1985: Kushi Matsuri

December 6, 1985

Kyoto

Dear Friends:

My months in Kyoto this year have been, in many ways, quite a different kind of experience from my previous visits. This resulted from my decision to start and complete a new body of work for exhibition here in Japan during my stay … a challenge that was greater than I anticipated. It has meant that I have worked consistently in the studio since August with little time for trips away or, frustratingly, enjoying Kyoto as fully as I would have liked. But I’m very happy with the results of the concerted effort on my work — more about that later.

Although the work schedule has been a full one I have not completely neglected the charms of Japan or the Japanese. September was the month of the annual Kushi Matsuri (Comb & Hairdressing Festival). I had attended last year so I was familiar with the event, but this year marked a special anniversary and the procession of costumed models in historic hair styles and Maiko-san and Geisha-san in full dress was more impressive. The crowds are not so large at this event so one can get near the participants, seated for a long time while the Shinto ceremony is going on, to have a close inspection and photo opportunities of the elaborate hair styles and various hair decorations (including combs, of course).

Once again, I was fortunate to have an invitation to join the models in an adjacent tea house for more photos (including photos of me with several Maiko-san). The afternoon was one of those experiences, not so uncommon in Kyoto, of being surrounded by TRADITION in a unique and rewarding way. I completed that Kyoto day with 4+ hours of Kabuki in the old and un-remodeled Minamiza theatre in the Gion section. The star and producer of the production was Takao, a Kabuki actor who has brought a new style of energetic acting and spectacular stage effects to the medium. As a result, he is quite popular, and his productions are well attended during the one month fall season in Kyoto. He did his expected flying through the air from the stage to the upper balcony (where I always sit) this time on a giant kite — and then back down again on the opposite side of the house to a temple roof (set changed while he flew away) where he did battle with his fierce adversary — roof tiles flying through the air in all directions as a full-scale battle raged on the rooftop. It was a spectacular ending to a real blood and fire (great effects there too) and thunder epic.

Another highlight in September was a weekend trip to visit Ando-sensei, our shibori teacher for the Juraku dyeing classes, and her family of husband, Shoichiro, who is an executive with a fertilizer company and their 2 teenage sons, Jiro and Hidekata. They planned a full weekend for all of us beginning with a trip in a borrowed van to an area in Aichi-ken noted for associations with exploits of the Tokugawa clan and others. We passed through the countryside showing early rice harvest, through Toyota City, the flagship plant of the auto company and on to a delightful ryokan in the valley below Horaiji san, location of numerous temples and a shrine Tokugawa Ieyasu built to honor his parents. The ambiance of the inn was “country-with-conveniences” with its relaxing ofuro (bath) and endless meals of local specialties including mountain vegetables and koi sashimi from the ryokan’s own pond.

The boys and I (we had already become buddies on previous encounters) shared a room and the next morning climbed the mountain in a drizzle — to a height of 681 meters and 1292 steps (counted by Jiro, the younger). The shifting mists trailing through the mountains and the valleys below and glimpses of our over-night village below from a great height made the climb quite a wonderful experience. There were many Buddhist images along the way that were quite different in character than any I had seen previously. We met the Andos (parents) who had driven the van up and, just as a serious rain began, headed for a nearby river restaurant that specializes in ayu (sweetfish — the fishing areas are said to have the fragrance of watermelon! although we did not experience this). We had ayu served in 6 different ways as we looked out on the river where a huge and inventive trap furnished the fish for the 100s of diners and the carryout customers. Unique and delicious! We returned to Nagoya and the following day we explored the reconstructed Nagoya Castle and surrounding gardens in the rain. The Andos and I have become very close (they now consider me family) and I just returned from another delightful weekend with them in Nagoya.

September concluded with a moon viewing party, on a very cloudy night, with a friend at Toshodaiji (an 8th century temple on the outskirts of Nara). We shared the evening with thousands of others, of course, most of who insisted on taking flash photos all night long of the temple buildings, each other and, when it dramatically appeared through the clouds, of the moon itself! We succeeded in ignoring the hub bub surrounding us and we did enjoy the magnificent harvest moon — full and golden, floating so large over the roof profiles of the temple complex. No doubt an influence on my work.

Textile/costume events dominated the little free time I could spare from the studio in October. Of festivals, which there are many in the fall, the Jidai Matsuri (Festival of the Ages) was tops. Over one thousand participants don historic costumes ranging from the archaic period to Meiji and assemble in the Palace (Gosho) grounds in central Kyoto hours before the actual procession. So it’s an observer/photographer’s paradise where you have all the costumes in repose — or isolated from the crowds in a procession. I shot uncounted rolls of film and thoroughly enjoyed myself with my newly acquired zoom lens.

The exhibitions were also first rate with “Japanese Textiles: Beauty and Technique” at the National Museum in Kyoto. It was a spectacular event judged by my 4 years of visits here with unique and famous kimono and other textiles on exhibit. An art historian living in Kyoto said it was a once-in-fifty-years kind of event. It was quite wonderful to see, at first hand, Hideyoshi’ s tsujigaha dofuku, the elegant kosode in kanoko shibori with waves and iris AND the celebrated yuzen furisode with the noshi pattern said by same to have been designed and painted by Yuzen himself and the list goes on. Three visits were hardly enough but I simply ran out of time. Major exhibit #2 was the annual Shosoin (8th century treasure house) showing at the National Museum in Nara. Again celebrated textiles (and many other objects as well) illustrated in numerous texts were on view. Buddhist: banners in brocade and damask, felt rugs and handsome panels in kyokechi (clamp resist) were familiar.

