The Difference of a Day.
May. 5th, 2007 03:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sechan19I spent yesterday in the Omotesando area of Shibuya-ku, an extremely posh part of Tokyo. I was there ostensibly to visit a gallery (which I never quite succeeded in finding, although I'm certain I came very close), and I had a lovely time exploring the side streets on my way. Omotesando was completely packed, probably due to the combination of its being Saturday and the national holiday "Children's Day." I'd never yet seen Tokyo streets so completely thronged with visitors - not even in the Shinjuku station area, and that's saying something.
I enjoyed some people watching for a while and then ducked in to the Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum of Art, which happened to have an exhibition of prints from the Victoria & Albert Museum. This exhibition was the largest collection of prints from that museum to have been shown in several decades, and it also included a number of very rare pieces. Most notable among them was a Hokusai print that is the only extant example of the design in the world. It's singular importance was discovered during the organization of this exhibition by one of Japan's foremost Hokusai scholars. To see such an important and rare work, coming on the heels of just having seen the Genji scrolls, was an unexpected blessing.
The exhibition featured a number of grotesque prints - in addition to the more standard prints of landscapes, courtesans, and kabuki actors - and I was extremely pleased to see several depictions of monsters and ghosts in the set. A deliciously amusing print of Shoki, the Demon Queller, has put me in mind of doing a project on the subject of horror and humor. But we'll see how that pans out. For now, it's just a daydream. I bought the show catalog, which contained complete color reproductions of every piece on view (as well as a number that were not), and so I can use it as a reference if I ever decide to pursue my train of thought.
The weather was invariably perfect - warm, lush, sun-dappled - and it seemed to me that spring's decent in to summer must be fairly complete. Imagine my surprise, then, when I woke this morning to gloomy gray skies and the pitter-patter of chilly raindrops on the balcony. Just when I had thought the cold rains passed and the sweater weather truly behind me. It is not yet to be. Perhaps it never shall be. In ordinary circumstances I don't think I'd mind (a little reprieve from the heat will no doubt be heartily wished for as May bleeds into June), but I am anxious to go out on this, my last, day of vacation. Perhaps the skies will clear in the afternoon. The rain itself has already slackened.
I'm nevertheless reminded of a quote from Meredith Wilson's play The Music Man:
"So what do you Ioweans find to talk about?"
"Well, there's the weather... when it's in season."
I enjoyed some people watching for a while and then ducked in to the Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum of Art, which happened to have an exhibition of prints from the Victoria & Albert Museum. This exhibition was the largest collection of prints from that museum to have been shown in several decades, and it also included a number of very rare pieces. Most notable among them was a Hokusai print that is the only extant example of the design in the world. It's singular importance was discovered during the organization of this exhibition by one of Japan's foremost Hokusai scholars. To see such an important and rare work, coming on the heels of just having seen the Genji scrolls, was an unexpected blessing.
The exhibition featured a number of grotesque prints - in addition to the more standard prints of landscapes, courtesans, and kabuki actors - and I was extremely pleased to see several depictions of monsters and ghosts in the set. A deliciously amusing print of Shoki, the Demon Queller, has put me in mind of doing a project on the subject of horror and humor. But we'll see how that pans out. For now, it's just a daydream. I bought the show catalog, which contained complete color reproductions of every piece on view (as well as a number that were not), and so I can use it as a reference if I ever decide to pursue my train of thought.
The weather was invariably perfect - warm, lush, sun-dappled - and it seemed to me that spring's decent in to summer must be fairly complete. Imagine my surprise, then, when I woke this morning to gloomy gray skies and the pitter-patter of chilly raindrops on the balcony. Just when I had thought the cold rains passed and the sweater weather truly behind me. It is not yet to be. Perhaps it never shall be. In ordinary circumstances I don't think I'd mind (a little reprieve from the heat will no doubt be heartily wished for as May bleeds into June), but I am anxious to go out on this, my last, day of vacation. Perhaps the skies will clear in the afternoon. The rain itself has already slackened.
I'm nevertheless reminded of a quote from Meredith Wilson's play The Music Man:
"So what do you Ioweans find to talk about?"
"Well, there's the weather... when it's in season."
