Hello Everyone!
My name is Joanne and I’m a junior Math major at Williams College.
Firstly, I wanted to take the time out to apologise for missing the first class and disrupting the class dynamic. As a result, I didn’t get to hear what my fellow classmates were looking forward to seeing, as well as share with them my own interests.
This is the first of many posts detailing our upcoming trip to Kyoto. I’m very excited to continue learning about Noh Theatre, as I had recently was introduced to Noh Costuming in a costume design class. We had focused on the Hagoromo play, (if you ever get the time to read it, you should, it’s a very short play. Well all Noh plays appear short on text) and I had designed kimono sleeves for the fisherman in the play.
I’m also looking forward to learning about others forms of theatre and theatrical productions. At first I thought I would only be interested in Noh, but after reading Kyoto, A Cultural History (Dougill) I was introduced to Kabuki theatre as well Geisha/Geiko culture and now I’m not quite sure what single thing to look forward to the trip, or what my expectations are as there seems to be something new every time I open the book.
So far I’ve created a short list of places I would like to see. It is no way an exhaustive list, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to visit them all, and some are over an hour travel away but I figured it would be good to start somewhere.
Fushimiinari Shrine
-I mostly wanted to see the Senbon Torii, but I’ve read this is an impressive shrine, so I figured I’d stop by before I go up the trail. (I also really like foxes, and there should be fox statuettes all around). I also read that the original fortune cookie could be found there?
Senbon Torii
-I wanted to hike to the top of the mountain (but I read to takes 2-3 hours to go up and down, so I need to plan my day) and see the smaller shrines along the way.
Kyoto International Manga Museum
-I was really into Anime/Manga when I was younger, and although I don’t read or watch as much, I don’t want to miss this opportunity!
Chikurin no Michi and Monkey Park (It is almost an hour away by train!)
– I wanted to take pictures here, as I grew up in a town that had a bamboo thicket road named Holland Bamboo and I thought it would be nice to see Kyoto’s bamboo thicket. If I got to go here, I would also stop by the Monkey Park. Maybe I will do this on the day we have free.
Ichizawa Shinzaburo Hanpu
-This is a store that has been creating and designing canvas bags from as early as the 17 century. You can’t order their bags online, as they stress you must come in person and pick out a bag. I thought this would be an experience I could only have in Kyoto, as their only store is in Kyoto. So this is one of the souvenir items I wanted to get. It also helps that they are about 17 minutes away on foot.
And if I every got any time to swing over to Osaka (maybe on our free day?):
Bunraku or Osaka Shochikuza Theatre
Since I’m interested in Noh Theatre, I thought I should go see other forms of Japanese theatre to better understand the context of theatre development in Japan. I wanted to see either a Kabuki or Bunraku performance (or maybe both if there is time). I found a New Year Bunraku performances in Osaka (where it was founded 🙂 ). There will be performances Jan 3- 23, at 11am and 4pm so I thought If I had time I would go see one. The Kabuki performance run from Jan 2-Jan 26 and start at 2pm. The only performances they’ve posted so far are in January and April, so It would be nice to see one since I’d be there during one of the performances. However both these theatre’s are around an hour away from where we will stay, so maybe I will do this on the last day instead of the Monkey Park and Bamboo Thicket?
