting and could definitely help contemporary architecture progress in new directions.
Wednesday consisted of classes and work. Our final for Project 2 was due on Friday and there are very few hours left over in each day after we go to our classes and on our tours. Needless to say, none of us have been sleeping very much lately.
Thursday we went to Kobe and Osaka to visit some of Tadao Ando’s works. He is just such an amazing architect. I love photographing his buildings because you can’t really go wrong. They are just so photogenic that every picture comes out amazing. We first went to the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in Kobe. Ando tends to use a lot of concrete, but he always seems to capture the potential of the material in its relation to form, gesture and, particularly, light. There are beautiful little moments throughout his buildings that are very inspiring, though the buildings themselves may appear rather simple at first. The Prefectural Museum of Art not only creates excellently open spaces to show the artwork, but also becomes a work of art itself. As you walk through it, views are framed or you find yourself looking up at the sky, perfectly framed between two concrete walls. A shell-like stair case leads you down into the museum itself, where the spaces are left open, allowing the art to take over. Ando has mastered the artistic side of architecture without allowing it to deconstruct the programmatic and practical element of the practice.
We also visited the Church of the Light on Thursday. This is one of those buildings, like Frank Lloyd’s Falling Water, that every architect knows about and is inspired by. The building itself is very simple in terms of space. It is a rectangular shaped room that steps down to allow for seating and pews, but at the end of the small church, there is a beautifully simple cross cut into a concrete slab. It is really astounding how such a simple move can change the entire feeling of a space. There are some beautiful details and well thought-out connections in other parts of the building, but this simple void in the concrete is one of the most powerful architectural statements I have ever witnessed. I must have sat in the pews, staring at the concrete form for at least ten minutes before I even remembered to take pictures. The name “The Church of the Light” is extremely appropriate for this small, protestant church. The building itself captures light and shadow in an amazing and inspiring contrast. The experience is incredibly spiritual, even for those of us, like myself, who are not necessarily religious. The ideas of a connection to nature and to life itself truly rang out to me as I experienced the space.
Friday, our final project was due. Jeff and I stayed up until 4 am working on it on Thursday night, and I haven’t gone to bed earlier than 1 am this whole week. I think D. Choi has started to realize how hard we have all been working because he flat out asked us when we had time to do the work we did. Our project was well-received, and I think we’re both happy with it. I will do my best to post pictures soon.
After class, Carissa and I went shopping/browsing a little bit, then later we went to karaoke with Jeff and Blake. It was a lot of fun, and I think we’re all going to have to do it again sometime soon.
My money situation got a little stressful for a minute because I had to cancel my debit card, seeing as someone was using it in California while I’m in Japan…fun stuff. Jeff and I also ended up staying up til 4 last night cuz we had to pack to leave Kyoto after we got back from karaoke. We had to leave our weekly mansion at 11 this morning, so we went to Miyoyama Castle, and then back to Kyoto to meet with the group and leave for Hiroshima.
Our train got in at somewhere around 6. We have individual rooms for tonight, which I think will be nice for a minute. We went out to dinner in Hiroshima and then Jeff and I went and found a bar, where we had a few drinks. It’s kind of amazing to think that it was only 50 years ago or so that an atomic bomb was set off in this city. Every time I think about it, I almost cry, but I’m sure I’ll do enough of that tomorrow when we visit the Memorial Park here in Hiroshima. After that, we’ll head to Miyajima (I think) and spend a day or two there.
So, I think you’re about caught up. For now, I’m incredibly tired so I’m going to try to get a full night’s sleep (rather than the 4 hours I’ve been averaging) before we meet at 10:30 tomorrow morning to tour around Hiroshima. Don keeps emphasizing that we’re on vacation right now…I think he feels bad for working us so hard for the past month. I think he needs to be careful, or we’ll all be burnt out by the time we get to Tokyo next Friday.
Sunday was supposed to be another day of touring around, but I was pretty exhausted. It ended up being a work day. I uploaded a bunch of pictures and worked on the sketch up model for our design project.
Monday was a standard class day...Japanese and studio. Our project was progressing nicely, and I just realized that I haven't put up any pictures of either one of our projects, so I'll work on that.
Tuesday we went back to Osaka to see some...well some bathrooms in the park of a castle designed by Endo Shuhei (a famous Japanese architect). Later that evening, we went to his office and spent some time with him. I guess he could be called a "paramodern” architect. He tends to focus on one specific idea on each group of projects he does. His work has been separated into these different areas of exploration. Some of his work is called "Gravitecture", in which he allows his buildings to be formed or influenced by the force of gravity. He also has collections of works he has titled "Bubbletecture" and "Rooftecture". These focus on redefining architectural elements and their implications and use in the formation of space. The meeting with him was really interesting, and though he is not my favorite architect, his ideas about space and form are really interesting and could definitely help contemporary architecture progress in new directions.
Wednesday consisted of classes and work. Our final for Project 2 was due on Friday and there are very few hours left over in each day after we go to our classes and on our tours. Needless to say, none of us have been sleeping very much lately.
Thursday we went to Kobe and Osaka to visit some of Tadao Ando’s works. He is just such an amazing architect. I love photographing his buildings because you can’t really go wrong. They are just so photogenic that every picture comes out amazing. We first went to the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in Kobe. Ando tends to use a lot of concrete, but he always seems to capture the potential of the material in its relation to form, gesture and, particularly, light. There are beautiful little moments throughout his buildings that are very inspiring, though the buildings themselves may appear rather simple at first. The Prefectural Museum of Art not only creates excellently open spaces to show the artwork, but also becomes a work of art itself. As you walk through it, views are framed or you find yourself looking up at the sky, perfectly framed between two concrete walls. A shell-like stair case leads you down into the museum itself, where the spaces are left open, allowing the art to take over. Ando has mastered the artistic side of architecture without allowing it to deconstruct the programmatic and practical element of the practice.
We also visited the Church of the Light on Thursday. This is one of those buildings, like Frank Lloyd’s Falling Water, that every architect knows about and is inspired by. The building itself is very simple in terms of space. It is a rectangular shaped room that steps down to allow for seating and pews, but at the end of the small church, there is a beautifully simple cross cut into a concrete slab. It is really astounding how such a simple move can change the entire feeling of a space. There are some beautiful details and well thought-out connections in other parts of the building, but this simple void in the concrete is one of the most powerful architectural statements I have ever witnessed. I must have sat in the pews, staring at the concrete form for at least ten minutes before I even remembered to take pictures. The name “The Church of the Light” is extremely appropriate for this small, protestant church. The building itself captures light and shadow in an amazing and inspiring contrast. The experience is incredibly spiritual, even for those of us, like myself, who are not necessarily religious. The ideas of a connection to nature and to life itself truly rang out to me as I experienced the space.
Friday, our final project was due. Jeff and I stayed up until 4 am working on it on Thursday night, and I haven’t gone to bed earlier than 1 am this whole week. I think D. Choi has started to realize how hard we have all been working because he flat out asked us when we had time to do the work we did. Our project was well-received, and I think we’re both happy with it. I will do my best to post pictures soon.
After class, Carissa and I went shopping/browsing a little bit, then later we went to karaoke with Jeff and Blake. It was a lot of fun, and I think we’re all going to have to do it again sometime soon.
My money situation got a little stressful for a minute because I had to cancel my debit card, seeing as someone was using it in California while I’m in Japan…fun stuff. Jeff and I also ended up staying up til 4 last night cuz we had to pack to leave Kyoto after we got back from karaoke. We had to leave our weekly mansion at 11 this morning, so we went to Miyoyama Castle, and then back to Kyoto to meet with the group and leave for Hiroshima.
Our train got in at somewhere around 6. We have individual rooms for tonight, which I think will be nice for a minute. We went out to dinner in Hiroshima and then Jeff and I went and found a bar, where we had a few drinks. It’s kind of amazing to think that it was only 50 years ago or so that an atomic bomb was set off in this city. Every time I think about it, I almost cry, but I’m sure I’ll do enough of that tomorrow when we visit the Memorial Park here in Hiroshima. After that, we’ll head to Miyajima (I think) and spend a day or two there.
So, I think you’re about caught up. For now, I’m incredibly tired so I’m going to try to get a full night’s sleep (rather than the 4 hours I’ve been averaging) before we meet at 10:30 tomorrow morning to tour around Hiroshima. Don keeps emphasizing that we’re on vacation right now…I think he feels bad for working us so hard for the past month. I think he needs to be careful, or we’ll all be burnt out by the time we get to Tokyo next Friday.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Imperial Villas, Holy Water, and Thousands of Gods and Torrey Gates
It is now Saturday, April 18th, 7:20 pm.
