#d.t. suzuki museum

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[noconcessions]

[secretaryoftheinvisible]

D.T. Suzuki Museum, Kanazawa

[60daysinjapan]

D.T. Suzuki Museum, Kanazawa

[tomorrowingray]

the chain

[helenalongphotographer]

©2017 helena long all rights reserved

[moment-japan]

鈴木大拙館　D.T. SUZUKI MUSEUM 

スティーブ・ジョブス、デヴィッド・ボウイなど世界の名だたる有名人が思考した禅の世界。

あらゆる事物は現象として生成しているだけであり、それ自体を根拠づける不変的な本質は存在しないという仏教の教えのひとつ「無我」を目指すのが禅の大きな目的のひとつ。

その禅を海外に広めた世界的に有名な仏教哲学者・ 鈴木大拙のミュージアムに日曜日に行きました。 

結構、人がいる。

一切の無駄がそぎ落とされたシンプル極まりない建物に入ると、  アジアやヨーロッパから来たと思われる観光客の方々か通訳のヘッドセットを着けて熱心に展示物や建物を鑑賞していました。

建物の内部も外部も感じが平等院の鳳翔館に似てるので変な感じがする。

（周りの雰囲気も金沢っぽくない）

欧米の子供たちもめっちゃ真剣だったので、 鈴木大拙は海外でも相当有名な哲学者だと思われます。

言葉ではなく、行動や実践を重んじるのが禅であり、執着こそが苦悩の原因であるとして、それを離れることを説く教えが仏教。 

私心なく、執着を離れた無心の状態での中にある水景をぼーっと眺める・・・。

最近ではインスタ映えするスポットとして鈴木大拙館は人気らしく、この日もカップルやサブカル女子が多数写真を撮っていました。

（あんたほんとにサブカル女子好きだな。笑）

２１世紀美術館のすぐ近くなので、観光旅行でははずせないスポットと思います。

[giebresseleers]

15. dr. suzuki museum kanazawa

“ zen in it’s essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one’s being, and it point the way from bondage to freedom.”

“we have two eyes to see two sides of things, but there must be a third eye which will see everything at the same time and yet not see anything. that is to understand zen.”

“when zen is thoroughly understood, absolute peace of mind is attained, and a man lives as he ought to live.”

in kanazawa eert een klein museum het leven en werk van de boeddhistische filosoof daisetsu teitaro suzuki 鈴木 大拙 貞太郎 (1870-1966).

d.t. suzuki schreef vooral over de relatie en invloed  van boeddhisme, zen en shin op het dagelijks leven. hij stript identiteit tot de meest essentiële en fundamentele staat van zijn.

hij is onderlegd in het sanskrit, vertaalt vele religieuze teksten en introduceert de japanse filosofie bij vele westerse schrijvers, dichters en musici.

architect yoshio taniguchi tekende hier de sereniteit van zijn filosofie.

enkel verlicht door een vloer-tot-plafond raam loop je langs een portret van d.t. suzuki naar de tentoonstellingsruimte.

de tentoonstelling etaleert de mijlpalen in zijn leven en werk: quotes, teksten, foto’s en interactieve touchscreens. in een leeszone kun je in het engels of japans zijn boeken lezen. stilte is hier het sleutelwoord.

de contemplatieve ruimte ligt in het midden van de waterspiegeltuin omringd door witte muren en groene wildernis. een vierkante ruimte aan de vier zijden open. op de centraal geplaatste zetels. neem je je tijd, je ademt, geniet van de rust, mediteert, dwaalt over het reflecterend water, blikt op de robuuste muur, op de kruinen van de bomen en de blauwe lucht… een spiritueel paviljoen.

de sereniteit doorheen heel het museum blijft me nog steeds bij: de grijstinten, de zuivere en simpele vormgeving, het dunne watervlak, de muur met overdragend groen,… een soort eeuwigdurendheid. dit verfijnd minimalisme creëert een allesomvattend wow-gevoel voor schoonheid.

