Japanory

The Sound of One Hand Clapping…

Friday 25^th May 2007

Heirinji Zen Temple (lots of photos)

I have been gently coerced by important people into joining a trip to the Heirinji Zen Temple.

The trip is organised by a group called "Elizabeth Kai" which is part of the Japan-British Society. "Elizabeth Kai" is a ladies only group. To quote from the Japan-British Society website, "Lady members of the Japan-British Society may join the Elizabeth-Kai, which presents a varied programme of cultural events and outings, and provides many opportunities for Japanese and British ladies to meet informally and share mutual interests. There are more than 200 members divided into seven groups, each of which organises its own detailed programme, whilst major events of the year, especially the annual tea party given by the wife of the British Ambassador, are open to ladies from all these groups."

OK. I'll see how it goes, and besides, I want to see something other than the screen on my PC, the walls of my house and also distract myself from the ever-nightmarish school-run-parking-fiasco - I've delegated that to Tim today.

I have to make my own way by metro via umpteen line changes to the meeting place somewhere out in the sticks. By some lucky chance I actually do find it! The rest of the group are easy to find as are all gaijin in Japan. Quickly I realise that I am at least half the other members' age and far below their intellectual status. But this matters not, and I am welcomed with open arms and swift acceptance by a large group of absolutely charming and lively ladies.

As we reach the gate of the magnificent temple, the heavens opened. Torrential rain pelted us, preventing our trip around the beautiful, lush gardens. Such a shame; I was really looking forward to seeing a real Zen garden. As this was an organised visit, we were greeted by a black robed monk for our special tour of the temple and handed a small package. Upon later inspection, this contained a pamphlet (in Japanese) about the Temple with a single page of English information inserted into it. And a delightful orange charm displaying a discreet symbol of this temple. Rather puzzlingly, the packet also contains a few sheets of tiny stickers of Kanji phrases. I still haven't worked out what these are for.

Heirinji Zen Temple is one of the only temples that doesn't have shops or stalls selling these charms, so this is an extremely special gift.

The reason the Temple isn't commercialised is because it is primarily a teaching monastery. It is a Rinzai Zen monastery. In this tradition, the Zen master trains his monks by assigning them each a Kōan as a focus of meditation. A Kōan is one of those "unanswerable" Zen questions. We were told that the famous Kōan, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" originated at this very temple.

The temple was first built in 1375 but was burned down during a feudal war between 1573 and 1592. It was rebuilt in 1663 and has remained a centre of peacefulness ever since. And it is peaceful. It's hard to put into words the sense of tranquillity this beautiful place invokes.

From what I saw of the gardens, there would be plenty of opportunity for meditative communing with nature in Japanese terms. The trees are a mix of rich greens and deep red Acers, all clipped into attractive, yet natural shapes. Enormous stone lanterns peep from behind bushes and large ponds containing vivid Koi are dotted around. But all the time the rain is doing a great impression of a monsoon.

 

After our tour of the workings of the temple, we are led into a large hall for a lesson on meditation. The room is light and airy with floor to ceiling windows down the two long sides, looking out over the gardens. What a view! At the front of the hall sits a jovial looking monk who speaks good English. Chairs for "non-kneelers" are set up down the centre of the hall. I take one of these - my legs are too long to be sitting on the floor and my back "went" shortly after Rhiannon was born and hasn't ever recovered. As the youngest there, I felt a little guilty to see ladies in their eighties nimbly kneel on the floor.

Our Zen master explained how to meditate and told us that normally he would sound a bell or chant to help us but today the sound of the rain would be our focus as it was supplied by nature and therefore far more powerful.

I can't meditate. But it was a good experience.

Once this had finished the Zen master happily took well considered questions from the ladies and then our visit was over.

But there was still one more treat in store. Lunch!

The monks supply the food for an authentic Zen restaurant nearby and we were to be treated there.

The entrance to the deceptively tiny restaurant was stunning as you can see from the photo.

A couple of tables were set up downstairs for those not able to sit at the traditional Japanese tables upstairs - meaning you kneel on the floor. I stayed downstairs… until I realised that everyone - except one lady aged 95 with no English - had gone upstairs. Ah well, sod my back, I'll join the experience and see how I do.

Surprisingly large upstairs, long, low - very low - tables were set up and everyone was kneeling at them. I needed help so moved to a space with a wall behind to my back at least would be supported. But the wall was made of straw and I was terrified of breaking it. Oh, but I was fidgety! However the food was exquisite. Each red lacquer tray was laid out with care: beautiful bowls contained tasty vegan delicacies, most of which I didn't recognise but thoroughly enjoyed.

Zen and the art of good food.

Conversation was lively, entertaining and intellectual.

Somehow I managed to get up afterwards, again embarrassed by the nimble octogenarians, but they were all too refined to notice my difficulties.

