Kyoto a Cultural Guide. John H. Martin
Amida) to the east of Higashi-oji-dori. Thus, the Hokoji was reduced drastically from its original size and importance, a result of the Meiji government's hostility to Buddhism and a policy of downgrading Buddhist temples. The former Kara-mon (Chinese-style gateway) which once had stood before Hideyoshi's Fushimi castle, was brought to the Hokoku Shrine in 1876 from its previous location, depriving the Konchi-in Buddhist sub-temple of the Nanzenji of one of its treasures.
To create the appropriate space which Meiji grandeur demanded for the restored Shinto shrine to Hideyoshi, some of the buildings of the Hokoji were moved to the north, thereby restricting the temple to but a corner of its original site. By September 15, 1875, the shrine was in place, and, in a great ceremony, Hideyoshi's spirit was transferred to the inner shrine building. Hideyoshi's cynicism in the creation of the Hokoji with its great Buddha was now being equaled by that of the Meiji government in the recreation of this Shinto shrine in order to undo the disdain of Ieyasu for Hideyoshi—but its underlying motive was to show the new government's hatred of the Tokugawa shoguns and their 260 years of political rule of Japan. The Hokoku Shrine consists of a number of buildings, and, as with most Shinto shrines, all but the Honden (Spirit Hall) and its enclosure are open to the public. A traditional torii stands at the entrance to the grounds, and beyond it a series of lanterns (in vermilion painted wood) are raised on posts leading to the Karamon. The Kara-mon faces west down Shomen-dori, and from it hangs the original tablet-name for the shrine, created by the emperor Go-Yozei in 1599. The cypress-bark-roofed Kara-mon is supported by six large, wooden pillars. Relief carvings of cranes on the transoms enhance the doors of this gateway as do the two finely carved cranes under the front gable. So realistic are the carvings of the cranes by the noted sixteenth-century sculptor Hidari Jingoro that it is said he left them without eyes so that they would not fly away. In keeping with the ostentatiousness of the Momoyama art of Hideyoshi's day, the ornaments of the restored gate were gold plated.
Beyond the Kara-mon is the Honden, the sacred building where the spirit of Hideyoshi is enshrined, ensconced behind a fence which separates the sacred from the secular realm. A statue of the seated Hideyoshi stands before the fenced inner area. To the north of the main pathway is a smaller Shinto shrine with a series of small vermilion torii before it.
To the southeast of the Honden is the treasure house which holds items connected with Hideyoshi and his times, including the folding screen mentioned above which commemorates the seventh anniversary of Hideyoshi's death. In addition, swords, armor, iron lanterns, and manuscripts of the sixteenth century, all associated with Hideyoshi, are on display.
In contrast to the late nineteenth-century attempt to glorify Hideyoshi at the Hokoku Shrine, a short walk to the northeast of the shrine brings one to a simpler and more attractive site. It is not too often that a visitor to Kyoto can see the interior of a traditional Japanese house, but the Kawai Kanjiro House offers just such an opportunity.
KAWAI KANJIRO HOUSE
On leaving the Hokoku Shrine, a right turn brings one onto Yamato-oji-dori. This street should be followed to the north for three streets. At the third cross-street, one should turn right and follow this new street to the east for two streets before turning left (north). One will thus arrive at the Kawai Kanjiro House midway down the east side of the street. The house is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except on Mondays. It is closed from August 10 to 20 and from December 24 to January 7. Entry fee.
Born in 1890, Kawai Kanjiro became noted as a twentieth-century potter and a master of ceramic craftsmanship. His growing interest in traditional pottery led him in time to become one of the founders of the Japan Folk Craft Museum in Tokyo and to bring attention to traditional Japanese folk crafts. Living in Kyoto, the center of traditional craftsmanship, he established a kiln at the rear of his house. In 1937 his home was destroyed in a storm that caused serious damage in Kyoto, and in rebuilding his residence and work area he was inspired by traditional rural Japanese house architecture. Both his home and his studio can be visited today.
