The Arts of the People

Matt and I went to the football banquet at the Officers' Club last night. He picked up another varsity pin and we feasted on fried chicken, baked beans, and corn on the cob. I am so proud of Matt for sticking it out this season.

Today the Explorers went up to Tokyo to investigate the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, the Nihon Mingeikan, which was featuring a special exhibit in honor of the 120th anniversary of the birth of Soetsu Yanagi, the museum's founder. We were not allowed to take photographs inside the museum so you will just have to come see it for yourself.

Yanagi designed the building himself. It is lovely and surprisingly modern for a museum that opened in 1936. The woodwork and use of natural light reminded me of of the American Arts and Crafts Movement that reached its zenith around the same time interest in Mingei was gaining momentum in Japan.

Across the street from the main museum building is a nagayamon (long gate house, left) built in the 19th century in Tochigi Prefecture. This house is attached to Yanagi's family residence; they are only open on the second and third Wednesday and Saturday of every month so we will have to make another trip when the next exhibit is in place.

Since we cannot fit the furniture we currently own into our Norfolk house, I am doing my best to avert my gaze whenever a chest or table whispers my name. Yard art, however, is an entirely different story. And a couple of the display cases featured book bindings Yanagi collected. Picture me in my twilight years, carefully pasting linen covers on all my favorite books. I'll do this outside in good weather so I can admire my yard art.