New Years Eve celebrations in Holland are as divers as the people, but with the recent economical situation a lot of people go back to old traditions like having the party at home, watching TV or playing boardgames together. My sister-in-law Inge, my son Roland and niece Esmee. ... Continue Reading
For 3 days I participated in The 10th World Art Educators’ Workshop featuring IKUZO FUJIWARA and coordinated by Steve Tootell, ceramic art and performance art director from the International School of The Sacred Heart in Tokyo and facilitated by Euan Craig, a Mashiko woodf ... Continue Reading
On Sunday, yesterday, we bicyled to Enoshima, which is a small island near Kamakura and famous for her goddess of Music and Entertainment, Benzaiten, who is enshrined on the island and who is said to have made it rise from the bottom of the sea in the sixth century. It was a bea ... Continue Reading
Yesterday, we went to an exposition from Yamato Tomoko, a friend of mine who lives in Mashiko. Now, she had a show in Tokyo in the Brocken Gallery, so we were able to go. It is a very modern gallery from concrete, nice and clean in a normal neighborhood with all houses. Tomoko-s ... Continue Reading
Last week, there was a festival “Matsuri” at our neighborhood temple (YOU TUBE video), the Komyoji. Every year they have an event at the temple called Ojuya, which means a Buddhist memorial service for the repose of the dead for 3 days. The temple belongs to the Jodo ... Continue Reading
Last night and this morning we experienced a typhoon! Our little house was shaking from the terribly strong gusts of wind and the rain mixed with sand from the beach was slashing against our windows. We had closed our shutters which are made from iron which increased the sound o ... Continue Reading
And then last Saturday, learning what it was all about, we took a two-hour Experience class. The Masters Committee is headquartered in the Kamakura Kaikan, Assembly Hall, above the museum. The committee was established in 1961, and at present consists of twenty-one groups and s ... Continue Reading
Mount Koya (Koyasan) is a 900 meter high plateau surrounded by eight peaks. The eight peaks are thought to represent the eight petals of a lotus in bloom, which is suggestive of the core of a mandala with its eight deities arrayed on the eight petals of a lotus, and with the cen ... Continue Reading
The “zaimoku” in the name Zaimokuza means “lumber,” and the “za” generally means a guild of merchants and artisans who did business under the patronage of the large shrines, and temples in the Kamakura (1185/92-1333) and Muromachi periods (1335 ... Continue Reading
After returning to the International School of Sacred Heart we glazed bisques pots for the raku we would do the next, last day. Kusakabe-san showed us how. In the evening we enjoyed our last dinner together in a Balinese restaurant. Milan, Ixchel, Euan, Jennifer, Helen, Cat ... Continue Reading
