Kyoto is such a cute town! It's so atmospheric. I just wandered around Gion about an hour ago (it's the famous geisha neighborhood), and while I didn't see any geisha running around, the buildings were all really cool, and I can only assume that the ones that weren't shops or restaurants were geisha houses, which is kind of cool to think about...so secretive!
Today was a late start, but I went out with a girl who's in my dorm to go see the Imperial Palace and a local shogun's castle. Both were cool, but very modest by Western standards. The rooms are completely empty except for the tatami mats on the floor and the occasional throne. We Westerners associate rulership with mountains and mountains of gold-encrusted, glitzy stuff, so it was a litttle strange to see all these empty rooms, but it occurred to me that anyone who has tried to keep a house from looking cluttered will know that having an completely austere looking room is another form of luxury. Just a different way of looking at things, I guess. The coolest part of the day for me was the gardens (oh, how I want my own garden! I would play with the plants and water features all summer long!) and the "nightingale floor." Japanese gardens are also very austere. No English cottage garden bloom explosion. It's a lot of pine trees and stone and raked gravel with water trickling by, possible filled with brightly colored carp. If you're interested I'm sure there are tons of photos online to see, but the nightingale floor really requires description.
The floor is suspended with clamps and nails that make contact only when a person's weight is over them. The shogun installed the floors all over his castle so that if any sneaky assassins should try to creep up unannounced, the floor would do the announcing for him. When you step on it, the clamp and nail scrape against one another, making a creaking sound that, when many people are walking on it at once, does sound a bit like the warbling of a songbird. Very cool. Jess and I tried to go ninja-style and defeat the floor, but it's impossible, even with the lightest of steps. Very cool. I know my boy students will get a kick out of the notion of watchful samurai waiting behind sliding doors for the slightest midnight creak of the secret floor, bursting out blades a-flashing. It'll be all I can do to keep a couple of the clowns from leaping up and doing some kind of impulsive martial arts farce...you know you're a nerd for teaching when the idea of that makes you smile...
But the big news is that tomorrow, I'm gonna buy a kimono!!! Woohoo! I'm so excited. I don't know how I'll fit it into my bag, but I'll manage somehow. I found this fantastic vintage store with a whole floor full of hundreds of kimono, obi, and all the other things you need to be a true Japanese lady of (secondhand) fashion. I'm so looking forward to trying them on! Yay! I just need to learn how to tie an obi...I plan to wear it when I introduce Japan in class...and every Halloween from now to perpetuity if I end up teaching American history. Yay! I really, really love clothes...especially funky exotic clothes...I can't wait.
Today was a late start, but I went out with a girl who's in my dorm to go see the Imperial Palace and a local shogun's castle. Both were cool, but very modest by Western standards. The rooms are completely empty except for the tatami mats on the floor and the occasional throne. We Westerners associate rulership with mountains and mountains of gold-encrusted, glitzy stuff, so it was a litttle strange to see all these empty rooms, but it occurred to me that anyone who has tried to keep a house from looking cluttered will know that having an completely austere looking room is another form of luxury. Just a different way of looking at things, I guess. The coolest part of the day for me was the gardens (oh, how I want my own garden! I would play with the plants and water features all summer long!) and the "nightingale floor." Japanese gardens are also very austere. No English cottage garden bloom explosion. It's a lot of pine trees and stone and raked gravel with water trickling by, possible filled with brightly colored carp. If you're interested I'm sure there are tons of photos online to see, but the nightingale floor really requires description.
The floor is suspended with clamps and nails that make contact only when a person's weight is over them. The shogun installed the floors all over his castle so that if any sneaky assassins should try to creep up unannounced, the floor would do the announcing for him. When you step on it, the clamp and nail scrape against one another, making a creaking sound that, when many people are walking on it at once, does sound a bit like the warbling of a songbird. Very cool. Jess and I tried to go ninja-style and defeat the floor, but it's impossible, even with the lightest of steps. Very cool. I know my boy students will get a kick out of the notion of watchful samurai waiting behind sliding doors for the slightest midnight creak of the secret floor, bursting out blades a-flashing. It'll be all I can do to keep a couple of the clowns from leaping up and doing some kind of impulsive martial arts farce...you know you're a nerd for teaching when the idea of that makes you smile...
But the big news is that tomorrow, I'm gonna buy a kimono!!! Woohoo! I'm so excited. I don't know how I'll fit it into my bag, but I'll manage somehow. I found this fantastic vintage store with a whole floor full of hundreds of kimono, obi, and all the other things you need to be a true Japanese lady of (secondhand) fashion. I'm so looking forward to trying them on! Yay! I just need to learn how to tie an obi...I plan to wear it when I introduce Japan in class...and every Halloween from now to perpetuity if I end up teaching American history. Yay! I really, really love clothes...especially funky exotic clothes...I can't wait.
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