Week 8 - Calligraphy, Seal Engraving & Zazen

久しぶり！ (Hisashiburi : Long time no see!)

Hey everyone, sorry for the long time since last message... I had been very busy with school & cultural activities! Here is what I did two weeks ago ;)

Week 8 : Calligraphy, Seal Engraving & Zazen (Seated Meditation)

Lot of activities on week 8! First of all we started with the Calligraphy and Seal Engraving at the International Salon of Kanazawa. I loved it! This is not as easy as just painting some lines. Calligraphy is really an art and you need a lot of practice to be able to paint a nice Kanji with the correct stroke orders, dimensions, spaces and lengths. Anyway with my beginner skills I had been able to draw some nice Kanji's that I could take with me at the end of the session. After the calligraphy we had the chance to create and engrave our own "Kanji" Seal in a stone.

The seal engraving designed our seals and we had to engrave it with some nice tools. Engraving in a stone is not an easy thing and you need to be strong but precise so you get nice lines. At the end of the engraving session we had to seal all our previously drawn calligraphy kanjis. Our favorite calligraphy has also been displayed in our school so everyone could enjoy them.

The next day we had the chance to go to a Temple where we could "learn" how to meditate. This meditation session (30 min) is called Zazen which means seated meditation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zazen). This meditation session was very interesting. Meditation is not easy and specially when sitting in a Lotus or Half-Lotus position. The Lotus positions consists of having the legs crossed in front of you. Half Lotus in only the left foot on the right one. Then you need to have you back perfectly straight. You have to keep your hand in front of you in a Cosmic Mudra position. Finally you have to have the eyes half opened half closed and look in front of you at an angle of 45°. Then meditate! Actually meditation is the art of not concentrating on any particular objet. You have to avoid to try to control your thoughts.

In this position and with a slow breathing you should automatically start to meditate. The essential thing is, by neither falling into distraction (thinking) nor dullness (drowsiness) to let zazen sit zazen (Actually this sentence is not from me but from the Zazen pamphlet).

This is all for this very interesting week! Here are the pictures...

Week 7 - Sakuras!

さくら、さくら！ (Sakura, Sakura)

Yes it is here! Now and for only a few days... The cherry blossoms just started and are about to finish soon... The weather was good and two days and I had the chance to enjoy different gardens and place with nice Sakuras. We could also enjoy the Kenrokuen of Kanazawa by night (Special days for Sakuras).

There are also some pictures of the sea side of Kanazawa with some Sakuras.

Here is a selection of Sakura's pictures I took during this week.

Week 7 - Tea Class

こんばんは。

This weekend I had the chance to do a Traditional Tea Ceremony class. This was very interesting and impressive. I enjoyed watching the precise movements for the Tea Ceremony. The movements are determined with an extreme precision and repeated for every tea you serve to your guest.

Long time ago, it was the Samurais who knew how to serve the Tea, specially when the had meetings between each others. But after the transmitted the knowledge to Geishas who served the Tea for them.

Thank you very much to the Tea Master - おちゃせんせい　(Ocha sensei) for teaching me the basics for Tea Serving in Japan.

Week 6 - Weekend in Noto Peninsula

こんばんは。

Again sorry for the long time no message, I was very busy these days with the Sakuras starting in Kanazawa. And the weather is good! Sunny and pretty warm (around 22 °C today) so I was out all these days to take pictures!

Weekend in Noto's Peninsula

Noto's peninsula trip was organized by the IFIE School. It was a two days trip with the French's and Thai's. Noto's is located North of Kanazawa and is known for it's traditional places, rice fields and nice landscapes. First we headed on the Beach Highway which is a road next to the sea. It was pretty funny, specially going with the bus on the beach... At this time the weather changed from a cloudy cold day to a pretty sunny weather.

After the beach we went to a Jinja Temple and as we were on a lucky day, we had the chance to assist to a traditional ceremony held for the God of Love. Three different priest had to make a hole through a target, one with a Bow, one with a Katana and one with a Spear. After this ceremony we headed for a Sea Side Viewpoint which was gorgeous with lot of rocks. The view was amazing! I love it... Finally before going to the Hotel, we went to a Buddhist temple where we could also assist a small ceremony. This ceremony was given by some of the students of the Temple supported by Masters.

At the hotel we could enjoy a small Public Bath but really relaxing after the long day of visits and walking...

Next day we went to the City Hall to see the traditional structures they use and used for the Rice ceremony at the end of summer, when they collect the rice. This ceremony is only held in this region and represents the thanks to the gods for the rice. After the City Hall visit and eating, we went to a special rice field's place. These rice fields are located on the sea side and have a lot of levels which is very nice and impressive. Finally we visited an old Samurai house.

This trip was very interesting and I will go back to Noto's peninsula to enjoy more of the sea side views and rice fields.

Week 6 - Pottery

Here are the first pictures of my ちゃわん (Chawan - Teacups)

Pottery is really hard to do and I admire the Pottery Master who does extremely nice things so fast. This time we had to lighten and clean up the teacups for the final day when we will paint them.

Week 5 - Weekend in Kyoto 2

Sorry for the late message, I had lot to do these days.

Pottery and this weekend : Noto Peninsula Visit! So I'll post 3 messages today :

1st : Weekend in Kyoto
2nd : Pottery
3rd : Noto Peninsula

Here is the end of my previous message about the Kyoto visit.
To continue our Kyoto trip for the Sakura's, we decided to head for the Arashiyama surroundings where we could possibly see some early Sakuras. Over there there was also supposed to be a Monkey Island with a Bamboo Forest. This place is north west of Kyoto and I suggest anyone to go and have a look, it is very nice :D

There were some Sakuras! And there were Monkeys too! That was cool. There are a lot of small shops everywhere selling sweets. Kyoto is famous for its sweets and there are so many different sweets! Anyway after walking around Arashiyama we went to this monkey place which was very funny and from there there was a gorgeous view of Kyoto! I liked it a lot and the monkeys where pretty cute and funny.

After this trip we headed back to Kanazawa. The trip in Kyoto was great with lot of interesting stuff. Hope to go back soon to enjoy more of the Sakuras before it ends.

Week 5 - Weekend in Kyoto Pictures