On Thursday, we went to some of the Karesansui (or dry landscape) Gardens in Northwestern Kyoto. We first went to a head Zen temple called Daitokuji. An interesting point about most Zen temples is the fact that they have sub-temples. The sub-temples, for all intensive purposes, function independently but are dependent on the generosity of the main temple for land and for protection in earlier times.
Daisen-in was my favorite of these temples, and not simply because its garden is the most famous. I thought the grounds were designed very holistically, to tell a metaphoric story about how to live a virtuous and zen life. There are about 4 seperate gardens that are linked together by a story. They depict, by means of raked sand and stones, a stream flowing towards the ocean. Within this stream there are creatures, represented in stone, swimming against the currents, trying to stay young forever, but of course we must all one day to go "the great ocean". Along the path, on the side of this stream there are mountains and waterfalls created using only relatively small stones, plants and sand. It is amazing how beautiful the compositions were, and though I don't know how historically accurate the story we were told is, I liked it none the less.
Another sub-temple of Daisen-in that we visited was Obai-in, which was amazingly beautiful. It has a large moss garden, in addition to an austere rock garden, and it houses multiple buildings with beautiful woodwork and craftsmanship.We also saw Kohrin-in, with it's beautiful dry garden. Both of these sub-temples are only open during a certain period in the fall, and one in the spring, so we were lucky to get to go.
Unfortunately, pictures were limited in all of these places, but I will post what I can.
Later in the day, we went to Rokoun-ji Temple and the Golden Pavilion, which lives up to its name. The pavilion literally gleams with gold leaf. It is set in the middle of a lake, so its light is reflected and creates quite a site. Of course it was crowded with tourists, many of whom were eager to get pictures with some of our english-speaking group. We walked through the grounds and glanced at the small shrines, and there will be many pictures up soon.
Our last stop of the day was at Ryoanji. If you are an architecture student, and don't know what Ryoanji is, you should change majors. For those of you who are not architecture students, Ryoanji is arguably the most famous dry garden in Japan. This small garden was one of the major things I was most excited to see in Japan. The simple composition of sand and stone seemed so pure and beautiful in the pictures in my architectural history class. Ryoanji was a huge disappointment for me, and it has nothing to do with the composition of the garden. The temple was, unfortunately, under construction. So, instead of viewing the garden from the wooden engawa that surrounds the interior spaces, we saw it from scaffolding that extended out over a good portion of the garden, darkening the view. The rock compositions were still visible, but the perspective and scene was all off because it was designed to be seen from a different point. There were hoards of school children being incredibly loud and people talking on the phone as well. Overall, the experience of it was somewhat ruined for me, and I was incredibly disappointed. I may have to make another trip to Japan some time in my life because I didn't get to see Ryoanji the way it was meant to be seen. Maybe that's being a little overly dramatic, but I honestly think I might have preferred that they just had the temple closed during the renovations, so as to leave my high opinion of the garden untainted.
So, that was my "class" on Thursday. Friday was a normal day of Japanese and studio classes. Jeff and I spent a couple hours on Thursday night figuring out the structure and basic diagram for the facade of our building, but we're not really spending too much time or energy on this project as of now. We got good feedback on what we have, so I think we're close to being done with design, we just need to start production.
After class, Jeff and I had a plan to go see about 4 things. We made it to one of them (the Kyoto Handicrafts Center) and then realized that it was past 4, and that most of the temples would close at 5. I was a little discouraged because there's still so much I want to see in Kyoto and this is my last weekend to do it. To minimize our disappointment, we bought some beers and drank them on the way home (which is totally legal to do out in the streets here, by the way).
The rest of the group went out to eat raw horse (yuck!)and Trudy and I went back to that Italian place we went a few nights ago. It was really good, but we got lost in Kyoto Station trying to find it.
Today was finally Saturday, and Jeff and I had some catching up to do. We actually made it to our appointment this time at Shugakuin at 9 am, so we got to see the detached palace. The grounds are much bigger than those at Katsura, but I thought the design was a little lacking. Most of the buildings were larger and more impressive, but the gardens and grounds, though they were expansive and beautiful, almost lacked a certain unity. What was most interesting to me was the fact that there were farm lands and rice paddies within the compound. There are three parts to Shugakuin, the Lower, Middle and Upper Villas. Shugakuin was built for the retired Emperor Gomizuno as a retreat for him to come visit. The buildings served as his resting areas (in the Lower Villa), the residence and villa of Princess Akenomiya (in the Middle Villa) and as the retired Emperor's teahouse and space to read poetry (in the Upper Villa).
The complex was originally just the Lower and Upper Villas, with the Middle Villa being added later (around 1668). The most impressive part of Shugakuin were the views from the Upper Villa. When you reach the Rinuntei and progress on to the Kyusuitei (the tea house), Yorkuryuchi Pond extends out below you. A scene of the garden with all its foliage stretches out, with a view of the mountains and the center of Kyoto looming behind. It is as if Kyoto, and maybe even Japan as a whole, with all its beauty has been condensed into one view. The pond itself is almost breath-taking as you walk around it, but the view of it from the tea house is unrivaled. Katsura could never compete with such views, but in my opinion, the experience of walking through the small garden had a much richer meaning than the tour through the impressive grounds of Shugakuin.
Of course, Jeff and I had to make up for not seeing anything last night, so after Shugakuin, we headed out on our journey. Our first stop was a temple called Kiyomizudera, which means (roughly) Temple of the Purified/Sacred Water. It was a bit of a tourist trap, especially towards the top where the pagoda and main building are. We paid our entrance fee of 300 yen and walked through the grounds with our new friends from London that we made along the way. They were looking at a map and seemed lost, so we stopped in the street to help them and it turned out they were headed for the temple we were on our way to, so they walked with us. We lost them somewhere along the way because we were not as interested in the interior of the temple as we were the exterior structure. Kiyomizudera is built on top of a large hill, and so there is elaborate wooden structure supporting it from the bottom.
We continued around the grounds, found some good views of the structure and finally came upon the fresh water spring that gave the temple its name. There was a line to drink the holy water of the spring, and Jeff and I ended up paying 200 yen for "holy water bowls" to drink from. These weren't required, and are a little kitschy, but we thought they were decent souvenirs. We drank the water, and then figured out our route to our next destination: Sanjusangendo.
Sanjusangendo is not a large temple, nor is its architecture very fascinating. Yet, Jeff and I probably spent an hour inside. That's because it houses 1001 hand carved religious statues. Now, pictures were not allowed, but of course Jeff and I snuck a few, so I will eventually put them up. The sheer number and detail of the statues was amazing, and kept us in awe as we slowly made our way through the temple, reading the explanations of the different Buddhist gods.
By the time we left Sanjusangendo, it was after 2 pm. We decided to get lunch at a McDonald's because it was convenient. After being gawked at by some local boys for about half an hour, we finished our lunch, waved goodbye to them (which made them laugh and tease and talk more) we headed to what would turn out to be our last stop of the day.
There were 3 other temples that we were planning to visit today; just stopping by them quickly. We ended up going to Fushimi-Inari Taisha Shrine first because it was the farthest away from our appartment and we were planning on walking back. We didn't know that this was the place with hundreds and hundreds of Torrey Gates. We ended up walking through the massive complex of Torrey Gates for about an hour or two. The path turned out to be quite a hike and the massive number of bright orange gates was astounding. About halfway through, the hike turned into simple exercise and the gates lost their novelty. It was a good experience though and we're both glad we did it.
So that's it...all caught up after reading that huge novel. Sorry about that, but a lot has happened over the past few days. Tomorrow there are a few temples I'd like to visit, but I doubt I'll be able to see everything I want to in Kyoto before we leave next Saturday morning. I can't believe that I've already been here almost a month, and yet it feels longer than that at the same time. I still have a bit of work to do this weekend as well, but hopefully I'll be able to write again tomorrow so you don't ever have to read this much in one sitting again.
Until then.
On Thursday, we went to some of the Karesansui (or dry landscape) Gardens in Northwestern Kyoto. We first went to a head Zen temple called Daitokuji. An interesting point about most Zen temples is the fact that they have sub-temples. The sub-temples, for all intensive purposes, function independently but are dependent on the generosity of the main temple for land and for protection in earlier times.