vooral zonnige morgenden en avonden zijn een uniek spektakel: de reflectie in het ommuurde water en de kalmerende natuur van het gebouw presenteren je een kleine oase om te reflecteren over je leven.

dit is meer een meditatiecentrum dan een museum. het plaatst de zengedachte in de praktijk.

het watervlak met zijn abstracte schoonheid belichaamt suzuki’s filosofie. zen gericht op individuele ervaring en spirituele verlichting.

deze architectuur bekeert je niet tot het boeddhisme, maar spiegelt je de essentie van het leven voor.

[levihauser]

十月の三週間

25 October, 2019

Sorry I have taken so long to write another blog entry! I have been a little busy with stuff here in Japan, so this entry should be filled with interesting events from the past three weeks.

On the fifth, my host niece and nephew, Yuria and Shuudai, came over for lunch. We had pasta (with thousands of tiny fish eggs mixed in-yum!) and crabs. My host mom said that the crabs were small, but they were larger than any I had ever seen. I was told to scrape the meat out of the legs and eat that, as well as the eggs for that. After having had eggs for breakfast, it was a pretty egg-cellent day. There. I hadn’t made a pun yet on this blog, but now you get to put up with one of the most cliché bad puns of all time. I went to our neighbor’s (Mrs. Takamatsu, I think I mentioned her in the most recent post) house to stay the night. I just learned a few days ago that her husband runs one of the 5 most profitable businesses in the prefecture.

The next day, I read in the morning and finished the last book that I had brought with me from the US. We had curry rice for breakfast, then I went with Mrs. Takamatsu to a temple for a Buddhist festival. It was quite a big temple, and very new. The festival was also interesting-everyone just sat in a central room and watched a recording of the same festival happening in a central temple in Tokyo, occasionally chanting, bowing, or clapping along to it. We left early to pick up her husband at the train station. He had just come back from Chicago (a few days later, actually, Mrs. Takamatsu left for Chicago. They have a daughter there, so they visit there a lot). I had my first Japanese-style pizza for lunch. It was very thin-crusted and crunchy, almost like a big cracker. I returned home, then my host parents and I went out for dinner at a nearby specialty restaurant called Nishide. I think they know the people there, and the like eating there, but it is expensive so they don’t do it too often.

The entire next week was midterms for the students at my school (their school year starts in April), so the school days ended at around 11 AM. I couldn’t take the tests, not understanding the language, so I was sent to the library to read and study Japanese.

On the tenth, I had a Rotary meeting. I have started taking Japanese lessons every Thursday at the Matto Cultural Hall near my school, so I have to go straight to the Rotary meeting without going home to change out of my school uniform. This one was in Kanazawa at a special restaurant. We had good food after a short meeting, and played host to a Rotary club that had come to visit all the way from Lake Biwa.

On National P.E. and Sports Day here in Japan (the same day as Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Day in the US), I had no school, so my host mom and dad suggested that I take the train to Kanazawa. I have never ridden the train before, even in the US (unless you count subways and old-fashioned railroads where you pay a lot of money to sit in leather seats and get your ticket punched with an actual ticket puncher), so I was a little worried. I had no problem buying the tickets-the ticket machines have an option to use English-but I accidentally got in the wrong line (I am still not sure what it was for and I haven’t seen one like it since then) and wasted about 40 minutes there without moving before I asked someone and they pointed me in the right direction. I successfully got to Kanazawa Station. One of my classmates was on the same train by coincidence, so I followed them to find my way to the exit. I actually went out the one that my tiny tourist map didn’t cover at first, so I had to go around to the other side. It was raining and windy, so I had some difficulty reading the map and holding my umbrella at the same time. I eventually made my way to Oyama Jinja, a famous shrine just outside of Kanazawa Castle and near Kenrokuen Garden (which is a famous Japanese garden, for those of you who haven’t heard of it). I admired the shrine for a bit and bought a few good luck charms that were for sale there, then returned to the station and went home, since I had to be home before 5 PM. The round trip only cost ¥400.

