AN ANCIENT TRADITION FOR THE MODERN WORLD

 My first trip to Japan was as a Japan/Fulbright scholar.  I think it was one of my former students, Matthew Mori, who first alerted me to a common blunder made by fist time travelers in Japan.  

He said: "Don't get in the tub to soap down or wash your hair." The bath is not for washing, but for soaking in fresh clean hot water. Washing and scrubbing belong outside the tub. Traditional Japanese bathing is a ritual handed down over many centuries; the perfect moment of tranquility.

WHAT I LEARNED:  1. When staying in a traditional Japanese home, in the bathroom, you will find an stool, hand shower wand on a flex hose and an extra drain outside the tub.  See photo left.  Japanese people, sit on the stool, scrub down, wash their hair and rinse down outside the tub. Hence the extra drain outside the tub. Any splashed water in the bathroom drains away. Once clean, then it is appropriate to soak in the tub.

 Photo credit:  https://resources.realestate.co.jp/living/japanese-apartment-bathrooms-explained/

2. I've come to admire the Japanese in many ways, but at the top of the list is just how good they are as a nation in reducing carbon emissions. 

 

Source credit:  https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/japan

 

Take a look at this graph comparing the United States with Japan.  In country two of the many ways this is visible:  1. when you're in a traditional Japanese home, you'll notice that the whole house is not heated. Instead of wasting heat, it is common to find the family enjoying meals under a heated Kotatsu table (see below). I found it so charming to see families eating together in such a cozy manner, I was inspired to do the same when I came home.      2. the frequency air drying laundry is seen on the balconies of apartment buildings and in the drying racks inside Japanese homes. They consume less energy by air drying their laundry. There are many other examples, but perhaps for another time.

 

 

Photo credit: https://japanobjects.com/features/kotatsu

 

 

The Greeks on the other hand: TIME

 The Ancient Greeks had two words for time: the time we can measure, linear, and the time we experience within that expands and contracts, some call it soul time. 

Chronos which we've already spoken of and

Kairos...

Kairos The opportune moment. 

It is one of two words that the ancient Greeks had for 'time'; the other being chronos (χρόνος). Whereas the latter refers to chronological or sequential time, kairos signifies a proper or opportune time for action.^{[citation needed]} In this sense, while chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative, permanent nature.^[2]   

Some attribute to Einstein this quote, it's not, but that's not the point: 

“When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity.”  ... and that describes kairos. 

In the literature of the classical period, writers and orators used kairos to specify moments when the opportune action was made, often through metaphors involving archery and one's ability to aim and fire at the exact right time on-target. For example, in The Suppliants, a drama written by Euripides, Adrastus describes the ability to influence and change another person's mind by "aiming their bow beyond the kairos." Kairos in general was formulated as a tool to explain and understand the interposition of humans for their actions and the due consequences.^[5]

Kairos is also an alternate spelling of the minor Greek deity Caerus, the god of luck and opportunity.^{[6]  --Wikipedia} 

Kairos through the eyes of Francesco Salviati in a 16th-century fresco

In Hippocrates' (460–357 BCE) major theoretical treatises on the nature of medical science and methodology, the term kairos is used within the first line. Hippocrates is generally accepted as the father of medicine, but his contribution to the discourse of science is less discussed. While "kairos" most often refers to "the right time," Hippocrates also used the term when referencing experimentation. Using this term allowed him to "express the variable components of medical practice more accurately." Here the word refers more to proportion, the mean, and the implicit sense of right measure.

Hippocrates most famous quote about kairos is "every kairos is a chronos, but not every chronos is a kairos."^[22]

So What Is It About Zen Buddhism?

 Click HERE Japanese Zen Buddhism

Zen is a way of living rather than a religion. It is not dualistic.

From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

The most distinguishing feature of this school of the Buddha-Way is... that wisdom, accompanied by compassion, is expressed in the everyday lifeworld when associating with one’s self, other people, and nature.

"...the Zen practitioner can celebrate, with stillness of mind, a life directed toward the concrete thing-events of everyday life and nature.” 

 "Generally speaking, Zen cherishes simplicity and straightforwardness in grasping reality and acting on it “here and now,” for it believes that a thing-event that is immediately presencingbefore one’s eyes or under one’s foot is no other than an expression of suchness. In other words the thing-event is disclosing its primordial mode of being such that it is as it is. It also understands a specificity of the thing-event to be a recapitulation of the whole; parts and the whole are to be lived in an inseparable relationship through an exercise of nondiscriminatory wisdom, without prioritizing the visible over the invisible, the explicit over the implicit, or vice versa.

