Acknowledgements
I had a great deal of help the whole way in making this book. My thanks first to the Japanese people who gave so generously of their time and knowledge while I engaged in my perpetual scouting missions across Kansai in order to research the subjects included in this book. My various forays into Japan’s religious traditions actually date back two decades. Eiheiji, Koyasan, Tsubaki Grand Shrine, Hagurosan, are just a few of the places where I spent time in retreats of varying duration. Each one has added a rich dimension to my life for which I am deeply grateful.
I would like to extend my thanks to The Daily Yomiuri (The Japan News), for whom I worked as a columnist writing “Kansai Culturescapes” from my base in Kyoto from 2011-2012, and for their permission to include those essays among the new ones in the present collection. I am especially indebted to my chief editors Yumiko Miyai and Kakuya Ishida. Thank you also, Mr. Yoshihiro Kaida of the Kyoto International Cultural Association, for permission to reprint the essay “Gratitude.” It’s the welcome mat of the whole collection.
My esteem for Tuttle Publishing remains as strong as ever for their enduring dedication to making Japan better known to the world. I am thankful to my masterful editor, Terri Jadick, for shepherding this book to the finish in a timely and thorough manner. In the U.S., I enjoyed my affiliation with the East Asian Studies Program at the Johns Hopkins University. Program Director, Joel Andreas, welcomed me on board and granted me access to the excellent libraries and participation in seminars.
A hearty thanks to others, mostly in Japan—to Christopher Fryman for his generosity and liaising expertise, and to all the contributing photographers: John Einarsen, Hiroshi Mimura, Moho, Kazuhiko Susukida, Daniel Peralta, and to Ittoen for allowing me to reprint one of their photos, and to Nariko Yamashita of TOTO Ltd. who granted me to use of photos from the company’s collection. Thanks also to Yu Tsukinaga who allowed her lovely watercolor to be reproduced here.
I remain grateful for the strong support and early influence of Takie Sugiyama Lebra,. To Donald Richie and Donald Keene—the “grandfathers” of Japanese studies whose inspiration embraced a whole generation—thank you both for being such superb models.
This book would not exist at all were it not for two other people. Therefore, I dedicate this book to my mother and father for their sustained belief in me. My gratitude for their support is incalculable.
Introduction
West of the Toll Gate
Japan is exceedingly mountainous, and long from north to south, and for most of its history has been defined more by region than by nation. A quick look at a nautical map heightens the impression that aside from the four main islands the Japanese archipelago is actually made up of more than three thousand smaller islands with over half the landmass covered by forests. Besides these natural barriers of sea and mountain, for much of the country’s history poor transportation also hindered communication among the various regions. Over time, this insularity fostered a robust regional diversity that remains a vibrant feature of the country even today.
Though Japan has eight regions, this collection of short essays is about only one of them—Kansai—located in the southern-central part of Honshu, Japan’s big middle island. Within this expanse lie seven prefectures equivalent to states or provinces: Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Hyogo, Shiga, Wakayama, and Mie (1). Roughly nineteen percent of the country’s 127,000 inhabitants reside here. During spring and fall, the numbers swell temporarily as Japanese from all over the country descend on the region to witness the ritual of falling cherry blossoms or the warm spectrum of autumn colors and reconnect to a collective cultural reservoir. After all, Kansai is immensely attractive for its historical depth and because it is the font of much of what is considered quintessentially Japanese by people both inside and outside the country—the tea ceremony, the art of flower arrangement, the performing arts of kabuki, noh, and joruri puppet theater, traditional cuisine, prominent literary works such as The Pillow Book and The Tale of Genji (both written by women), shrine and temple architecture, ancient pilgrimage routes, and the hub of an astonishing variety of Buddhism.
The ancient capitals of Japan—Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto—are all cities that are located in the heartland of Kansai (also called Kinki). In terms of early exchanges with Asia, the Seto Inland Sea, a waterway that separates Honshu from Shikoku island, has served as the great gateway to Japan where ideas and material objects spread from the port of Naniwazu (Osaka) throughout Kansai. From this region, influences radiated outward leaving no part of the country untouched. Nara, the country’s first permanent capital, is also home to the world’s oldest wooden structure—Horyuji temple—a fitting tribute to the city (where deer roam freely) that marked the last stop in the easternmost route of the Silk Road.
The term “Kansai” first emerged during the Heian period (794-1185) as a practical way to distinguish the political and cultural center of the country at that time—basically Nara and Kyoto— from the increasing development of the territory around Japan’s largest plain located in eastern Honshu—the Kanto. Kansai means “west of the tollgate,” and referred to lands in the western central part of Honshu. The tollgate in its name denotes one of the ancient border stations established as early as the 10th century. On the other side of the check point at Otsu in Shiga prefecture lay the region of Kanto meaning “east of the tollgate.” Although the seat of political and economic power has shifted multiple times throughout Japan’s history, Kanto and Kansai have come to represent two distinct cultural and linguistic areas today. In a country where regionalism remains strong, the two stand as shorthand for an internal east-west divide roughly translated as Tokyo and Osaka—the two main economic powerhouses of the nation and the most populous metropolises of Japan.
The characterization of the two regions as much more than geographical entities began to develop in earnest during the Kamakura period (1185-1333) with the burgeoning of a samurai class that spread throughout the center of Honshu in a bid for supremacy. Warriors of the two most powerful clans—the Minamoto and the Taira—struggled and ultimately the Minanmoto gained ascendancy, a victory that precipitated the emperor with the Taira to flee back to western Japan. By 1192, the Minamoto clan’s victory