Blog

2018年3月23日

Jinchoge Flowers

It’s already spring here in Kyoto. In Japan, the scent of Jinchoge (沈丁花, Winter daphne) flower announces the arrival of spring, and it boosts everybody’s energy. At the yard of my parents’ house, we had a Jinchoge tree. My father loved the tree very much, and every time I see Jichoge tree blooming, I cannot ・・・

2018年3月22日

Ichigensan Okotowari, No Entry without Introduction

In Kyoto, it’s a well-known fact that there are considerable number of shops and restaurants where first time customers are refused to enter unless they have introductions. This custom is referred to as Ichigensan Okotowari (一見さん: fist time customers without introductions, お断り: we do not accept). Nowadays, the number of these places are getting decreased, ・・・

2018年3月15日

Asebi Flowers (Japanese Andromeda)

In Nijyushi-sekki (二十四節気, 24 divisions of the year in Japanese old almanac), the day of Keichitsu (啓蟄) fell on March 6 this year. It is the date on which wintering insects come out of hibernation. Around this day, buds of all kinds of trees begin to bloom in Japan, as if they cannot wait for ・・・

2018年3月15日

A Statue of Buddha at Konkai Komyoji Temple

Konkai Komyoji (金戒光明寺), also known as Kurotani-san (くろ谷さん), is a famous temple of the Pure Land sect of Buddhism called Jodo shu (浄土宗) in Kyoto. There are many must-see spots at this temple, and my favorite is this statue of Buddha with a very unique hair style. The hair style came from a story of ・・・

2018年3月12日

Attire for Noh Play

This time, I’d like to write about Noh Shozoku (能装束), the attire for Noh (能, a form of classical Japanese musical drama) play. In the era of Kan ami (観阿弥, the frontier of Noh play in the Muromachi period) and his son Ze ami (世阿弥), simple daily clothes were used for the play and there ・・・