Tokyo
September 24-25, 2017
We landed in Haneda Airport after a long flight from Los Angeles to start our “Walk Japan” tours. The Tokyo airport and subway system were surprisingly friendly for individuals who spoke only English and we soon found our way to the Asakusa (浅草) district to find our hotel. Asakusa is a popular tourist destination, in Taitō City in Tokyo which is famous for the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple, and the many tourist shops at the entry to the temple. Unfortunately, we had difficulty finding the hotel since the individual streets were all in Japanese Hiragana characters, but we were soon introduced to the friendly way the Japanese people welcome strangers. A small group of students with t-shirts loudly pronouncing “ASK ME! AND I’LL SEE WHAT I CAN DO” quickly encircled us and after Googling our hotel, they took us directly to our hotel’s front door – after a few selfies. This welcome gesture happened to us throughout our travels whenever we stood in front of a sign or map looking confused.
September 24-25, 2017
We landed in Haneda Airport after a long flight from Los Angeles to start our “Walk Japan” tours. The Tokyo airport and subway system were surprisingly friendly for individuals who spoke only English and we soon found our way to the Asakusa (浅草) district to find our hotel. Asakusa is a popular tourist destination, in Taitō City in Tokyo which is famous for the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple, and the many tourist shops at the entry to the temple. Unfortunately, we had difficulty finding the hotel since the individual streets were all in Japanese Hiragana characters, but we were soon introduced to the friendly way the Japanese people welcome strangers. A small group of students with t-shirts loudly pronouncing “ASK ME! AND I’LL SEE WHAT I CAN DO” quickly encircled us and after Googling our hotel, they took us directly to our hotel’s front door – after a few selfies. This welcome gesture happened to us throughout our travels whenever we stood in front of a sign or map looking confused.
Despite jet-lag, we went out into the shopping district to see what was around the hotel and to see if we could do a warm-up sketch. It was evening by the time we got to sketching, so I tried a quick image of the main covered shopping street.
The next day we were scheduled to take the bullet train to the start of our walking tour in Kyoto, so before breakfast we went to the Sensō-ji temple grounds, and I found a place to sit in the temple porch to sketch the 5-story pagado.
Kyoto
September 26-27, 2017
Kyoto was once the capital of Japan and the residence of the Emperor from 794 until the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when the imperial capital was moved to Edo/Tokyo. It is a beautiful city and still famous for its numerous classical Buddhist temples, gardens, imperial palaces, Shinto shrines and traditional wooden houses. I was looking forward to sketching along our tour and our fabulous guide, Nami, assured me that there would be many opportunities. Our first visit was to the The kannonden at Jishō-ji, commonly known as the Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku) - a Zen temple in the Sakyo ward of Kyoto. Unfortunately, it is also a popular site to visit and at the entrance I was greeted with this sign:
September 26-27, 2017
Kyoto was once the capital of Japan and the residence of the Emperor from 794 until the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when the imperial capital was moved to Edo/Tokyo. It is a beautiful city and still famous for its numerous classical Buddhist temples, gardens, imperial palaces, Shinto shrines and traditional wooden houses. I was looking forward to sketching along our tour and our fabulous guide, Nami, assured me that there would be many opportunities. Our first visit was to the The kannonden at Jishō-ji, commonly known as the Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku) - a Zen temple in the Sakyo ward of Kyoto. Unfortunately, it is also a popular site to visit and at the entrance I was greeted with this sign:
It was apparent that they did not want anyone setting up to do drawings while blocking the crowded paths, so I had to resort to taking a few snapshots and doing a sketch later from my phone/camera image.
We visited many places throughout the city and really could have spent much more time touring the sites. Here are a few sketches, including an illegal one of the Temple of the Silver Pavilion (Ryōan-ji) which is famous for its rock garden. It wasn’t until after I started the sketch that I learned that there was a “NO SKETCHING” sign behind me for the rock garden too.
After a very pleasant stroll along “The Philosopher's Path” through the northern part of Kyoto's Higashiyama district, our tour group took a 15-minute break to see the Sanmon Gate of the Nanzenji Temple. I rushed a very muddy sketch of a spectacular 2-level temple gate originally constructed in 1628. This was one of those occasions that I wished I could have taken more time to do justice to a remarkable edifice.
