Author: Grubb

From the top-of-the-stairs entrance to the Saiyogi Zen temple we climbed to yesterday. This was after we went up the gated stairs to the Ryokokuji temple.

Not if you’ve decided to drop by the D.T. Suzuki Museum in Kanazawa. Which we did after hiking up to some wonderful shrines in the hills overlooking the city.  When I was in college my Zen reading included Suzuki along with Alan Watts.  I discovered after we got here that Suzuki was raised in Kanazawa and there…

The Kanazawa Gobō, a fortified temple complex backed by tall hills and flanked on two sides by rivers, became, in the sixteenth century, the site of a castle built by the Maeda clan which ruled the Kaga province for fourteen generations. Part of the castle’s domain became the Kenrokuen gardens, so after visiting the gardens…

From the old samurai residence to Kanazawa’s Museum of Contemporary Art was a twenty minute walk.  The museum is a low round building of shaded glass.   Inside, individual artworks are given dimly lit spaces the size of a banquet hall, so there’s plenty of time to circle the pieces you admire as you peer through the…

When the Meiji Restoration broke up the last feudal land holdings in Japan, most of the old samurai houses were destroyed.  However, the Nomura house in Kanazawa was bought by an industrialist and preserved.  There are rooms built out of cypress wood with sliding thick paper doors.  It’s a house that has the fragrant smell of the…

We were in a museum which was a reconstructed apothecary shop from the early Meiji era  and I saw on display a special wheat confection called “fu” that was dissolving in hot water and it occurred to me that was what I sank my teeth into last night.  It wasn’t soap, and it wasn’t dessert, but it…

Descending from the Kenrokuen Garden we made it to the Omichi Market.  The green curtain hanging halfway down at the entrance is a known as a “noren”. Norens hang over entrances to places that serve food. They ward off heat and provide a sense of privacy. The Omichi Market featured a large emporium of food…

By the looks of it, this item could be a bar of soap, or dessert. But there’s only one way of checking. Hmm…. It turns out to be a hollow cracker with dried greens.  Not a taste sensation.

According to the Chinese classic, Rakuyo-Meienki, there are six excellent elements that can go into forming a garden.  “If there is spaciousness, seclusion will be diminished.  If artifice dominates, it lacks antiquity.  If there are many watercourses, it will lack commanding views.  Koen garden is the only garden that combines these six elements.” The Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa translates…

Our first stop this cool, cloudy Thursday morning in Kanasawa was at the end of an alley which led to Myōyü-ji, aka Ninja-dera (Ninja Temple).  It’s a Buddhist temple that isn’t associated with any ninja history, but has a deceptive structure which has earned its nickname.  From the outside it looks like a two-story building, but actually…

Leaving Kyoto under a cloudy sky this morning, we nailed all of our train connections and made it to a rainy Kanazawa around noon.  After unpacking and checking out the kitchen in our apartment, we went up the street to Aptiva which, when you enter, is laid out like a department store and then, if you…

Walking around Kyoto isn’t half-bad and it’s really quite nice if you take a route through the back streets away from the six-lane avenues.  I like the rusty contrast to the shiny downtown glass. And the way the Japanese have of making their garbage look packaged.  (As opposed to what they have on exhibit at…

I’ve always been fascinated with the tiny Japanese sculpture they call Netsuke. Carved out of a single piece of wood or stone, they have a unique rounded shape and are small enough to fit in one’s hand. Today we went to the Kyoto Seishu Netsuke Art Museum.  At 5000, it has the largest collection of netsuke…

Before we went to see Miyako Odori yesterday, we soldiered up Hanamikoji Street towards the large Yasaka Shrine.  Hanamikoji Street is the main drag through Gion, Kyoto’s historic geisha district.  Its long covered walk and hanging paper lanterns advertise shop after shop.  Foreign fascination with geishas means it is the most visited spot in Kyoto.  Doing the bump and…

We felt a bit of a culture shock watching Miyako Odori.  The mimed story (with chorus narration) was universal.  (Fisherman nets a ghostly spirit who leaves him with a child he presents to an emperor.  The child grows to fight an enemy and both die.  Behind this tale the stage design goes from spring to spring.)  But the twanging whine…