Daisen-in was my favorite of these temples, and not simply because its garden is the most famous. I thought the grounds were designed very holistically, to tell a metaphoric story about how to live a virtuous and zen life. There are about 4 seperate gardens that are linked together by a story. They depict, by means of raked sand and stones, a stream flowing towards the ocean. Within this stream there are creatures, represented in stone, swimming against the currents, trying to stay young forever, but of course we must all one day to go "the great ocean". Along the path, on the side of this stream there are mountains and waterfalls created using only relatively small stones, plants and sand. It is amazing how beautiful the compositions were, and though I don't know how historically accurate the story we were told is, I liked it none the less.
Another sub-temple of Daisen-in that we visited was Obai-in, which was amazingly beautiful. It has a large moss garden, in addition to an austere rock garden, and it houses multiple buildings with beautiful woodwork and craftsmanship.We also saw Kohrin-in, with it's beautiful dry garden. Both of these sub-temples are only open during a certain period in the fall, and one in the spring, so we were lucky to get to go.
Unfortunately, pictures were limited in all of these places, but I will post what I can.
Later in the day, we went to Rokoun-ji Temple and the Golden Pavilion, which lives up to its name. The pavilion literally gleams with gold leaf. It is set in the middle of a lake, so its light is reflected and creates quite a site. Of course it was crowded with tourists, many of whom were eager to get pictures with some of our english-speaking group. We walked through the grounds and glanced at the small shrines, and there will be many pictures up soon.
Our last stop of the day was at Ryoanji. If you are an architecture student, and don't know what Ryoanji is, you should change majors. For those of you who are not architecture students, Ryoanji is arguably the most famous dry garden in Japan. This small garden was one of the major things I was most excited to see in Japan. The simple composition of sand and stone seemed so pure and beautiful in the pictures in my architectural history class. Ryoanji was a huge disappointment for me, and it has nothing to do with the composition of the garden. The temple was, unfortunately, under construction. So, instead of viewing the garden from the wooden engawa that surrounds the interior spaces, we saw it from scaffolding that extended out over a good portion of the garden, darkening the view. The rock compositions were still visible, but the perspective and scene was all off because it was designed to be seen from a different point. There were hoards of school children being incredibly loud and people talking on the phone as well. Overall, the experience of it was somewhat ruined for me, and I was incredibly disappointed. I may have to make another trip to Japan some time in my life because I didn't get to see Ryoanji the way it was meant to be seen. Maybe that's being a little overly dramatic, but I honestly think I might have preferred that they just had the temple closed during the renovations, so as to leave my high opinion of the garden untainted.
So, that was my "class" on Thursday. Friday was a normal day of Japanese and studio classes. Jeff and I spent a couple hours on Thursday night figuring out the structure and basic diagram for the facade of our building, but we're not really spending too much time or energy on this project as of now. We got good feedback on what we have, so I think we're close to being done with design, we just need to start production.
After class, Jeff and I had a plan to go see about 4 things. We made it to one of them (the Kyoto Handicrafts Center) and then realized that it was past 4, and that most of the temples would close at 5. I was a little discouraged because there's still so much I want to see in Kyoto and this is my last weekend to do it. To minimize our disappointment, we bought some beers and drank them on the way home (which is totally legal to do out in the streets here, by the way).
The rest of the group went out to eat raw horse (yuck!)and Trudy and I went back to that Italian place we went a few nights ago. It was really good, but we got lost in Kyoto Station trying to find it.
Today was finally Saturday, and Jeff and I had some catching up to do. We actually made it to our appointment this time at Shugakuin at 9 am, so we got to see the detached palace. The grounds are much bigger than those at Katsura, but I thought the design was a little lacking. Most of the buildings were larger and more impressive, but the gardens and grounds, though they were expansive and beautiful, almost lacked a certain unity. What was most interesting to me was the fact that there were farm lands and rice paddies within the compound. There are three parts to Shugakuin, the Lower, Middle and Upper Villas. Shugakuin was built for the retired Emperor Gomizuno as a retreat for him to come visit. The buildings served as his resting areas (in the Lower Villa), the residence and villa of Princess Akenomiya (in the Middle Villa) and as the retired Emperor's teahouse and space to read poetry (in the Upper Villa).
The complex was originally just the Lower and Upper Villas, with the Middle Villa being added later (around 1668). The most impressive part of Shugakuin were the views from the Upper Villa. When you reach the Rinuntei and progress on to the Kyusuitei (the tea house), Yorkuryuchi Pond extends out below you. A scene of the garden with all its foliage stretches out, with a view of the mountains and the center of Kyoto looming behind. It is as if Kyoto, and maybe even Japan as a whole, with all its beauty has been condensed into one view. The pond itself is almost breath-taking as you walk around it, but the view of it from the tea house is unrivaled. Katsura could never compete with such views, but in my opinion, the experience of walking through the small garden had a much richer meaning than the tour through the impressive grounds of Shugakuin.
Of course, Jeff and I had to make up for not seeing anything last night, so after Shugakuin, we headed out on our journey. Our first stop was a temple called Kiyomizudera, which means (roughly) Temple of the Purified/Sacred Water. It was a bit of a tourist trap, especially towards the top where the pagoda and main building are. We paid our entrance fee of 300 yen and walked through the grounds with our new friends from London that we made along the way. They were looking at a map and seemed lost, so we stopped in the street to help them and it turned out they were headed for the temple we were on our way to, so they walked with us. We lost them somewhere along the way because we were not as interested in the interior of the temple as we were the exterior structure. Kiyomizudera is built on top of a large hill, and so there is elaborate wooden structure supporting it from the bottom.
We continued around the grounds, found some good views of the structure and finally came upon the fresh water spring that gave the temple its name. There was a line to drink the holy water of the spring, and Jeff and I ended up paying 200 yen for "holy water bowls" to drink from. These weren't required, and are a little kitschy, but we thought they were decent souvenirs. We drank the water, and then figured out our route to our next destination: Sanjusangendo.
Sanjusangendo is not a large temple, nor is its architecture very fascinating. Yet, Jeff and I probably spent an hour inside. That's because it houses 1001 hand carved religious statues. Now, pictures were not allowed, but of course Jeff and I snuck a few, so I will eventually put them up. The sheer number and detail of the statues was amazing, and kept us in awe as we slowly made our way through the temple, reading the explanations of the different Buddhist gods.
By the time we left Sanjusangendo, it was after 2 pm. We decided to get lunch at a McDonald's because it was convenient. After being gawked at by some local boys for about half an hour, we finished our lunch, waved goodbye to them (which made them laugh and tease and talk more) we headed to what would turn out to be our last stop of the day.
There were 3 other temples that we were planning to visit today; just stopping by them quickly. We ended up going to Fushimi-Inari Taisha Shrine first because it was the farthest away from our appartment and we were planning on walking back. We didn't know that this was the place with hundreds and hundreds of Torrey Gates. We ended up walking through the massive complex of Torrey Gates for about an hour or two. The path turned out to be quite a hike and the massive number of bright orange gates was astounding. About halfway through, the hike turned into simple exercise and the gates lost their novelty. It was a good experience though and we're both glad we did it.
So that's it...all caught up after reading that huge novel. Sorry about that, but a lot has happened over the past few days. Tomorrow there are a few temples I'd like to visit, but I doubt I'll be able to see everything I want to in Kyoto before we leave next Saturday morning. I can't believe that I've already been here almost a month, and yet it feels longer than that at the same time. I still have a bit of work to do this weekend as well, but hopefully I'll be able to write again tomorrow so you don't ever have to read this much in one sitting again.
Until then.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Worst Day I've Had Here
Tuesday and Wednesday Story Time!
Tuesday was definitely the worst day I've had since coming to Japan, which is probably a good thing cuz it wasn't even that bad. I woke up early to talk to Andrew, but he couldn't talk, so I was a little annoyed that I lost half and hour of sleep, but that's ok. Jeff, Matt, Karen and I had an appointment at 11:00 at Shûgakuin Ryoji, which is similar to Katsura but bigger. We left our weekly mansion at 9:15...just like D Choi told us to. For the Imperial Villa's, you have to be there 20 minutes before your appointment, so we were supposed to be there at 10:40...we got there at 11:05 (after running 10 minutes uphill trying to get there before the tour started) and missed our time. Later that day I realized that my favorite...well, my only pair of sunglasses had broken in the middle of the frames when they were in my bag. I was not happy.
We hung out for a while and got some food. Then met D Choi at 12:45 at the train station to go see Manshuin and Shisendô, and we told him our sad story.
