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Mar 20, 2022 13 tweets 19 min read Read on X
🌤️🌸SPRING EQUINOX🐣🐇

Happy 'Shunbun-no-hi' (春分の日)🥳🌞

a straight line
all the way to Kyōto...
umbrella-hatted blossom viewers
京迄は一筋道ぞ花見笠
-Issa (小林一茶), 1822.
Transl. David G. Lanoue.

'Vernal Equinox Day' has been a national holiday since 1948.
#Kyoto #Japan
Originally the spring equinox was taken up by a Shintō festival called 'Shunki kōrei-sai' (春季皇霊祭), created in 1878 and centered around imperial ancestor worship. In 1948 this was repackaged as a day for admiring nature and all living things.
#Kyoto #Japan #Nara #sakura #桜
In the past 'Higan-no-Nakaba' (彼岸の半ば 'Middle of the Equinoctial Week') was a time for visiting graves to honour ancestors. It was also a time for spring cleaning and for making important changes (such as beginning a new hobby or finishing an important project).
#Kyoto #Japan
'Heat and Cold last until Higan'
暑さ寒さも彼岸まで

Simply put 'shunbun' (春分) means 'spring division', indicating that hours of light and dark are balanced. As the (above) saying goes, the cold grip of winter should now fade to a slight chill.

#春分の日 #springequinox #Kyoto
As it was a warm day Nao-san's grandmother suggested eating the first Kuzukiri (くずきり) of the year, and Kagizen Yoshifusa (鍵善良房) happens to be particularly well-known for their Kuzukiri.

➡️kagizen.co.jp
#春分の日 #springequinox #Kyoto #京都 #kuzukiri #くずきり
Originating in Kyōto, 'kuzukiri' (くずきり) is a dish of noodles made from starch-rich kudzu root. Enjoyed in the hot summer months, kuzukiri is typically served cold with a brown-sugar syrup.
Kudzu has long been considered to have medicinal properties, helping with circulation.
After an absence of 2 years the Miyako Odori (都をどり), the most well-known of the hanamachi spring dances, will return on April 1st (until April 24th).

In anticipation Kagizen Yoshifusa (鍵善良房) have an adorable window display🥰
#鍵善良房 #Kyoto #京都 #MiyakoOdori #都をどり
In Buddhism the equinox is known as 'Higan' (彼岸). Higan translates as 'Other Shore', a reference to the far shore of the 'Sanzu-no-kawa' (三途の川 'River of the 3 Crossings'). Similar to the River Styx in Greek Mythology, the dead would cross the river to reach the afterlife.
Complementing Higan (彼岸) is 'Shigan' (此岸), meaning the 'Near Shore'. Higan is the Pure Land (the World of Buddha), whereas Shigan is our world (the World of the Living). At equinox day and night are of equal length, and thus the world is in perfect balance.
#Higan #Kyoto
Oimatsu's (老松) wispy 'nanohana' (菜の花) celebrate the rapeseed blossoms now brightening fields and riverbanks across the country.

Here's a thread all about these cheerful flowers (bane of hay fever suffers everywhere)🧵⬇️

#Japan #菜の花 #rapeseed
Week-long services called Higan-e (彼岸会) are held at temples. It's usual for people first to listen to sermons and then visit family graves.
Whereas 'Spring Higan' (春彼岸) typically shows gratitude for all living things, 'Autumn Higan' (秋彼岸) gives thanks to the dead.
#京都
Something a little different for teatime...matcha-flavored castella (カステラ) from @6chikiriya1910😋

Chikiri-ya (六角ちきりや茶舗) provides the matcha for all our tea ceremonies, monthly subscriptions and our online store🌿🍵🍰🙌
#matcha #抹茶 #カステラ #castella #Japan
It's thought that Higan (彼岸) began in the reign of Emperor Shōmu (聖武天皇 701-56). As the main work of harvesting crops drew to a close, people had more time to themselves. Buddhist sects encouraged self-reflection & held sermons to help people reconnect with Buddha.
#Kyoto

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More from @camelliakyoto

May 28
🔔🪨😭THE GREAT BUDDHA'S WONDERS🐂💢👂

Kyōto was once home to the greatest statue of Buddha in all Japan.
4m taller than Tōdai-ji's Daibutsu, the statue stood in an immense hall in precincts now taken up by Toyokuni-jinja and Hōkō-ji (remnant of the original Buddha's home).


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The great hall and last (vastly smaller) incarnation of Kyōto's Daibutsu are sadly lost, but within the neighbourhood (where once the temple precincts sprawled) are a series of wonders.
They include a great bell that brought down a ruling clan, an exploding cow, & a tomb of ears.


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1) THE CHIMES OF DOOM🔔

Having seized control of the country after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu calmly waited for an excuse to destroy the rival Toyotomi clan.
His chance came with the forging of a new bell and an inscription that could be read as a threat.


