Nihongo-a-Go-Go :: Mandy's Journal

Tokugawa Museum

This weekend, after paying off all the bills *dies* and cleaning the apartment *resurrects and dies again* we headed off to the Tokugawa Garden and Museum. The Tokugawa Family was the group in charge of Nagoya for quite some time in the Edo period (and before, I believe...I don't quite remember). We headed up to Ozone (pronounced "Oh-zone-ay"), which is the closest subway stop, and is also Aimee's homebase for work. It was a bit of a walk, and we had to trek through a strange little street festival. I think the excitement was about a Dragons' game, but I'm not exactly sure.

When we got to the entrance, we got a ticket to the gardens. I sort of thought that the gardens would be more extensive, but the amount of water was nice. A big pond, and a few little streams, lots of beautiful bright koi, and bridges. The one thing lacking in many Japanese gardens is trees, which would be nice when the strong sun is beating down, as it was today. Still, a beautiful little pocket in the midst of an industrial area.

The museum itself was a bit smaller and more limited than I'd expected, but still pretty cool. Of course, I couldn't take pictures inside, and it was more of a historical gallery than one of art. I guess it depends on if you look at artifacts as art or pieces of history/anthropology. Anyway, we saw armor, spears, and looooooooots of painted scrolls depicting many of the shrine festivals inside Nagoya Castle town. There was also a replica of a daimyo's tea hut. The tea ceremony in the 18th century had become very elaborate and some people, including warrior lords, decided that they sort of had to go back to their roots. So they changed the ceremony (wabi), using more primitive vessels and building tea huts away from their expansive and luxurious houses. These huts had thatched roofs and were deliberately rustic.

The other item of extreme interest at the Tokugawa museum is a book manuscript they have. They have the one surviving copy of "Tale of the Genji," an ancient novel written by a noblewoman about the amorous adventures of a prince. The copy is too fragile to be displayed continually, and I believe it's only brought out once a year. But they have an interesting display of exact replica pages. The paper is beautiful, varigated and sprinkled with gold. The artwork is very unique; I forget the name of the style, but the people have very round cheeks and long silky hair. Sort of huggable, I thought.

After buying some postcards (have no fear, Mom! There is one for you!) we headed back to the apartment. On the way, I noticed some unique signs. Heh, first of all, I don't even need to tell you what this prohibits. See? Japanese signs are so clear they just blow up the language barrier.

And the second...this is for you, Boog. Do you want to know what this tiolet-lacking little boy is the mascot for? A pharmacy. With a working tinkling prince at the front entrance. There simply are not words...

Stay tuned for this week's adventures...not sure where yet, but they should be exciting!

Posted by Mandy at July 29, 2005 10:39 PM