I just received installation shots from the exhibition of Japanese textiles currently on view at The Douglas Hyde Gallery at Trinity College in Dublin.  I’ve introduced the exhibition in an earlier post, so please scroll down and have a look.

Above are shown, from left to right, an Ainu elm bark (ohyo) attush, an Okinawan banana leaf fiber (bashofu) kimono, an indigo dyed shifu or woven paper noragi or work coat, a sakiori or rag woven hanten with sashiko stitched cotton sleeves and a very fine okusozakkuri or work coat woven from hemp debris.

Above, to the right of the okusozakkuri shown in the first photo are a hemp stitched indigo dyed cotton boro noragi and, finally, a kogin stitched kimono from Tsugaru, Aomori Precture at the Easternmost tip of Honshu Island.

The director and staff of The Douglas Hyde Gallery did a marvelous job installing this exhibit and I’m terribly proud to have collaborated with them on this show.

Over time, disparate sets of friends in Japan have told me that Joruriji, a Heian Period (794-1185) temple, was their favorite in all Japan.   On this recent trip to Japan, with two good friends, on a cool autumn day amid beautifully diffused light, I visited Joruriji.  I now understand my friends’ feelings: Joruriji, remote, soulful and still, is a remarkable haven of peaceful beauty.

The temple, above, is located in the countryside of Kyoto Prefecture and houses nine remarkable, large scale gilt wood images of Amida Buddha in supremely peaceful postures.  These images of the Buddha indicate the nine levels of enlightenment and suggest the paradise which awaits in the afterlife.  The nine Buddhas are housed in the perfect place for this purpose as this is a stunning location.

Feral cats–many of them–have the run of the place, as this one does.  The carp and turtles in the temple pond seem curious about him, although they must know him: this blond tom seems to be one of the more dominant cats of the group.

This is the approach to Joruriji.  Notice the rustic, almost unkempt feeling: this “natural” look is beautiful, and is unlike most of Kyoto’s countless other temples which are impeccably maintained.

The golden sheaths of rice, above, indicate autumn, as do the wild cosmos, below, which were seen in profusion around Joruriji and its environs.  Just lovely.