Archive for the ‘travel’ Category
Shigaraki
Shigaraki, a small town in Shiga Prefecture, is synonymous in Japan with two things: Shigaraki ware (信楽焼) and ceramic tanuki figurines. The clay used to make Shigaraki ware comes from Lake Biwa, and at least one friend of mine has suggested that because of the overpopularity of tanuki figurines, authentic Shigaraki-style clay is starting to […]
Filed under: art, culture, Japan, Kansai, sweet story of Trout Monroe, travel | Leave a Comment
Tags: anagama kiln, ceramic arts, ceramics, 焼き物, 狸, 登り窯, 穴窯, 蛇釜, jagama kiln, kilns, noborigama kiln, Shigaraki, Shigaraki ware, Shingu Shrine, Shingu-jinja, tanuki, tanuki figurines, 新宮神社, 信楽焼, 信楽町
snow blossoms at yoshino
The plum blossoms are at full strength, the white magnolia in my backyard is covered with so many blossoms that it looks like a performing waiter balancing a thousand ceramic cups on a thousand arms like some kind of woodland Shiva, and the songbirds have returned to scope out all the good early nesting opportunities. […]
Filed under: culture, history, Japan, Kansai, literature, photography, poetry, religion, sweet story of Trout Monroe, travel | Leave a Comment
Tags: 15mm Heliar, 35mm Ultron, aerial ropeway, ancient Japanese poems, asceticism, Buddhism, Buddhist statuary, cherry blossoms, 紀 友則, En no Gyoja, 金峯山寺, 蔵王堂, 蔵王権現, 雪, 西行 法師, Ki no Tomonori, Kinpusen Temple, Kinpusen-ji, Mount Yoshino, mountain ascetics, Nara Prefecture, Saigyō Hōshi, Shugendō, snow, snow blossoms, somei-yoshino, Voigtlander Bessa R2A, Voigtlander Bessa-L, waka, winter, Yoshino, Yoshino Ropeway, Zao-Gongen, Zaōdō, 冬, 吉野ロープウェイ, 吉野蔵王権現, 吉野山, 和歌, 奈良県, 役行者, 染井吉野, 桜, 修験道
Two years ago I spent six months living on Swan’s Island, one of the most beautiful spots on the planet. The house that I stayed in was relatively isolated and so I spent a good deal of time by myself, reading and writing, of course, but also spending time down at the two coves that […]
Filed under: nature, personal, photography, sweet story of Trout Monroe, travel | Leave a Comment
Tags: 15mm Heliar, Back Cove, coves, drifting, Fujifilm GF670, Maine, ocean, Ricoh GRD2, sea, Swan's Island, Toothacher Cove, Voigtlander Bessa-III, Voigtlander Bessa-L, wooden canoe
Somewhat ironically, the majority of the film I managed to salvage from my 2009 trip to South Korea wasn’t even shot in Korea. Because I managed to leave my entire bag of exposed film behind on the ferry ride from Busan to Osaka, the only film that I was able to develop was the film […]
Filed under: photography, sweet story of Trout Monroe, travel | 4 Comments
Tags: 15mm Heliar, boats, Busan, cruise, ferry, Korea, LOMO LC-A+, lost film, PanStar, rangefinder, shipping, South Korea, Voigtlander Bessa-L
in Korea (part II): Seoul
I spent several days in Seoul, but managed not to see any of the major sites — not the Namdaemun, not the Gyeongbok-gung or Changdeok-gung palaces, not N Seoul Tower, and not even Lotte World. So what did I do while I was there? If I wasn’t busy getting my nose pulled off by Champ, […]
Filed under: photography, sweet story of Trout Monroe, travel | 2 Comments
Tags: Korea, Seoul, South Korea
in Korea (part I): Busan
In a couple of days I’ll be off to Taiwan for a week, my first trip outside of the US and Japan since I visited South Korea in 2009. Since I never really had a chance to post about my trip to Korea, now seems like the perfect time. To get to Korea, I took […]
Filed under: culture, photography, religion, sweet story of Trout Monroe, travel | 2 Comments
Tags: Beomeosa, Beomeosa temple, Buddhism, Buddhist temple, Busan, Cheonwangmun, dragon, Four Heavenly Kings, Haedong Yonggungsa, Haedong Yonggungsa temple, Haeundae Beach, hydrofoil, JR Beetle, Korea, lost film, Pusan, Seokbulsa, Seokbulsa temple, South Korea
Not too far down the road from Izumo-taisha the last sandy vestiges of the land sprinkle out into the Sea of Japan. The beach here is called Inasa-no-hama and it is the site where Okuninushi (大国主), the Great Land Master, ceded control of Japan to Amaterasu and her heirs. According to the Kojiki, the Record […]
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Tags: Amaterasu, Chihiki-no-iha, Diaoyu, Dokdo, en-musubi, Fountain of Jizo, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, Haruki Murakami, history of territorial disputes, island disputes, Izumo, Japanese myths, Lafcadio Hearn, legend, Liancourt Rocks, Liancourt Rocks dispute, monuments, myth, national rivalry, national sovereignty, ocean cave, Okuninushi, rocks, Senkaku Islands, Shimane Prefecture, Shinto, shrine, Takeshima, territorial disputes, the cheap alcohol of nationalism, the gods, Tiaoyutai, treaties, 大国主, 天照大神, 島根県
