Kintsugi Cultural Experience, Gion Kagai Art Museum, Maiko Show, and the Kiyomizu-dera Temple

 

The hillside of Kiyomizu-dera Temple grounds. 

Friday, November 21st

Akagane Resort in the Gion district.

Deidre and I had an appointment for a cultural experience at the Akagane (Copper) Resort. This little storefront was very deceptive to the eye. Once you walk in, it opens up to a beautiful garden area, with a restaurant and other buildings. Alan was going to walk around while we worked on our project, but they invited him to come in and watch. 

Just inside the front doors.

They took us down a pathway to a lower building where a counter was set up for our Kintsugi experience. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the pieces with lacquer, and dusted with powdered gold. Our teacher's name was Mio Heki, and she is an artist and university instructor. She has a website called hifumi-kyo.com. She is an expert on urushi, or Japanese lacquerware. It was a two-hour class, and we weren’t able to take pictures while we were working. However, there was a videographer hired to film our class (without revealing our faces), and they were going to send us a copy once it was edited, so we were able to get screenshots from that. 

This photo was from the video. It shows the darkened room and counter where we worked with Mio. She was demonstrating to us the process of gluing the two halves together.

The basic steps were, cover the entire piece with masking tape--except close to the crack--to protect the pottery from excess glue. Then, glue the two halves together, and add a piece of tape across the crack to hold it while it cures. Then, add a clay filler to the chips and gaps and let dry. 

Examples of repaired pottery.

While we were waiting for the glue to dry, Mio demonstrated how to make the lacquer paint and apply it to the crack.

Once the crack was dried, we removed all of the tape, and used a razor blade to remove the excess glue and clay from the crack. Then we sanded it. 

Penni painting the lacquer to her saucer over the crack. 

Deidre tapping the gold dust over her lacquer painted crack. 

The next step was to paint the crack on both sides with the lacquer paint. Tap gold dust over the paint, and gently brush the extra gold dust away. Voila! These little saucers are only about 4" in diameter, but it took the full two hours to mend them!

Deidre’s finished saucer.

Penni’s finished saucer. 

Penni and Deidre with their little Kintsugi saucers. 

 We are so glad we included this experience in our itinerary, because it was amazing working with her!

Picture in the garden at the resort, on our way out.

Alan and Penni in the Akagane Resort garden.

Our next adventure was to attend a maiko perfomance at the Gion Kagai Art Museum after we ate some lunch at the Maruyama Park. It was only a 15-minute performance, and the maiko, Mamekiyo, performed two dances. The first dance was about butterflies and flowers called Rokudan Kuzushi, and she used a mai tengui, which is a red-and-white dancing scarf, during her movements. The second dance was less delicate and had quicker movements and stomps. She used hanagasa, or flower hats, as props during her dance. We weren’t allowed to photograph the show, but here is a picture from Instagram of her. A maiko is an apprentice geisha--they are about 15 or 16 years old when they begin training.  

Maiko Mamekiyo

Photographs of the Geisha and Maiko of the Gion Kagai Theater. This school of dance has a style derived from Noh court dances, so its movements are usually slow and punctuated by quick, dramatic ones.

Our next stop was to walk east out of the Gion district onto the hillside to Kyoto’s most famous temple, Kiyomizu-dera, which means the Temple of Pure Water. This is where the tourist crowds in Kyoto are the most crowded. 

Alan with his typical victory pose on the balcony of  Kiyomizu-dera. The balcony, which is 13 meters above the hillside, and all of its supporting posts below, is famous for not having used any nails. Kind of daunting to think about how many people stand on this balcony every day!

The beams and posts underneath the Kiyomizu-dera balcony, made with no nails. 

The Benkei Challenge, from the legend of Benkei, the warrior monk, and Yoshitsune, the skilled swordsman.

The steps up to the front gate.

The main stage with fall foliage down below it.

Another observation platform.

View of the sacred water ritual and people waiting their turn, from above.

At Kiyomizu-dera, there are three paths that the pure water is funneled into for the water ritual. You can choose which path you want to drink from, or wash your hands from. The choices are blessings for academic success, longevity and good health, or a fortunate love life. The ladles get sanitized in a small compartment at the back of the porch, before the next person uses it. It's a faux pas to be greedy and choose more than one choice!

Heading down the steps to the lower temple.

A mother helping her children do the water ritual.

Deidre doing her own water ritual. She asked for longevity and good health.

The rows of Jizo stones. Gods that protect children, travelers and women. They are saviors of souls, especially those who have died before their parents. Parents put red aprons on the stones as remembrances for their deceased children. 

Deidre and Penni with the beautiful fall foliage.

Penni and Alan on different steps, and Penni is laughing because she is finally as tall as Alan.

We took the subway to go to Gojo Bridge to see two statues by the Kamo river. This spot along the Kamo River is famous for restaurant balconies that are put up in the summer for outdoor eating along the river. 

Deidre standing by the statues of Benkei and Yoshitsune. These statues are actually located on the median of a major road in Kyoto! Not easily accessible! 

These statues depict a legendary encounter between the young Minamoto no Yoshitsune (on the right), a skilled swordsman, who defeated a giant warrior monk, Musashibo Benkei (1155-1189), on the left. The story was that the giant monk challenged swordsmen for their weapons as payment to cross the Gojo bridge. Yoshitsune defeated Benkei, so Benkei became his loyal follower after his defeat. Japanese folklore has these two characters having many made-up adventures together, though they were real people. From here, we went back to the subway and our hotel, where we ate in the hotel restaurant.

Fried chicken and rice dinner. It was not how I like my chicken. They like to leave the skin and fat on their chicken, and I prefer not to eat it that way. So, no more chicken choices.  

I said at the beginning of my blog that I would try to eat something new from Japan each day. I got sick fairly early into the trip, and frankly didn't even feel like eating anything. So, my goal was not met. I did try a few more Japanese dishes, but not one every day.