Saturday, May 25, 2024

5/6/24 Continued: Onto Mt. Fuji & A Master Dye Artist!

Earlier in the day, Steven and I had wandered around the Botanical Garden of the Wetlands and the Lalique Museum in Hakone's Sengokuhara mountain area. We then drove northwest to Tenjoyama Park to get closer views of Mt. Fuji, Japan's tallest mountain. Since ancient times, both Shinto and Buddhist followers have worshipped Mt. Fuji. So sacred is Fuji that its mountaintop torii gate states that it is the world's greatest mountain because of its holy space. Mt. Fuji is so ubiquitous that it appears in Japanese literature, art, and culture from the highest level to the most mundane.


En route to the park, we drove the length of Lake Yamanakako, one of the Fuji Five Lakes. I read that the scenic crater lakes offer some of Japan's best recreational options. We were glad we hadn't taken the toll road as this one was more interesting!

We stopped when I spotted one of the few still-blooming cherry trees so late in the season on the shore of the lake. Visiting Japan during the spring cherry blossom season would be undeniably gorgeous, but the crowds at the iconic sights would be pretty intense. I was pretty content with this one tree's blooms!

A little further on, we reached another crater lake, Lake Kawaguchiko, from where the Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway ascended 400 meters from its eastern shore to an observation deck near the peak of Mount Tenjo. 


Atop each of the cable cars were statues of rabbits or tanuki or raccoon dogs. Originally seen as evil creatures, the latter is now viewed as the symbol of generosity and prosperity and has become one of the most famous creatures in Japanese folklore.
 


Anyone visiting Japan knows of the bowing culture in this country. However, we'd yet to observe anything remotely close to this agent's deep bend at the waist when the gondola left the station. I read that such a deep and long bow indicates respect. 

As the cable car made its ascent to more than 1000 meters above sea level, we had panoramic views of the town and Lake Kawaguchi which was all part of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. We'd first encountered the park a couple of days earlier after arriving from Tokyo when we visited the Hakone Open Air Museum and Pola Art Museum.




According to a legend, Shotoku-Taishi, a famous imperial prince who lived from 574-622, was credited with being the first to climb Mt. Fuji by instantly reaching the mountaintop and riding a horse!



Mt. Fuji is known by different names: Reverse Fuji is when Mt. Fuji is reflected on the lake's surface; Diamond Fuji is the moment when the sun rises or sets right on top of Mt. Fuji and it looks like a shining diamond set on the peak; and Kasa-gumo is when the clouds look like an umbrella or hat. When these clouds appear, there is a high likelihood of rain the next day.


Steven thought this was pretty hokey, but I thought it was cute!


However, the schlock factor got to me with this one! Even after spending just a week or so in Japan, I began struggling with the Japanese fascination and preoccupation with stuffed animals, particularly among adults. 


Even though it was overcast and the winds made it uncomfortable at the top, the views in every direction were stunning.



We drove just ten minutes to reach the Itchiko Kubota Art Museum parking lot but it took about 20 minutes more to find the entrance as the signage was non-existent!


We easily found though the Maple Corridor, a short path flanked by maple trees on each side.


With no signs or anyone in sight, we took a chance and entered this doorway hoping it might lead to the museum and fortunately, it did. The museum was built in 1994 by a dyeing artist, Itchicku Kubota, 1917-2003, to permanently exhibit his series of landscape kimonos.


Before coming to the museum, there was a large garden that Itchiku had also designed using Mt. Fuji lava, Ryukyu limestone, an assortment of trees, and a waterfall so it felt like we had stepped into a park and not a museum.




At the museum's entrance, we were struck immediately by its resemblance to Antoni Gaudi's work in Barcelona. 



Because the exterior was surrounded by trees, it was difficult to get a sense of the size and style of the main building. Once we entered, we could tell the interior was crafted to look like a pyramid with cypress logs.