The entrance to the house has a hall which would have been the area in which a farmer kept his animals. Here Kanjiro hung one of his wooden sculptures, an art form he took up in his later years. Beyond the entry hall is the reception room with a Korean-style wooden floor and an open hearth. A calligraphic inscription on the rear wall translates as "Folk Craft Study Collection," and display shelves, which can be viewed from either side, hold some of his treasured folk collections. Beyond the reception room is the family dining area with a large table which could seat up to ten people. Under the table is a kotatsu, the traditional brazier used to provide warmth to those sitting at the table. An image of the Buddha carved by a seventeenth-century priest/folk artist sits upon the table.
A traditional staircase with drawers beneath the steps leads to the upper sleeping quarter with its wooden floor and ceiling. Adjacent to this is a small room with a tokonoma, and on its wall is a calligraphic riddle whose answer is "tea." Here Kanjiro and his friends could enjoy tea in a relaxed manner rather than with the formality called for by the traditional tea ceremony. The walls of this room, as with some of the other rooms, are decorated with the wooden masks that the artist began to make in his seventies.
Behind the rooms on the first floor a gravel path set off by bamboo plants leads to Kanjiro's workshop and "Smoking Room" where pieces of his ceramic ware are on display. Here are the potter's twin kick-wheel and the stepped noborigama kilns. These kilns were used by Kanjiro from 1919 until his death in 1966, and they continued to be in use by some of his followers until 1971 when new antipollution laws forced the closing of all wood-fired kilns in Kyoto. The Kawai Kanjiro House is a charming memorial to a famed potter, a house that illustrates the manner in which a prosperous artist tried to recapture the past in his daily life. It stands in sharp contrast to the golden images of the Sanjusangen-do or to the dreams of glory that Toyotomi Hideyoshi cherished.
On leaving the house, one can walk back (south) to the next street running east and west. A turn to the left (east) brings one to Higashi-oji-dori at the next corner. There a taxi or bus 18,202, 206, or 207 can be taken for a return to the center of the city or to other destinations as desired.
TO TRAVERSE the lanes between the temples and shrines of eastern Kyoto located near Gojo-dori and Shijo-dori is to stroll through the history of the city. The small Hokan-ji with its Yasaka Pagoda is one of the earliest temples in Kyoto, created even before Kyoto became the capital, a temple that retains the oldest extant pagoda in the city. The early middle ages in Kyoto are represented by the Chorakuji, an insignificant and little-visited hillside temple, but one that is connected with the tragic and romanticized story of the Taira empress who alone survived the battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185 and who here took the tonsure and spent the rest of her days as a nun praying for her lost child and family.
The nearby Higashi Otani Cemetery with its tomb to the priest Shinran, who suffered from persecution for his faith, is a sacred spot to diose millions who follow this great Buddhist religious reformer of the 1200s in the practice of the Jodo Shinshu faith. The close of the Japanese medieval period is also remembered by a site that again recalls the tempestuous relationship between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, for it contains the Kodai-ji nunnery where Hideyoshi's widow Yodogimi spent her all-too-brief years following his death.
The modern age is not ignored, for the Ryozen Historical Museum is a monument to the heady days of the mid-to late nineteenth century when the Tokugawa shogunate was losing power and the new Meiji era and modern Japan were being born. An aspect of the unhappy consequences of the militaristic spirit of that period is also marked by the gigantic concrete Kannon image which arose after World War II in memory of and expiation for the millions who died in the two decades of Japan's Greater East Asia folly.
Then, in even more recent years, the new Daiun-in, with its unusual pagoda in the shape of a huge Gion cart adding a new element to the skyline at the foot of the Higashiyama hills, further enriches the city with examples of Buddhist murals from the Chinese caves of Dun Huang. There is also a lighter side to this area of Kyoto. Along with its many ochaya (teahouses), in the area along the narrow streets between Higashi-oji-dori and Kitamon-mae-dori one may have the opportunity to savor the non-alcoholic delights of amazake,