Day 12: Kyoto

CAMERA PICS

I-Phone pics

Day 12: Kyoto

QOTD:  My camera isn’t working again

Weather: mid to high 80s

Pics from the camera:  Breakfast buffet choices, the Hoshinos in a candid shot, one of our new plates, skip the rest of the day, dinner at Katsukura and a place THB ate at 2.5 years ago and thought very overpriced and underquality’d

Pics from the i-phone: THB with a full place setting, Hoshinos with travelers (including a piece bought by E&J), the Sagawa Museum, lunch, Miho road work, Otani’s kiln, too many shots of the tunnel leading to the Miho (you can’t really take pics inside the museum)

Please rate the pics, do you like the camera or the i-phone better (THB took all the pics, so that won’t help you decide)

Another shot at the world’s greatest buffet and today THB has pastries, berry AND mango yogurts with granola, grilled ham steak (the chef cuts it off the bone and puts it on the wood burning grill while you watch) and two to three decaf au laits.

Today, we have a guide, Tomoko, and a driver (THB did not catch his name), and the six of leave at 8:30 to travel out of Kyoto. Our first visit is with the Satoru and Kayoko Hoshino, husband and wife ceramicists, with a house above Lake Biwa, which is decorated on the outside (and as part of the exterior of the house!) with their work.

Of course, first we sit and share a snack of cut hashi, apples, and fuyu persimmons, served in one of Kayoko’s bowls that is much admired (and very heavy). After refusing beer (at 9:30 in the morning), we do have tea, and get to admiring the small plates we’re eating on. They are by their son who lives a few kilometers away.

A tour of the house, much viewing of work in their open studios downstairs, and when it is time to make decisions: THB and DB buy a set of the son’s big and medium sized plates; E&J buy one of Satoru’s big pieces and one of Kayoko’s small pitchers and a set of the son’s small plates; and Tomoko (even the guides need good serving dishes) buys a set of 6 of the son’s small plates. The driver doesn’t come in, otherwise he would’ve contributed to the buying frenzy.

This also when THB’s camera gives up the ghost. It may be from a low battery, though it hasn’t been that long since swapping out for a re-charged one. That means there are pics on an i-phone that THB does not know how to transfer yet. They may show up out of sequence.

A long drive to the Sagawa Museum of Art, which turns out to be one of the best museums THB has been to (and THB has been to a lot of art museums). It’s huge, two large buildings and an annex all done to resemble wood siding except it is all concrete;  admission is $10/pp.  

The five of us are half the people visiting this morning, it is almost eerie how empty it is (and how great it is). Down a long corridor with a view of the pool (part of the pool of water surrounding all the buildings, framing the place with infinity pool as a moat), down a set of steps, and we enter a room where at the far end the light is filtering through the pool above, creating an amazing light show on the wall.

The next set of rooms hold displays of small ceramic tea caddies and woven fabric pieces (in relatively low lighting (something that usually drives THB crazy) that perfectly frame the work to great advantage (sometimes the caddies are paired with small woven coverings). It is very very rare to see work given this type of display: a few pieces highlighted to optimum sensation, a few pieces per large room, much space and time to meditate over the work. Highly Recommended!

On the way to the Miho Museum we eat the box lunches provided by the Hyatt: triple decker sandwich, half tuna and half ham and cheese, grilled veggies, chunks of fruit, and an oj. As we near the Miho, there is road construction as repair teams try and fix damage caused by the recent typhoon (we find out later that 3 of the 4 roads are closed, and we’re attempting to get to the museum on one of those roads).

Time to turn around and re-arrange the afternoon, so we visit Shiro Otani, another ceramicist (can you tell what the four of us are interested in?) before the Miho instead of afterwards. DB has been here before when leading the Oakland Art Museum and has one piece in particular she wants THB to look at. It’s good, and we file it away to compare with other work we’ll see on the trip. E&J buy a small plate that was used to serve us the normal visitors’ snack (maple chiffon cake and tea).

Now our guide and driver have the open road to the Miho scoped, and up we go. THB has been here before when the cherry trees were in full blossom and it was spectacular. Today, it is a normal (if 80 degrees is normal in October) and the museum is empty A very good show of ancient black and red lacquerware and the museum’s permanent collection of antiquities from Egypt, Iran, Mesopotamia, and the Greek and Roman Empires. Again, well displayed and nothing is crowded, every piece is given its own space to shine.

A long ride back (fortunately, on the one road that’s open near the Miho) and a rest up at the hotel and change of camera batteries so that you  loyal followers get pics of the dinner at Katsukura: fried pork cutlets that you order by quantity and quality of the cuts (note in pics, THB gets to grind his own sesame seeds and mix with sweet and hot sauces), miso soup, rice, cabbage, pickles (all you can eat of the cabbage, rice and pickles), beer and sake, How good is Katsukura? For E&J, this is the second time here in 3 days, THB and DB ate here twice the last time we were in Kyoto together,and  DB ate here when with the Oakland Art Museum. And, it's part of a small chain. a stroll through old Kyoto entertainment area. $45 per couple for dinner, and taxis to/from the hotel.