one picture

A picture’s worth a thousand words, they say, but here’s the picture and a few hundred words at least.

This is Kyoto, Japan.  It is an ancient city, and is the only city of any size not bombed by the Americans in World War Two.  FDR’s man, Henry Stimson (secretary of state), had been posted to Kyoto in earlier years, and he had some idea of that city’s inportance to the Japanese phyche.

Kyoto was the Imperial City for most of Japan’s history.  The capitol (and the Emperor) was moved to Tokyo during the Meiji Restoration, an event that occured after the first Black Ships appeared off the Japanese coast in the 1860’s.  The Black Ships were American warships, demanding coaling stations on the Japanese coast.  Matthew Perry returned a year later to see that the Japanese complied with the American "requests", and in the meantime, the nation of Japan had undergone severe changes. The Bakufu or Shogun’s government crumbled and ambitious Samurai, who wanted to make Japan "Modern" overthrew the tottering structure of the Shogunate and "restored" the Emperor to his nominal position as the head of Japanese society.

(Shogun is a title that means, loosely, "head generalissimo and subduer of barbarians ")

The Emperor had long been a tool that the Shoguns used to work their will on the society, since the Emperor was "above" such mundane tasks as daily life.  Note please that the Japanese emperor is the only unbroken royal line left in the 21st century – the same clan has held the title for nearly 2000 years.  The various Shoguns used the Imperial mandate to work their will on the population, and most importantly, on their rivals for power.  Prior to World War Two, the Emperor was held to be a god decended to the earth to guide his people, but the reality was that while he was divine and revered, he was also used by the powers that be to work their will on the country.  Witness the Japanese involvement in The Great Pacific War, aka WW2.

As I mentioned, the Imperial Capital was in Kyoto for over a thousand years, and Kyoto was indeed the only city of any size not flattened by the Americans.  Thus, there are buidings in Kyoto that are seven times as old as the oldest buidings in the United States- older even than in Britain or anywhere else.  There are many temples and shrines in Kyoto – one that I visited was and is over 1400 years old – and is in daily use.

Behind me in the picture above, you can see the Kabuki theater, the Kabuki theater.  It is number one in the country, and is a very famous and expensive place to visit.  One of K*’s friends worked in the theater and we got to see a show there at no cost to us.  Kabuki is like the Opera here, but even bigger and more significant.  Kabuki is very stylised and fixed in it’s presentation, but there are actors who shine brighter than the rest, who are nationally renowned and are named as Cultural Assets to Japan, meaning that the Emperor himself has recognised and commended them.  We here in the west think its a big deal to have some president or prime minister  recognise them, but that’s small potatos to having the Emperor of Japan recognise you, small shit indeed.  Mere politicians aren’t even in the same league as the Emperor.

I’m standing on the banks of a famous river in Kyoto, popular nowadays for lovers to picnic and play at.  To my right, out of sight, is the main train station for Kyoto, a below ground structure, above which is most notably, a Mcdonalds restaurant.

You’ve heard of Geisha, right?  There are Geisha in Japan still, and Kyoto is the place where that began and continues to this day.  Walking around in Kyoto, one could often see Geisha and their accolates, Maiko.  Geisha is commonly thought to mean prostitute here in the west, but they are well above and beyond that sort of thing.  Translated literally, Geisha means "arts person" and Geisha are highly trained in the finer Japanese arts.To associate with one is not a dishonorable thing.  It is also not cheap.  Geisha are very expensive, and being with them has little to do with sex.  It is a status thing, one that was well above my station in life.

A recent well-known book and movie portrayed them as high class whores, and it is true that they have often been such, but Geisha are very highly trained in the Arts of Japan, and spreading their legs for cash is only a very minor aspect of being a Geisha.  Extremely minor, in fact.

(and really, how accurate was that anyway?  The actresss protraying the Geisha in the movie was Chinese)

Kyoto is the center of Japanese society.  It doesn’t really compare to any city in the US – aspects of New York, I guess, minus the comercialism, and aspects of Washington DC, minus the crime so rampant in DC, but there is no direct comparison at all.

Kyoto is about an hour by train away from Kobe, where I lived, and for a time I had a job there with an English school, but it is home to the top Ivy-League schools in Japan too.  My former wife works for one of them.

On the day this picture was taken, I was a tourist, visiting shrines and the Kabuki theater and the Imperial Palace.  If my scanner still worked, I have a few more picures to show of Kyoto, but mostly I have memories, the kind you can produce no prints of.  I feel fortunate to have been there.

So, indeed that picture was worth a thousand words or more, wasn’t it?.

*****