When he was just 20, Itchiku encountered Tsujigahana-dyed patterned cloth used from the late 15th to the early 16th centuries at the Tokyo National Museum. The pattern-dyed cloth had reached its zenith when it adorned many warlords and samurai during the Edo era. He devoted himself to recreating it so it could come alive in contemporary times. 


The museum's main floor, shaped like a square, had about six Itchiku's tapestry kimonos on each side. The Symphony of Light was the culmination of his lifework, a remarkable collection of kimono tapestries planned to represent all four seasons and his own universe. Each work was dyed 40 times and went through 15 rinses to achieve Itchiku's stringent goals. Each kimono took a full year to fabricate! When he opened the museum, he stipulated that nothing would be behind glass so the works could be examined by visitors. 

I think the second kimono was called Ohn and represented a view of Aka-Fuji or Red Fuji from Lake Yamanaka. Itchiku had only witnessed Aka-Fuji once in his lifetime.



I wish I’d paid better attention to the number assigned to each kimono as we were given a pamphlet describing each one. Think of them like cogs in a wheel as each design or each kimono was connected to the one before and therefore to the one after – from early fall to middle and then late fall, and then the progression of the winter months. The works were mesmerizing as they spoke to how Itchiku captured nature like a moment in time and yet all linked together.




A closeup of his work:



Darlene: As a fabric artist, you would have been stupefied by Itchiku's prowess as a master dye artist.


I greatly admired Itchiku for the way he harnessed the natural beauty around him and incorporated it into the museum. This shot was taken from the gift shop.



The gobsmacking view of Mt. Fuji from the teahouse:


Even street signs and sewer covers had images of Mt. Fuji!



As we walked along Lake Kawaguchi's shoreline, a halo cloud appeared over Mt. Fuji!



Japan's stop signs aren't the conventional octagonal shape so I had to remind Steven to stop instead of just yield when we came close to the triangular-shaped sign!


When we returned to eat at Box Burger in Hakone that night, we were lucky enough to be served again by a young man who had grown up in LA as the son of Japanese immigrants. Though fluent in the language, he had never learned to read or write Japanese so he wanted to spend time in his parents' native land visiting family.



Posted on May 25th, 2024, from Lhasa, Tibet, after leaving Japan a few days ago. I tried for days to publish this post from Shanghai where we just flew in from but the internet was painfully slow to non-existent there. My hope to continue to publish a blog post every three days is likely slim to none as we continue our tour of China. Though I still need to catch up, I will post when and where I can. As always, we hope you and your loved ones are safe and in good health.

Next post: Bullet train onto Kanazawa renowned for its gardens and crafts! 

Monday, May 20, 2024

5/6/24: Hakone Garden of the Wetlands & Lalique Museum!

When planning this trip's itinerary, we somehow thought we'd have plenty of time to stroll around both the Hakone Botanical Garden of the Wetlands and the Lalique Museum on the same day we took the bullet train from Tokyo to Odawara, picked up a rental car, and then also tour the Hakone Open Air Museum and the Pola Art Museum. If you've been following our blog for any length of time, you know we're no slouches when traveling but we missed the mark that day, and attempting all that would have been crazzzy! Therefore, we added both places to our Mt. Fuji day. 

The botanical garden, located in the Hakone-Sengokura area at 650 m elevation, was established in 1976 in a flat area containing rice paddies. You'd never know that now as it sported a specially designed ecosystem with manmade hills, rockeries, ponds, and streams.


At first glance, these looked like a purple variety of Ontario's provincial flower, the trillium, but the delicate flower was probably a butterfly plant like we'd spotted the previous day also in Hakone's mountain area.


Japan's national flower should be the rhododendron as we've noticed lovely shades of them all over the country!





The Meadow Plant Garden contained flowers seldom seen around the city so Hakone residents were in for a treat seeing grassland plants here, especially in late summer when most are blooming.


The Marsh Plant Garden was a wetland with slow-moving water and nutrient-rich groundwater with plants seen near rivers and lakes.



Steven stayed on the regular route but I just had to see what was on the Blind Alley or roundabout route!



I lucked out as the orange azaleas were lovely!





