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Latest Shikinen Sengu conducted in 2013. Ise Jingu. https://www.isejingu.or.jp/en/ritual/index.html

Quotation: "And temples-they don't come before the monks; there should be monks and, only then, temples...If we do indeed need Buddhism, it means that we need monks, not that we need temples. Let the ancient temples of Kyoto and Nara burn to the ground. The traditions of Japan would not be affected in the least. Nor would Japanese architecture as a whole suffer." Ango Sakaguchi, A Personal View of Japanese Culture (1942), p. 7 (PDF). or p. 832.

After looking around the Ise Jingu website and stumbling across the Shikinen Sengu, I thought of this quote, Ango's perspective of Japanese culture, in this case, his take on not being interested in temples, shrines, or other famous sites. Rather, he found enjoyment in more distinctive places. The ritual Shikinen Sengu takes place every 20 years, and part of the ritual is building a new divine palace with the same dimensions as the current one, though it is built in a different site that remains in the sanctuary. This ritual seems to hold two ideas considering this quote from the reading. The idea that divine places are needed, temples and shrines create a space for people to dedicate their rituals and ceremonies. Then, the idea that Ango holds, monks hold significance and the buildings could be made anew, even if ancient buildings are burned down or destroyed, you could always make a new one and it wouldn't affect anyone. Though I feel the problem with Angos perspective is not being able to find the meaning in temples, shrines, etc, itself. This source, the Ise Jingu website, shows a sanctuary and the buildings within it hold significance to a group of people, their tradition and beliefs come from the history of this specific place.

(I hope I worked on this assignment right, and I'm sorry for the long entry, I had a lot to say, it was interesting. While reading A Personal View of Japanese Culture, it was interesting to read how Ango found beauty and interest in places like the Arashiyama Theater or factories, and didn't find other famous places moving. When I looked into the Ise Jingu website, and read a little about the Shikinen Sengu ritual, I immediately thought of the comments Ango made about sacred buildings being pointless, even though one of the rituals involves building a new sacred building, keeping remade sacred items safe in it, and keeping the older buildings intact for use. I found it interesting because Ango is right, these buildings could be remade if it were to fall apart or burn down and nothing would seem to change as long as dedicated people continue their ideals. On the other hand, storing/preserving these buildings for its importance and use is a great deal too. I found myself having mixed feelings about Angos perspective, it was a good read and I hope I understood the reading.)

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The Anthology of Ten Thousand Leaves, Genryaku Edition. E-Museum, National Treasure. https://emuseum.nich.go.jp/detail?&langId=en&webView=null&content_base_id=100167&content_part_id=1

Quotation: "Recorded on the finest paper by the finest hands of the day and then stored in elegant boxes of the same sort used to store Buddhist sutras, these collections came to symbolize the heritage of court society." Traditional Japanese Poetry, p. 74

I thought this quote from the reading was interesting in relation to this source as, in the introduction, the author mentions the ways these poems were created, handled, viewed, and used among Japanese society. Reading the poems from the PDF version and then seeing an example of these poems in its proper form, how poems were stored, and being able to see its described high quality material is incredible. These Japanese poem collections have been around for a long time, being able to notice some of the materials mentioned is astonishing, and the fact that these poem collections continue to survive to this day and beyond shows the importance of them, and how good others in the past have stored the poems. This source has collected/preserved the poem collections in remembrance, and share knowledge of the distant past. These poems were created from poets all over Japan, from the middle class, to officials releasing their creative sides to embrace tradition, or in hopes of having their work memorialized in some manner. It's interesting to learn how these poem collections were passed around from one family to another, it's one way that shows the importance of these poems.

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Genji Espies Murasaki for the First Time, UmmaExchange, Kano Tsunenobu. https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/30246/view

Quotation: "I read a few volumes of Genji-monogatari and longed for the rest...I had no way of finding them...always praying that I might read all the books of Genji-monogatari...And she gave me more than fifty volumes of Genji-monogatari...How happy I was when I came home carrying these books in a bag." The Sarashina Diary, (PDF) p. 2, (Book) p. 18-19

