Author Archives: Francesca Barradale
Final Reflections
Part 1 I’m sitting in the hostel lobby. There’s an hour left until we leave. Quiet, atmospheric music is playing over the speakers. How have I changed in the last ten days? I let my mind be absorbed in this … Continue reading
Day 10 – The Grand Zen Team Adventure
For the majority of the day, Breelyn and I went on an adventure across the city to see all of the major tourist destinations that we had not yet visited. We purchased 500 yen day passes for the bus, which … Continue reading
Day 9 – Last Zazen and Fushimi Inari
I’m currently struggling to stay awake, even though as I’m starting this post it’s only almost 9 PM. Going to bed late last night and hiking a mountain this afternoon have made me exhausted. I was able to wake up … Continue reading
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Day 8 – Final Presentations and Karaoke
It’s almost 2 am so I’ll make this quick. Today we delivered our final partner presentations at Terminal Kyoto. We had the morning free, and I did a lot of walking around and took care of some general shopping I … Continue reading
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Day 7 – Noh Masks and Costumes
Today was our final day of proper class and we met the last two artisans – the Noh Mask maker Otsuki Kokun and the head of a Noh costume textile company Sasaki-san. I enjoyed both visits for the same reason … Continue reading
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Day 6 – Dairik Amae
Today we were given the opportunity to follow the tea master Dairik Amae through his process of tea ceremony. We began with collection of the pure water from a spring, then purchase of the tea and sweets, and finally our … Continue reading
Day 5 – Professor Catherine Ludvik, Daitoku-ji, and Gakyu-san
Today will most likely be my favorite out of all of our programmed events in this course because of its focus on Zen and art. The first activity of the day was a lecture by Professor Ludvik. She told us … Continue reading
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Tagged artisan, buddhist statues, daitoku-ji, zen
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Day 4 – Meeting the Takabayashi Family
I woke up this morning at 5, as I have been every day, proofreading my blog post from the night before and reading about what everyone else did. As I lay in bed thinking of what I might do today, … Continue reading
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Tagged arashiyama, noh, takabayashi family
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Day 3 – Noh Performance
Today was the marathon of Noh. We sat in the theatre for a full program consisting of Okina, Yumi Yawata, Niwatori Muko (the kyogen play), Toboku, and Iwafune (only the second act). I accidentally missed the kyogen play because I … Continue reading
Day 2 – Noh Lecture by Professor Monica Bethe
Today we listened to a two-hour lecture as an introduction to Noh Theatre by Professor Monica Bethe. The lecture was held at Terminal Kyoto, where we will be giving our own presentations at the end of our stay. I think … Continue reading
Posted in kyoto-2018
Tagged Nijo-jo, noh, Philosopher’s Walk
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