Damage Control

There’s nothing quite like posting incorrect information in a web video to get people’s attention. No sooner had I posted the video on conserving the “green monster” than I heard from the usually-so-quiet conservators. I had misunderstood the use of a Japanese seaweed called funori. Time for this non-conservator to do some damage control in the area of information. Here’s how it really happened…
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Ikebana to Art

So I have this great idea for an exhibit. The de Young museum has their Bouquets to Art, the Asian can do an ikebana show. What is ikebana? It’s the Japanese art of flower arrangement but it’s much more than that. It’s really a disciplined art form using minimalism such that an arrangement may consist of only a minimal number of blooms interspersed among stalks and leaves. The container is also a key element of the composition. It is said that the samurai used ikebana along with the tea ceremony to focus their concentration and gain peace of mind before going into battle. Pair it with some artwork from the museum’s permanent collection or it can just stand on its own and I think this could be a good exhibit, plus a new flower arrangement can be setup after a week to keep it fresh. What do you think?

Museum director bushido

Our director, Dr. Jay Xu, is a good natured guy with a warm sense of humor. He usually likes to crack jokes at our monthly morning staff meetings, but at our most recent one just last week, he went the extra mile.

Dressed up in our custom made samurai armor (which you may have already seen), I think it’s safe to say that his goofy spiritedness lent our staff meeting a nice touch.

The ruse was that Jay was running late (he usually presents first), so our director of marketing and communications got up to present the marketing plan for Lords of the Samurai. In the middle of the presentation, Jay swaggered in from the back of the hall, beating on his chest.
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Chambara

How much do I love Japanese cinema?  Don’t get me started.   When I lived in Los Angeles, the only person who went to more screenings of the American Cinemateque’s Japanese Outlaw Masters Series was Quentin Tarantino.  I’m not entirely sure he didn’t set up camp in the parking lot, calling out for delivery so he didn’t have to miss any of the yakuza-psychedelic-bushido bounty.

Maybe that’s a little hyperbolic, but whatever.  Anyhow, I’m working hard at re-watching as much of the samurai canon as possible in advance of finalizing our DVD orders, and I realize that somehow I haven’t seen everything.  How could that be?  Actually, I’m relieved that there are still treasures to be discovered.  And the ones I’m revisiting?  I still love my favorites and can happily find new details over which to obsess.
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tea master coming to sf

I am looking forward to seeing tea presentations by the Future Grand Master of the Mushakoji Senke tradition of tea, Sen So-oku. This gentleman is the heir apparent to one of the oldest and most important tea traditions spanning 400+ years back to Sen Rikyu. When his father, the 14th generation head, passes on or retires, he will become the 15th generation head or “iemoto” of the tradition.

Program details will be posted on the website soon, but if you wish to save the date, he will present on June 12 and June 13.

our wonderful guests

The scene:

May Target Sunday (our monthly free day) at the museum, around 4pm or so. Our very special guests, Lopen Netem and Lopen Gyem, are monks from Bhutan who have been here since February to protect the sacred artworks in The Dragon’s Gift. Throughout the run of the exhibition, visitors have been privy to their daily purification rituals for the objects, as part of our artists-in-residency program, AsiaAlive.

Here, the charming monks have attracted quite an inquisitive crowd of diverse folks, demonstrating the stirring sounds of an instrument (sorry, I don’t know its name!). The infectious energy, folks’ curiosity, and monks’ sweet smiles of sharing and pride all make for a somewhat poignant moment.

And some photos:

If you’re around, come by and say “Kuzu zampo” (hello!) to our special guests. The show closes on May 10.

Sand mandalas at the museum

Only six days remain in the run of our exhibition The Dragon’s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan, and I think everyone at the museum will be sorry to see it go. The visiting Bhutanese monks, Lopen Neten Dorji and Lopen Gyem Dorji, have been wonderful. Visitors can observe them performing daily purification rituals and prayers (puja) for sacred objects in the exhibition at 11:00 and 3:00 on most days. They have also created two beautiful sand mandalas. A detail from one is shown above.
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