Category: Japan

I have been in Kyoto for two days now.  Today, Sunday, we got up at 5:00am to get to the biggest temple flea market in Kyoto by 6:00.  3 1/2 hours was not nearly enough time to see half the stalls, much less take in the temple and gardens.  I chose a beautiful stack (mountain?) of men’s and women’s kimonos which took three of us with four bags each to drag to the car half a mile away.  We were also carrying a cast iron lantern and the backpack mentioned below.  This is a strange and wonderful culture.  I found a 200 year old Edo period raincoat with rare Edo patterns of indigo dyeing and a huge, 100 year old, leather, herbalist’s backpack with perhaps 20 woven trays and one hundred sections for healing herbs.  Continue reading 2nd Day in Kyoto

I have now been in Japan a bit more than 24 hours in Kyoto.  I so love it here!  Got in late and was picked up by a good friend, Rhett, at 7:15pm at Starbucks across from the new train station.  We went out to my favorite (to date) Okinawa restaurant.  Having been up for 30 hours with no sleep, I slept well in Rhett’s guest room from 12:00am until 6:00am this morning when we needed to be up to get to a country auction up in the mountains 1 1/2 hours from Kyoto that started at 7:50am.  It was cold and raining hard all morning, but at least they let me stand under the roof this time!  Eight hours of standing on cold concrete in the windy winter was a painful, but amazing adventure.  No one is allowed in these auctions without a license.  Rhett thinks I’m cool enough to slip in, white skin and all.  We found lots of crazy good pieces straight out of Kyoto area country homes. Continue reading 24 Hours in Kyoto

Yesterday, as we were preparing for our Japan show and opening party, I stumbled across an 18th century folding screen painting by a well-known Japanese artist, Okyo Maruyama.  This kind of discovery is something that only occurs in the movies, on the Antiques Road Show, or in daydreams.  We have been working on the group of twenty Japanese folding screens that arrived recently.  I was in Japan in March collecting for David Alan Collection and purchased an amazing assortment of 90-300 year old screens. Continue reading Discovery

On my first morning in Kyoto I walked into an 800-year-old temple garden. When confronted by the precision of elegantly raked sand, vivid mounds of spring-green moss, and 400-year old windswept pines, I stood stock still, deeply touched, and unable to move forward. I’d found perfection. In this garden, man and nature merged to create a simple, absolute gift. This was one of those rare moments when thought utterly disappears and inexplicable joy takes its place. Continue reading The Gateway to Heaven

(Below is an excerpt from a letter I wrote home to America while I was in Japan in early March 2011, a day before the earthquake and tsunami hit)

Japan, at last, I’ve come home (to you). As I walk the streets, visit galleries, warehouses, and auctions, I feel I know these gardens, and temples. I get chills of awe and recognition hourly. As I wander though a 700-year-old temple garden,  I’m stopped in my tracks by a flash of sunlight filtered though the bare trees landing on a bed of moss so green it glows. Tigers come alive for me on a 200-year-old folding screen. Temple bells ring long and true. I’m home. Continue reading Japan: A Culture of Quality

Hi Folks,

The weeks fly by, yet even last month seems like a year ago. Life is full of challenges and fun, projects and beauty. My internal 2011 clock is suspended when I travel. Days, dates, and even seasons slip by almost unnoticed as I explore and enjoy the diverse cultures of Bali, Thailand, Laos, Montana, Japan, San Diego, and Bali again. Continue reading Hi Folks