Performances seen included the contemporary puppet work of Tsujimura Jusabaro who performs on stage with his uniquely costumed puppets and, for contrast, the Geisha and Maiko-san of the Pontocho group performing dance drama and traditional dance with accompanying music … very Kyoto, very traditional, very enjoyable.

Two events, planned long in advance, managed to occur at the most inconvenient time just before my exhibition opening. The first, a weaving workshop at a design school in Osaka, was offered as a favor to a friend that I was greatly indebted to but, although it turned out very well, ended in no repayment to her at all. I worked with a group of about 30 first- and second-year textile students on Peruvian tapestry techniques. Three two-hour sessions produced amazing results. Given some time between sessions to work, the students did very well indeed and I concluded with a good critique and good friendships with the professor and the translator. The professor led me to the prefect silk for mounting my new works and she and some of the students came to see my show in Kyoto.

The second event was a trip to Manila to help inaugurate the “Art of Wear” exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. (American traveling exhibit that I lent similar aid to last fall here in Kyoto.) Travel there and back consumed almost a full day each way although it’s only four hours from Osaka (my nearest airport) because I had to travel through Tokyo. Manila, for me, was as the Japanese say, “Ma ma” (so so) as it is mostly a post WW II creation with a tiny bit of old Spain remaining (or rebuilt). The First Lady’s building projects abound giving the city a contemporary air, but the poverty, unemployment and discontent with the Marcos rule are readily noted. I was fortunate to see an exhibition of traditional Philippine textiles that are appreciated by a small but growing group of Filipinos who realize the end of the rainbow is not always in the West. In fact, PEOPLE were the most exciting aspect of my three days in Manila — museum staff, designers, artists, activists and our own Embassy staff. They provided a lively picture of a segment of the arts/culture “movers”. Some of these are politically involved and are hopeful for change but also are pragmatic about the Marcos’ hold on the country with a vast network of cronies. My audiences were enthusiastic and we had some lively dialogs on my work, textiles of all sorts and even politics.

I returned from the Manila interlude with all of the final mounting of my work to complete in three days. Fortunately, I had the sense to hire an assistant the week before leaving and he was busy in my absence. His help was invaluable, and although he had no craft experience (a law and political science major at Doshisha University) he was very methodical and careful and proved to be a great help in many ways. Still, I was busy up to and including the last minute with final preparations. The new work, as you will note from the enclosed announcement, is small weavings with the application of silver and gold leaf (nui haku in Japanese). The weaving, completed in October, tried my patience to the limit, but the remaining steps, although not without frustrations, provided challenge, excitement, and many rewards.

The grid is drawn from many sources in Kyoto: temple sliding doors, windows, shoji, walks, brickwork and the ancient plan of the city itself. I envision my images as window views or shoji shadows creating, I hope, a sense of depth and illusionary space. SPACE — my first group of images are from a NASA publication with photos of celestial bodies of various sorts: stars, star clouds, planets, etc. The second group employs my own photos of Kyoto rooftops, both profiles and details, taken from my house window and my studio window, and other locations. The third group combines the space images with the rooftops (moon viewing at Toshodaiji). Example: “Mercury Rises Over Murasakino”. All the images are achieved by photo screen printing of a special paste and the subsequent application of the silver (in many colors including a range of “golds” and black) and real gold leaf. The grid lines of the weave are reserved; the leaf is applied, pounced, shaded and the reserve is removed to reveal the grid. The mounting, which involved too many steps, has the work “floating” off a natural Indian silk encased in a plastic box frame.

The opening at Gallery Maronie was well attended and there were many visitors throughout the week of the show. Comments have been favorable and questions about the process numerous. I have been pleased with the reactions here in Kyoto. The show will also travel to Tokyo. I will spend just a few days there before I leave Japan.

This year I will again stopover in Hawaii on my way back to Georgia. I will give a lecture at the Temari Center in Honolulu and one on Kauai also with time to explore a bit, relax and recover from the penetrating cold I am experiencing now in Kyoto. The oft maligned Kyoto winter is now a reality for me. Then back to the mainland for a brief visit with my mother in Wisconsin (more cold, I fear) arriving in Athens on December 20. Christmas plans have just been finalized and I will be spending the holidays in New York with Page and Jeanne. Babak will join us there as well. Page is now a para-legal at a large international law firm and is enjoying the work very much. He has just completed work on the first phase of Chilean debt restructuring negotiations and will begin a next phase in January. Jeanne continues her MA in Japanese Literature at Columbia and hopes to complete her course work by this summer. She has continued her work as a TA in Korean also. We’ll celebrate Christmas and the New Year of the Tiger in the City.

Plans are now underway for my tour next year followed by the Juraku Dyeing Classes which will have some new flavors, we hope. I will return to my little house in Murasakino in June to a greatly devalued $ and continuing trade friction, but also the invigorating constancy of my Japanese friendships and the pervasive beauty and stimulating dynamics of Kyoto.

Special greetings to the alumni of the 1984 and 1985 tour groups. Plans are now underway to repeat the 3-week version that was well received this year. Thank you for your suggestions and comments and especially for the cards and letters that are always happily received if not properly answered. I hope you understand. I’m now thinking about a 1986 reunion gathering in late January or February in Athens over a weekend. I will contact you soon in the new year with details.

As the Year of the OX comes to a close, I send you warm greetings of holiday cheer and best wishes for a prosperous NEW YEAR of the TIGER …