A truly wonderful day trip.

To those who have emailed me

SORRY!

I'm really sorry I haven't had time to reply to you all. I'm definitely NOT ignoring you, but life and work have eaten up a lot of my time this year.

Also, I changed a load of web details which affected my email system and I've only just worked out where to find your lovely emails.

Many apologies, especially as you kindly took the trouble to contact me in the first place. I really appreciate it.

I promise I will reply to each and every one of you very soon.

How to Wear a Kimono…

Wednesday 23^rd May 2007

Today, school is having its annual Japanese Day. The kids dress up as something typically Japanese and participate in various cultural activities such as Ikebana, Sho-do (Japanese calligraphy) and origami.

The note from school made comment upon the types of outfits the children could wear - presumably to get more variety and imagination. Suggestions include manga characters (I have no idea about these and no real interest to be frank), aikido Gi, and various uniforms worn by most workers in Japan.

However, a five year old girl is, of course, going to want to wear a kimono.

Rhiannon has a nice little souvenir-type of "kimono" which will do. Despite her protestations that she wants a Real Kimono, they cost a huge amount of money, so the answer is a firm "no"! I did buy some tabi - little white socks with a separate toe so they fit the zori. Zori are shoes with a wedge-type heel (shown on the left).

Geta (below right) are another type of sandal that has either a separate heel or blocks of wood at each end. The latter look impossible to walk in and are commonly worn by men in traditional clothing. I have actually seen men riding scooters wearing these!

I also bought a gold "obi". Again, this isn't the real thing but will certainly do for a small girl for what is, essentially, a fancy dress day. A real obi is the wide belt that wraps twice around the body and then tied at the back in an incredibly complex knot. Formal obi for women measure 4 metres long and 30cm wide and are made of silk brocade, often heavily embroidered. Young girls tie their obi in a butterfly bow, while older or married women use a simpler fold called a taiko because it is drum shaped. Like men's bow-ties, you can now buy pre-tied obi apparently.

Now, bearing in mind that we are in Japan, attending a school with many children of Japanese descent, I'm worried that I will not get the dress right. There are very specific rules to wearing this beautiful outfit and I am terrified about getting it wrong and offending someone. Getting properly dressed in the full regalia is extremely complicated and people can take classes on how to put on a kimono. There are also professional dressers for hire.

So I spent a LOT of time researching and reading about the subject. Absolutely fascinating!

We got up early in the morning to get Rhiannon ready. I was pretty sure she wouldn't want to wear the outfit all day. Plus running around at break time… so I made sure she had shorts and a t-shirt on underneath for the inevitable disrobing. I pinned up her flyaway hair with about 100 clips and consulted my book for the correct way to wrap the kimono… wrap the right side of the kimono over the body, then the left side wraps over the top. Right on top of left is only used to dress a corpse for burial.

So I checked and double checked. All good. Added the "obi" and tied it in a wonky bow (I've never been able to tie a nice straight bow), and put the belt of her kimono over the top of the obi. I was rather pleased with my efforts.

 

So off we went to school to be greeted by the striking sight of hundreds of little girls in colourful kimonos, looking like a rainbow of butterflies, but much louder. Such a beautiful change from their normal dull navy uniform. The boys were wearing a range of Happi coats and aikido gi, but the girls stole the day.

Then I saw my good friend Yoko and her daughter Natalie, my heart leapt into my mouth.

Oh my god! Natalie's kimono was wrapped the opposite way to Rhiannon's. Had I made a huge mistake? If anyone should know the correct way of wearing this, it would be Yoko, being pure Japanese and having studied her culture too. Yikes!!! So I asked her.

Laughing, she shrugged and said she'd always had someone dress her in kimono so hadn't taken much notice. She didn't know which way round and besides, she was running late and didn't notice.

 

I think I may have taken this a bit too seriously! But the research I did was interesting and absorbing and provided material for one of my Tokyo Tales articles.

At the end of the school day I collected a very dishevelled Rhiannon. It's already pretty hot here at this time of year, so although she was still wearing her kimono and obi, she was all disarrayed and extremely hot. She said "my tummy was too hot in the obi and I wouldn't want to wear this all the time! I couldn't run properly and my legs get tangled up".

The major highlight of her day was this:
"There's a MAN teacher in year one and he dressed up in a PINK kimono and had a pink wig too!!! He's really funny and I hope he's my teacher next year!"

 

(Note - Rhiannon attended a State school in the UK for a couple of months where there were no male teachers at all. She genuinely did not know that men could be teachers. I've spoken to other friends with children in the UK school system and they all say the same - there are few, if any, male teachers. What a sad reflection of the UK society that men no longer feel safe in a teaching environment. I fondly remember many of my male teachers - mostly for their eccentricity, sometimes for their teaching. How things have changed. And not in a good way.)