On the 18th, my school festival began. My school’s festival is a small one, or so I’ve heard, but the Japanese certainly know how to throw one (no offense to anybody back at home, but PHS should take some advice from Matto High School. Those 2-hour pep rallies and shouting contests just don’t cut it). The first day was not at the school, but at the nearby Matto Cultural Hall, since they have an auditorium and the school doesn’t. There were several student presentations and performances, including brass band (I mentioned this earlier. It has won regional awards and is very impressive. They play music that sounds just like the original recordings. They did a specially arranged version of the alma mater as well as the Jurassic Park theme and a few other songs), choir (it is made up of only 7 members, but has beautiful harmonies and keeps in tune perfectly, while creating a huge amount of sound without microphones. They did a song from Sister Act and a few others), taiko (I performed in this one! We borrowed some drums from the Asano Taiko Company, the largest taiko company in the world. The owner and CEO is a member of my host Rotary Club and my school is the only one in the prefecture with a taiko club), and dance (it was very well rehearsed. There were only five members, but I think they created their own routine and it was fun to watch), as well as a short, corny play put on by the teachers in which one of the gym teachers, Mr. Higashi, had to go on a funny adventure to rescue Miss Matto High School 2019 from her kidnappers (either a gang or a group of devils, it was hard to tell without understanding the language) headed by the other gym teacher, Ms. Sawada (everyone loves Ms. Sawada and they were a little disappointed to see her defeated in the end). We returned to the school after the performances finished, then finished preparing and decorating for the next day (I say finished because we had been preparing for this after school for weeks, making paper chains, posters, placemats, paper flowers, etc.), before being dismissed. The next day was a Saturday, but the festivities continued. It was in the school, and was pretty much the “buy stuff” day. We had tickets that cost from ¥50-400 that payed for things ranging from waffles to games of bingo to weird, confined-space bowling to tea ceremony. It took up seven hours, in which I explored, ate lots of food, and went to various events including what they called a 4DX movie, which was essentially an English horror film translated into Japanese and played through tiny speakers while a few students made weird sound effects and threw things (e.g. whacking rulers on desks, throwing foam at backs, and spritzing water from spray cans) to make it “more realistic.” With all of the stuff going on and the voices, I really didn’t pay attention to the movie and instead collected as many of the little foam pieces as I could.

On the twentieth I had my favorite Japanese food for breakfast-hooray, inarizushi! I went to Kanazawa alone by train again and spent about 5 hours wandering about and seeing new things, but forgetting to eat lunch and getting kind of hungry. I returned home at around 4, and was almost immediately told that I was shortly going to a concert with a Rotarian, Ms. Ikemoto (I think she is going to be my third host mom too, but I am not sure). We went to an old, elaborate temple and watched an out-of-place-seeming amateur old folk and country music concert with a couple of English songs and one entirely about curry rice. The musicians were very talented. We went to an udon shop for dinner afterwards and stayed very late because Ms. Ikemoto didn’t want to leave until the match of the Rugby World Cup between Japan and South Africa had finished.

