Japanese Flowers

Japan is home to some of the most unique flowers I have ever seen.  They seem to bloom all year round and at any given time, on any give corner and in any given city you are bound to see flowers that will simply astound you. 

The Japanese seem to have a love affair with flowers.  They give them as gifts on birthdays, graduations, and any ceremony.  Flowers to the Japanese must have a special meaning to them. 

Japanese indigenous flowers are quite beautiful and odd in many ways.  I don’t really know what to expect or how to appreciate the flowers in Japan, but I feel compelled to photograph them anyway. 

Soon sakura season will be upon us. The pink and white flowers from cherry trees will be in full bloom probably come this weekend.  Where people will sit and drink underneath cherry blossoms in full bloom. 

For the next couple of weeks my personal project is to shoot as scenes involving cherry trees.

Night View of a Pogoda

The golden shimmer of the pogoda at night stands as a symbol of Japan's past. Although you will find these symbols almost everywhere their locations are often with in easy walking distance of a 7-11 or a train line.

Much of Japan today is littered with powerlines and other signs of progress. Even on mountain tops, powerlines and towers cast a shadow over the once beautiful landscape.

It doesn't make Japan less beautiful it does make it less natural in a way. It is merely the sign of the times.

Progress and preservation have lead us to saving monuments of the past by capitalizing on their worth as an attraction and as a point of sale transaction. This contrast between beauty and commerce is easily seen near all historical sites.

The key to enjoying these sites is to look past it and maintain a sense of awe despite the signs of the current age.

“By the light of the moon”

Often when I take photos at night, I have a few songs running through my head.  This past winter, I often reverted back to my childhood for my sound track.  For some odd reason “It’s a Wonderful Life” crept into my subconscious and provided me with “Buffalo Gals”.  This American classic song somehow brings out certain emotions. It must be the darkness that harkens me back to old black and white films (although I grew up with color, but my first personal TV was black and white"). 

At night there really is only one real option for photography,  the use of long exposures with a tripod.  I find myself near rivers and ponds at night to try and capture the reflection of light . I also enjoy using long exposures due to the transitions of objects through both time and space within the frame of the camera.  Objects transitioning from one space-time position to another while displacing the space before and after them.  Objects floating and displacing space like the logs and boulders in a river. 

Space-time is such a transitional playing field it behaves in accord to the objects around them.  A single long exposure is a unique capture of not only objects, but objects in transition.  They exist and don’t exist in certain positions.  

Looking back at my childhood, I am the moving light along the track, the flowing river of thoughts, the transitioning from one time frame to the next.  The boy that watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” all those years ago no longer exists, only his light continues on.  The boy’s interaction with a black and white film that featured an old song brought about emotions in a man 25 years later.  And that man took a photo while having “Buffalo Gals” running through his head along a river bank half a world away from his birth place.  That light continues and is captured not by the photos themselves, but by his act of taking them. 

(© Robert J. Hartung III, 2010 All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)

Kyudo and Zen?

Kyudo like many Japanese martial arts has spiritual aspects attributed to it. Most notably Kyudo is seen primarily as a practice of Zen Buddhism in the west. Eugen Herrigel was the first to popularize Zen in the practice of Kyudo with his book “Zen in the Art of Archery”.

In recent years, a few Japanese writers have argued that Herrigel’s view was both the result of poor or vague translations at the time and Herrigel’s aspirations to find Zen in Kyudo. The strong association of Buddhism and Zen with Kyudo doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon, regardless of recent journal articles arguing against Zen’s inclusion. The relationship is so intertwined in the collective consciousness that it seems unlikely to ever disappear. This is due to the nature of religion and Japanese martial arts in general.

Buddhism and Shinto are the two main religions in Japan and they are so interwoven that most Japanese cannot tell the difference between the two. Often one will find Buddhist temples next to  Shinto shrines, which further confuses the differences between the two faiths.

Kyudo is primarily used in Shinto ceremonies. The bowman will wear the white garments of a Shinto priest while performing ceremonies. Unlike Buddhist ceremonies in which pure white garments are not used. The arrow itself is a Shinto talisman to ward of evil and to attract good luck. In Zen the sword carries a heavy symbolic weight and the arrow has no symbolic significance.

Despite the utter lack of Buddhist ceremonies involving Kyudo in Japan there are an extensive Kyudo exhibitions in the west involving Zen temples. Kyudo exhibitions are never held at Buddhist temples in Japan. It seems that Zen and archery has stronger associations in the west than it does in Japan. 

