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Hibachi, camellias, graveyards, bonsai, Kyoto gardens, librarian interview

Lush tsubaki camellia flower petal decorate the footpaths at Honen-in Temple, Kyoto.

Japan has entered full winter mode and staying warm has always been a challenge in houses with paper doors and serious floor drats and window drafts. Big European fireplaces just don't exist in Japan and for hundreds of years the in-house solution was hibachi charcoal braziers.

Hibachi used to be the center piece for many traditional Japanese rooms in winter until a few decades ago. Used mainly for warmth, they were also used to heat water for tea or sake warming, and also to heat or cheer people sitting nearby. Hibachis are either made of glazed clay (usually the height of a normal Japanese table, and decorated in pleasing ways), or of wood, lined with metal (generally fitted with little drawers for tobacco, eyeglasses, paper, and other things used by the head of the household).

Edo-period naga-hibachi, essentially a copper-lined, rectangular wooden chest, are probably the most prized hibachi style. They are still quite easy to find in antique shops. Naga-hibachi were often common to the front room of homes that doubled as shops. The place before the drawers was reserved for the father, since from this position he could receive guests or customers and have his necessary sundries at hand. (Smaller, more portable ceramic hibachis were generally used in other rooms.)

There are two naga-hibachi styles: 1) the daiwa-hibachi, which has a thick extended wooden lip around the top, common to the Kyoto-Osaka area; 2) The Edo-hibachi, with sides extending straight down, used in the Edo (Tokyo) region. Today, hibachis are popular among nearly everyone interested in Japanese antiques. The wooden one make handsome side tables, and the porcelain hibachis serve perfectly as planters for perhaps one of your bamboo plants. And in winter, well . . .

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Content by Ian Martin Ropke, owner of Your Japan Private Tours (est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with Japan private tour clients and have worked for all kinds of families, companies, and individuals since 1990. Clients find me mostly via organic search, and I advertise my custom Japan private tours & travel services on www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps in Japan! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip. And thank you for reading my content. I, Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search), am also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!

Tsubaki camellias Japan's winter passion flower

Camellia trees with their evergreen leaves can be found in Kyoto, in their natural state (yabutsubaki), cascading red flowers all around them from mid December to late March. They are also an extremely popular ornamental (a cross between the yabutsubaki and the yukitsubaki variety). Ornamental cultivation started in the Edo period (1600-1868), and over 200 hybrid varieties were on record by 1695, in colors ranging from white to pink and dark red.

The yabutsubaki grows to height of about 10 meters, and has very smooth gray-brown bark. The leaves are glossy, pointed at the end and alternate along the branch from side to side. The flowers are usually a rich red, with the petals tightly enfolded at the base. Sazanka (another common variety of camellia) is much like the yabutsubaki, except that the flowers are generally white in nature, though in ornamentals the blossoms are often red. Sazanaka leaves are also shiny and evergreen, but are elliptical with serrated edges. The petals are also more open and not tightly attached to each other at the base of the flower.

Camellia wood is very hard and since ancient times has been very popular for making tool handles. The oil, pressed from the tree’s round seeds, was widely used for cooking and as hair oil (still considered the finest natural oil).

In February and March tsubaki can be best seen in Kyoto at Manshu-in Temple, at Sanzen-in Temple in Ohara and at Honen-in Temple.

The best tsubaki (camellia) flowers near Tokyo are without any doubt those featured in the Izu Oshima Tsubaki Festival (Late January to late March; Izu Oshima island 120 km south of Tokyo; camellia-themed events, and a chance to see the elusive or rare yellow kinkacha camellia. The Tsubaki-hana Garden also on Izu Oshima island has more than 2,000 camellias (400 varieties) overlooking Mount Fuji in the distance.

If Izu Oshima island is just too far, not to worry. Just north of central Tokyo lies the massive green zone that is the 5-star Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo. There you can follow a path to a three-storied pagoda at the top of the hill. The hotel's extensive Edo Period garden landscapes, from January to March, overlook about 2,300 camellia trees of more than 100 types. And their high-value Tokyo Sea of Clouds and One Thousand Lights events are also unknown by foreign tourists. I strolled the gardens a guest a the former Four Seasons hotel before it changed ownership. I was staying in the hotel for free as a guest lecturer for Prudential Life Insurance's international board meeting in the late 1990s.

