The Sand Garden, reactions to "The Sand Garden" by Italo Calvino, and the most painful anime.

I'm not sure these entries are properly numbered anymore. This covers 5/25 and class on 5/26.

"These 'instructions for use'... seem perfectly plausible and immediately applicable, without effort, provided one is really sure of having a personality to shed, of looking at the world from inside an ego that can be dissolved, to become only a gaze."- Calvino

The rocks rose up from the carefully raked sand like harsh islands from the sea. I squinted against the glare of the sun and didn't understand what I was looking at. There was some sand. Some rocks. I didn't get it. It was too harsh and bright, and the most peaceful moments on this trip for me were in shaded, green forests, surrounded by natural and animal noises, not groups of schoolkids. That was yesterday, when I spent no more than a minute looking at the rock garden before moving on to the moss garden and the landscapes around the temple. I just snapped a picture (#) and moved on. Today in class, after reading "The Sand Garden" by Italo Calvino, I realized where I went wrong in my experience. Not only did I not sit down to contemplate the rock garden, but I was too concerned with my own personality and ego. I just went through a breakup, I wasn't feeling well, I was tired and stressed. I was focusing on myself. I was thinking that serenity or enlightenment would hit me in the face, and I didn't take the time to 'become only a gaze' as Calvino puts it. What a silly mistake. Here are pictures of the moss garden (#) and surrounding landscape (#) that I took much more time to ponder. Also, I touched a tree that didn't want to be touched (#).

Luckily, the 88 Temple Pilgrimage was much more satisfying. We hiked up this incredible mountain, (#) polishing our Japanese-number-reading skills ("San Ju Hachi... temple thirty eight! We're almost halfway there!") by counting the temples. The 88 Temple Pilgrimage was modeled on a pilgrimage on a different island that takes months and months to complete, but this one can be done in less than an hour if you're in decent shape. For some reason, I think because my friends were taking a picture of every single temple, I didn't take a picture of a single one. I did, however, try to capture a shot of the view of Kyoto: (#). The whole hike up the mountain I had a mini rosary that my great-uncle gave me in my hand, praying that my knee would be okay (the last time I hiked I blew out my knee pretty badly) and that I wouldn't feel so ill I'd have to turn back. This mini rosary is a metal circle and reminds me very much of the Buddhist prayer beads that pilgrims use on the 'real' 88 temple pilgrimage. I thought that was a cool cross-cultural link.

After returning to Otsu we took some time to rest our feet before all gathering together to watch the animated movie Barefoot Gen. This was a way of preparing us for our impending visit to Hiroshima tomorrow. It's the story of a 6-year-old boy who lived through the atomic bombing, complete with graphic (despite being animated, the fact that it is an autobiography and this really happened made it incredibly painful to watch) details of the bomb's destruction, radiation sickness, and the narrator's baby sister starving to death. More than a few of us were crying and cursing the movie, not to mention the teachers for suggesting/requesting that we watch it. (I know, my teachers will read this, but since it's a journal I think I'm allowed to be honest.) I've been to the Holocaust museum in Washington, DC a few times and have read a few books about the Holocaust, not to mention I've seen Schindler's List, but Barefoot Gen was honestly more painful than those. I'm not sure I'm emotionally prepared to visit Hiroshima, but it's going to happen whether I like it or not.

Dr. Paine said, "You will not be the same after you have been to Hiroshima, but let it happen." in class today, and I'll admit to being afraid. The things that humans have done to other humans are truly unthinkable, terrifying, and disheartening.

Reading Response: Reactions to Basho

We learned in class today that our class journals are expected to be mostly responses to the reading, which I've been doing very few entries about. So I'll post a catch-up sightseeing entry later, but here's a reading response for now. Not very fascinating, unless you like American teenagers parodying Great Poets.

