Animism - a Form of Respect for Nature.

Having been to Japan a year or two ago I've become aware of and impressed by many Japanese cultural characteristics. In particular I've liked their Shinto beliefs - especially the animistic aspects of it.

Mountain Ranunculus

Alpine Wahlenburgia

I've largely given up on the idea of religion but quite like the ideas involved in animism. I'm not into the idea of believing that 'god' exists in natural objects but rather that as a mark of a love of nature you freely gift a 'spirit' to a particular tree, rock, stream, mountain - any natural thing - as a token of respect and love.

A personal aspect of this respect can also be seen in the Japanese custom of bowing to one another and in India with their 'Namaste'.

I've just read Peter Hohllben's book on trees - his anthropomorphic style with trees thinking, talking and screaming was just too much for me but there was no denying his love of forests. He described the inter-connectedness of nature, its ephemeralism and, although he hardly mentioned it, we all share atoms or molecules with all of nature - we really are just one huge organism. And is there no death - as we perceive it?

Is there Death?

William Wordsworth, in 1798, after a year of wandering and communing with nature in the  Quantocks of Somerset walked with his sister, Dorothy, up the Wye Valley to near Tintern Abbey. When he returned he wrote

Five years have past; five summers, with the length 

Of five long winters! and again I hear 

These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs 

With a soft inland murmur

and later in the poem

For I have learned 

To look on nature, not as in the hour 

Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes 

The still sad music of humanity, 

Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power 

To chasten and subdue.—And I have felt 

A presence that disturbs me with the joy 

Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime 

Of something far more deeply interfused, 

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, 

And the round ocean and the living air, 

And the blue sky, and in the mind of man: 

A motion and a spirit, that impels 

All thinking things, all objects of all thought, 

And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still 

A lover of the meadows and the woods 

And mountains; and of all that we behold 

From this green earth; of all the mighty world 

Of eye, and ear,—both what they half create, 

And what perceive; well pleased to recognise 

In nature and the language of the sense 

The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, 

The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul 

Of all my moral being.


He was a bit of an animist, I think.

Luschious Life after Death

Beautiful Life after Death

I love my photography and have put together a 'large' number of my photos of nature - sunrises and settings, scenery, weather moods, people, animals, fungi and trees etc. I've combined them into a sort of screen saver with some church music (Rachmaninov) - yes I still enjoy the music from churches. They are usually songs of praise - and for me now, praise of nature. Anyway in my dotage I intend to spend a bit of my time sitting with a glass of wine enjoying 'my' nature. Hopefully, Catherine will sit with me now and then, when she is having a rest from saving the planet.

A Two Week Autumn Tour of Central Japan - 2016

Recently Catherine, her sister Margaret and I visited Japan for two weeks during the autumn season. Although about a week too early for the best of the colours we saw enough of them to appreciate the beauty especially in mountainous central Japan. We started in Tokyo - seeing the usual things and had a short attempt at printing Japanese woodcut blocks with David Bull in Asakusa, near the old Senso-ji Temple.

Tokyo - Reflection of Tokyo Tower from our room.

Japanese Printmaking Bench - Tokyo

We journeyed westwards into the mountains to Kamikochi and then across to the west side of Japan by an amazing variety of transports. On the Trans Alpine route it went - train, bus, tramcar, trolley bus, walk, underground cablecar, ropeway, trolley bus again, bus - and finally by cable car down through forest to Tatayama. I was amazed by the huge Kurobe dam with volcanic activity of the Tateyama thermal area only a short distance away - Japanese fatalism perhaps? Our highlights were the day walk in the Kamikochi area, the crossing of the Alps, the train journey up the Kurobe gorge and the overnight stay in the traditional Gokyama village. And later, of course, Kyoto where we met Tsukiko a friend who lives there.

Kamikochi Valley (Photo: Catherine Smith)

Kamikochi Lake

Kamikochi Forest

Alps Autumn Colours

Autumn Colours

From Kanazawa we travelled by fast express down to Kyoto. Here we visited several gardens on our first day and next day were delighted to meet Tsukiko, a friend we had met in New Zealand. She gave us a generous tour of some gardens - more spacious and less populated than on our previous day.  She also honoured us with a sumptuous meal at her home in central Kyoto.

Gokyama

River Fish Cooking in Traditional Way

Arashiyama Bamboo Walk (Photo: CHS)

Traditional Dress in Kanazawa Garden

Golden Temple, Kyoto

Margaret, Tsukiko, Catherine - Kyoto

Kyoto Garden

Kyoto Garden

And so back to Tokyo in the 'Bullet Train', shinkansen. Very fast, very efficient and as we found in all our travel by public transport, you can set your watch by the train times. I was nearly cut in half by being half a nanosecond late getting off a train!

Japanese Excellence in Food Presentation (Sashimi)

Geisha (Photo: Catherine Smith)

I was deeply impressed by Japan and its people. Despite their high population and modernism they adhere to their traditional customs. They are hard working and disciplined people with very polite, kind and respectful attitudes. While I admire the different cultural characteristics of the world's peoples I do like the idea of adopting the best of all things - at the same time preserving our own cultural identities. As we have with food.

Our tour was organised by Journeys to the East; it was guided by excellent English speaking local guides and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Japanese Print Party

We had a free day in Tokyo, Japan recently.  On the basis of a recommendation from a Whangarei printmaker at a workshop I attended a month or so ago, I arranged for Catherine and me (and Margaret, her sister) to have a morning shot at Japanese printmaking. This happened at Mokuhankan a print making facility in the Asakusa district within a short walk of the Senso-ji Temple - the oldest temple in Tokyo. The print workshop is run by David Bull, an English-born Canadian, who has lived in Tokyo for over 25 years. The procedure for the event is to pay a fee of $20 and for that you have the opportunity and guidance to make your own prints from existing woodblocks.

I learned a lot from David Bull.  The design, woodblock production and printing are traditionally carried out by separate craftsmen in Japan . Unusually, David does both block cutting and printing. He also has a staff who also assist with both. I was interested in the differences between the Japanese and other printmaking methodologies that I'm used to. For instance the ink is water based, it is applied by brush rather than roller and a baren is used rather than a press. The effects are very pleasing.

Print Bench (red, blue, yellow, black colours) and blocks

Note brushes for applying ink and baren for pressure. (Photo: Margaret Prentice)

Catherine and I both did three prints each and Catherine produced the least flawed print! Margaret took photos!


Back home, I looked at David's videos of his production of his own woodblock and prints of the famous print by Hokusai, "The Great Wave" - a marvellous exposition of attention to detail and craftsmanship. Very well worth looking at the "Wave ..." production here and his work more generally here.

Catherine's Print