Author Archives: Sohum Patnaik

Well, we’ve ended our trip after a long journey back and I’m now writing from Williamstown. I feel like I’ve learned a ton and grown a lot over the past weeks and I’m thankful for all of it. As we … Continue reading →

Today is our last day in Kyoto. I don’t think it’s hit me yet that I wont’ be here tomorrow, but I’m fine with that. I enjoyed my last day here. I slept in and then just walked around for … Continue reading →

We went to see Kei-san this morning. We met him the first day of our trip and it was nice to see him again near the end of this trip. We started with zazen, answering the koan, and then zazen … Continue reading →

We finally had our presentation! The day started later than usual for me, and Leah and I finished up some last minute prep for our presentation. We walked around looking for food, ended up at the basement of a department … Continue reading →

We met two artisans today: Kokun-sensei, a Noh mask maker, and Sasaki-san, a Noh costume maker. Kokun-sensei is currently 65 years old. When he was younger, he became friends with a Buddhist sculptor who introduced him to the Buddhist sculptor … Continue reading →

We left the hostel by 9:25am this morning to meet Dairiku Amae by the shrine he gathers his water from. It was great meeting Dairiku in person as I had read so much about him for the past couple of … Continue reading →

Today was a long day. Our schedule started by arriving at Terminal Kyoto at 8:55am for a lecture on Zen temples of Kyoto given by Catherine Ludvik. Overall, it was incredibly interesting. We started by learning a lot about Zen … Continue reading →

We left the hostel at 9:15am this morning to the home of the Takabayashi family. We took a taxi and were able to get to the home with plenty of time to spare. We entered the home right on time, … Continue reading →

We met at 9:45am this morning to go to Kanzei-kai to see Noh plays! It was important for us all to go early because the theater crowds up and it becomes hard to find good seats otherwise. We ventured through … Continue reading →

We attended a lecture on Noh today with Monica Bethe today. It was nice meeting her in person after reading so much of what she has written. We went through a brief history of Noh, the five categories of Noh … Continue reading →