Leafy shadows dapple the Kyoto temple garden at Hoso-in.
Snow carpets the Abbot’s Hall garden in Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto.
Exceptional rocks are set on a ground of raked gray gravel at a subtemple garden within Kyoto’s Myoshin-ji complex.
A grass covered recreation of Mount Fuji punctuates Kumamoto’s stroll garden Suizen-ji Joju-en on the island of Kyushu.
The “Dragon in the Clouds” garden by Mirei Shigemori at the Ryogin-an Temple in Kyoto.
Traditional straw rope snow guards (yukizuri) are suspended above pine trees at Kanazawa’s famous Kenrokuen garden.
Lush greenery surrounds a chozubachi water basin at Kyoto’s Sanzen-in Temple.
One of Japan’s best-known dry landscape gardens belongs to Kyoto’s Ryoan-ji Temple.
geishas and maikos
The word geisha means “art person.” It is little known that the original geisha were men. Geisha are highly trained and skilled in the traditional arts of entertainment—lighthearted games, playing musical instruments (particularly the three-stringed shamisen) and traditional Japanese dancing—while wittily conversing and graciously serving food and drinks. It is a career in which they are able to work to quite an advanced age. In the distant past, girls sometimes began their training very young, at age ten or so, but today’s mandatory education laws mean that girls must complete middle school and so are unable to begin such intensive training until about fifteen. These days, when greater choices are available for women, being a geisha is not such a popular career.
Geisha dress splendidly in the most gorgeous kimono and obi sashes, making their appearance like party confections, adding to the extraordinary overall artistic effect.
Geisha, or geiko in the local Kyoto dialect, and their maiko apprentices, are symbols of that city, which was an ancient capital of Japan where traditions are still strongly upheld.
Geisha and maiko live together, sorority style, with a mama-san in charge in a house called an okiya. They are hired to accompany and entertain clients at parties in certain teahouses and restaurants. Their company is quite costly, and is calculated “per stick,” as traditionally a certain sum is charged for each period of time needed for a stick of incense to burn down, roughly ten minutes.
During Hassaku, a geisha dressed in a formal black kimono and hair ornament suitable to the month of August, pays respect to her teachers.
This geisha wears a silver, coral and gemstone sash clasp (obidome) for a festive occasion.
A group of geisha attend an outdoor tea ceremony.
The napes of maiko are traditionally accented with a design in white makeup.
A maiko pays a New Year visit to a teahouse or o-chaya.
A bedecked maiko busies herself serving ceremonial tea at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto during the plum blossom festival.
Maiko place dedicatory chrysanthemum flowers in memory of a renowned Kyoto poet during the Kanikakuni Sai festival.
White face makeup and scarlet lips are the hallmarks of a maiko.
The hair ornament (kanzashi) of a maiko in seasonal autumn colors.
A maiko passes through the architecturally preserved Gion Shimbashi, an area with numerous traditional restaurants and teahouses.
koi
Nishikigoi or brocaded carp, better known as koi, are ornamental domesticated carp selectively bred from dull gray Eurasian wild carp species for their colors and patterns and type of scalation. They are popular inhabitants of garden ponds, admired for their beauty, graceful movements and longevity, while requiring little care. They have very acute senses of hearing and smell and zoom-like eyes. They also possess a submarine-like ability to maneuver in water.
Koi are symbols of strength and perseverance, and because they are able to swim against streams and even up waterfalls are often called “warrior fish.” Thus, the carp is symbolic for Boy’s Day, depicted in the form as koi nobori, streamers that fly in the wind, in the hope that one’s sons will grow up with courage and strength.
Collectors call koi “living jewels” for their variety of vivid colors from tiny sacs of pigments and crystals in their skin cells. They are aesthetically ranked based on their beauty of color and pattern, and can be very costly. They are collected by wealthy enthusiasts who enjoy participating in koi competitions.
A lone orange koi skirts the rock slabs in the pond of Tokyo’s New Otani Hotel garden.
A koi pond beautifies a Kyoto teashop garden.
The koi at the back with the tancho kohaku (red-crested crane/rising sun flag) marking is the obvious star of this collection.
A cluster of koi display the whole range of typical colors and markings.
otaku culture
Otaku, in modern Japanese slang equivalent to a “geek”but more generally an obsessive fan of some form of entertainment, hobby or topic, is part of the new pop culture sweeping Japan—even the world. Originating centuries ago in Japan in the form of humorous, random, anthropomorphized animal sketches and developed further during the later woodblock print (ukiyo-e) boom, this new culture, rather than being directed from “above,” as with most other aspects of culture, is directed from “below.” It ranges from an interest in comics (manga), TV and film animation, collecting plastic figures from those worlds and killing time in manga cafes, to the surprising concepts of costume play (cosplay), maid (meido) cafes and karaoke rooms. It is basically a search by the lonely for self-identity,