A Year in Japan Plus Japan Watercolors
A Year in Japan Plus Japan Watercolors
A Year in Japan
The Land of the Rising Sun is shining brightly across the American cultural landscape. Recent films such as Lost in Translation and Memoirs of a Geisha seem to have made everyone an expert on Japan, even if they’ve never been there. But the only way for a Westerner to get to know the real Japan is to become a part of it. Kate T. Williamson did just that, spending a year experiencing, studying, and reïflecting on her adopted home. She brings her keen observations to us in A Year in Japan….
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Here is some interesting Japanese artwork as presented at the Kyoto International Foundation:
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… ikebana inspired mixed media wood and fabric sculptures Kawaii Kyoto Blooms; a 10 foot (3 meter) sumi-e ink and rice paper scroll; Sakura inspired katagami cut-outs; and a series of Impossible Tree paintings using Japan watercolors.
A nice watercolor dragonfly can be found here and I just like this quick peek into the mind of the artist:
WATERCOLORS AND WORDS: A CASE OF THE SMALLS
WATERCOLORS AND WORDS … That dragonfly I loved so much in Japan. … My Small Works for Sale. Small Works in Watercolor … Playing With Portraiture in Watercolor and Conte …. Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society …
How can I refer to Japan watercolors without a watercolor of Cherry Blossom as found at this site:
Sakura: Cherry Blossoms as Living Symbols of Friendship …
teachinghistory.org3/22/12
Sakura: Cherry Blossoms as Living Symbols of Friendship. Watercolor, Kwan-zan, K. Tsunoi, c.1918-1921,. In 1912, Japan presented Washington, DC, with 3000 cherry trees as a gift. This Library of Congress exhibit uses primary sources to …
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Watch Ransui Yakata paint suiboku (Chinese watercolors). www.japanvisitor.com
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Pleasing Illustrations Brighten a Sock Designer’s Idiosyncratic Observations of Japan,
It’s actually an interesting exercise to compare this colorful journal with Karin Muller’s recent “Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa”. Whereas Muller approaches her sojourn as an almost anthropological expedition, author-artist Kate Williamson takes a decidedly more visual approach based on her own yearlong stay in Kyoto where she was studying, of all things, sock design. What sets apart Williamson’s book are the bright watercolor illustrations that depict somewhat random aspects of Japanese life and culture. They show a sharp eye for authenticity and concurrently a sense of playfulness that reinforces the allure of Japan to the foreigner’s eye.
She is fascinated by the famous wedded rocks at Meoto-Iwa, the patterns on washcloths, the colors available for backpacks, the foam cozies around apples, the difference in accessories between maiko girls and geishas, the everyday dress of sumo wrestlers, and the delicacies in a bento box. Luckily so am I. In between the pictures are brief essays that serve to provide back stories for the illustrations. Her impressions reflect an idiosyncratic eye, and her topics range from Hiroshima’s one thousand paper cranes to karaoke private rooms to the details of the vegetarian cuisine of shojin-ryori to the rock n’ roll-obsessed temple carpenters of the Kyoto Rockabilly Club. It is obvious her designer instincts are well stimulated by the variety of textiles, umbrellas and accessories she discovers there. Williamson is able to bring this all together thanks to her singular perspective and an eye for minutiae that can truly define a culture. Nippon-ophiles can rejoice at her graphically pleasing book.
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|This book stays next to my desk in all seasons.,
It is a great pleasure to be able to casually open A YEAR IN JAPAN, which stays next to my desk, and find a page by chance. On any given day, I might see a lovely two-page spread of maple leaves; an absorbing story (one of my favorites) in the author’s fine print/cursive mix about her task of carefully tracing out the characters of a sutra in order to gain admittance to the Moss Temple; a tempting diagram of “sweets made especially for moon viewing”; an account of GUYS AND DOLLS performed by an all-female, Japanese cast; an illustration of a very comforting view from the inside of a Japanese taxi.
Every page is a pleasant portal into a world other than my own. The book is built loosely around the seasons and their shifting, and is thus also exciting as a work to be read through from front cover to back. Occasional references to the seasons provide an anchor for the reader, for example, you find out how traditional Japanese sweets have a specific shape and flavor in autumn, and about the kinds of umbrellas available during the rainy season.
The illustrations and texts are crafted with such thoughtfulness, brightness and love (much like the above-mentioned sutra text) that I am immediately transported into the author’s world when I open the book, and feel delighted to share in her enchantment and exploratory spirit.
I always show friends this book when they visit.
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|Aiming at a country’s soul, not its sites,
This witty, finely observed book is reflective about Japan and travel in ways that traditional guidebooks are not. With beautiful drawings and carefully chosen text, it provides insight into a culture that outsiders often find difficult to penetrate. More broadly, it is a moving and understated story of visiting a new place for the first time.
I’ll give this book as a gift to friends with an interest in Japan or plans to visit, and would use it as a supplement to traditional tourist guides in my own travels there. I only wish that that there were more books like this one, striving to represent the spirit of a place instead of just telling you about its tourist sites.
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