Chinese New Year, Kyoto and Shiga museums, Japan's top doll maker
Today, January 29, 2025, is the start of the Chinese New Year. This year is the Year of the Snake (hebi in Japanese). Last year was the Year of the Dragon.
Japan followed the Lunar Calendar until 1873, which was at the start of the highly Westernized Meiji period. In 1873, Japanese society switched to the Western Gregorian Calendar and January 1st became the first day of the New Year. Previously, the start of the Japanese New Year was the same as the Chinese New Year. And that's not all!
Do you know why the 12 animals occur in the following order? Few foreign travelers who go to China or Japan know this story. The order goes like this: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit (often cat or neko in Japan), dragon, snake, horse, goat (often sheep or hitsuji in Japan), monkey, rooster, dog and pig (often wild boar or inoshishi in Japan). The cycle repeats itself in the same order every 12 years and the total cycle for any individual is 60 years or 5 cycles of 12. Each of the 5 cycles has a different element.
The five Chinese element are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Each of these elements symbolize different personality traits and energetic flows. Each element has unique strengths or values. Wood = ambition. Fire = charisma. Earth = stability. Metal = precision. Water = adaptability.
The reader will likely wonder what the story is behind the order of the 12 animals. In fact, the story of the animals and the order they occur in has to do with the death of Gautama Buddha (the first Buddha; India; which also "proves" that Buddhism branched out from Hinduism).
The "Siddhartha" or first Buddha was born and died in India. At a ripe old age the enlightened Gautama Buddha lay done and prepared for his own death. Word spread quickly and the animals, the 12 animals, decided to "race" to the Buddha to say goodbye before he passed.
The rat, being clever, jumped on the cow's back, and saved his energy for the final sprint to the Buddha. So, the rat comes first and the cow second. Some say the wild boar (or pig) arrived last because they are so erratic in character. They zig zag forward and sometimes even go backwards. So, the pig-boar was the last to get to the Buddha!
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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!
"Unknown" Kyoto & Shiga museums worth checking out!
Japan and the Japanese people love art and also museums. Every country and culture's museums are a reflection of that society's important cultural values and beliefs. Here are a few museums in Kyoto and Shiga that most tourists miss or don't even know about. Learn more!
The Kyoto Roads Museum: If you find yourself near Kyoto Station on a cold winter day and you are looking for something interesting to do, consider the attractions of The Kyoto Roads Museum. It is free! Roads may not seem interesting but if you think about it you will realize that in cities nearly everything outdoor happens on a road. Passing through the entrance to the museum the visitor will immediately notice two stunning folding screens—Rakuchu Rakugai-zu, Uesugi Version—depicting street and neighborhood overviews of Kyoto in classical times. Both of these screens are reproductions of National Treasures probably painted by Kano Eitoku (1543-1590). The original screens are in the Yonezawa City Museum in Yamagata Prefecture, near the north end of Honshu island. What makes these screens wonderful is the amount of detail they show of daily life along Kyoto’s streets and roads in the 16th century. In total, these screens show the daily “street life” of 2485 people in each of Kyoto’s four seasons. All of Kyoto’s largest temples and shrines are also neatly labeled (in Japanese only) on each screen. Using computers in the museum, the visitor can learn more about the details shown in these screens (in Japanese only). On the floor of the museum, there is a map of Kyoto and the roads of Kyoto from 50 years ago. For the really big picture you can follow detailed color drawings and other exhibition materials through 1,200 years of Kyoto road history.
Located a 5-min-walk west of JR Kyoto Station. Open: 9:00-17:00. Tel: 351-3300 (Kyoto National Highway Office).
Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts: For more than 1200 years Kyoto has been the center of traditional Japanese culture, arts and crafts. The Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts (Fureaikan) is an excellent place to go to learn about Kyoto crafts from any perspective. The museum has displays ranging from Kyoto lacquer ware, kimonos, pottery and garden crafts to unusual things like bamboo fishing rods, yumi (Japanese bows), ya (arrows), and warosoku (Japanese candles). For the newcomer, the museum is an effective, easy way to learn all about Japanese crafts (many of the displays, etc. are in English). In addition to the crafts on display, the museum also features a library, useful information and video systems, a craft shop and an experience corner where the visitor can make a T-shirt or a coaster with yuzen dye techniques (this is not free; please enquire). The museum gallery often hosts important craft exhibitions. Experience the world of Kyoto crafts: visit the Fureaikan.