Plants of the Cliff was a small garden in the wetlands.


The Bog Area was the model for plants rarely seen in Japan.


Part of the Sengokuhara Marsh has been designated as a national monument of Japan because marshes rarely exist in lower mountain districts. The summer months are the best time to view these flowers.




The flowers were bobbing up and down thanks to carp getting entangled in the long stems!


Steven and I love boardwalks so traipsing along one in the Swamp Forest was a delight. We just didn't want to lose sight of where we were walking and end up in the drink! 


Did you know that a marsh differs from a swamp only because woody plants dominate? I hadn't. Phil: I'd just read your post about the swamp trail you encountered in Louisiana before visiting the wetlands. No doubt that one was quite different.





With more than a thousand species of wild herbaceous and woody plants collected and displayed in the Garden of the Wetlands, it was a delightful way to start our day.


I was still surprised at the handful of top museums in the Hakone area, a city we'd never heard of before planning our tour of Japan. Being a fan of Art Deco and Art Nouveau, it was a no-brainer to stop just two minutes away at the Lalique Museum which had a remarkable collection of over 1,500 pieces designed by René Jules Lalique, a world-renowned glassmaker and jeweler. Prestigious Lalique collections are on display all around the world, particularly at the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, and here in Hakone. Since being exposed to Lalique's genius at the Gulbenkian several years ago, I was excited at the opportunity to view the world's largest collection of his precious jewelry and glass masterpieces in the beautiful natural surroundings of Hakone.


The French artist, 1860-1945, is credited for bridging the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements of the 19th and 20th centuries.


Take a few moments and feast your eyes!




When Lalique first started his career as a jeweler, he was described as bringing a fresh look to bear on jewelry, whether in terms of sources of inspiration or the materials used. He didn't balk at using materials considered less worthy, such as horn, ivory, or enamel. His research on the latter sparked Lalique's interest in glass, which had a similar composition. His Art Nouveau brooches and combs attracted great attention at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900, after which he became a celebrated jeweler. Among his patrons was the acclaimed French actress Sarah Bernhardt, for whom he designed some of his finest creations.


Lalique created jewelry with fantastic designs with relatively few precious stones though the norm then was machine-produced jewelry featuring precious gems. His desire to create something that had never been seen before earned him the title of "inventor of modern jewelry."

Woman with Wings was fashioned in 1900.



Lalique fabricated Anemones between 1901 and 1903.


The museum was designed in complete harmony with the world around it as if the scenery were part of the exhibition space itself. It was just sublime.



I don't normally think of looking at chandeliers in public spaces but at the Lalique Museum, they also perfectly complemented the art. 



Lalique's talents even extended to Swallows, a fabulous room decorated with the migratory bird, a common subject matter in his work.


Another floor of the museum was devoted to Lalique's glass objects.



Lalique lent his expertise to car mascots. From left to right: Speed, Longchamp, and Victory were produced in 1929.




In 1907, Lalique's affinity for glass began through an association with perfumer François Coty who asked Lalique to put his talent to work for the perfume industry. Their work revolutionized it by making it possible to offer perfumes in beautiful bottles at affordable prices. According to excerpts from a biography I read, Lalique the Art Nouveau master jeweler was to become an Art Deco master glassmaker! 



1921's Degas/Dancer was of course inspired by the famous artist.


Isadora Duncan was the muse in 1931 for the perfume bottle Duncan.


I was so happy to see a museum solely devoted to the world's best interpreter of glass art and a larger breadth of Lalique's mastery of so many genres of art than even Lisbon's Gulbenkian.

Posted on May 20th, 2024, from Hiroshima, the last city on our amazing tour of Japan. What a journey it's been since arriving in the Land of the Rising Sun about three weeks ago at the beginning of our trip to Asia. I look forward to sharing more of what we saw and experienced as long as I can send posts from China, our next stop on this adventure. Please take care of yourself and your loved ones until we meet again in this space.

Next post: Same day and up close and personal with Mt. Fuji!