Manshuin and Shisendô are two smaller temples in northeastern Kyoto, near Shûgakuin Ryoji. They are both in the sukiya style of the Azuchi-Momoyama period of midieval Japan. This was created in reaction to buildings like Nijo Castle, with ornate and seemingly self-centered design. Sukiya architecture developed along with the rustic tea ceremony, created by a new class of merchants and soldiers trying to establish themselves within the structure of the upper class. The style emerged almost as an affront to the overtly overdone designs of the time. The design aesthetics are summed up by the phrase Wabi-Sabi, which means lonely or desolate and mellow. Sukiya also dealt with suki, meaning conneseurship and sakui, meaning personal creativity. These were the basic principals of the style and they created beautiful, peaceful and natural spaces. The garden and Manshuin is one of the nicest I've seen. The design at Shisendô was based on poetry, and one room features images of the immortal poets of Japan. The idea behind the complex was to create a background from which one could imagine the famous scenes of Japan. It was not the point to actually view these scenes, but to visualize them. This fits well with the idea of the roji, or path to the teahouse, through which you traveled and cleared your head so as to be in the proper and higher state of mind for the tea ceremony. The mental affects and imagery are just as important as the physical structure or garden.
After these two, we stopped by a Kengo Kuma building in Kyoto called the Kyoto University of Art and Design. The form of the building is somewhat deconstructivist, but it's very interesting. The skin is created by a series of folds in a plane, and the form extends out over the stairway, creating intriguing views upward. Windows are created by rectangular punches through this folded plane. Unfortunately, the interior spaces do not live up to the excitement of the exterior and to be honest, are somewhat bland. There is also a lack of natural daylighting, which I would have expected more of for art and design classes in particular. Overall, not my favorite building but an interesting site visit nonetheless.
Today was mostly classes. Japanese in the morning and studio after that. D Choi finally got smart and broke up our design class in to two sections, since we have 2 sections of the language class. So we met at 1 instead of 2 and ended at about 2:30. Jeff and I are still in the midst of designing our multi-use building, but it's starting to come along. We have established a form that's somewhat difficult to explain, so I will post pictures eventually. Speaking of which, I know I'm behind, but I will catch up this weekend.
After class, Jeff and I went to the Imperial Palace to make another appointment to go to Shugakuin this Saturday. We went to dinner at a place in Kyoto Station. It was Italian food, and it was actually really good but I guess Jeff got sick later. I ended up taking a short nap and then working for the rest of the night. We're meeting at 10 tomorrow to go to some zen gardens, so until then...
Tuesday was definitely the worst day I've had since coming to Japan, which is probably a good thing cuz it wasn't even that bad. I woke up early to talk to Andrew, but he couldn't talk, so I was a little annoyed that I lost half and hour of sleep, but that's ok. Jeff, Matt, Karen and I had an appointment at 11:00 at Shûgakuin Ryoji, which is similar to Katsura but bigger. We left our weekly mansion at 9:15...just like D Choi told us to. For the Imperial Villa's, you have to be there 20 minutes before your appointment, so we were supposed to be there at 10:40...we got there at 11:05 (after running 10 minutes uphill trying to get there before the tour started) and missed our time. Later that day I realized that my favorite...well, my only pair of sunglasses had broken in the middle of the frames when they were in my bag. I was not happy.
We hung out for a while and got some food. Then met D Choi at 12:45 at the train station to go see Manshuin and Shisendô, and we told him our sad story.
Manshuin and Shisendô are two smaller temples in northeastern Kyoto, near Shûgakuin Ryoji. They are both in the sukiya style of the Azuchi-Momoyama period of midieval Japan. This was created in reaction to buildings like Nijo Castle, with ornate and seemingly self-centered design. Sukiya architecture developed along with the rustic tea ceremony, created by a new class of merchants and soldiers trying to establish themselves within the structure of the upper class. The style emerged almost as an affront to the overtly overdone designs of the time. The design aesthetics are summed up by the phrase Wabi-Sabi, which means lonely or desolate and mellow. Sukiya also dealt with suki, meaning conneseurship and sakui, meaning personal creativity. These were the basic principals of the style and they created beautiful, peaceful and natural spaces. The garden and Manshuin is one of the nicest I've seen. The design at Shisendô was based on poetry, and one room features images of the immortal poets of Japan. The idea behind the complex was to create a background from which one could imagine the famous scenes of Japan. It was not the point to actually view these scenes, but to visualize them. This fits well with the idea of the roji, or path to the teahouse, through which you traveled and cleared your head so as to be in the proper and higher state of mind for the tea ceremony. The mental affects and imagery are just as important as the physical structure or garden.
After these two, we stopped by a Kengo Kuma building in Kyoto called the Kyoto University of Art and Design. The form of the building is somewhat deconstructivist, but it's very interesting. The skin is created by a series of folds in a plane, and the form extends out over the stairway, creating intriguing views upward. Windows are created by rectangular punches through this folded plane. Unfortunately, the interior spaces do not live up to the excitement of the exterior and to be honest, are somewhat bland. There is also a lack of natural daylighting, which I would have expected more of for art and design classes in particular. Overall, not my favorite building but an interesting site visit nonetheless.
Today was mostly classes. Japanese in the morning and studio after that. D Choi finally got smart and broke up our design class in to two sections, since we have 2 sections of the language class. So we met at 1 instead of 2 and ended at about 2:30. Jeff and I are still in the midst of designing our multi-use building, but it's starting to come along. We have established a form that's somewhat difficult to explain, so I will post pictures eventually. Speaking of which, I know I'm behind, but I will catch up this weekend.
After class, Jeff and I went to the Imperial Palace to make another appointment to go to Shugakuin this Saturday. We went to dinner at a place in Kyoto Station. It was Italian food, and it was actually really good but I guess Jeff got sick later. I ended up taking a short nap and then working for the rest of the night. We're meeting at 10 tomorrow to go to some zen gardens, so until then...
Monday, April 13, 2009
Philosophers, Temples, Castles and Monkeys
So...the last time I wrote was on Friday and it's now Monday night at 10:30...so I'm a terrible person...yeah, get over it.
This weekend was really eventful. Saturday we went on the Philosopher's Walk. This is a beautiful stroll along a small canal, lined with cherry blossoms. We started at the Silver Pavillion in Jishôji, in southern Kyoto. The Pavilion itself is under renovation, but the grounds were still beautiful. The rock and sand displays were meticulously maintained and I was impressed by their subtle details within simple forms.
Tôgundô is another building in the compound, dating from the mid-1400s. It is the earliest example of shoin style architecture in existence. The techniques and stylistic development in this building drastically influenced future buildings of its type.
We also visited Hônen-in and Anrakuji, which are just off the Philosopher's Path. These are two temple complexes , with beautiful gardens. We were lucky to be able to visit Anrakuji because it is only open for several weeks every year, when its gardens are flourishing. My favorite place we saw along the path was Eikandô. This is another temple complex, but it also houses a two story pagoda called Tahō-tō, which required a hike up to it, but yielded a nice view down on Kyoto. The staircase up to the Tahō-tō was curved and structured with beautiful curved beams.
When we finally finished the Philosopher's Path, I got some dinner by our old hotel with Biance and Sig, my new friends. After that, we made it back to our new "kyoto no apato" at the Good Life Weekly Mansion (happy fun time lol). The three of us then decided to watch Religulous and ended up talking about religion and philosophy until 1 am.
Sunday, we went to Nijo Castle. Nijo Castle was built by the shogun Tokugawa leyasu to be his military base in Kyoto. He ruled Japan from his capital in what is now Tokyo. Nijo Castle was meant to intimidate the guests and display the shogun's power and wealth. The spaces progress towards the shogun's private quarters. There is an outer wooden walkway and the rooms within have ornate details and expensive materials. The castle also shows examples of Japanese staggered shelving and storage within the walls. The grounds are also full of beautiful gardens and a lake.
After Nijo, we went to a place called Monkey Park. The park is near a lake, and up a mountain. It costs five dollars to enter, and then you have quite a hike ahead of you. When you reach the top, there's a site that you could never see back in the United States. There are monkeys all over when you reach the pinnacle. The monkey's are wild, but there is a feeding house and a few staff members to make sure everything stays safe. When there's food around, the monkeys are very aggressive, but if you go a little higher up, there are the babies with their mothers. They were so adorable, but you have to be careful not to get too close. The scenery was beautiful and the experience was amazing.