As I was reading through this passage, I thought this quote was interesting in relation to this source because, correct me if I'm wrong, I thought of how rare it must have been to obtain these books considering these items were not mass printed. Yet, it was able to put a fascination on her in a quick manner. It seemed that this fictional character and his tale was popular amongst the women of that time, as it had major romantical themes. As time went on, this type of work seemed to become more popular due to the themes of romance, as the pictures in the volumes of The Tale of Genji would move on to a larger scale of artwork in a later time. The reason for this was to allow viewers to imagine and project themselves into the scenario presented. These paintings of Genji were able to become a popular item, that even weddings for certain people would use these scenes to decorate the area to create the idea of court love. It's interesting to learn how these stories have been able to impact individual people, and how past versions of those books have been changed and reinterpreted for new people to read it and create something out of it. Different perspective of the book could inspire a new impact towards an audience. The idea of one person reading this once rare collection, turned to a wide audience viewing a newer version of it is something else.

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Hogaku: Japanese Traditional Music. BlogsPost. https://japanesetradmusic.blogspot.com/p/biwa-music-satsumachickuzenheike.html

Quotation: "Genji against Heike...endless fierce challenges as men roared out their names until the mountains quaked and charging hoofbeats rang out like thunder...Pairs grappled side by side, fell, stabbed each other to death. Here a man pinned another's head down and cut it off." The Tale of The Heike, p. 54.

Reading through this fierce battle, the imagination was one of the few places to play out these scenes. Through this passage, I thought this quote was interesting in relation to this source because of the different ways people in that time and in current time have played out these scenes to enhance the experience for others coming across this tale. In this case, I want to focus on individuals who would perform with an instrument called the biwa to recite this war poem. The Tale of Heike is an intense read of conflict, with scenes as detailed as this, "charging hoofbeats rang out like thunder," you could imagine the many warriors on their horses. The biwa technique is said to have a more rattle/twang texture, a sharp, short patterns of energetic strumming, I feel that this type of beat would be the perfect way to display an intense feeling followed by a vocal pattern. I could be reading this wrong, and correct me if I do, though I found it surprising that this type of style wasn't made for the Tale of Heike. Instead, a different style called the Heike-biwa was created to adapt the Tale of the Heike. The biwa is played to act as more "commentary" or have a "sympathetic response" during the performance. To me, the description of the Heike-biwa didn't compare to the "intense feeling" of reading the text. Though as I played the video of the Heike-biwa performance, it was interesting to find that even if the description doesn't state an intense performance, it does have that intense feeling. I expected a slow paced, loud play of the biwa, with the recitation being slow throughout the whole performance. Instead, it was slow and methodical in the beginning, the recitation got faster and the biwa was played in a rapid matter. The build up was perfect for this intense narrative.

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Raku Studio Waraku: Inside the Famous 200+ Year Old Kyoto Pottery Shop! YouTube, LIVE JAPAN. https://youtu.be/jvyGoxTgb0E?si=a6girCFDK69Y2jEY

Quotation: "The rustic rakuyaki tea bowls made by the potter Tanaka Chojiro, some of which might strike a modern observer unaware of this period in Japanese art history as quite artless, were preferred by Rikyu...Rikyu is reputed to have preffered simple tea implements made out of unfinished bamboo...reduced the size and decor and also simplified the architecture of the tea hut..." The Tale of Tea, George van Driem, p. 185.

Before getting into the quote, I first want to talk about the beginning scene of this source. Here, we can see a tea maker, and two other people who will be drinking the matcha tea made. This setting reminded me of the video shown in Thursday's lecture about the Tea Ceremonies, while watching it, we focused on gender, how women would be the ones to conduct the Tea Ceremonies, and in the next scene, we see men working in formal outfits. In this source, we can see both men and women participate in tea making. I found this interesting.

As I was reading through The Tale of Tea, I thought this quote was interesting in relation to this source because going through the passage, we get the idea of how Rikyu has created and changed these items to become part of the tea ceremonies and tea tools. Though this source adds more and shows us a recreation of the rakuyaki in a step by step process, and the speaker gives us more detail on the rakuyaki design purpose. The source discusses the color of the rakuyaki, its deep black color was used as a means of keeping it simple, and creating other designs on it or using different colors wasn't favored for the rakuyaki. In the text, a picture is shown of the rakuyaki that another person created, though the color of the bowl was different. I would have assumed the color was meant to be brown, though this source adds in those extra details that were missed. It's so interesting that we have preserved the ways in creating past items from hundreds of years ago, and that further studies of past items from different perspectives could open up new information.