Exvotos are “pequeñas pinturas, hechas sobre láminas de metal o madera” (small paintings, made on sheets of metal or wood), in the words of Chilango. They are “pinturas de pequeño formato en las que se registra el favor recibido de Dios, la virgen o algún santo” (small paintings that record the favor received from God, the Virgin or a saint).
art
Sketching from Life
The haiku poet Masaoka Shiki called on poets to practice shasei, sketching from life. The magazine Waraku writes that his idea of shasei had direct or indirect links to Western-style painters, among them Nakamura Fusetsu, Shimomura Izan and Asai Chū.
In 1894, Shiki asked Shimomura to draw the illustrations for the haiku column of the newspaper Shō-Nippon. Shimomura declined, and the work went to Nakamura.
Introduction, Break, Haste
Jo-ha-kyū (序破急): introduction, break, haste. In gagaku , the old court music, the word names the three movements of a piece. The Noh master Zeami applied it to the structure of a Noh play and to the order of plays in a day’s program.
The encyclopedia Mypedia notes that Zeami made a structure of five sections the basis of Noh composition: one section for jo , three for ha and one for kyū .
The Pillow
A rakugo performance begins with the makura , the pillow. The storyteller opens with small talk and short jokes before the actual story. In a guide for beginners in the magazine of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, a writer from the National Engei Hall explains: Makura o futte kankyaku no kimochi ga yawaraida tokoro de, hanashika wa hondai ni hairimasu. “When the makura has put the audience at ease, the storyteller enters the main story.”
A Kyoto City guide calls the makura the warm-up before the story. With it, the storyteller finds out what that day’s audience likes.
Nameless Craftsmen
The Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Komaba, Tokyo, was founded by Yanagi Sōetsu, who also wrote a prospectus for a museum of folk crafts. The museum describes mingei, folk crafts, as everyday objects made by nameless craftsmen.
Traditional Craftsman
In 1974, Japan passed the Act on the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries. Under it, a craftsperson can be certified as a dentō kōgeishi, a traditional craftsman. To take the examination, a candidate must have at least twelve years of practical experience in the producing region and still be working in the craft.
Tiers of Dolls
For the Girls’ Festival, families display hina dolls on tiers. A page of the Consulate General of Japan in Atlanta lists them from the top: the imperial couple, the three court ladies who serve at the palace, the five musicians, the two guards known as the Ministers of the Right and the Left, and the servants.
The Minister of the Left is an older man and sits on the viewer’s right. The Minister of the Right is a young man and sits on the viewer’s left.
First Guest and Last Guest
At a tea gathering, the guests have set roles. According to the Japanese culture magazine Waraku, the shōkyaku, the main guest, sits near the host in the most important position. The shōkyaku enters the tea room first and is the first to receive the sweets and the tea.
The tsume, the last guest, enters last and is served last. Waraku calls it an important position as well, because the last guest takes care of the waiting area and of the tea utensils after use.
Sōgetsu
Teshigahara Sōfu learned ikebana, the art of flower arranging, from his father, an ikebana master. In 1927, he founded his own school, Sōgetsu. The Digital Daijisen dictionary says that he started a boom of avant-garde ikebana.
Maiko Stages
A young woman who wants to become a maiko in Kyoto first spends about a year as a shikomi, living in and training. Then comes minarai, learning by watching. At a designated teahouse, she is allowed to see what happens at the banquets. The day she becomes a maiko is called misedashi.
Around the fourth or fifth year as a maiko, after the age of twenty, she becomes a geiko. This step is called erikae, the changing of the collar.