We stayed up with the monkeys for a couple hours, and then I headed to our new project site. Our new design project is a multi-use building at another long, narrow Kyoto site. We had concepts and site analysis due today, so the rest of Sunday (though there wasn't much left) was spent on that and Japanese homework.
Today I had Japanese class and then a brief meeting with Don to discuss ideas about the project. After that, Bianca, Sig and I got some lunch and then headed to the end of the K train line. We went to see the Kyoto International Conference Hall, a brutalist building from the 1960's. It was a surreal experience. The building is a huge concrete mass that resembles a ship from a Star Wars movie. At any moment you expect it to lift off or for smaller pods to fly out of its recesses. It seems to be gently placed in this beautiful landscape, with a garden and lake. It felt like something out of a strange dream, with this strange massive building protruding out of this natural landscape.
We then took about a 20 minute walk through a residential neighborhood to a small temple called Entsûji. The temple itself was not too exciting, but the zen garden at the back offers a poetic arrangement of rocks and trees, as well as a borrowed view of Mt. Hiei in the distance, framed by trees.
After meditating for a while, we took another long walk through the neighborhood, back into town and to the Kyoto Garden of Fine Art. This is a concrete building by Tadao Ando, one of the most famous Japanese architects. The building and its program are somewhat bizzare. The museum houses replications of famous paintings, and it is called a garden because it is entirely outdoors. The concrete forms intersections of beams and walls and stairs, but the main feature is the water. When you descend into the garden, you are essentially surrounded by waterfalls, which flow down below the concrete slab into pools. Within these pools, or on the walls bordering them, the replications are displayed. The intersections and angles create an interest to the building that is unique. This was probably one of the favorite things I have seen so far, and was definitely the best 100 yen ($1) that I've spent so far.
I finally got home at around 7, after a quick and cheap dinner of a shared pizza and salad in Kyoto Station. Bianca and Sig wanted to watch a movie, but I wanted to catch up on my blog, get the paper that's due Wednesday done and get to sleep early. Unfortunately that didn't happen as efficiently as I planned because Kyle called Jeff and me on Skype from Denmark. We haven't heard from him too much so we spent quite a while on the phone with him. Now it is about 1 am and I am finally all caught up. I need to sleep so that I can go to Shugakuin, another detached palace, in the morning. Hopefully it will rival Katsura, but I'm not expecting it.
This weekend was really eventful. Saturday we went on the Philosopher's Walk. This is a beautiful stroll along a small canal, lined with cherry blossoms. We started at the Silver Pavillion in Jishôji, in southern Kyoto. The Pavilion itself is under renovation, but the grounds were still beautiful. The rock and sand displays were meticulously maintained and I was impressed by their subtle details within simple forms.
Tôgundô is another building in the compound, dating from the mid-1400s. It is the earliest example of shoin style architecture in existence. The techniques and stylistic development in this building drastically influenced future buildings of its type.
We also visited Hônen-in and Anrakuji, which are just off the Philosopher's Path. These are two temple complexes , with beautiful gardens. We were lucky to be able to visit Anrakuji because it is only open for several weeks every year, when its gardens are flourishing. My favorite place we saw along the path was Eikandô. This is another temple complex, but it also houses a two story pagoda called Tahō-tō, which required a hike up to it, but yielded a nice view down on Kyoto. The staircase up to the Tahō-tō was curved and structured with beautiful curved beams.
When we finally finished the Philosopher's Path, I got some dinner by our old hotel with Biance and Sig, my new friends. After that, we made it back to our new "kyoto no apato" at the Good Life Weekly Mansion (happy fun time lol). The three of us then decided to watch Religulous and ended up talking about religion and philosophy until 1 am.
Sunday, we went to Nijo Castle. Nijo Castle was built by the shogun Tokugawa leyasu to be his military base in Kyoto. He ruled Japan from his capital in what is now Tokyo. Nijo Castle was meant to intimidate the guests and display the shogun's power and wealth. The spaces progress towards the shogun's private quarters. There is an outer wooden walkway and the rooms within have ornate details and expensive materials. The castle also shows examples of Japanese staggered shelving and storage within the walls. The grounds are also full of beautiful gardens and a lake.
After Nijo, we went to a place called Monkey Park. The park is near a lake, and up a mountain. It costs five dollars to enter, and then you have quite a hike ahead of you. When you reach the top, there's a site that you could never see back in the United States. There are monkeys all over when you reach the pinnacle. The monkey's are wild, but there is a feeding house and a few staff members to make sure everything stays safe. When there's food around, the monkeys are very aggressive, but if you go a little higher up, there are the babies with their mothers. They were so adorable, but you have to be careful not to get too close. The scenery was beautiful and the experience was amazing.
We stayed up with the monkeys for a couple hours, and then I headed to our new project site. Our new design project is a multi-use building at another long, narrow Kyoto site. We had concepts and site analysis due today, so the rest of Sunday (though there wasn't much left) was spent on that and Japanese homework.
Today I had Japanese class and then a brief meeting with Don to discuss ideas about the project. After that, Bianca, Sig and I got some lunch and then headed to the end of the K train line. We went to see the Kyoto International Conference Hall, a brutalist building from the 1960's. It was a surreal experience. The building is a huge concrete mass that resembles a ship from a Star Wars movie. At any moment you expect it to lift off or for smaller pods to fly out of its recesses. It seems to be gently placed in this beautiful landscape, with a garden and lake. It felt like something out of a strange dream, with this strange massive building protruding out of this natural landscape.
We then took about a 20 minute walk through a residential neighborhood to a small temple called Entsûji. The temple itself was not too exciting, but the zen garden at the back offers a poetic arrangement of rocks and trees, as well as a borrowed view of Mt. Hiei in the distance, framed by trees.
After meditating for a while, we took another long walk through the neighborhood, back into town and to the Kyoto Garden of Fine Art. This is a concrete building by Tadao Ando, one of the most famous Japanese architects. The building and its program are somewhat bizzare. The museum houses replications of famous paintings, and it is called a garden because it is entirely outdoors. The concrete forms intersections of beams and walls and stairs, but the main feature is the water. When you descend into the garden, you are essentially surrounded by waterfalls, which flow down below the concrete slab into pools. Within these pools, or on the walls bordering them, the replications are displayed. The intersections and angles create an interest to the building that is unique. This was probably one of the favorite things I have seen so far, and was definitely the best 100 yen ($1) that I've spent so far.
I finally got home at around 7, after a quick and cheap dinner of a shared pizza and salad in Kyoto Station. Bianca and Sig wanted to watch a movie, but I wanted to catch up on my blog, get the paper that's due Wednesday done and get to sleep early. Unfortunately that didn't happen as efficiently as I planned because Kyle called Jeff and me on Skype from Denmark. We haven't heard from him too much so we spent quite a while on the phone with him. Now it is about 1 am and I am finally all caught up. I need to sleep so that I can go to Shugakuin, another detached palace, in the morning. Hopefully it will rival Katsura, but I'm not expecting it.
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Move and Uji
It's now Friday night at about 11:30, and it seems like this is becomming an every other day sort of activity.
Yesterday we moved across town into our new appartments in Kyoto. It was kind of a pain in the ass and I'm still not very well settled, but the place is much nicer than our last one and pictures will be up soon. We have our own kitchen and fridge and it's pretty awesome.
After our move...as in half an hour after we reached our new place...we had to meet in the lobby to take a trip to Uji. The Shinto Shrines at Uji are prime examples from the Heian Period in Japan. All the Shinto shrines seem to look very similar, but the smaller shrine we saw yesterday is one of the oldest shrines in existence, so it had some defining qualities. Specifically the roof structure and shape is distinguished from other shrines. The roof has a curved shape that is somewhat unique among the shrines and there are certain structural supports called frog leg supports that are u-shaped. The woodwork was beautiful of course, as it was in all the other shrines.
The most amazing thing we saw in Uji was Byodin. This is a temple, garden and lake complex built by Fujiwara Yorimichi, meant to embody the Pure Land as it was described in the Visualization Sutra. The Pure Land of the West is a sort of heaven where the faithful can be in paradise after they depart. The temple was built as a private place of worship and has a beautiful lake in front of it, making it and extremely beautiful building to photograph.
After the took a brief tour of the inside of the temple, and took a bunch of pictures, we went into the museum on the site which showed many of the original artifacts from the temple. It was really interesting and the museum building itself was also really nice, but we were not allowed to take pictures inside unfortunately.