At another brief stop of our Kyoto tour was the Heian-jingu Shrine - built in 1895 to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the founding of Kyoto as capital of the country and to coincide with an industrial exposition held that year. We didn’t have time for me to do a sketch so I had to do one later from my camera image. The vermillion torii (shrine gate) out front (not captured in my sketch) was spectacularly large while the vast grounds of the Heian Palace seemed equally impressive. I later learned that this important Shinto shrines is actually a 5/8 scale reproduction of the original palace of the early emperors of Kyoto.
Lindy and I finally figured out that it was too challenging to do sketches while walking and touring with the group, so if we were to do any sketches, we would just need to get up early . However for some places that really demanded a sketch, I did post-visit sketches from my phone/camera such as this one of the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove:
For our first morning sketch, our hotel in Kyoto was near the Sanjō Ōhashi bridge. Spanning the Kamo River it was an appropriate first sketch of our Nakasendo tour since it served as the ending location (or for us the beginning) for journeying on both the Nakasendō and the Tōkaidō - two of the famous "Five Routes" for travelers during the Edo Period between Kyoto and Edo/Tokyo. Hiroshige captured an earlier version of the bridge in the 1830s, as depicted in The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō.
The current bridge is a non-descript 1950 concrete bridge, so I wanted my sketch to capture a view of the river front and one of the original giboshi (onion-shaped posts) that are also seen on many of the bridges, shrines and temples in Japan.
The current bridge is a non-descript 1950 concrete bridge, so I wanted my sketch to capture a view of the river front and one of the original giboshi (onion-shaped posts) that are also seen on many of the bridges, shrines and temples in Japan.
Nakasendo
September 27 – October 7, 2017
The Nakasendō (with the Japanese characters: 中 山 道 – “Central Mountain Route”), was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto in Japan. There were 69 stations (staging-posts or post towns) between Edo and Kyoto, with a total distance of approximately 534 km (332 mi). We were scheduled to walk 10 days along the portions of the route staying in a variety of inns and hotels including a night in a classic post-town inn that had a history spanning 1,000 years. Many of the inns have been managed by many generations of the same family. Here is a map of the route that shows the post-towns we visited:
September 27 – October 7, 2017
The Nakasendō (with the Japanese characters: 中 山 道 – “Central Mountain Route”), was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto in Japan. There were 69 stations (staging-posts or post towns) between Edo and Kyoto, with a total distance of approximately 534 km (332 mi). We were scheduled to walk 10 days along the portions of the route staying in a variety of inns and hotels including a night in a classic post-town inn that had a history spanning 1,000 years. Many of the inns have been managed by many generations of the same family. Here is a map of the route that shows the post-towns we visited:
The walks varied from 8 km to 24 km a day and took us through many beautiful red cedar forests and charming rural towns and farms. I wish I had the opportunity to do sketches along the way, but I managed to do a few morning sketches supplemented by a couple sketches from my phone/camera. Our tour leader Kaho was an enthusiastic supporter of my sketching efforts. Each morning she would ask to see my sketch of the day. I then asked her to augment the sketch with a description in Japanese and English. This was a wonderful morning ritual for us and became one of my lasting memories of the tour. My only regret is that the tour and ritual eventually had to end. Here are some sketches that Kaho enhanced - and a few I had to do later from my phone/camera:
This spectacular castle deserved a more spectacular sketch, but our wonderful lunch distracted us a bit – at least that’s my excuse for this one.
For our first Nakasendo inn in Sekigahara, we discovered a Shinto Shrine near our inn. During the early morning sketch, I was approached by a Japanese man who asked where I was from. He liked the fact that I was sketching the shrine since he was about to do some maintenance work on its grounds.
On the following morning, we found a local shrine that was near our 17th century inn in Hosokute. The small building was in a spectacular red cedar forest backdrop.
While walking through some of the older portions of the Nakasendo, we emerged from the forest to a spectacular view of the valley and distant mountains. I did a rushed lunch sketch where I tried to capture too much of the vast scenic valley view.
