A Samurai’s Garden of Verses

Sunday, April 20, 2025

Tokyo has nine Metropolitan Cultural Heritage Gardens. They have survived the Great Kanto Earthquake, World War II, and urban encroachment. 

We chose to visit Rikugien Gardens because there are free guided tours in English today. Rikugien has been designated a Special Place of Scenic Beauty. As seniors, we paid only ¥150 (about US $1.04) for admission to the garden. What a deal!

We met our guide, Noriko, at the appointed time, and she did a fantastic job leading our small group around Rikugien. She pointed out the numerous varieties of azaleas: different sizes of blossoms, differences in petals, and of course, an array of gorgeous colors.

This beautiful landscape garden was built around 1700 for the fifth Tokugawa Shogun. The garden was acquired by the founder of Mitsubishi in 1878, and his family donated the garden to the City of Tokyo in 1938.

“Rikugien” means “six poems garden.” The garden is designed to portray 88 scenes from famous Waka poems, which are classic Japanese poems of 31 syllables. The “six poems” are the six types of Waka poems,

Noriko showed us some of these 88 scenes and the corresponding verses, which she had written out in beautiful calligraphy. She recited the verses for us from memory, almost chanting them, and explained what the old Japanese words meant. They were witty, terse, and pithy observations of the human condition or the natural world.

A bamboo grove, with new, dark-colored bamboo shoots emerging

A different type of bamboo in this grove

Camellias

Wisteria

The stone pillar (sekichu) marks one of the 88 beauty spots reflecting a scene in a Waka poem 

Tsutsuji-chaya (azalea tea-house) was built of azalea wood in the Meiji era (1868-1912). This is the original structure.

Fujishiro-toge: This is the view from the highest artificial hill in the garden, 35 meters. The soil removed to make the pond was used to make this hill.

Togetsukyo: The name of this bridge comes from a famous poem about the moon moving in the sky “as if crossing a bridge.”

This is the grave of a beloved falcon.

Following our delightful morning in the park, we chose a random sandwich shop for lunch. It was quick and very inexpensive. We chose some prepared sandwiches and climbed a narrow spiral staircase to a tiny pace with about five tables, one of them unoccupied. Some of the sandwiches in the refrigerated case were typically Japanese, but unusual by American standards.

Yakisoba with half an egg

Spaghetti sandwich

After lunch we took the subway to Nezu Shrine to see their azalea festival. It was a bit of a walk from the station and we knew we were in the right place when we encountered a barely-moving line more than two blocks long. Inside the shrine entrance it was crowded. It was jam-packed. It was not my thing. There were food booths, a parade of some sort, loud music, and vendors hawking all kinds of junky accoutrements that have tremendous appeal to children and can cause tantrums if denied. Sound familiar? Have you ever been to the Alaska State Fair? This was so not my thing. 

We could see a bit of the azaleas from outside the gates, and they did look beautiful, but we had already had a large dose of azaleas today, without the crowds. So we took a shortcut back via a closer subway station. Of course, it was not a shortcut, and we got a little lost.  My feet are so tired.

Today’s fabric is Japanese Wild Azalea Anime Manga Style - Tsutsuji Flower Festival - Medium Scale by kuriyamadesigns for Spoonflower.

Conjuring Conrad

Saturday, April 19, 2025

We took the shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo at midday. We are trying a new hotel this time, in a different section of Tokyo. We usually stay at the Hilton Tokyo, in Shinjuku, but this time we  have chosen the Conrad Tokyo, in Shiodome, which is near Shimbashi. Shiodome is a concrete and steel island of about 13 skyscrapers, surrounded by expressways and railways.

Shiodome and Hamarikyu Gardens
Photo provided by hilton.com

The JR trains only go to Shimbashi, so you have to know how to get from Shimbashi to Shiodome. Maybe we did and maybe we didn’t. You can walk - about 10 minutes if you know exactly how to get there - or you can transfer to a subway at Shimbashi (if you know which one), and ride one stop. This will likely take more than 10 minutes if you consider the time it will take to to get from the JR train to the correct subway line, and then the time to wait for the subway (up to 6 minutes). We eventually got pretty good at getting from the hotel to Shimbashi, but not today, not with our luggage. 

We might have taken a taxi if we had emerged from underground near a taxi stand, and if I was not afraid of finding out that we had walked two blocks to get a taxi to take us to a hotel that turned out to be  a mere one block away.

Once you have reached the vicinity of Shiodome, it’s still a little tricky to get to the hotel. There is a spaghetti-like bundle of  elevated roads, elevated tracks, and elevated pedestrian walkways which separate Shiodome from the rest of Tokyo. Not to mention a multitude of ways to get around underground. There are up escalators everywhere and sometimes there are down escalators. Sometimes there are small, slow elevators. 

Sometimes there are only stairs. 🙁

At ground level the street corners are blocked off so that it is impossible to simply cross the street. They really want you to go over or under. There is an obsession with safety in this country. (They are just not worried enough about the heart attack you will have climbing up to the pedestrian overpass  - with your luggage - using the one ramp that does not have an escalator.)

When you get to your destination building, you are very lucky if you can see the small sign indicating that this is indeed the right building. There is nothing suggesting that you have arrived at  the right door. It is a good thing that there are people inside to greet you, because the real hotel lobby is on the 28th floor. Thank you for letting me know. I never would have thought to look for it up there. 

The entrance on the ground floor is not used by the businesses on floors 2 through 27, and there is nothing inside that lets you know where you are or where to go. You are in a large empty space with a couple of greeters standing there and an art installation that looks like a giant chicken giblet. Suddenly somebody is taking your luggage and you are being led down a hall, past more large art, and around a corner to some elevators. These elevators only go to the 28th floor.