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Read 24 tweets
Aug 21, 2023
🙊THE MONKEY'S SLIDE🛝
At first glance the teahouse garden appears to be made up of mostly moss, pine & camellia...but if you look more closely the borders are packed thick with dozens of varieties of plants.
One of the most beautiful at this time of year is the "Monkey's Slide".


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More commonly known as crape myrtle (百日紅), older generations in Japan fondly call the tree 'saru suberi' (サルスベリ the "monkey's slide").
The bark of the tree is so smooth that even monkeys struggle to get a foothold!

#Kyoto #京都 #Japan #百日紅 #サルスベリ #IwataMonkeyPark


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Crape (also crepe) myrtle gets its name from the appearance of its flowers, which look very much like crepe paper.
Blooming from mid-summer through to autumn, the flowers (commonly bright pink) are also known in Japan as 'hyakujitsukō' (百日紅 'red for 100 days').

#Japan #百日紅


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Read 6 tweets
Jun 19, 2023
🎨A MODERN TOUCH🖌️

One of the Shōren-in's (青蓮院) most striking features greets you as you enter the drawing room...a series of bold coloured lotuses, blooming across 60 panels.
Begun in 2005, the work was created by the artist 'Ki-yan' (キーヤン/Kimura Hideki 木村英輝).
#Japan ImageImageImageImage
When visiting Shōren-in, Kimura was suddenly inspired to fill the drawing room's plain fusuma with colour.

It took him two years to complete the 3 sets of lotus paintings (蓮三部作)...
🪷"Blue Illusion" (青の幻想)
🪷"Amitabha's Pure Land" (極楽浄土)
🪷"Hymn of Life" (生命賛歌) ImageImageImageImage
Why all the blue lotuses?🤔

Shōren-in was originally constructed atop Mt Hiei as a lodging facility for monks serving at Enryaku-ji.

Shōren-bō was named after a nearby pond in which blue lotus flowers bloomed ('shōrenge'). Many famous monks, such as Saichō & Ennin, lived here. twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
Read 8 tweets
May 11, 2023
🚪😱HAUNTED GATES & DANCING CATS😼👻

It's been a while since I've done a #folklorethursday, so here's some local, rather less well-known tales.

Demizu was once home to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's lavish palace 'Jurakudai' (聚樂第), and the area has many strange wonders.
#Kyoto #京都 ImageImageImageImage
Kannon-ji's 'Gate of 100 Lashings' (観音寺 百叩きの門) belonged originally to the prison at Fushimi Castle (伏見城). When the castle was dismantled the doorway was gifted to the temple🏯🚪🩸😰👋

The gate is just 1 of the '7 Wonders of Demizu' (出水の七不思議).
#Kyoto #京都 #出水 ImageImageImageImage
Before prisoners were set free they underwent a final punishment at the prison gate...a warning to stay on the straight & narrow.
They were lashed 100 times with a piece of split bamboo across the back. It was agonizing, & sometimes deadly!

Image thanks🙇‍♂️-bakumatsuya.com ImageImageImageImage
Read 23 tweets
May 10, 2023
'May Sickness' (五月病 'gogatsu-byō') is a term for a seasonal disorder that strikes just as Golden Week comes to an end.
After the flurry of changes that take place each April, it may seem like May should be smooth sailing, but returning to work/school after the break is tough. ImageImageImageImage
It may seem like a small thing, but sweets absolutely help lift a gloomy mood...

🌫️🌩️☁️😶‍🌫️🌥️🌤️🌞

Kameya Yoshinaga (亀屋良長) has done the impossible and perfectly captured the blue skies & cotton puff clouds of May in sweet form☺️

The wonderful 'hikōki-gumo' (ひこうき雲)✨ ImageImageImageImage
While 'May Blues' doesn't sound particularly serious, in some cases it can lead to depression, anxiety & insomnia.
In April the new school/work year begins, and there's a feeling that Golden Week only helps exacerbate feelings of disorientation, mental exhaustion, & apprehension. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Read 4 tweets
Apr 20, 2023
Astonishingly the temperature will soar close to 30 degrees today...the hottest day of the year so far😓

As this heat is a little unexpected we swooped on Ishidatami (石畳) for their famous matcha soft serve (抹茶ソフトクリーム). Fresh matcha is kneaded into the ice-cream🍵🍨🙌 ImageImageImageImage
Fresh matcha as an ingredient in cooking and baking tends to lose its flavour quickly, and so Ishidatami doesn't serve ice-cream older than 3 hours, preferring instead to make new batches throughout the day😮

#Kyoto #京都 #matcha #抹茶 #icecream #Ninenzaka #二年坂 ImageImageImageImage
Another favourite (though much pricier) way to cool down is with Oimatsu's (老松) cheerful 'natsukan-tō' (夏柑糖 'sugared Chinese citron')🍊🥰

#Kyoto #京都 #夏柑糖 #老松 #oimatsu #Japan #citron #chinesecitron #orange
Read 4 tweets

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