Japanese graveyards, between this world and the next

In China, the number 1 stands for heaven, 2 for the earth, and 3 for man. The Japanese borrowed this symbolic numerical system and its influence can still be seen in many things. Though the visitor may not have personal reasons for going to a Japanese graveyard this month, chances are that you will stumble across one in your explorations.

In Kyoto, with its many major temples of a wide range of sects, you will see more graveyards than anywhere else. Owing to the fact that Amida Buddhism and it off-shoots played such an important role in the religious development of the city, a great number of the largest cemeteries are located at the eastern edge of the city. Here they look out across the valley to the west, which is where Amida’s Western Paradise is said to lie.

Japanese graveyard symbolism is for the most part derived from ancient Chinese traditions. For example, many gravestones are divided into three sections. The top one represent heaven, the middle one man or woman, and the third one earth. If we think about this arrangement, then we can said that the living are caught somewhere between heaven and earth.

There are many superstitions regarding gravestones. A grave or a graveyard should never face east or north. As a matter of respect, new graves should never be larger than an earlier ancestor’s grave. A five-part stone tower called a gorinto should also be erected in the far west of the plot. The five levels represent the traditional Buddhist elements: earth, water, fire, wind, and sky. They also serve to remind people of the Buddha's five precepts against killing, stealing, boozing, lying, and committing adultery.

Bonsai: A way to cultivate patience

This month you will often see miniature azaleas on display in shop windows, hotel lobbies, and many other places. These, as well as pine, maple, plum, apple, and other kinds of potted dwarf trees, are known as bonsai. Trained and trimmed into beautiful shapes until they resemble small, exquisite landscapes.

In addition to an eye for beauty, the art of bonsai requires immense patience. As the plants grow, they have to be tended with great care and skill. Water, sunlight, fertilizer, and other factors affecting growth must all be precisely controlled. If properly cared for, bonsai can last for centuries, and the finest plants are passed down as family heirlooms.

Although bonsai originated in the Heian period (794-1185), they only became popular about two centuries ago, when Japan’s newly-emerged merchant class discovered it could indulge in luxuries that had once belonged exclusively to the aristocracy. Today, the appeal of bonsai continues to grow, both in Japan and abroad.

You’ll also be happy to know that most bonsai can be easily taken home, especially to the United States. But it’s always better to check first. Abandoning a bonsai at the airport can be most embarrassing and wasteful besides.

A short list of recommended gardens in Kyoto

The following gardens are not mentioned in many popular travel guides. In general, these gardens are much less crowded and just as interesting and beautiful as the super famous ones. Choose carefully and enjoy! If you are interested in learning more about Japanese gardens, go to YJPT's Japanese culture essays for Japan private tours page (at the bottom of the main navigation menu).

EAST—Shisen-do: Shisendo is one of Japan's earliest private gardens; in this case a high ranking samurai in the Tokugawa Edo regime who retired to Shisendo to pursue the way of the Chinese gentlemen; it has special water devices to scare the deer (who want to eat the garden!); NE Kyoto SW of Manshuin Temple; Tel: 781-2954. Shoren-in: an excellent garden with a small waterfall set over a pond filled with large stones; ･500; 9:00 - 17:00; south of Sanjo, on Jingu-michi (D-10, pg 12 map). Tel: 561-2345. Chishaku-in: this garden has a well-balanced arrangement of plants and stones (one of the most beautiful in Kyoto); ･350; 9:00 - 16:00; southeast of Shichijo, Higashioji (I-8, pg 12 map). Tel: 541-5361. Kanshu-ji: this borrowed-scenery garden has a wide park-like perspective; popular in spring and summer for irises, and lotus flowers; ･400; 9:00 - 16:00; west of Ono Stn. on the Tozai subway line (o-5, pg 7 map); Tel: 571-0048. Fumon-ji: known for its unique white sand and moss checker-board pattern; there is also an excellent garden in the main hall of the compound; ･400; 9:00 - 16:00; in the Tofuku-ji Temple compound near Tofuku-ji Stn (m-3, pg 7 map); Tel: 561-0087. Murin-an: one of Japan's best borrowed scenery gardens; ･350; 9:00- 16:30; south of the Kyoto International Community House (C/11, pg 12 map); Tel: 771-3909.