This morning I had Japanese class and then a few hour break before our studio class. I was late to Japanese class because I got lost in Kyoto Station, but now I know how to get there so it's ok. After class Trudy, Carissa and I walked around and did some shopping and got lunch. I got some gifts for people and a towel, which we apparently need at our new place. Luckily I found one for about $5. I got something really pretty for my Mommy (which I can't really describe here since she reads the blog) and I hope she actually uses it, unlike the pretty scarf I got her from Paris...hear that Mom? The only thing I got for myself was a $10 pair of earings that are really pretty and hand made.
We made it to studio a little late and we went through a few people's design layouts for their travel journals, which I have barely started but will catch up on this weekend. We also talked about our trip down the Philosopher's Path tomorrow where we will see the Silver Pavillion and I'm pretty excited about it. We also got our new project assigned, but we convinced Don to make it a 2 week assignment rather than a 1 week one, since that stressed us out pretty bad last time.
Carisa and I wandered around for a while after class, and I found my towel. I managed to get to the nearest Subway station and to Kyoto Station without a problem. Unfortunately, I got out of the station on the wrong side and had issues figuring out where I was. I ended up having to ask some random guys if they spoke english and if they could help me. They ended up taking me to a hotel across the street since they figured that they would speak English there. They explained that I was lost and told them the name of my apartment complex and the guy behind the counter looked up directions and marked my new route out on a map for me. It was awesome how helpful everyone was, and I'm really glad that I can speak enough Japanese to figure out this sort of stuff, otherwise it could have taken me quite a while to get to my new home.
Jeff, Trudy and I watched a movie called Repo: Genetic Opera, which was a pretty sweet rock opera, but definitely a cult classic sort of thing. Then we went to get dinner with Blake and Derrick. We found an Italian place in the mall that's in the train station. It was pretty good, but the portions were pretty small for the price, even though it wasn't too expensive. They boys all got pizza, which seems like a better deal so I'll keep that in mind for next time. Now we are sitting in our room, with Trudy, Derrick, Blake, Karen and Katie watching Grandma's Boy and drinking a little. I'm pretty tired so I hope people clear out after the movie, but we'll see. Tomorrow we're going on the Philosopher's Path so there will be lots of pretty pictures up soonly.
Love you all and I miss you lots.
Yesterday we moved across town into our new appartments in Kyoto. It was kind of a pain in the ass and I'm still not very well settled, but the place is much nicer than our last one and pictures will be up soon. We have our own kitchen and fridge and it's pretty awesome.
After our move...as in half an hour after we reached our new place...we had to meet in the lobby to take a trip to Uji. The Shinto Shrines at Uji are prime examples from the Heian Period in Japan. All the Shinto shrines seem to look very similar, but the smaller shrine we saw yesterday is one of the oldest shrines in existence, so it had some defining qualities. Specifically the roof structure and shape is distinguished from other shrines. The roof has a curved shape that is somewhat unique among the shrines and there are certain structural supports called frog leg supports that are u-shaped. The woodwork was beautiful of course, as it was in all the other shrines.
The most amazing thing we saw in Uji was Byodin. This is a temple, garden and lake complex built by Fujiwara Yorimichi, meant to embody the Pure Land as it was described in the Visualization Sutra. The Pure Land of the West is a sort of heaven where the faithful can be in paradise after they depart. The temple was built as a private place of worship and has a beautiful lake in front of it, making it and extremely beautiful building to photograph.
After the took a brief tour of the inside of the temple, and took a bunch of pictures, we went into the museum on the site which showed many of the original artifacts from the temple. It was really interesting and the museum building itself was also really nice, but we were not allowed to take pictures inside unfortunately.
This morning I had Japanese class and then a few hour break before our studio class. I was late to Japanese class because I got lost in Kyoto Station, but now I know how to get there so it's ok. After class Trudy, Carissa and I walked around and did some shopping and got lunch. I got some gifts for people and a towel, which we apparently need at our new place. Luckily I found one for about $5. I got something really pretty for my Mommy (which I can't really describe here since she reads the blog) and I hope she actually uses it, unlike the pretty scarf I got her from Paris...hear that Mom? The only thing I got for myself was a $10 pair of earings that are really pretty and hand made.
We made it to studio a little late and we went through a few people's design layouts for their travel journals, which I have barely started but will catch up on this weekend. We also talked about our trip down the Philosopher's Path tomorrow where we will see the Silver Pavillion and I'm pretty excited about it. We also got our new project assigned, but we convinced Don to make it a 2 week assignment rather than a 1 week one, since that stressed us out pretty bad last time.
Carisa and I wandered around for a while after class, and I found my towel. I managed to get to the nearest Subway station and to Kyoto Station without a problem. Unfortunately, I got out of the station on the wrong side and had issues figuring out where I was. I ended up having to ask some random guys if they spoke english and if they could help me. They ended up taking me to a hotel across the street since they figured that they would speak English there. They explained that I was lost and told them the name of my apartment complex and the guy behind the counter looked up directions and marked my new route out on a map for me. It was awesome how helpful everyone was, and I'm really glad that I can speak enough Japanese to figure out this sort of stuff, otherwise it could have taken me quite a while to get to my new home.
Jeff, Trudy and I watched a movie called Repo: Genetic Opera, which was a pretty sweet rock opera, but definitely a cult classic sort of thing. Then we went to get dinner with Blake and Derrick. We found an Italian place in the mall that's in the train station. It was pretty good, but the portions were pretty small for the price, even though it wasn't too expensive. They boys all got pizza, which seems like a better deal so I'll keep that in mind for next time. Now we are sitting in our room, with Trudy, Derrick, Blake, Karen and Katie watching Grandma's Boy and drinking a little. I'm pretty tired so I hope people clear out after the movie, but we'll see. Tomorrow we're going on the Philosopher's Path so there will be lots of pretty pictures up soonly.
Love you all and I miss you lots.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
And Somehow, it's Wednesday Already
My week is going by really fast again. Our project is due in a couple hours, so I was up until 1 last night finishing it. We also have a paper due Friday, we're moving tomorrow, we have Japanese homework and a travel journal that I haven't started. They're keeping us pretty busy over here. We're actually going to talk to our teacher today about cutting back the work a little bit so we can go experience Japan a little more because everyone feels like we've just been working and touring all the time.
Yesterday we had small group tours of Katsura Ryoji (the Katsura Detached Palace) and it was beautiful. The gardens are so scenic and the little tea houses strategically placed throughout them are so thoughtfully designed. The experience has been controlled and designed from moment to moment, so that as you move through the garden your understanding of it changes and develops. Each bend in the path brings something new; some new and uniquely designed building or a picturesque scene. In fact, the way the garden is designed seems to relate to the Picturesque movement in architecture, in which a scene is designed to be viewed from a specific vantage point. However, it seems that the gardens are designed a little more thouroughly because there are obvious framed view, but also the experience and feeling within the garden changes as you stroll through it. And, unlike many Picturesque scenes, there doesn't seem to be a poor vantage point. As far as photography goes, you can't seem to go wrong within the walls of the Katsura Ryoji gardens.
Fortunately for us, simply because we had so much work to do, yesterday was a half day trip, so the rest of the day was spent finishing up our project (which I will definitely post pictures of) and Japanese homework. On our way home from the subway station, we stopped near one of the streams and looked at the cherry blossoms, which will be gone soon. I picked some up off the ground to press them in my sketchbook, but only one turned out well, so I will have to get some more today after class. Jeff and I also went to dinner at this semi-American food place. I got a pizza, which was good, but totally different than most pizzas you could expect to get in the states. It had chicken and a lot of onion on it, and cheese, but a thinner sauce that definitely did not have any tomatoes in it. Like I said, different, but really good.
This morning I had Japanese class and this afternoon I have studio class where we will all present our projects. We're going to try to convince D. Choi to hold off until Friday on assigning our next project, so I'll let you know how that goes. Tonight I need to pack for our move in the morning and I want to go see the cherry blossoms lit up and maybe pick up a few more to press before they're all gone. After we move into our new appartments, we are going on a half day trip to Uji, to see the dry gardens there. I'm really excited about it because the rock gardens are supposed to be beautiful, and this is another site that we learned about in Architectural History, so it should be amazing.
That's all for now. I'm going to try to put up some pictures of Katsura and the Cherry Blossom Festival that is going on in Kyoto, and I'll be back tomorrow.