I had the 22nd off of school because of the enthronement of the new emperor of Japan. My host Rotary club counselor, Ms. Nagase, took me to Kanazawa (by train, because the roads were too crowded due to the holiday). She spent 3 years in England a while back, so she speaks fairly good English, which is good for smoothing out misunderstandings. She is a bit of an anglophile and is constantly asking me how to say things in British English. We briefly stopped in at the 21st Century Museum of Modern Art, but it was crowded as usual and we had to leave soon. There was a Moomin exhibition which I would love to have gone to, but the Japanese love Moomin and the entire floor it was on was packed (Moomin is 20th Century art, so how does that fit into the museum?). Next we went to the D.T. Suzuki Museum, which is a small, modern museum celebrating the famous Kanazawa-born philosopher that is its namesake. There were not many people and it was very peaceful. It was even free admission because of the Enthronement Day (upon seeing the sign, Ms. Nagase got very excited and took several pictures-apparently it is very rare at this museum). We went to a fancy sashimi restaurant near the train station for lunch-it was great food, and we got our own special compartment with sliding doors! After lunch, we went to a concert hall right next to Kanazawa Station for a piano concert. The Kanazawa orchestra has a weird mascot named Gargantua that is sort of like a caricature of a conductor. The orchestra was conducted by Keita Matsui, and the three piano concertos were Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, performed by Yukari Yamada, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, performed by Rikono Takeda, and Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, performed by Marie Kiyone. The performance was all very high-quality, and it was open-seating so we got second-row seats in the perfect spot to watch the pianists’ hands. At the end, all three pianists returned and played a piano trio all on the same piano, which must have been difficult. They were all wearing dresses that I would think would hinder playing (forgive me if I went a little overboard in description there, I am very interested in anything related to piano playing). Ms. Nagase and I returned to Hakusan City by train, then went to her house. Half of it is a 30-year-old addition to the other half, which is 200 years old and barely touched. She has a beautiful yard (a rarity in Japan) and back garden. She showed me around briefly, then we went to walk her dog. After we returned, her husband got home from work. Both of them are very friendly and kind. Ms. Oribe, another Rotarian, had been invited for dinner and arrived shortly, then we walked to a nearby restaurant and had tempura.

There was also no school the next day, to make up for the Saturday that we had come to school for the festival. I studied Japanese for a little while, then on a snap decision decided I wanted to go to Fukui, a city in the neighboring prefecture. I obtained permission, then left. It was only ¥1,100 for each way, and the train ride was an hour and ten minutes on the small trains that stop at every station. I arrived and got some maps at the tourist information center, then set out exploring the city. I walked past some animatronic dinosaurs (that seems to be Fukui’s big tourist attraction, as the prefecture is a paleontological hotspot) and the ruins of the castle (which is now the prefectural government office-what a great workplace! You get to drive across a moat every day). I eventually reached a beautiful mountain in the middle of the city that had been turned into a forested park. It was the closest I have gotten to nature since I have come to Japan. I stopped at a shrine and explored a little more before descending. I continued wandering some more in search of restaurants and candy stores, but the food map I had was either outdated or misleading, and I couldn’t find any of the shops I searched for. At about 4 PM, I settled for some rice balls and ice cream from a convenience store for lunch instead, then returned home. The sun sets so early here, it is difficult to stay much longer and still have a good time.

Yesterday was my school’s P.E. festival. I was told to study Japanese in the school library instead of participating, but all of the other students went to a big park and participated in races and other mandatory events for gym class. I had my Japanese lesson and watched a tea ceremony with a lady who was visiting from Germany who happened to be at the Cultural Hall at the same time before going to the Rotary meeting. This week, a delegation from Hakusan’s sister city, Columbia, Missouri was visiting, so they came to the Rotary meeting and presented in the first half before leaving for some other obligation.

Today has been a fairly normal day so far. I had an average school day followed by an average afternoon, as far as I am allowed to use the word average, being an exchange student to Japan. I have been studying my Kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese) quite a bit lately and seem to be making some headway. I am looking forward to being literate! I feel like it’s about time, now that I have officially passed the two month mark. Thank you all for your patience in waiting for this long-delayed entry.

Oyama Jinja Shrine:

Kanazawa Station:

I would add more pictures, but it keeps telling me there is an upload error, so I will try again later.

[willreichelt]

[nipponrama]

A museum with Zen architecture created in 2011 to commemorate the work and life of D.T. Suzuki, a Buddhist philosopher born in Kanazawa. He popularized Eastern Buddhism in the West. https://www.instagram.com/p/BsawHaUB8WY/

[monvoyagepathologique]

Musées amusé

Kanazawa, ven. 6 déc. 2019

Ambiance sonore : lounge music

J’ai faim. 