Although Zen Buddhism might not have anything to do with Kyudo directly, the ideas and practice of it are quite Zen-like. Central tenets like the concepts of no-mind and non-attachment are notions shared with Zen Buddhism, however slightly differing in aim and approach.

Since Shinto lacks a founder and religious texts, many attribute Buddhism to things that are primarily Shinto in origin. The Shinto/Buddhism difference is paper-thin in Japan which further perpetuates the seemingly contradictory statements about Kyudo and Japanese spiritual life.

Some might regard Kyudo as an inner and outer practice uniquely Japanese, the outer as the expression of Shinto with the inner the expression of Zen Buddhism. Regardless what is attributed to Kyudo, the practice requires diligence, concentration and Zen-like qualities to perform the elegant and sublime feats of Japanese archery.

(© Robert J. Hartung III, 2010 All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)

Spring has Sprung

Spring has sprung in Japan. The plethora of flowers bring both joy and punishment as hay-fever suffers pound the antihistamines.  First arriving are the ume (plumb) blossoms, with subtle whites and striking pinks. Their bloom foreshadows spring that brings in the pride and joy of Japanese spring – sakura (cherry blossoms). 

As the ume blossoms bloom and fall sakura begins to bud and bloom.  The report this year predicted that the cherry blossoms will begin to bloom on the 22nd of March.  The cherry blossoms should last about two weeks.  Soon Ueno park and Asakusa will be packed with people sitting under cherry blossoms and enjoying this ritual of spring.  
(© Robert J. Hartung III, 2010 All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)

Tokyo Communist Anti-war Demonstration

On March 20^th, 2010 an anti-war rally under the banner of “Workers Action” was held in Yoyogi Park in Shibuya, Japan. The demonstrators marched through the busy streets of the Shibuya  district and ended their demonstration at a tiny park situated off of Meiji-dori along the Yamamote rail line. The protesters were jovial and peaceful. The number of demonstrators were estimated between 1000 to 1800.

Many protesters carried and wore signs that read, “We don’t need a Base”, “Stop the war”, and “Overthrow Obama”.

Demonstrators chanted to the beat of drums and whistles, “Stop the War” and “End the Alliance”.

The anti-war demonstrators mostly were comprised of the Doro-Chiba (a Japanese National Railway Union) and Zengakuren (The All Japan Federation of Students Autonomous Bodies). Both groups are known to have communist ideologies.

The Doro-Chiba union mostly played a supportive roll in the anti-war rally and demonstrated against privatization and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The demonstration was held on the seventh year anniversary of the Iraqi war.

The Zengakuren carried signs that read, “Overthrow Obama” and “Whose University? Our University!” The student carrying the “Overthrow Obama” sign when asked why he was protesting merely said: “Stop the war, down with privatization, down with capitalism”.

In recent years the Zengakuren have been in the news for arrests made at Hosei University by the Japanese Security Police. Students were allegedly arrested for handing out anti-government literature on campus. During today’s demonstration there was a minor disturbance between Zengakuren and the Security Police, which resulted in small shoving match.

On March 4^th, 2010, the Zengakuren demonstrated in Los Angels with the California ILWU 10 and the United Teachers Union in Los Angeles. The Zengakuren are also allegedly expected to demonstrate in California next weekend.

(© Robert J. Hartung III, 2010 All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)

Fire festival in Nagatoro, Saitama

On March 7th 2010, Nagatoro held a fire festival.  Priests walk through flames and hot embers to pay homage to O-Fudomiyo, one of the Buddhist guardians.

The priests perform an elaborate ceremony and walk through knee high flames.  Onlookers are invited to take part in the stroll over hot embers. 

One participant stated, “It’s not painful at all.  I only got my feet dirty.”

The participants vary in age the youngest being elementary school students to the elderly.  The priests take special care of the participants and provide assistance through the flames, while the fire is continually stoked and fed with the previous year’s temple plaques and charms.  

One of the participating priests explained the basics of enduring the flames: “The festival is for O-Fudomiyo.  I have concentration when I walk across.  I don’t think about anything. So, it doesn’t hurt.”

The festival includes traditional lion dances, taiko drumming and martial art demonstrations.  The festival is held yearly at the beginning of March in this quaint mountain community.      

(The priests perform a ceremony in front of the shrine. Conch shells bellow in low tones as prayers are offered to O-Fudomiyo. )

 

(The priests begin a new chant.)

(Priest chants and blesses the fire.)

(Priest lends a helping hand through the burning embers.)

(The heat and rain mixes to form steam.)

(The head priest prepares to give his acolytes orders.)

(© Robert J. Hartung III  All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. )