Yesterday we had small group tours of Katsura Ryoji (the Katsura Detached Palace) and it was beautiful. The gardens are so scenic and the little tea houses strategically placed throughout them are so thoughtfully designed. The experience has been controlled and designed from moment to moment, so that as you move through the garden your understanding of it changes and develops. Each bend in the path brings something new; some new and uniquely designed building or a picturesque scene. In fact, the way the garden is designed seems to relate to the Picturesque movement in architecture, in which a scene is designed to be viewed from a specific vantage point. However, it seems that the gardens are designed a little more thouroughly because there are obvious framed view, but also the experience and feeling within the garden changes as you stroll through it. And, unlike many Picturesque scenes, there doesn't seem to be a poor vantage point. As far as photography goes, you can't seem to go wrong within the walls of the Katsura Ryoji gardens.
Fortunately for us, simply because we had so much work to do, yesterday was a half day trip, so the rest of the day was spent finishing up our project (which I will definitely post pictures of) and Japanese homework. On our way home from the subway station, we stopped near one of the streams and looked at the cherry blossoms, which will be gone soon. I picked some up off the ground to press them in my sketchbook, but only one turned out well, so I will have to get some more today after class. Jeff and I also went to dinner at this semi-American food place. I got a pizza, which was good, but totally different than most pizzas you could expect to get in the states. It had chicken and a lot of onion on it, and cheese, but a thinner sauce that definitely did not have any tomatoes in it. Like I said, different, but really good.
This morning I had Japanese class and this afternoon I have studio class where we will all present our projects. We're going to try to convince D. Choi to hold off until Friday on assigning our next project, so I'll let you know how that goes. Tonight I need to pack for our move in the morning and I want to go see the cherry blossoms lit up and maybe pick up a few more to press before they're all gone. After we move into our new appartments, we are going on a half day trip to Uji, to see the dry gardens there. I'm really excited about it because the rock gardens are supposed to be beautiful, and this is another site that we learned about in Architectural History, so it should be amazing.
That's all for now. I'm going to try to put up some pictures of Katsura and the Cherry Blossom Festival that is going on in Kyoto, and I'll be back tomorrow.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
So I've been slacking.
Well, not really, but I am behind in terms of my blog.
It's now Monday at 3 pm and I haven't written since Friday, so I apologize.
Saturday Jeff, Trudy, Carisa and I met up with D Choi to go on a "leisurely walk" around Kurama, a small town about half an hour north of our part of Kyoto. It was really beautiful there, much less crowded and I have already posted pictures.
The area was just a small town, a much different and refreshing atmosphere compared to cities like Kyoto and Osaka that we've already experienced. There was a beautiful little river called the Kuramagawa (Kurama River...unique, I know) with hand made and potentially dangerous, but picturesque little bridges. Of course, we had to cross them and walk around by the river before we made our way up to the shrines and temples of Kuramadera.
There was also a house that is 100 years old that we wanted to see, but it was not open, so we only got to see the exterior, which is unfortunate.
It's now Monday at 3 pm and I haven't written since Friday, so I apologize.
Saturday Jeff, Trudy, Carisa and I met up with D Choi to go on a "leisurely walk" around Kurama, a small town about half an hour north of our part of Kyoto. It was really beautiful there, much less crowded and I have already posted pictures.
The area was just a small town, a much different and refreshing atmosphere compared to cities like Kyoto and Osaka that we've already experienced. There was a beautiful little river called the Kuramagawa (Kurama River...unique, I know) with hand made and potentially dangerous, but picturesque little bridges. Of course, we had to cross them and walk around by the river before we made our way up to the shrines and temples of Kuramadera.
There was also a house that is 100 years old that we wanted to see, but it was not open, so we only got to see the exterior, which is unfortunate.
We started at the Niomon gate and then proceeded through the worship hall, called the Haiden, of a temple called Yuki Jinja. This temple was unique in that it's worshipping platform was seperated from the shrines themselves.
We continued to climb higher and higher, seeing little shrines and temples along the path. I don't even want to try to guess how many stairs we climbed before we finally reached the Honden, or main hall, of Kuramadera. After a short break, we quickly found out that there were still a good number of stairs to be conquered. Of course, we're never ones to be defeated by inanimate objects, so we continued to hike.
Finally, 235 meters above the Niomon where we started, we reached the peak and took a break before heading back down to Kibune. My legs were shaking and sore by the time we were done, but it was beautiful and worth the climb. Of course, then there was the 20 minute walk to the train station.
The rest of my day was consumed by work as Jeff and I tried to hash out our design without too many conflicts. We are about done designing but we still have the presentation work to do.
Sunday was a work day as well, so there's not much to discuss there expect the fact that we're all a little upset by the amount of work being assigned. I don't think most of us would have paid $6000 to sit in a hotel lounge and do work. Hopefully it will get to be more manageable.
This morning I had Japanese class and then a brief meeting with D Choi. Now we are going as a class to see the cherry blossoms and relax a little, so I will post lots of pictures later.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Friday I'm in Love...
well...I'm not. But my sister is and that's exciting :)
If I'm in love with anything right now, it's the idea of a weekend and a break. I feel like we haven't really stopped since we landed in Osaka only a week ago.
It's now Friday night at about 6 and it feels like my week went by really fast but at the same time I'm amazed by how much I've done. My day today was pretty mundane, just Japanese and design class. Jeff and I definitely need to develop our design a lot more and I was stressed about it at first, but now I'm not stressing at all. I feel like our project is going to be fine and I really don't want to spend my free time in Japan working on projects.
Tonight I feel like I need to take it a little easy. I'm going to try to get my Japanese homework done and maybe do a little designing with Jeff, but I'd also like dinner and a few beers. For now, I'm going to upload pictures. Tomorrow we might be going to Osaka again to see a few buildings so that should be fun. Anyways, goodnight my faithful readers and fear not, there is much more to come.
If I'm in love with anything right now, it's the idea of a weekend and a break. I feel like we haven't really stopped since we landed in Osaka only a week ago.
It's now Friday night at about 6 and it feels like my week went by really fast but at the same time I'm amazed by how much I've done. My day today was pretty mundane, just Japanese and design class. Jeff and I definitely need to develop our design a lot more and I was stressed about it at first, but now I'm not stressing at all. I feel like our project is going to be fine and I really don't want to spend my free time in Japan working on projects.
Tonight I feel like I need to take it a little easy. I'm going to try to get my Japanese homework done and maybe do a little designing with Jeff, but I'd also like dinner and a few beers. For now, I'm going to upload pictures. Tomorrow we might be going to Osaka again to see a few buildings so that should be fun. Anyways, goodnight my faithful readers and fear not, there is much more to come.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
So much to talk about...
So I shirked yesterday cuz we didn't get back into Kyoto until about 8 and then we had some work to do for today (Friday, March 4)
Yesterday, we went to Nara to see some of the oldest Buddhist temples in the world. They were much more ornate than the Shinto shrines we saw in Ise. The Shinto religion is much more based in nature so the trees themselves are thought to contain the gods, whereas in the Buddhist religion, idols and images are used. So there were statues and paintings of the gods and idols inside the buildings.
The first place we went to is called Horyuji. It is the oldest Buddhist temple that has been used consistently throughout history. We ended up taking an incredibly long and incredibly expensive bus ride to get to Horyuji. Don kind of dropped the ball on that one. The temple was really interesting and I'll post pictures of it later.
The other important place we went was Toodaiji. This temple is often considered the largest wooden structure in existence, and it was incredibly huge. It was almost unneccessarily large. Inside was a huge statue of Buddha. The size of the columns made you feel like you were standing in a forest. Just the pure scale of the structure and the statues was enough to inspire awe. Pictures will be up later.
Another interesting thing about Nara is that it is covered in deer...that's right...deer. They're everywhere! They follow you around and come up and sniff you while you're trying to take pictures of the temples and pagodas. At first they were cute, but then you watch them more and more and they are all a little mangy and they act like scavengers. It was actually kind of gross after a certain point. They are so used to people that they just walk right up to you and try to take any food you may or may not have.
We got back to Kyoto at around 8 and then had some work to do. I did some translations from English to Japanese and then Jeff and I had to put together a presentation on our basic ideas for the metal store, which we have now officially named "Slashed and Torn". I will put up some pictures of our presentation that we did last night cuz it's pretty cool.
So, that's architecture and Japan...now on to more important things...
My sister got engaged this week (on Wednesday night I think). I was so excited for her, I seriously started crying. I'm kind of sad that I'm not there to experience how happy she is right now, but she said she's going to wait for me to start planning, which I'm happy about. Now I'm excited to go home and help her plan her wedding. So congrats to Ashlyn and Jeff, I'm so happy for you guys.