Je demande à Ryuta-san, l’un des membres du staff, quel est son ramen favori dans le coin. 

C’est le “Mikoshi”, à 10min de marche. J’y vais et me RÉGALE ! Rien que de vous l’écrire me donne l’appétit ! 

Et puis c’est le temps de la mise en marche, je décide de me rendre à Higashi Chaya, un très vieux quartier de Kanazawa dont la rue principale est l’une des premières images sur laquelle on tombe en tapant “Kanazawa” dans un moteur de recherche. 

C’est charmant. L’une des fiertés de la ville, c’est l’Or. Ils en mettent à toutes les sauces, littéralement (and I mean it: j’ai vu des takoyakis recouverts de feuilles d’or, pour pas si chers... ils mangent des feuilles d’or... comme dans la Gold Strike, beurk).

Et puis je me suis remis en marche, avec l’intention d’aller au D.T. Suzuki museum. Je suis passé par le parc du château, journée paisible, peu de monde dans les rues. 

Quelqu’un d’important avec un important couvre-chef. 

Je plaide coupable. Je dois boire moins de dix-quinze Coca-cola par an ceci dit...

Bonjour Madame.

Le D.T. Suzuki museum, je n’en avais rien regardé, comme convenu. C’est je dirais un “musée philosophique”. L’entrée est à 310 yens (2,5Eur). Il est construit autour de la vie de Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki ( https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisetz_Teitaro_Suzuki ) et s’articule en trois zones : Une zone d’exposition sur la vie de Suzuki et sa pensée, une zone d’apprentissage où l’on est invité à se servir dans la bibliothèque et de s’asseoir face à un jardin pour lire à notre aise (j’y ai lu une BD, “It might be an apple”, que je recommande à tous les âges), et une zone de contemplation, qui nous invite à l’introspection. Je n’ai croisé qu’une seule autre personne... 

Certaines zones étaient interdites à la photographie.

Je suis ressorti de là absolument apaisé... C’était parfait.

Il me restait du temps, j’ai marché quelques minutes jusqu’au “Musée d’art contemporain du XXIème siècle de Kanazawa” (”ça dépend ça dépasse”). Certaines zones étaient interdites à la photographie.

Voilà voilà. 

En vérité, j’ai adoré ce musée ! Je me suis cependant demandé comment les employés n’y devenaient pas fous : de n’importe où dans le musée, on entendait régulièrement (toutes les deux minutes je dirais, pendant 20 secondes) des hurlements d’humains imitant des loups (ça m’a rappelé Asahikawa...). C’était une exposition vidéo bruyante sur la dis-communication. Ça donnait une tonalité particulière à toutes les autres expositions du coup. J’avais l’impression d’être dans un agréable cauchemar. 

Les employés, eux, restaient complètement impassibles. C’était surréaliste !

Les coupables.

J’adore cette photo !

Une œuvre intéressante... J’ai mis beaucoup de temps à trouver comment aller en-dessous, il ne suffisait pas de plonger.

Référence au magistral “Ghost in the shell” (pas le remake avec Scarlett J.)

Lying there.

Une salle avec un jeu d’eau et de lumières dans laquelle on entrait en marchant sur un déclencheur. Notre poids faisait bouger l’eau et la lumière avec. La dame de l’entrée de la pièce a beau m’avoir prévenu, ça m’a saisi. 

Une journée d’une qualité exceptionnelle.

Demain, je pars rencontrer le Fuji.

[secretaryoftheinvisible]

D.T. Suzuki Museum, Kanazawa

[60daysinjapan]

D.T. Suzuki Museum, Kanazawa

[tomorrowingray]

[tomjohnsonphoto]

鈴木大拙館 (D.T. Suzuki Museum), Kanazawa