After a good lunch of soba noodles in a big bowl of broth and vegetables, today was finally my day to go to the Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum in Harajuku. Mr. Siezo Ota collected original ukiyo-e prints from the 1920s until his death in 1977. He had seen that most of these prints were streaming out of the country to Europe and the U.S., and was worried that Japanese people would no longer be able to see a native artform in their own country. With this in mind, his heirs opened the museum three years after Mr. Ota's death. The collection contains some 12,000 prints and paintings, usually with over 150 on display.
I was lucky enough to see a very special exhibition. Utagawa Hiroshige, the acknowledged master of ukiyo-e, made many famous prints over his lifetime, including several different versions of "The 53 Stations of the Tokaido." In the exhibition, many original Hiroshige paintings and sketches were on display. These included paintings on silk scrolls, dashed-off sketches in little books, and detailed pencil drawings to direct the production of ukiyo-e prints. While all the items were interesting, the ones that really got my attention were the drawings. There was a wealth of detail within objects - folds and patterns in clothing, branches and leaves, and buildings. And the artist also wrote in directions for the colors of each area of the drawing. In one case, the drawing was displayed next to a copy of the resulting ukiyo-e print. It was fascinating to see which parts were purely the contribution of the artist, and which were the results of the efforts of the carver, printer, and publisher.
But... There were no ukiyo-e on display. Not one. In a place called Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum. Don't get me wrong - it was a privilege to see original artwork by the hand of Hiroshige. A once in a lifetime opportunity. But I still felt a little bit let down to find an ukiyo-e museum with no ukiyo-e. Kind of like John Cleese in Monty Python's famous Cheese Shop sketch. Another letdown, though smaller and not totally unexpected - no photography allowed.
Just a couple of blocks away is Meiji Jingu, where The Meiji Emperor and his Empress are enshrined. The Meiji Emperor (his advisors, really) opened up Japan fully to the west, modernized the army and navy, and sent citizens all over the world to study the sciences, medicine and industrial processes that Japan would need to become part of the modern world. This major change in Japanese society would bring the nation explosive growth and modernization, but ultimately lead it to ruin in 1945. I also like to think it was the forerunner of the boom years of the '60s and '70s, when Japan became the economic power it is today.
The shrine itself is an oasis in a very busy, trendy area. Harajuku is where all the hip kids go to buy their clothes and show them off. But when you cross the bridge into the shrine, the city starts to die away and you are in forest. The first thing you come to is a huge torii of unpainted Japanese cypress. Then you walk down a wide, tree-lined avenue to the gardens and the shrine proper.
The gardens had lots of greenery, but nothing spectacular. The azalea garden looks like it will explode in about three days. The irises in the iris garden are a little farther off. And there were no cherry trees to be found. But there was still plenty to look at.
The shrine has an impressive outer gate, then an inner gate into a courtyard. The shrine building is far less ornate than some of the others I've seen here in Tokyo. Again, photography inside the shrine building is frowned upon, so no pictures there.
After a quick break at the hotel for dumping pictures to the laptop and a bit of rest, Rieko met me here and we went to Ueno Park to have a look at the cherry blossoms. There are lanterns set up in the park (with little light bulbs, not candles) so all the people who work all day can still come out to see sakura. It's quite a festive atmosphere in the park, with many people out for the evening, tons of food vendors and some street performers. And the sakura were in full bloom. So I'll be heading back tomorrow morning to see them in sunlight. While I'm there, I'll check out the pagoda at Toshogu Shrine, the one pictured in the Shiro Kasamatsu print I bought last week. I'll also try to hit the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, and Hibiya Park. The more sakura, the better.
After walking around the park for a bit, Rieko and I had dinner at a kaiten-zushi place, a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant. Everything is on color-coded plates - different color plates are different prices. You grab what you want off the conveyor, and when you're done, they count up the different kinds of plates you've taken and figure out your bill. Certain plates looked like they'd been up on the conveyor for a while - things like California rolls of baby squid, complete with little eyes and little tentacles. Japanese people eat some weird stuff, but they're not stupid - the thought of eating baby squid is just disgusting. And there were lots of those rolls of squid that looked pretty dry.
When we were done with dinner, we had a leisurely stroll back to the train stations. Rieko went to the JR line that takes her close to home, I went to the subway station 100 meters away. Back in my room by 9:00, with big plans for sakura hunting tomorrow. And when Rieko gets home from work, we'll go to the National Museum of Modern Art to see a Van Gogh exhibition. Rather small, only about 30 pieces, but my first chance to see a Van Gogh other than the work "Sunflowers" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This excursion is actually a perfect thing to do in Japan. Back in the bubble years, Japanese collectors were the ones who paid record prices for Van Gogh paintings.
I can't believe I have only one full day left. But at least I'll get to see the sakura.
Not so many pictures today, but enjoy them anyway! I'll make up for it tomorrow with more sakura pictures than you can shake a stick at!