NORTH—Renge-ji: this stunning classic Zen garden was designed using both Buddhist and Taoist imagery; in NE Kyoto not far from the Shugakuin Imperial Villa; Tel: 781-3494. Myoman-ji: this exceptional dry landscape Zen garden offers killer winter views of Mt. Hiei. And in early summer Myomanji is dappled with red and white Indian lilacs; NE Kyoto; Tel: 791-7171. Zuiho-in: this classic Zen garden is considered to be the ultimate form of simplicity and elegance; a sub-temple of Daitoku-ji Temple in northern Kyoto; Tel: 491-1454. Genko-an: Genko-an is especially famous for it's 700-year-old circular window looking over an equally ancient Chinese Zen-style garden; north of Kinkaku-ji Temple or the Golden Pavilion; Tel: 492-1858.

WEST—Taizo-in: this famous dry landscape garden, strongly influenced by Chinese landscape paintings, also features a classical hide-and-reveal garden design technique; in Myoshin-ji Temple on the west side of Kyoto about 2 km NE of Arashiyama; Tel: 463-2855. Okochi Sanso Villa: this amazing 1920s Japanese garden, built by the "Charlie Chaplin of Japan" features panoramic views of the Arashiyama mountains and Kyoto city; located just west of the end of the Bamboo Forest path; Tel: 872-2233.

CENTRAL— Rozan-ji: a mystical garden composed of mossy islands that seem to flow over an ocean of clouds; on Teramachi, a little south of Imadegawa; Tel: 231-0355. Rokkaku-do: this ancient temple, said to be the exact center of the original city of Kyoto (Heiankyo), is located right downtown, and is like one big garden: quiet, soothing and full of surprises; you can look into the stillness from a big Starbucks on Karasuma Street and bordering the northern edges you will see swans and the center of the biggest Ikebana school in Japan (Ikenobo).

Interview with Kyoko Araki, KICH head librarian

I interviewed Mrs. Kyoko Araki, head librarian at the Kyoto International Community House (KICH), and a number of children in the 4th grade (10 years old; at the local Takakura Elementary School; during their lunch break) in the late 1999s at KICH. I was very good friends with Araki-san. And the Kyoto Cinema Club that I built and paid for in the early 1990s eventually became the property of KICH and Araki-san was the one who made it happen. The Kyoto Cinema Club consisted of roughly 350 VHS videos, nearly all foriegn films (but with English subtitles; my favorite or one of the best was Manon of the Spring with Yves Montand).

The interviews took place in May at the KICH. The interviews were themed around the tradition of children's day in Japan. Traditionally, girl's day, or doll's day is and continues to be celebrated on March 3rd, which is known as Hina Matsuri. Boy's day has traditionally been celebrated on May 5th, which has now become a national holiday (during Golden Week) known as Children's Day (kodomo no hi).

YJPT: Can you tell me something about your childhood?

Araki: I was six years old when the war ended, and for next seven or eight years, when my parents were bringing us up, their life was so hard. Just to feed us was a struggle. There were four of us, which wasn't so many. In those days, it wasn't uncommon to have six or seven children. My mother tried to celebrate Girl's Day, when we could, by displaying the dolls and so on. Most parents could not afford to celebrate in same gay, festival-like way of today.

I'm grateful to this date for the generation I was born into, because I find the education I received in elementary school and junior high and so on was quite liberal. The liberal attitudes of the early post-war era survived for many years in Kyoto, as compared to other cities. So I'm very happy that I was brought up and educated in Kyoto.

My father worked for a bank, and so we moved a number of times. When I was half-way through junior-high, we moved to Onomichi City in Hiroshima Prefecture. Six months after I moved, my class went on a school trip to Kyoto. I missed my old friends in Kyoto, and so I requested that I be allowed to have an evening off to see them. It was no problem. Today, this is almost unthinkable, and I am speaking from my long experience as a teacher, for a student to have that kind of freedom. This is just one example of what I mean by liberal. Right after the war everything was quite liberal. Today, when children go on a school trip, they are herded about almost like soldiers.

