Last year’s visit to Ginkaku-ji, Koyto

Last June, I visited Ginkaku-ji temple just like millions of people before me. Now, I am writing about it just like thousands of people before me. Why? Because it makes me re-live the experience, remember it better and learn some fascinating things. Things that would’ve made me appreciate Ginkaku-ji better if I knew them when I was there. I also do it in hope that I am not alone in my fascination.

To an uninitiated observer Ginkaku-ji is a couple old quaint buildings with a cool Zen garden surrounded by a beautiful parkland. To a student of bonsai and Japanese aesthetics there is a little more to it. In the late 15th century Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa built Ginkaku-ji as his retirement residence. He was following an example set by his grandfather shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu who built Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion) for his retirement (here is my blog post about it http://lomov.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/kinkaku-ji-and-rikusho-no-matsu.html). However unlike his grandpa, Yoshimasa was influenced by more simple aesthetics of Zen Buddhism. Due to a chain of unfortunate events his “Silver Pavilion” (Kannon-den, images above) never received its intended silver finish, which incidentally reflects a Zen principle called wabi-sabi (impermanent, imperfect, incomplete).

Zen aesthetics are also evident in the design of the dry garden (see images above). It's a simplified landscape. The sand mound (Kogetsudai) shown in the left image represents Mount Fuji, while raked sand (Ginshadan) represents the sea.

The Ginshadan wave pattern is picked-up by other parts of the temple which ties it all together (see images above).

In the annals of Japanese cultural history the construction of Ginkaku-ji marks the beginning of Higashiyama culture (Ginkaku-ji’s formal name is Higashiyama Jishōji). One of the most significant aspects of this cultural development was Japanese tea ceremony together with many arts associated with it. The Tōgudō hall shown above enjoys a very special status in the history of Japanese tea ceremony. It is the oldest existing Shoin style building in Japan and one of its two rooms is a 4.5-tatami-mat tea room called Dōjinsai. This room is the earliest extant example of a Japanese tea room as it is known today. Although Dōjinsai is executed in Shoin style, it displays certain features of the later and less formal Soan style. Public is not allowed to see the interior of Tōgudō. The leftmost image below is another view of it from a slightly different angle.

The garden is beautiful any way you look. The center image above shows the level of training and shaping received by some of the trees in the garden. The rightmost image above shows an example of Ginkaku-ji’s moss gardens. At first glance they look like a regular park, but a closer look reveals that everything that supposed to be grass is actually moss. Many different species of moss to be precise (see images below).

I conclude my post with a few images showing scenery around Ginkaku-ji's pond. Visiting this place is definitely my idea of fun.

The Nappy Pot

Pat Kennedy of "Mirkwood Forest” pottery is my most favourite bonsai pot maker in Australia. He inspired me to start making bonsai pots and shared many of his techniques with me. I just wish I could meet with him more often. I once asked him about the surface texture on one of his pots and he told me that he uses a disposable baby nappy. The nappy I needed came along with my one-year-old niece last year. After that, I couldn't come up with any more excuses for not trying to make a similar pot. Images above show my first attempt at the ‘nappy pot’. By the way, ‘nappy pot' is exactly how Pat called it.

First pots this year

Tried to use tenmoku, oribe and tin white glazes together with inconsistent results. Some of the test pieces are even less impressive than the two pots shown here. The main problem with the pot on the right is that all my suitably sized trees have the same foliage colour as the pot. Makes the composition repetitive and dull.

Asian section, The State Gallery of New South Wales

Today, I took my daughter to the State Gallery of New South Wales. I always enjoy visiting it, but this time the Asian section had a couple of things related to bonsai. The entrance of the section was marked by a large Chinese viewing stone from lake Taihu. I am used to seeing such stones in Chinese gardens, but seeing it in a sterile setting of a gallery surrounded by lots of negative space gave it a very contemporary air (see the image below).

Another exhibit that drew my attention was a beautiful flower bulb bowl. It was about 30 cm in diameter and even had couple of drainage holes (see images below). This simple, but elegant porcelain ware with a blueish celadon glaze was produced in Jingdezhen during Yongzheng period of Qing dynasty (1723-35).

I would like to finish this post with something not related to bonsai. Some 19th century Japanese tsubas. All inspired by nature (images below).