Ena was a major post-town that still has a charming historic district and a contemporary museum devoted to Hiroshige – one of the chroniclers of the Nakasendo. We spent some time in the museum watching a video of the wood-block print process and then had an opportunity to do some quick wood block prints using a copies Hiroshige’s blocks. Our hotel was near the Agi River which like many of Japan’s rivers was now a delightful river park. This sketch tried to capture an old paper mill and the vermillion bridge in the distance that we would soon walk over on our way to the next leg of the Nakasendo.
Our uphill walk to Shinchaya (“New Tea House”) took us through a town that was celebrating the autumn harvest, so we took a break from our walk to watch the drums and some remnants of a parade. The villagers welcomed us with offers of beer and treats. When we finally arrived at the Shinchaya inn, it was in a spectacular setting that deserved more time and talent to sketch all the views and character of the inn. Lindy did some nice sketches under the morning sunrise, and I did a quick energetic impression of the inn. The inn proprietor was kind enough to sign my crude sketch of his inn that had more character than I was able to capture in a 10 minute sketch.
The next day we walked through Magome, one of the most picturesque post-town on the Nakasendo, where we saw a master watercolor artist doing a sketch of the town with his students. He did not speak English so I never learned his name, but his drawing and watercolor washes were inspirational. We later found him in Tsumago doing another wonderful sketch of this picturesque town, but we still couldn’t communicate with each other.
For our morning sketch, Lindy and I found this old seemingly abandoned tea house on a hill above our inn. The “fish hook” was a common device that allowed the tea kettle to be suspended at variable heights above the fire.
In Kiso Fukushima, we stayed at a modern western-style inn that had a roof-top onsen – public bath. The inn was still run by the same family for many generations. The town had many historic sights, including this stretch of old inns and storefronts that was getting ready for another autumn Shinto festival denoted by the numerous Shide, zig-zag lightening strips of paper.
Our next leg of the tour took us up to the Kaida Plateau that is dominated by Mt. Ontake, an active volcano which also has four large ski slopes. On our way to the Inn in the valley, we stopped for a special lunch at the Kotoda Poppo Shop which was run by a retired couple who served us amazing home-made pizza on their patio that had a spectacular view of the valley and Mt. Ontake. While I could not do a sketch during lunch, I did a quick sketch of our modern Japanese Inn that was in the shadow of Mt. Ontake.
On our way to Karuisawa, our final stay on the Nakasendo, we strolled through Narai. While savoring a quick lunch, Lindy and I did a quick sketch of the street of this old post-town.
Karuizawa was an unexpectedly high-class mountain resort town which treated us to a “top-class, historic inn.” There was so much to see during our morning walk that we settled on a simple sketch of a series of Buddhist figurines with their red scarfs underneath the Jinguji Temple gong – which was being loudly rung by the chanting attendant.
I close the Nakasendo Way sketches with a sketch done from my phone/camera of our tour group under the shadow of Mt. Ontake.
Tokyo
October 7-11, 2017
Our tour of Tokyo was led by Satoko and naturally started at the Nihonbashi Bridge – the start and end of the Nakasendo.
October 7-11, 2017
Our tour of Tokyo was led by Satoko and naturally started at the Nihonbashi Bridge – the start and end of the Nakasendo.
Satoko, our tour leader, did a great job of introducing us to the city of the shogun, the Imperial Palace, the Edo Castle grounds, and the Kiyosumi Teien, one of the best examples of a Japanese garden in Tokyo. All these sites deserved a few sketches, but after a full two days of touring I only did a couple of sketches from the luxury of our high-rise hotel room.
On our free days after the tour, we followed up Satoko’s suggestions, which included the small but delightful Sumida Hokusai Museum. I managed to get in a quick sketch while enjoying a post-museum snack:
On our last afternoon, we enjoyed a leisurely water ferry ride from Asakusa to Hama Rikyu garden where we did some sketching while overlooking Tokyo Bay:
 Finally, my Japan sketchbook is not complete without all the stamps I imprinted on the front and back end pages. These stamps were available at most tourist sites and were great collector items for kids…and sketchers. |
Many thanks to Lindy for her patience while I tried to get in "one more sketch"; to our amazing tour leaders Nami, Kaho and Satoko; and of course my fellow tourists: Susan and Bob, Ron and Julia, Beth and Alan, Jill and Caroline for all of their entertainment and comradery during many long walks. A special thanks to Susan and Bob for organizing the adventure and inspiring us to actually go!
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