Hochner Family Blog

Edo Marionette

Until last Saturday, for us, puppets in Japan were always associated to Bunraku, the famous Japanese puppet theater where each large size puppet is controled by three puppeteers. But thanks to our friend S., we got a chance to discover another type of Japanese puppets, the Edo Marionette (Edo-Ito Ayatsuri Ningyo).

M. Mitsuru Kamijo is a puppeteer of Edo Marionette, a Japanese traditional type of puppet coming straight from the Edo period. These are the more standard type of string controled marionettes. Actually, these 45 cm high marionettes are controled by up to 25 strings. This allows for a very fine control of each part of the body and the limbs, in any direction, thus expressing all kind of attitudes. These strings are divided into the three main ones (the kiki-ito for the control of the head and the shoulders) and the rest of them, the asobi-ito.

On his web site, I discovered that M. Kamijo was a technical engineer who started working with marionettes over 25 years ago. He wanted to know more about the Japanese culture and spirit, because he was feeling that the Japanese people were gradually losing their own identity. This was in 1979, the year I arrived in Japan. His group, the puppet theatre Youkiza creates modern plays based on traditional techniques.

The location, a small theater in the middle of a lovely flower park (Hyakkaen) was selected because it is the only such theater today in Tokyo that allows drinking. Yes, eating and drinking were an integral part of going to watch a theater play during the Edo era, and this point was important to M. Kamijo. There was only seating for some 35 people.

The show started with an explanation of the puppets, a little word about their history, and a description of the differences between the man and the woman characters. Male character marionettes are larger, have feet, but do not have buttock, and instead only feature a simple string. This is to allow more freedom of movement of their legs. The female character marionettes don’t have feet (we wouldn’t see them under the long kimonos) but do have a derriere, and therefore have very limited movement of their legs — this is to represent the restrained way Japanese women move and walk while wearing a kimono. On the other hand, their trunc is hollow to allow for minute detailed movements of their body.

We had several little plays.
Kappore was a very popular dance performed by men in the streets when Tokyo was called Edo.

Yoidore, a drunkard.  During the Edo era, people liked to dance in a funny way to the merry music of flutes and drums. The almost complete mimesis of the puppeteer and the puppet was impressive. M. Kamijo was the drunk dancing.

Shishimai, Lion dance, that remains in various parts of Asia. People believed that if a strong lion roars loud, bad things like sickness and harmful insects will be gone. Here, we realized that it was not only the lion that M. Kamijo was controling directly, but the two men under the lion costume!

The last play, Setsubun, involved a human and an Oni, you know, these little gremlins that are chased away with beans. Great fun!

Have a look at M. Kamijo web site and if you have a chance to see this show, don’t walk, run!

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 1:37 AM 0 comments

I always liked movies — and yes, I enjoy spaghetti western, but more than these, I love Japanese Samurai movies. Some of my all time favorite flicks are in this category. without any doubt, Kurosawa was a Master. So, when Akiko mentioned the 29th All Japan Traditional Martial Ways (Kobudo) Demonstrations, I immediately was interested in going. I also knew that Julien too would be interested.

The place, the Budokan or the Mecca of Japanese Martial Art, is actually very near our place. We went there by bicycle as the weather was pretty nice (cold, but clear and sunny). As planned, we met some friends there just before the opening. An older gentleman entering the building saw us and asked us to accept a free invitation ticket.

After a brief opening ceremony and a few speeches, the demonstration started with the firing of some old big matchlock guns (called Seki-ryu hojutsu). That was something quite unique. I am sure it was for all of us the first time we could see such demonstration.

Then, we saw various swordmanship and combat demonstrations, all pretty interesting and some quite impressive.

One of the demonstrations was between two men dressed like samurai taking part in the Sekigahara battle. I wished I was nearer to take a few pictures.


Before leaving, we absolutely wanted to see the ancient style of Japanese archery (Ogasawara-ryu kyuubajutsu) – shooting long arrows from the back of a horse. The horse was here replaced by a wooden structure, but the basic idea was supposed to be the same — shooting several arrows, one after another at different targets, while moving. Really impressive, even with the comic touch given by the wooden horse turned around by an assistant. Again, I hope to be able to see a real life demonstration of this art.

We had enough and left. We would have liked to see some Kendo but this will be for another time.

It is also quite nice to see that while Japan is probably the country in the world that embraces and adopts new technology easier and faster than any other, the Japanese people were able to maintain and even develop their culture and tradition.

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 7:02 AM 0 comments

Time flies too quickly. We just finished the posting about our last weekend that I realized that I forgot to talk about something else: the Setsubun event. 

The Setsubun and the associated Mamemaki ceremony always remind me how superstitious the Japanese people are. For us, it is mainly an opportunity to go out visit some shrines, have fun, and see something specifically Japanese.

So, what is it, you ask?  Well, as you may have heard Japan has four distinct seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The name Setsu-Bun literally means "division of season" and it originally referred to the days marking the change from one season to the next — yes, this means that there were four of them before, but today only the day before the beginning of spring according to the traditional Japanese calendar (Risshun) is called by that name. Setsubun was celebrated last week, on February 3.
 