At 28 you arrive at the actual lobby, with a registration area and a lounge where a piano is being played and people are enjoying high tea and it smells really good.

When we check in we are offered an upsell. It’s a really good deal, so we take it. And now there is a little parade of assistant concierge and bellperson in spiffy uniforms, a cart full of shopping bags, duffel bags, backpacks, and luggage, and two bedraggled tourists, going to our Executive King Suite Bay View.

WORTH IT!!!

The living room - the shoes did not come with the room, the box of hand-crafted chocolate on the table did

Bathroom, with wetroom

Soaking tub with TV . . .

. . . And duckie

Toto toilet behind the frosted door

Closet and storage area opens to entryway and to bathroom

Powder room opens to entryway

Did you want to know the duck’s name? I named him Roy, because he looks like a king.

Best of all was the magical view of Hamarikyu Gardens, Odaiba, and Tokyo Bay.

Tsukiji-Ohashi Bridge

The amenities included some of those Asian face masks that prevent wrinkles. Am I too late?

Today’s fabric is embroidered silk, a wrapping cloth (fukusa), about 1769, Saint Louis Art museum.

Tanuki Hunt 2025

 Friday, April 18, 2025

Our plan today was to meet with our friend, Terin, who lives in Kyoto, and who promised to show us some ceramics and other interesting things that were a bit beyond Kyoto’s city limits. We had an early lunch of delicious 7-Eleven food so we could hop in Terin’s car and go, without delay for eating. (When I say “delicious 7-Eleven food,” I am not joking. The 7-Eleven stores in Japan are ubiquitous and delicious.  I love the sandwiches and the onigiri they sell.) 

Terin said he would show us what the more rural places, on the other side of the mountains from Kyoto, were like. He also mentioned, very casually, that we might see a place that sells tanuki. I wrote about last year’s Tanuki Hunt here. I love the little tanuki I brought home last year, but it’s too small. I need another one.

Ken wanted to buy a koinibori, also. (That’s a set of carp streamers or windsocks, traditionally seen during Golden Week.)

We stopped at three or four garden centers and hardware stores, but we did not find any koinibori, even though Golden Week begins in about ten days.

We drove through an area where tea was being grown and Terin shared some of his tea expertise with us.

Little fans on the poles keep the tea plants from freezing on cold nights

At one point we saw one of those animal crossing signs, and it had a tanuki on it. I was surprised, since we weren’t that far from Kyoto. Terin confirmed that tanuki do indeed live around there and can occasionally be seen running across the road.

I wrote about last year’s Tanuki Hunt here. I love the little tanuki statue I brought home last year, but it’s too small. I need another one.

Terin said he thought we might even see a shop that sells tanuki. Just when I was beginning to think we would not find a tanuki shop, we rounded a curve, and we suddenly saw three or four stores with yards jam-packed with tanuki of all different sizes!!!

We must have seen at least a dozen shops like this as we drove through the small town of Shigaraki. We stopped at a nice shop and I pinched myself to make sure this was not a dream. Of course, Terin knew all along that we would find the motherlode of tanuki.

There were many more tanuki inside, along with other gorgeous ceramics, such as plates and bowls.

The traditional tanuki wears a straw hat, and he has a jug of sake and a book of IOU’s. Many also carry a walking stick. Occasionally you will see a tanuki carrying some other object or wearing something different. It may be a female tanuki wearing a frilly dress. Some tanuki have vicious-looking teeth. Each one seems slightly different.

You see tanuki outside the entrance to many businesses in Japan. You also see them outside homes. (In Japan, no one has to worry that their tanuki might be stolen or vandalized.) They are said to bring good luck. I don’t believe in good luck charms and I don’t believe a statue can bring good luck. However, I feel that having a tanuki outside your home sends a message of welcome, and it is a cute reminder of our travels in Japan.

I ended up buying a larger tanuki for half the price that I paid for the small one in Tokyo last year. Ken got a ceramic lantern for the backyard. We also bought a beautiful bowl. We arranged to have the shop ship the ceramics to our hotel in Yokohama so we won’t have to deal with the extra packages until we are ready to board our ship.

No, this is not the one I bought

I had mentioned to Terin that I would like to go to Lake Biwa, so he drove us there next. Lake Biwa is the largest lake in Japan. I had seen something suggesting it was a place of great natural beauty. It is famous for freshwater fish and cultured pearls.

Woodcut: Yabase Crossing and View of Lake Biwa, by Hiroshige, 1850
Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Lake Biwa was not at all what I expected. It was intensely developed and it appeared that no thought had been given to aesthetics. Access to the shoreline appeared to be limited and views were blocked by ugly multi-story buildings. Also, the traffic was quite bad - a lot of residents commute to Kyoto.

The Michigan, a Mississippi River-style paddlewheeler operates as a tourist boat on Lake Biwa

Almost small enough to take home with me

A school bus in a rural part of Shigaraki

Once back in Kyoto we started to think about dinner, and we decided to go for katsu - breaded cutlets. First you grind your sesame seeds in a suribachi - a ceramic mortar with a ridged interior.

Then you add tonkatsu sauce.

There is a sesame salad dressing for the cabbage. There is always cabbage with katsu. And you always get soup, rice, and tea.

Itadakimasu!

(Said before a meal in Japan. It means “I humbly receive.”)

Today’s fabric is a navy blue tanuki raccoon dog pattern by Japanese Indie, not currently available. 

Shabbat Shalom!