Day 13: Kyoto

Day 13: Kyoto

QOTD:  It’s pop art

Weather: low 80s, cooling to mid 70s in evening

Pics:  Breakfast, Kohei Nawa pics available on request, Sagawa transport (builders of the Sagawa Museum of Art), Japanese mail carrier conveyance, art jewelry stop, lunch menu (the front window display), Silver Pavilion, Yakimono Gallery purchases, R&S at home, Manzara Honten restaurant

Note: the camera works fine today, it appears to be one good battery and one defective one; the story continues

THB maximizes the breakfast buffet, and off we head to take a short train ride and a taxi to see Kohei Nara’s workshop (aka Bubble Boy). DB (our earnest scout) spotted his work a while ago and arranged this visit; we knew Kohei would not be there, we were met by one his office assistants who spoke excellent English (she attended U of Wisconsin, Appleton, for several years). The pieces are a variety of items (taxidermy’d deers, toys) in all sizes, covered in glass beads of all sizes. It is a kind of pop art. Nothing for sale at the studio, we’ll find out more when his gallery replies to our inquiries. And, since this work is not for sale (some are being repaired), they request that THB not publish pics on the internet; if you’re interested, THB will send them in separate e-mail with request to not publish.

Reverse the order: taxi and train to Kyoto’s shopping district and a short walk (it’s hot!) to Contemporary Art Jewelry where DB and E make small purchases (they opened especially for us). It’s time for lunch and we have a tip near the Silver Pavilion and the Yakimono Gallery: Omen Noodles.

Long taxi ride, and as we pull up the taxi driver looks across the street and turns to us with crossed arms: they’re closed. Hmmmm…THB is ready to eat. We jump out and start up the road towards the Silver Pavilion, spot a noodle house, and sit down. No menus!! You have to go back outside to the front window and point as the waitress announces: sorry, we don’t have that. Nope, no tempura. Sorry, sorry, sorry. THB and DB have cold soba noodles, J orders noodle soup and E orders beef noodle soup.

J’s soup comes with tempura shrimp. DB and THB point at his and say we’ll have two of those. Sorry, not available. E tries for coke: sorry, sorry. Beer? Yes! Three of us share a tall brewski. $25 for two

Stroll towards the Silver Pavilion and THB has a green tea softie, $3, an acquired taste. E gets a twist of vanilla and green tea. Each come with a small curved cinnamon cookie.

The Silver Pavilion appears to be misnamed: there’s no silver. There is a nice sand garden (see pics) and a pretty garden. A short walk to the Philosopher’s Walk where DB gets a vanilla ice cream cone, $2.50, and kindly shares with THB (no cookie!).

A few more blocks and we’ve arrived at Yakimono Gallery, run by Robert Yellin, a noted Japanese ceramics expert and gallerist who spends several hours showing us what is on offer and giving a great discourse on current Japan ceramics. E&J buy a piece by an emerging young female artist (blue “vase” in pics) and we each buy a bizen style serving plate.

Another lengthy taxi ride and we are at R&S’s house. S is the Steve that guided THB and DB during our 2010 trip and works for the company that supported the trip DB lead in 2011. We’ve stayed in touch and they have visited us in E-ville and spent time at the beach.

Tonight we’re in for a real treat: R (just back from a trip to SF) gives us a lesson in ikebana (see great pics) and S concurrently holds a sake tasting. Hmmmmm…both lessons seem to go extremely well. R&S own sake cups by artists (Yoshikawa and Nakamura) we own and have or will visit, another treat.

Afterwards, the six of us have dinner at Manzara Honten (DB thinks we ate here in 2010 and the group did eat there in 2011). Lots of family style dishes: tomato and avocado salad, chicken, tofu, grilled rice balls, miso, several other dishes THB can’t remember because along with the sake he had two draft beers, sorbet for dessert, $40/pp.   

Book Review: The Lady and Monk, Four Seasons in Kyoto, Pico Iyer. THB has read several of Pico’s books, not sure how this one evaded him. The book covers a year (1990 or thereabouts) in Kyoto of Pico’s involvement with a married Japanese woman who eventually becomes his wife. And, it is the perfect read while in Kyoto as there is much musing on Japanese culture and its interaction with the flood of outsiders that show up in Kyoto looking for the meaning of life (in a different language). Highly recommended, and pretty much a must-read for those coming to Japan (not that THB did in 2010).

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.