Best of the Best

The one museum of all others we wanted to get to was the Tokyo National Museum in lovely Ueno park. it's actually a series of museums, each in grand buildings of completely different architectural styles. But the one we honed in on was the middle one, in a large, squat rectangle of stone and marble, with a huge roof swinging over its top. This impressive place houses all the items that have been designated Japan's "National Treasures". Each of these has been chosen as good illustrations of the height of artistic and historic importance in all its forms: textiles, pottery, metalwork, calligraphy and poetry, painting, sculpture, woodblock prints, samurai pieces, and on and on. But it's not overwhelming, as everything is set out in rooms that follow the rectangular building, all on one floor.

They correlate to the chronology of Japanese history, with comparisons to what was happening in China and Korea, Japan's two main influencers and influences. All three regions went through the Paleolithic Era in tandem, but then split into different trajectories and epochs.

Japan was introduced to Buddhism by Korea, in the 6th century more or less. Literary scrolls, ink painting and court culture initially came from China, as was tea drinking, and pottery and porcelain came from both Korea and China. But then Japan went on a tear and redeveloped everything in its own way, creating a novel aesthetic and culture.

The first military governments (shogunates) embraced Buddhism and allowed it to flower throughout the country, from the late 13th century. The shoguns ran the show for several hundred years, lead by samurai, who were originally warriors of lesser rank than nobles but who rose to power quickly. the big war of Onin (1467-1477) shook the declining shogun order, and sent the entire country into a destabilised series of battles, skirmishes and other euphemisms for misery and turmoil that lasted a hundred years or so. The capital of Kyoto had been destroyed, and was later established elsewhere, in Tokyo. In 1616 the country was finally reunified and a new epoch emerged: the Edo period.

Within the Edo period Japan saw its Renaissance. Everything flourished under the new peace, including economics and wealthy merchants commissioned the best ceramics, furnishings, robes, metalwork and lacquerware, with the most luxurious materials. Walls and screens were painted with gold and bright colours. Calligraphy styles expanded, as did what was written and where it could be accessed. Noh and Kabuki theatre became more complex and popular, although all the characters were played by men, just as they were in Shakespeare's plays in far off England at much the same time. Fabrics and clothing became richly decorated with embroidery and paint and women's hair styles took on more and more elaborate shape. Courtesans, geisha, were prized and displayed great talents. Ukiyo-e, or woodblock prints, moved from landscapes only to showing fashion and daily life.

If the Vancouver Canuck's mascot fin was a samurai, he'd wear this

would you buy a used sword from this man?

stirrups

Poets spending their days writing poetry under cherry trees
- obviously with wives at home doing everything else 

detail of a screen - blossoms and cedar



I love how gold is used here to depict fog

ladies who lunch

the shape as lovely as the decoration

I always forget - is it right over left and
then under and through, or the other way round?

floating blossoms

Japan's culture spread to Europe through trade, and was rapturously embraced, so that artists and merchants became even wealthier and celebrated, until the rise of nationalism took hold of the country (ultimately to disastrous end) and the Edo period was done.

The Museum took us through to the end of the Edo Period, in 1868, and then spat us out into its lovely garden, with old tea houses and replicas dotted in the trees on the far side of a pond. At the little tea kiosk we ordered something special to the season, which was warm and milky, with a pink cherry blossom floating in it. Turns out it was a sweet sake drink, with sort of mushed rice gelatin floating in through it, like tapioca. Homage to the Sakura cherry blossom is everywhere, merited or not.