Practicing Japanese Arts

 

Since I’m staying in Kyoto for several weeks, I decided to take some lessons in some of the “applied” Japanese arts:  ikebana (flower arranging), cooking, and shodo (calligraphy).  I figured these are all things I could continue to do at home and it would be a good way to learn more about Japan from another perspective.

Ikebana exhibition

Ikebana at Arashiyama park

Ikebana.  In virtually every temple, hotel or restaurant, you’ll see a beautiful flower arrangement.  You even find them in unlikely places, like at a park celebration.  I wanted to learn how to arrange flowers so I could do something more than just plop them in a vase.  So with the help of Ann Lina, an Indonesian who works in the Kyoto ryokan where I've stayed, I joined her and the daughter-in-law of our wonderful sensei (teacher), to take ikebana lessons.

Ikebana sensei

Miwa's ikebana arrangement

Not surprisingly, ikebana – the art of Japanese flower arranging – has many different styles and schools, but all start with a few blossoms, a vase, and a “kenzan” or frog.  Our sensei focused us on the basic principle of “ten-jin-chi” or “heaven, person, earth”.  Basically we each started with three flowers or branches and placed them at different heights and angles to make a pleasing arrangement:  the tallest representing heaven, next highest the person, and the shortest symbolizing the earth.  Then we would add another set of three flowers and a pair or two of others or leaves to make a complete arrangement.  Sensei would help us see new possibilities and create a better balance.

My "Christmas Ikebana"

The sessions were much fun, particularly for me since I love working with my hands.  We each made very different arrangements, all lovely in their own ways.  Arranging flowers is a study in composition, and my sensei commented that she could see the influence of my years of designing quilts.  The last arrangement we did was with “Christmas colors”, which I still have in my apartment.  My last class will be next week, on Christmas Day, when we’ll learn to make the traditional arrangement for New Year’s, pine boughs and a special “tie” of thin gold and silver covered wire.

Our ikebana group at an Indonesian dinner

 

 

Fresh yuba

Our little group was most welcoming to me, and we went out twice for meals. Ann Lina took us to an Indonesian restaurant so we could experience the cuisine of her native country.  The restaurant was small, but produced a number of wonderful, tasty dishes that we all enjoyed.  Last week we went to Ume no Hana, a restaurant that featured an all tofu lunch where you could make your own yuba at the table.  Yuba is the equivalent of the skin on scalded milk, only it’s from hot soy milk, and is one of my favorite Japanese foods.  We each got to “skim” the soy milk many times, and then had grilled tofu, deep fried tofu, yudofu (fresh tofu simmered in soymilk), and tofu ice for dessert.  It was all scrumptious – even those of you who might look askance at tofu would have enjoyed it (though perhaps not an entire tofu meal).

Cooking.  I also wanted learn how to cook some basic Japanese dishes, not only to replicate them at home, but so I could cook them here in my little apartment.  So I enrolled in a half-day Haru Cooking Class (www.vegetarian-food-kyoto.com).  Despite the name, Haru also offers classes that include chicken or a tour to the Nishiki Market, Kyoto’s famous food market.

Makng a Japanese omelet

Light, medium & dark miso

There were four of us – a couple from Europe and a woman from Scotland who had just arrived for a huge climate change conference.  Haru offers the class in his home, with his wife helping with the preparations.  We learned the basic ingredients that every Japanese kitchen must have (in addition to rice, of course) – miso, soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and canola oil – and how to make dashi (the kelp-based broth used in miso soup and many other things), stir-fried vegetables, fried tofu, and “chicken burgers”, each with a delicious sauce.  We also learned how to make an egg omelet, a light dish made with a rectangular “tomago” (egg) pan.  The best part, of course, was eating what we’d made.  The great thing about it was that all the dishes were practical, tasted good, and could be used with other foods.  So now I have a basic repertoire for here and home, where there’s at least one Japanese grocery store near the UN.

I’ve learned that there’s very little processed food here.  Instead, food is prepared fresh, whether at home or in the local convenience stores.  While the diet is different from ours and other countries – rich in fish and seaweed, rice, soy and sweet potatoes, seeds and nuts, with some vegetables, a little fruit, and very little fat – it is “complete” and quite healthy.  Often the taste is more nuanced that what we’re used to, but once attuned to it, the subtlety is wonderful.  Japan is learning western ways, though, and indulges in McDonald’s, pizza, and bread, so its people, too are starting to gain weight.

 

Shodo, Japanese Calligraphy.  Taking shodo is about developing a practice in calligraphy.  It’s something that you can do for years, getting better and better, but still have more to learn.  I think that’s the way Japanese approach any effort they undertake, whether it’s archery, ceramics, baseball, or perhaps even their jobs.

Shodo equipment: ready to draw

Shodo is a deceptively simple art form.  It’s not just about the characters, but also how you hold the brush, place and move it, and how quickly you make a stroke.  How you sit, how you breathe, and even your mood matters.  It’s also about composition:  fat and thin lines, the balance among the black strokes and on the white page.  Most important, it is about being “in the moment”, totally focused on the conversation – what I think of as the dance – you’re having with the brush as you move across the paper.

Corrections

My shodo sensei

My sensei was a woman in her late 50’s who said she’s been doing calligraphy since she was a child.  She was kind, supportive, helpful and also fun.  We managed to communicate well as she drew a two-character word for me to copy, and then watched carefully as I drew.  She tried to find ways to show me how to turn the brush correctly to get the desired stroke.  I found myself laughing at some of my “American traits”: drawing forcefully from the heel rather than the tip of the brush and making fast strokes.  “Yukuri, yurkuri!” – slowly, slowly! – she would admonish me.  When I recall my kanji lessons in Tokyo where I would draw a page full of characters in a minute or two, I cringe.

My last lesson was today and I made a “final piece”:  the characters for “eternity” on hardboard.  I must say I was surprised at how well it turned out:  what had been hard initially, I could now do reasonably well.  It was great fun, and also quite moving:  a lesson not just in drawing, but in being as well.