YJPT: Japan was moving in such a liberal direction after the war. Why did this not continue?

Araki: This kind of liberal attitude persisted until about the end of the 50s, by which time the Korean War had broken out and the US and international pressure decided that a liberal-oriented Japan was not what was needed in the Pacific military theater. As a result Japan was forced to set up a preparatory police force that eventually became the self-defense forces. And after that Japanese war era leaders, who hadn't been executed as war criminals, were brought back into power. Prime Minister Kishi, who was elected in this right swinging era, was a Class A war criminal.

YJPT: What are your feelings about this?

Araki: I spent one year as a AFS high-school exchange student in Baltimore in the US. I saw some problems in American society and the education system at this time. However, after finishing college in Kyoto and teaching high-school for four years, I entered Harvard on a Fullbright Scholarship and did a Masters degree in education. The year I went back to Harvard was 1965, which was the first year that the US bombed northern Vietnam. While I was there I was shocked to see a map of Asia in the New York Times, in which Japan was nearly surrounded by a giant chain of military bases stretched from eastern Russia and China all the way down the China Sea to Vietnam. After this I started to see Japan as the 51st state of the US. To me it is quite obvious that this right wing turn was very much the political intention of the American government vis a vis Japan at that time.

YJPT: How did you bring up your children?

Araki: In bringing up my children, my two sons, we tried to do as much as we could as parents. We lived in a fairly small house. But we bought two very big koinobori carp streamers for the boys. I and the boys loved them. Our tiny veranda almost flew away because of the wind pulling on these giant carp. And since I liked sweets very much, every year we would either make or buy kashiwamochi. We also gave birthdays a special meaning within the family. It is very important to have every child feel that he or she is important. I learned this from one of my junior-high homeroom teachers, who said that as a child even if you don't make good grades your existence is important.

YJPT: How do you feel about young people today?

Araki: When I encounter today's young people I feel that they are trained, not educated. They study with their eyes to the ground. Generally speaking, I feel that young people today lack motivation or initiative. Most young people I meet are affluent. They haven't experienced starvation. They can't imagine what it is like to have no water, no food, or to be sold by their family to be a prostitute, etc. Young people need to know or remember these things.

Young Voices: what the 10-year-olds had to say

The main symbols of Boy's Day are the kabuto helmet replica, and the colorful carp wind streamers (symbols of strength and endurance) that can be seen in traditional neighborhoods, especially in the countryside. At the Takakura Elementary School half of the boys said that they had koinobori, and about a third of the class said they had kabuto. Nowadays, most of the koinobori are small and hang in the entranceway or in the garden. And as the class response indicated, the tradition is still quite strong. Another common traditional element of Children's Day are special sweets made especially with children in mind. The most popular offering is called chimaki, a delightful little package of rice paste, wrapped in bamboo leaves (sasa). Another highly prized sweet is kashiwamochi, which consists of rice cakes with sweet bean paste inside all wrapped in an oak leaf.

Based on the replies in the interview, it seems that Children's Day is still celebrated and honored in most Japanese families.

YJPT: What is special for you about Children's Day?

• "Every year, our family goes on a little trip. Last year we went to the Safari Park. Even though my father is always too busy to do things with me, Children's Day is always special."

• "I am always happy on that day because there is no school. And I can do what I like all day. Mother doesn't even tell me to study!"

• "On Children's Day I always go and visit my grandfather and get to hang out with my cousins."

• "My family visits a temple and prays for our good fortune, safety and health."

• "I have to go to the juku (cram school) even on Children's Day, which isn't very much fun at all."

YJPT: What are some things that you don't like?

• "Exams!!!"

• "Homework"

• "Studying"

• "Bullying"

• "Different attitudes from teacher towards boys and girls"

YJPT: Do you have anything you want to say to your parents?

• "You scold us too much!! Sometimes I can't understand what I did wrong."

• "Increase my allowance. I want to buy more games!!"

• "Thank you for taking care of me"

Content by Japan travel specialist & designer Ian Martin Ropke, founder & owner of Your Japan Private Tours (YJPT, est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with all of YJPT's Japan private tour clients and have a great team behind me. I promote YJPT through this content and only advertise at www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip to save time & have a better time. Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search) is also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!