5.23

I'm somehow struck with the sinking feeling I'm going to be the only person in my class that isn't head over heels in love with Matsuo Basho. I've seen a couple of facebook statuses so far tonight "oh man, Basho is like the Japanese Robert Frost" or "Haiku are so much cooler than the whiny Gossamer Years." But I'll be honest: I don't get it. Maybe I'm not in the right mood for it but seriously? The guy's chosen penname means 'banana'. And to me, his writing style seems like this:

"We left on the such-and-such road heading south. We hiked up the such-and-such mountain and saw the such-and-such temple. So-and-so the famous poet once wrote this haiku there:

I am at / a temple / the wind blows.

So I sat and wrote this haiku.

The wind blowing/ reminds me that/ the seasons change.

On our way down the mountain, so-and-so who once knew so-and-so asked me to write a haiku on a card for him. I thought that was very classy of him, so I wrote,

I have hiked/ to the temple/ where the seasons change.

We then went into town and stayed at an inn. The innkeeper was very nice. I wrote him a haiku."

I'm sorry... I just don't get it. I'll try to look at it again in the morning, maybe meditate on one of the haikus, but I read a few chapters and I still don't understand why this is considered one of the greatest works of world literature.

Class Assignment: Sei Shonagon-Style Lists.

So, in addition to this being my travel blog that lets my mom know I'm still alive, it is also a journal for the classes I'm taking here. The required reading for one of them is Sei Shonagon's "The Pillow Book," which is actually really interesting. (Sorry teachers for saying 'actually,' as if I expected it to be boring, but assigned reading tends to be... well... dry.) Shonagon's writing style is called 'zuihitsu,' which is translated as 'miscellany' or 'wherever your pen takes you' and her pen often takes the form of lists (irritating things, beautiful things, rivers, lakes, mountains. Some of her lists have explanations for each item, some are just item, item, item.) So our writing assignment for tonight (5/19) was to write a list, or lists, in her style.

Things that do not go well together: Many things are combined every day but here are a few pairs that particularly disagree with each other. Over-packers and subways. Over-packers and most types of travel, really, but watching someone struggle to lift their extremely large bag into the car as the doors are closing and their backpack is already crushing a businessman is a depressing sight. Skinny jeans and squat toilets; skinny jeans and large people; skinny jeans and any occasion which involves taking off your pants (trying on clothes, changing to go swimming, going to bed when exhausted.) Silver and gold jewelry. On their own, each is fine (though I prefer silver) but when combined, silver and gold together look worse than plastic jewelry or no jewelry at all. Small children and too much television.

Temples/shrines we have visited thus far on this trip: Senso-ji, Meiji Jingu, Heian Shrine, Shoren-in, Chioan-in, Ishiyama-dera, Enryaku-ji, Kyomizu-dera, Fishimi-Inari Taisha.

Countries I have visited in my life and the first thing I remember about them: America (McDonalds), Canada (Being forced to speak French with my school group), British Virgin Islands (The Baths at Virgin Gorda), Ireland (The Blarney Stone), England (Constantly overcast), Scotland (Bagpipes... I know that this is a cliche first thought, but it was mine), France (Being able to speak the language), Spain (Gaudi architecture), Italy (Jumping rope while in line for the Coliseum), Corsica (Napoleon was born there), Norway (Hiking a fijord), Sweden (Hiking another fijord), Finland (The cool teens hang out in a shopping mall in an underground train station), Estonia (there was a fort built by the French with British money on Estonian land and filled with Finnish soldiers to fight the Russians or some such bizarre mix of countries), Netherlands (Not really knowing what marijuana was because I was 12, but knowing it was legal there), Denmark (Beautiful, want to visit again), Russia (Being terrified all the time) and now, Japan! The first thing I remember about this beautiful place will have changed by the time I'm gone, but right now: real ramen is SO different and so much better than Cup O Noodles.

Colors I have dyed my hair: Most shades of brown and blonde, black, copper red, fire-truck red, barbie pink, pink/purple/blue, purple, blue, and cotton-candy pink.

Shonagon was known for her wit, and I doubt that this post will go down in world history like The Pillow Book, but I hope it was mildly entertaining. Actual update later tonight/ this morning for you in the US.