From Kyoto 6/4/10
Just about to leave Kyoto where I have had the opportunity to visit shrines, temples and gardens. Memorable places – Ginkakuji Temple where I first saw a raked gravel garden. The gardens are about space; the traditional elements of a Zen garden are rocks placed in very special relationships to each other, patterned and raked gravel, moss, low pine trees, maples, bamboo and cherry blossom. The most tranquil and sublime garden I experienced was the rock garden at the Ryoanji temple. These exquisite ancient places are tucked around the edges of the city close to the hills; some are in the middle of the city between some reckless messy building developments, where colonies of herons survive quite happily. It is Sakora - cherry blossom time – which means that not much theatre and dance is going on, as it is a holiday and everyone is worshipping the cherry blossom. I did go and see the Miyako Odori – the trainee Geishas dancing in Gion where Geishas still exist, and famous for the novel Memoirs of a Geisha. The dancing is ‘perfect’ still and exact like NOH – which seems to influence all the performing arts. They are doll like and yet each is individual. The dances are based on simple themes, the dance I saw was based on the seasons; beautiful effective sets revealing the landscapes of spring, summer, autumn, winter peeled back like Japanese screens but also reminding one of English panto. The movements are totally set and are never extended – they are always held in somewhere. Their gestures are a kind of precise and elegant indicating often very directional (seasons) N, S, E, W, with a lot of pointing index fingers. The work with the Kimono and the fans is very skilled, and interesting that the back as well as the front of the costumes are displayed (unlike ballet). The hands are very indicative of the process of the work – they are very precise and often flat with the appearance of being extended, but always slightly contracted and arched. The feet in white tabi socks are precise but seem quite relaxed (or is it that they have their wooden shoes off); the girls glide smoothly flat footed across the space on slightly bent legs; I don’t think there is any rising onto the ball of the foot – although raising the heel is a feature. The fans are placed on the body at different angles on both the front and back of the body and also around the head framing it. Their faces are totally mask like and yet of course, as in any chorus line, one looks for difference and vulnerability. It is a young women’s art form, and yet intriguingly there were some older woman playing lead roles who were powerful and were able to work the form more artistically. The feet are silent, like slippers and yet central to the dance form, like NoH, there is strong quite fierce stamping. © Jacky Lansley