Located on Nijo, east of Higashi-oji. Open: 9:00-17:00, Free. Tel: 762-2670.
Kyo Machiya Bunka-kan: Just across the street from a classic, old Japanese oil shop stands the Machiya Bunka-kan (Machiya Culture Center), one of those rare machiya townhouses that has hardly changed since the day it was built nearly 90 years ago. The assistant director of the Machiya Bunka-kan, Emiko Yamanaka, has written a number of books about Kyoto and speaks English very well. The daughter of the oil business across the street, she decided to turn the house into a culture center dedicated to machiya townhouses when the former inhabitant moved. She knows everything about the house and is happy to explain townhouse details to visitors. Visitors can also experience the inside of 200-year-old oil shop. The shop is exceptional example of traditional Kyoto living which beautifully combine living and working space. The oil shop has a large garden and a big waterwheel that still works. Next door stands a kura storehouse. Both of these places are well worth experiencing.
Located on Shimodachiuri dori, east of Sembon-dori. Open: Monday & Friday, 13:30-14:30 Reservations required (Entry: Yen 800, which includes Japanese tea and a wagashi sweet). Tel: 841-8537.
The Miho Museum: The Miho Museum is all about beauty and the masterpieces of art that civilizations around the world have created to convey beauty. From the beginning, the owners of this special museum envisioned something that would stand as “a symbol of heaven on earth.” The design of this symbolic structure was entrusted to one of America’s most famous architects, I.M. Pei, who chose to embed most of the building unobtrusively into the mountain-side. The result is a splendid facility that seems to be part of nature and yet also perfectly express the powers of creativity and beauty. The collection, inspired by the “need to cultivate the idea of beauty in people”, contains works collected over more than 40-years and includes a rare collection of Japanese, Egypt, Central Asia, Greece, Rome, the Middle and Near East, China, and elsewhere. For lovers of Japanese art, the visitor will find an entire half of the museum devoted to tea ceremony arts. In addition to the exhibitions areas, the museum has an excellent restaurant, coffee shop, gift shops, a video screening room, and a lecture hall. Experience the world of beauty—experience the Miho Museum.
Located in the south of Shiga Prefecture, roughly an hour from Kyoto Station by train and bus; https://www.miho.jp/en/ .
Misora Hibari Memorial Hall: Misora Hibari (1937-89) is undoubtedly the most gifted and spirited and talented singer and star that Japan has ever produced. Like all stars of this almost goddess like level (Elvis Presley, Edith Piaff, and others), Misora Hibari’s performances touched the heart of millions. She devoted her life to creating special songs that had a deep and lasting effect on Japanese society. She was, in a way, a bridge that exquisitely connected the traditional ways of Japan and the modern. Misora Hibari started very early. She began working on the stage, acting and singing in plays from the age of 6. At age nine she already had a stage name (not Misora Hibari). She made her film debut at age 12! And by the time she was 17, she was already a performer on the NHK’s annual New Year entertainment special. In 1958, when she was 21, she started her own production company. Her first record came out in 1961 and quickly sold five million copies. The next year, she was awarded her own television show: “The Misora Hibari Gekijo Theatre”. In 1965, she won Japan’s 7th annual Recording Industry Prize for her touching song, “Yawara”. At the Misora Hibari Memorial Hall, you can experience this unique singer as if she were still alive. She even sang some of her songs in English.
Located in the Arashiyama district, just south of the Bamboo Forest.
Raku Museum: Raku-yaki, or Raku ware, is synonymous with exquisite tea ceremony utensils. As they are called 'utensils', they are of course tools you use. If you don't know much about tea ceremony, you might wonder what makes something that is a utensil so special. With Raku ware it is partly the fact that these tea ceremony tools are created with skills inherited over 400 years, from 15 generations. Chojiro Raku, the founder of the Raku tradition was an intimate friend of Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591), the tea master who pioneered wabicha (Japanese tea ceremony). Before this time, tea ceremony was primarily a ritual based on Chinese ideas and not the art form it is regarded as today in Japan. Raku ceramics have their origins in the Momoyama period (1573-1615) when Chojiro Raku made exquisite pottery exclusively for Sen no Rikyu. What makes Raku-yaki different from other kinds of pottery is that it is hand built and specially fired. To get an idea of just how special the Raku style is, a visit to the Raku Museum is a must. Located in a quiet residential area west of the Imperial Palace, it looks like a charming old Kyoto house from the outside. From the waiting room, with its garden view, you enter a room of priceless Raku-yaki tea bowls. On the second floor, there are exhibits that show the process of Raku tea bowl making, and other tea ceremony utensils such as incense containers, vases, etc. All the exhibits deserve a close look, as they clearly show the long history of this unique ceramic tradition and the delicate care that goes into making them.