And on that event, it is traditional for the Japanese people to hold the Mamemaki or bean-throwing ceremony. The what? Well, they exorcize the demons (called Oni) by throwing beans at them, while at the same time welcoming good fortune (Fuku).  In practice, they throw roasted soybeans all around the house, shouting "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" meaning "Demons, get out! Good luck, come in!). By doing this, they drive out evil spirits and the seeds of misfortune, and they pray for the family's well-being and good business.

After the Mame-maki is over, everyone eats the same number of beans as their own age, plus one (in some regions) for bringing good luck for the year to come. It is believed that by doing so, people will be free of sickness during that year.

Families with little children especially look forward to this day because Mame-maki can be a lot of fun. One person acts as the devil, usually taking the form of a goblin and runs around, while the others throw beans at the person. At some schools, the students make goblin masks and enjoy mame-maki.

Thanks to the great fun of Mame-maki, Setsubun is still a popular traditional event.

At Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines all over the country, there are celebrations for Setsubun. Priests and invited guests will throw roasted soy beans (some wrapped in gold or silver foil), small envelopes with money, sweets, candies and other prizes. In some bigger shrines, even celebrities and Sumo wrestler will join. Many people will come, and the event turns wild, with everyone pushing and shoving to get the gifts tossed from above.

We first went to Zoujouji Temple in the morning to see this celebration. A large crowd was already there, waiting for a group of celebs to throw things at them. 
To give an idea of what this is about, the speaker mentioned that 35 millions yen worth of goods and presents were to be throwed this morning! He also  said that the security was this year taken care of by some 350 police officers !  Yes, things can get rough as people push around to try to get some of the items thrown around.

After this, we met our friend G. at another place, Kanda Myoji Shrine. This was is a much smaller place but the ceremony was also quite beautiful, with lots of costumed people and lots of fun.  Again, large quantities of beans and presents were thrown at the crowd.

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 6:11 AM 0 comments

"The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country".  . . . wrote Kawabata in his masterpiece.  Well, we took a bus to go to this area of Gifu Prefecture. We already went there this Summer and liked so much that we absolutely wanted to see it in winter. This is indeed snow country, and it is gorgeous under a white carpet.

The main point of this trip was to visit Shirakawago, the World Heritage Site famous for its unique thatched farmhouses called Gassho-Zukuri or joined-hands farmhouses. This had to be a Saturday because of the night light-up of these houses. There are only a few opportunities per year to enjoy the night light-up and we certainly didn't want to miss this.

The bus left Shinjuku (Tokyo) just after 8 in the morning. Smooth ride on highway — I personally appreciated it more because I didn't have to hold the wheel — to Hirayu onsen for a quick lunch. After this, onward to Shirakawago where we arrived well before night fall.
There was indeed a lot of snow -- at least two meters!

The early arrival time enabled us to see the place by day. It truly was gorgeous. We saw a number of these huge farmhouses on our way to the other end of the village to board the shuttle bus to go up to the view point overlooking the whole village.  We were not alone — when we reached the starting point, a sign was announcing a 40 minute waiting time to board the buses.  Actually, it went faster than that. This is the only way to go up to overlook the village as they do not allow walking anymore. We were told that this had been a source of numerous accidents in the past because of all the people going all over the places in the snow and in the dark. This year, organized and free shuttle buses for everyone was the only option.

We were not the first ones up there. Rows of Japanese tourists were waiting camera on hand for the night to fall and the houses to be lighten. Everyone had some kind of a camera, from the top notch professional model on heavy tripod to the light phone built-in model, and everything in-between. It was an impressive sight.

We managed to find a nice little spot to enjoy the view. It was quite cold, but we were dressed and equipped properly — Akiko insisted that I place a Kairo (pokapoka) patch (you know, one of the little bags that once opened generates heat over several hours) on my toes, between the two socks that I was wearing.
The lights came on on time (of course, we’re in Japan, aren’t we!) and with the darkness slowly setting in, the view was more and more magic. This is where an announcement mentioned that if anyone “had” to return downstairs, now was the time because in another 15 or 20 minutes, the waiting time for the shuttle buses to return to the village would be between one and one and a half hour!  Akiko went to take the line for us while I shot a couple more pictures. We managed to join the line just before the crowd and didn’t have much to wait to board the bus.  This gave us more time to enjoy the place, walking around these incredible houses coming from another age. This unique architectural style was developed to survive the extreme weather, always with a lot of snow that is characteristic of this region.

We were on time back to the bus which left the place right away to Takayama where we were to stay at a modern Spa Onsen Resort place. We enjoyed a nice hot spa with lots of different baths, both inside and outside.

In the morning, visit of Takayama, an old castle town, with a very well preserved old town area. Its history-filled streets with Koushimado (latticed bay windows) and linked eaves of merchants houses from the Edo period offers a special and quiet atmosphere, accented by the snow that started to fall again. We were lucky enough as the white sky was soon replaced by a sunny blue one. We had both nice and heavy snow fall, and sunshine during this weekend. 

We took the optional side trip to Furukawa, another old town near by. Here again, the old section covered with snow was a delight to visit.

The day visit ended around 2:30 as we started our return to Tokyo.

As usual, you can click on any of the pictures to see a larger size one. You can also see all the pictures and many more HERE.

# posted by Famille Hochner @ 8:16 AM 1 comments