Anyways, I have to go to my design class now, I'll be back later with pictures and more writing.
Yesterday, we went to Nara to see some of the oldest Buddhist temples in the world. They were much more ornate than the Shinto shrines we saw in Ise. The Shinto religion is much more based in nature so the trees themselves are thought to contain the gods, whereas in the Buddhist religion, idols and images are used. So there were statues and paintings of the gods and idols inside the buildings.
The first place we went to is called Horyuji. It is the oldest Buddhist temple that has been used consistently throughout history. We ended up taking an incredibly long and incredibly expensive bus ride to get to Horyuji. Don kind of dropped the ball on that one. The temple was really interesting and I'll post pictures of it later.
The other important place we went was Toodaiji. This temple is often considered the largest wooden structure in existence, and it was incredibly huge. It was almost unneccessarily large. Inside was a huge statue of Buddha. The size of the columns made you feel like you were standing in a forest. Just the pure scale of the structure and the statues was enough to inspire awe. Pictures will be up later.
Another interesting thing about Nara is that it is covered in deer...that's right...deer. They're everywhere! They follow you around and come up and sniff you while you're trying to take pictures of the temples and pagodas. At first they were cute, but then you watch them more and more and they are all a little mangy and they act like scavengers. It was actually kind of gross after a certain point. They are so used to people that they just walk right up to you and try to take any food you may or may not have.
We got back to Kyoto at around 8 and then had some work to do. I did some translations from English to Japanese and then Jeff and I had to put together a presentation on our basic ideas for the metal store, which we have now officially named "Slashed and Torn". I will put up some pictures of our presentation that we did last night cuz it's pretty cool.
So, that's architecture and Japan...now on to more important things...
My sister got engaged this week (on Wednesday night I think). I was so excited for her, I seriously started crying. I'm kind of sad that I'm not there to experience how happy she is right now, but she said she's going to wait for me to start planning, which I'm happy about. Now I'm excited to go home and help her plan her wedding. So congrats to Ashlyn and Jeff, I'm so happy for you guys.
Anyways, I have to go to my design class now, I'll be back later with pictures and more writing.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Japanese and Slash Metal
It's about 6:30 on Wednesday night, and this week seems to be going by pretty fast.
I had Japanese class this morning at 9 and it got a little intense. The vocab isn't too bad yet, but we started making a little more complicated sentences, such as "Yesterday, I went to Ise and then returned to the hotel." I'm glad we're jumping right into it, but it was definitely a bit much for our second lesson.
After class I ran a couple errands, picked up some fruit cuz I've been craving it, and then went back to the hotel. I got to talk to Andrew for a little bit which was nice because we haven't spoken in a few days.
At 2, we had our first design studio at the Community Center. We're doing some minor design charrettes (quick design activities) in pairs. Jeff and I are working together on this first one that is due next Wednesday. We are taking a site in the outdoor market in downtown Kyoto and designing any sort of retail space we want. Jeff and I have decided to pull influence from the Japanese goth/metal/punk scene, and design what is essentially a better version of Hot Topic. We came up with 3 basic design concepts today, each based on a different fashion style.
The first one is based on slash metal and the facade of the building (which is all you can really design on an urban infill site) is based on the idea of the stairs thrusting through the facade of the building. The facade material responds by ripping, tearing and stretching based on the puncture of the stairs, that protrude out into the public walkway above people's heads. The stairs almost become a shard that has torn this other material apart, creating a cave-like entrance to the store.
Our next idea was based on the dichotomy of brigh colors and darkness in the candy punk scene. This design takes the store and divides it into two sides, the colorful and the dark. There are 2 seperate staircases up to the 2nd level, the happy one and the sad one. Where the two sides meet, there is a collision, both in the floor plan and in the facade. The walls are warped and bent...almost creased, both on the outer walls and any inner walls, reflecting the bent 'give and take' within this style.
The third idea is based on the layers involved in the goth/metal style, especially in Japan. Fishnets often become the underlay or background in this fashion style, acting as a semi-transparent base. We translated this into stips of glass on the front facade, with literal fishnet material stretched between two strips of glass. Other parts of the face are to be left open, with pull-down doors to close up the store when it's not during normal business hours. The next layer, based off the standard pants and offensive t-shirt, is a solid, dark layer overlapping the previous layer. Next comes the coat or jacket, which we saw as framing the area of focus. We translate this into a material that borders the building and helps to frame the entrance. This material is the only one that angles sharply and really contrasts with the edges of the other materials. Finally is the accessories, which we have translated into the signage of the building. This will take the form of red lettering randomly placed across the surface of the building. It will resemble a shirt with random phrases all over it.
We need to put together a brief presentation for Friday, but I don't think it's too big of a deal. Anyways, after class Jeff and I wandered around, and I finally bought a change purse because most of the money here is in coin form and it's starting to get annoying. I actually bought two, and one is meant to be for Ashlyn when I get home, so I'll let her pick between the two when I get there. We went to a ramen place for dinner and it was with pork and in pork broth. I really don't like pork very much, so it wasn't very satisfying for me.
Now I'm in the lounge and I'm about done with the blog for today. I still have a reading to do before our field trip tomorrow and I'd like to at least start my Japanese homework, which involves me translating English phrases into Japanese. I still haven't started my scrapbook project, but whatever I guess. I'll tell you all about Nara after our trip tomorrow.
Night
I had Japanese class this morning at 9 and it got a little intense. The vocab isn't too bad yet, but we started making a little more complicated sentences, such as "Yesterday, I went to Ise and then returned to the hotel." I'm glad we're jumping right into it, but it was definitely a bit much for our second lesson.
After class I ran a couple errands, picked up some fruit cuz I've been craving it, and then went back to the hotel. I got to talk to Andrew for a little bit which was nice because we haven't spoken in a few days.
At 2, we had our first design studio at the Community Center. We're doing some minor design charrettes (quick design activities) in pairs. Jeff and I are working together on this first one that is due next Wednesday. We are taking a site in the outdoor market in downtown Kyoto and designing any sort of retail space we want. Jeff and I have decided to pull influence from the Japanese goth/metal/punk scene, and design what is essentially a better version of Hot Topic. We came up with 3 basic design concepts today, each based on a different fashion style.
The first one is based on slash metal and the facade of the building (which is all you can really design on an urban infill site) is based on the idea of the stairs thrusting through the facade of the building. The facade material responds by ripping, tearing and stretching based on the puncture of the stairs, that protrude out into the public walkway above people's heads. The stairs almost become a shard that has torn this other material apart, creating a cave-like entrance to the store.
Our next idea was based on the dichotomy of brigh colors and darkness in the candy punk scene. This design takes the store and divides it into two sides, the colorful and the dark. There are 2 seperate staircases up to the 2nd level, the happy one and the sad one. Where the two sides meet, there is a collision, both in the floor plan and in the facade. The walls are warped and bent...almost creased, both on the outer walls and any inner walls, reflecting the bent 'give and take' within this style.
The third idea is based on the layers involved in the goth/metal style, especially in Japan. Fishnets often become the underlay or background in this fashion style, acting as a semi-transparent base. We translated this into stips of glass on the front facade, with literal fishnet material stretched between two strips of glass. Other parts of the face are to be left open, with pull-down doors to close up the store when it's not during normal business hours. The next layer, based off the standard pants and offensive t-shirt, is a solid, dark layer overlapping the previous layer. Next comes the coat or jacket, which we saw as framing the area of focus. We translate this into a material that borders the building and helps to frame the entrance. This material is the only one that angles sharply and really contrasts with the edges of the other materials. Finally is the accessories, which we have translated into the signage of the building. This will take the form of red lettering randomly placed across the surface of the building. It will resemble a shirt with random phrases all over it.
We need to put together a brief presentation for Friday, but I don't think it's too big of a deal. Anyways, after class Jeff and I wandered around, and I finally bought a change purse because most of the money here is in coin form and it's starting to get annoying. I actually bought two, and one is meant to be for Ashlyn when I get home, so I'll let her pick between the two when I get there. We went to a ramen place for dinner and it was with pork and in pork broth. I really don't like pork very much, so it wasn't very satisfying for me.
Now I'm in the lounge and I'm about done with the blog for today. I still have a reading to do before our field trip tomorrow and I'd like to at least start my Japanese homework, which involves me translating English phrases into Japanese. I still haven't started my scrapbook project, but whatever I guess. I'll tell you all about Nara after our trip tomorrow.
Night
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