On Aburanokoji, north of Nakadachiuri. Open 10:00 - 16:30. Closed Mondays. Admission Yen 800. Tel: 414-0304.
Traditional Shimazu dolls for good luck!
Families with daughters celebrate Hina Matsuri, the Doll Festival, across Japan in early March. A set of traditional dolls, dressed in the fashions of the imperial household of 1,000 years ago, is displayed at home. And girls invite their friends to enjoy what could be compared to a Western-style tea party, albeit with special sake and sushi as refreshments, during which the traditional dolls are admired.
Since its establishment in 1833, the Shimazu company has dedicated itself to preserving such traditional customs as the Doll Festival. It manufactures not only traditional children's dolls, but various accessories necessary for Japan's many rituals. [In fact, Shimazu provided the utensils and ornaments used in the enthronement ceremony for Emperor Showa.] Shimazu Toichi, the sixth generation of his family to carry on the business, explained his company's policy: "We think traditional dolls are best. We try to respect the past."
The price of the customary five to seven-tier hina stands, called dan-kazari, varies dramatically, but, on average, they can be purchased for USD 1,500. At the top, of course, sits the imperial couple, facing south. (Shimazu follows the Kyoto tradition of seating the emperor on the right so that the sun strikes him first.) Below them are ladies-in-waiting, then five boy musicians, two armed retainers, three servants flanked by orange and cherry blossoms, and two tiers of miniature household items. A close look at the dolls reveals individual traits. The three servants, for example, are either smiling, crying, or red with anger.
Although dan-kazari are still popular in rural areas, cramped urban apartments hinder their display, and smaller, two-tiered nidan-kazari or shino-kazari, consisting of just the imperial couple, are growing in popularity. In Mr. Shimazu's opinion, a Japanese girl can make do with only a shino-kazari or nidan-kazari, but as she grows up, she should have the whole set because of its educational value. After all, it's not often a Japanese child comes face to face with Heian culture these days. "When my daughter was small," the grandfather of two says, "she didn't pay much attention to hina dolls, but gradually she became quite enamored by them. Parents should display dolls not only to celebrate the day, but also to give their children a 'sentimental education.'
In their present form, hina dolls date back to the eighteenth century, when they were presented to girls in the hope that they would grow up beautiful and marry well. Even today the dolls are immediately packed away after the third of March. Dolls modeled on members of the court became all the rage when hina asobi, or doll displaying, gained popularity in the Muromachi period (1333-1576). Prior to that, paper dolls acted as surrogates in drawing evil spirits and disease away from children, and hina dolls still retain a bit of that spiritual function. For this reason, Mr. Shimazu heartily disagrees with the practice of passing dolls on to the next generation: "In the old days, dolls were a sacred substitute. Because they can only belong to the one to whom they are given, they're meaningless as hand-me-downs."
It takes five artisans one month to complete the fifteen dolls that make up the traditional tiered displays. Each craftsperson specializes in one of the following areas: the head and face, the hair, the hands, legs and feet, the clothing (including doll assembly and finishing), or the accessories.
Shimazu, in an effort to increase quality and efficiency, has departed from the cottage-industry system followed by most doll makers. Instead, it assembles all its artisans under one roof. From June to December they are busily filling orders in Shimazu's workshops, but come January they don the company blazer and hit the showroom floors. After all, Mr. Shimazu says, who better to explain the hina dolls to customers than their creators? The fact that Shimazu's dolls go directly from the workshop to the showroom shelves results in another benefit — you won't find dolls of such quality for such reasonable prices in a department store.
Displayed on the third floor of Shimazu's Kyoto showroom are many replicas of traditional hina dolls which the company has donated to dignitaries, city governments, and children's museums both in Japan and abroad. When a customer buys the same type of doll, he or she receives a certificate stating to whom or where it was donated. When asked by overseas recipients of his dolls why he doesn't do business in their countries, Mr. Shimazu states that his main reason for donating the dolls is not to make a profit, but to bring Japanese culture to the world. And, one might add, to Japan.
Located south of Shijo Street, just down the street from the prestigious Daimaru department store; https://www.kyoto-shimazu.com/en/ .
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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!