As such, Zen maintains a stance of “not one” and “not two,” that is “a positionless position,” where “not two” means negating the dualistic stance that divides the whole into two parts, while “not one” means negating the nondualistic stance occurring when the Zen practitioner dwells in the whole as one, while suspending judgment in meditation. The free, bilateral movement between “not one” and “not two” characterizes Zen’s achievement of a personhood with a third perspective that cannot, however, be confined to either dualism or non-dualism, neither “not one” nor “not two”.

It's taken me all these years to realize, that all I know about Zen Buddhism, I learned from my mother. She was 98% Japanese, I know that because my DNA is 49% Japanese. But that's not the point. The point is that she taught me about Zen without ever mentioning the word. Without lectures, dogma, or readings. She lived a life of Zen, and that's how I learned everything I know about Buddhism.

Japan: the land of peerless craftsmanship

We're visiting Japan in the fall of 2023. You are invited to join us. 

Scroll down for the growing itinerary for our trip.

ITINERARY OPTIONS

1. There is no better way to explore Japan than starting with a homestay in Asuka. (Details coming soon.)

2. Nara 

Click HERE FOR SUMIE (JAPANESE INK) AND THE ART OF CALLIGRAPHY

and Akiko's Yamato Tours, she is my first friend in Japan who has since become a certified guide. She's the only guide I recommend, her knowledge of Japanese culture and history is vast.

3. Kyoto: Heian Shrine Gardens where I proposed to Patricia.

4. Gassan Sadatoshi's Studio where he crafts 'Emperor Quality' Samurai swords. His father is a Japanese National Treasure.

5. Ninja School

6.

7.

8.

9.

10. Nousaku Japanese Tea Sets and Takaoka City

10. Takaoka City, home to 400 year old casting techniques.

The land of peerless craftmanship.

Click HERE to cast your own creation in the NOUSAKU workshop. 

Click HERE for a  factory tour.

WHICH WHETSTONES FOR JAPANESE SWORDS AND KNIVES

IN THE OLD CAPITAL

Akiko takes us to the Nara Couples Shrine and then up to 

Kikuicho Monju Shiro Kanenaga where we buy a beautiful

Japanese knife made in the Samurai Sword Style.

 

The legacy of Shiro Kanenaga, our illustrious ancestor, is represented in our company’s full name: “Kikuichi-Monju-Shiro-Kanenaga.” Kikuichi means “first chrysanthemum,” and Monju the Buddha that Shiro Kanenaga worshipped in his Hometown of Nara.

Over 700 years ago the Emperor Gotoba authorized Shiro Kanenaga to be one of his swordsmiths. When the Samurai era was brought to a close in 1868 the Kanenaga family pivoted from samurai swords to cutlery. Their history of sword making can be seen in the fine "wood grain" of their cutlery, a sign that the steel was forged and folded repeatedly.

We use it every day, it is the best kitchen knife we have ever owned. But now, after 3 years, it's time for an expert sharpening.

"The best knifes bring joy to the food being sliced.

They cut effortlessly."

--Sakashita Katsumi: Master Knife Sharpener

Click HERE for Katsumi's Story on video.

2000 GRIT WHETSTONES

BORO & SASHIKO BY PATRICIA VINING

From the Japanese word Boroboro, which literally means "tattered, repaired," combining layers and bits of old cloth to patch and mend antique garments. Historically, cloth was so treasured that  garments were repaired many times across many generations. Boro was a domestic craft during the Edo era (1615-1868) and the products are regarded as works of art.

 

"...the act of mending much treasured clothes goes well beyond repairing the physical cloth. By making the space and time we also mend our psychological wellbeing and this process can also physically recharge us. The act of mending provides time for contemplation and a moment to connect with the material object. And investing our precious time means we treasure and appreciate our garments." --Kate Ward

photo credit: Upcycle Stitches

Wait for it!  Wait for it!!!  Patricia is working on her very own Boro and Sashiko summer project!  Check back soon!

Each kimono tells a story, who wore this antique work garment? What was their life like?

KINTSUGI: COMING BACK AFTER BEING BROKEN

"POTTERY THAT'S BEEN BROKEN AND

PUT BACK TOGETHER WITH GOLD, AND CELEBRATING THE BROKEN PLACES."

photo credit: BBC Reel: The Japanese Are of fixing broken pottery.

The Japanese embrace what others see as imperfect to make the best of their experiences rather that dwelling on how things might have been.

photo credit:  https://www.patisjourneywithin.com/wabi-sabi-kintsugi-art-of-life/

click HERE for The Art Of Precious Scars.

5 Lessons from Kintsugi, 

the Art of Embracing Brokenness

Click HERE for the psychology of KINTSUGI