1986: Kaerimasu

September 1986
Kyoto

Dear Friends:

The cool weather of Kyoto fall has arrived. The changes were very subtle at first with a slight cooling

in the evenings, then I realized I hadn’t used the fan for night cooling and soon I had the urge to soak in my tiny tub. I don’t soak in the hot weather as it heats me up too much but now the late-night soak is wonderfully relaxing after a day at the loom. The cooler weather has also meant some rain which we really needed after a very hot and dry August. We have not yet experienced the bright clear days with blue skies and picturesque clouds that fall usually brings.

Each return to Japan seems more comfortable and is truly “kaerimasu” (the verb for returning home). This year the feeling was heightened by returning to my own rental house that I moved into last year. I just opened the door and was at home with everything in place! I first came to Kyoto in early June after a few days in Tokyo making final arrangements for my tour and spending time with John Mayberry, formerly of Georgia, before he left Japan to return to Hong Kong where he was to assume a position as the art and antiques coordinator for an architectural firm designing hotels and hotel interiors in Asia. He rejoined Jim Guthrie who has been working for the same firm for over a year. I will certainly miss John on my trips to Tokyo. I spent a few days here for final preparations and then a weekend in Nagoya to see my Japanese “family” the Andos (a very happy reunion) and then back to Tokyo to meet my group.

The group was very small this year with only 7 members and not without its problems, but we moved about easily, only lost one member, briefly, and had an enjoyable time. The June-July rainy season was moderately wet but it didn’t hamper our movements too much. It always seems to rain in Kamakura and Nikko! However, the temples and gardens in Kamakura and the magnificent polychromed shrines and avenues of tall cedars in Nikko are always enhanced by rain, mists and wet reflections. We later moved on to Kyoto for the final two weeks with some spectacular clear, crisp, sunny days in between the rain. It was a time just before Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) and some other temples closed completely in a spat with the Kyoto city government over the collection of taxes. Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) was undergoing repairs and was covered with scaffolding and plastic so we passed that up. My Doshisha University friend, Takeshi, was my Kyoto tour assistant again this year and his help, good humor and companionship added much to our pleasant experiences in Kyoto. Due to the small size of the group this year and the continued erosion of the dollar here I have decided not to continue with the tour activity in the future. But I plan to return to work, study and enjoy.

The tour was followed by the 3rd year of the Juraku dyeing classes. This group was also small which was a boon for the participants working in the artists’ studios this year instead of the Juraku studios, but puts the program’s future in doubt. We spent 2 weeks in Kyoto and another week in Nagoya (Narumi and Arimatsu) studying shibori with Hiroko Ando (of my Japanese “family”). While the students stayed in a hotel in Nagoya I stayed at the studio with one or the other of the Ando sons, cooking there, visiting the neighborhood sento (public bath) each evening. Hidekata, a high school senior, had free time and we spent the days touring together to museums, his high school, Meiji Mura, and Seto. More about these later.

I was happy to return to my house once again after the tour and the classes. Since the Juraku Co. sold the studio building where I had worked the last two years, I had to establish a studio at my house. After much internal debate I decided to use my upper, pure Japanese, 8 tatami mat room for a studio and, once that was decided, quickly had an air conditioning unit installed. Although I did not use it a lot, it was essential for efficient working and, occasionally, sleeping.

I was able to rent a small folding loom from the Kawashima Textile School along with other necessary equipment. Shuttles, hooks, bobbins I was able to purchase there as well AND I could wind my warps there — that was most helpful. I’m always amazed and delighted at the support I receive here for my work. Once again this year I visited my friend, Kawagishi-san, the magical dyer who performed his wizardry for me last year. This year I had yarns purchased in the US and he did a beautiful job of matching my colors again, except for one yarn which he was convinced was not silk, or if so, some strange variety. I was able to substitute another yarn and used the “mistake” in quite a different way with very exciting results.

I faced my usual frustrations in working with the fine silks and the first warp drove me quite mad! But on the 2nd warp the problems were eliminated and all goes very well. I expect the weaving phase to be completed this month and then I will move onto the gold and silver leaf application in October. My solo show at Maronie is scheduled for late November to give me the maximum time to prepare the new works which will be in the same mode as last year with new colors and altered images. The plastic frames, wooden liners, etc. are all ordered so I should reduce my last minute panic that always seems to be a part of show preparation. Working at home does have its advantages. I can work my own schedule including evenings, which I could not do at Juraku — and I simply enjoy being in the house looking over the tile rooftops to the trees in the park beyond. The bamboo in my garden produced a “baby” this year that was already 8-10 ft when I arrived in June. It’s been trimmed back to the parents’ height and looks very elegant, tall and slender. The short bamboo grass did not survive the hot post-rainy season when I was in Nagoya and I have replaced it with an ornamental pepper(?). However, the birds or mice have eaten all the peppers — ah well, a Japanese garden is minimal on color anyway.

The number of visitors has picked up this year and I always enjoy sharing Kyoto with friends who come here. Paul Smith, director of the American Crafts Museum, NYC was here in July and we had a Sunday morning together for breakfast and a visit to a temple flea market. Paul was able to fill me in on the plans for the opening of the new museum in October and the inaugural exhibition, CRAFT TODAY, that includes one of my new works from last year in Kyoto. Also in July, Richard Schneiderman, formerly of Athens as director of the Georgia Museum of Art and now director of the North Carolina Museum of Art, arrived to negotiate a loan exhibition of prime historic kimono for 1987-1988 at his museum. He was very successful in his contacts and returns soon for a follow up visit. I will select and coordinate an exhibit of contemporary kimono by artists here in Kyoto. Richard stayed in the Tawaraya Ryokan, proclaimed in Esquire as the “finest hotel in the world”, and it was indeed quite prefect with the service uniquely Japanese and at times overwhelming. Heather McPherson, professor at UW-Oshkosh and a member of my tour and classes in 1984, arrived recently to do research on costumes in theatre and festivals. Lloyd Herman, former director of the Renwick, will spend a few days in Kyoto later this month and Norman and Doris Giles, of Athens, will be here in early October after a trip to China.

Travel to new places has occupied just a small part of my time, but I have had some wonderful experiences. While in Nagoya Hidekata guided me to Meiji Mura (Meiji Period Village) about 2 hours by bus, subway and trains from the studio. The location is a beautiful mountain area with a mirror lake far below. The setting is quite dramatic and allows for considerable separation of the buildings — both visually and in actual walking distance. There am about 50 structures ranging from a police box to a large Gothic church.

Another day we went to Seto, a center of ceramic production not far from Nagoya, where we visited several museums specializing in ceramics and paid a return visit to Yamaguchi-san’s studio. I had been there last year with Takeshi and was warmly welcomed back. We saw the studio in operation, visited the house, had tea and sweets and much conversation, and added to my modest. collection of Yamaguchi family ceramics. Hidekata did very well in trying to keep up with the non-stop conversation and I felt very proud of him in that situation. When we left the whole family saw us off

at the bus stop across from their house. Many goodbyes, thankyous and bows later we boarded our bus for the station — a very wonderful and very Japanese experience that makes life here so special and rewarding. Other visits have included the silk industry in Aichi and Nagano prefectures, with side trips to Edo style villages on the old salt roads through the mountains and the picturesque paper making village of Kurotani in Kyoto prefecture where we saw all the steps in the production of washi. Life here remains rich and fulfilling.