Kasa

Kasa  © 2010 Darren DeRidder.
Umbrella detail, Kinosaki, Japan

Itsukushima Jinja

UNESCO World Heritage Site, Itsukushima Shrine, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.

Itsukushima Jinja
© 2014 Darren DeRidder. Originally uploaded by 73rhodes

Kenka Matsuri II

Kenka Matsturi - the Battle Festival, Himeji, Japan. ©2012 Darren DeRidder

Kenka Matsuri

Participants in the Kenka Masturi (Fight Festival) carrying a shrine, Himeji, Japan

© 2012 Darren DeRidder

Sanjusangen-do

Kyoto, Japan

©2012 Darren DeRidder

Toufukuji Garden Path

Toufukuji Temple, Kyoto, Japan

© 2012 Darren DeRidder

Fushimi Inari Shrine

Kyoto, Japan.

© Darren DeRidder

Nagoya Castle

Nagoya, Japan.

©2012 Darren DeRidder

Pub Night

Ishigaki, Japan

©2012 Darren DeRidder

Whenever I visit Japan I'm always struck by the odd sense of scale. Everything is slightly more compact, and space is used much more efficiently than we're used to in North America. This seems especially evident in cities where the compactness of buildings has an additive effect that can skew my perception of distance and perspective. What appears to be a large office building in the far distance can turn out to be a a mere 1-minute walk away, and fit within four of our typical parking spaces. Of course, there are large buildings in Japan, big shopping arcades and all, but the way things are arranged within them is still done with an eye towards efficiency and flow that's unfamiliar to someone who's used to rambling through the chaotic unkempt aisles of their suburban big box shopping plaza.  It's one of the things I like about Japan. The tight and tidy use of space, the feeling that its a precious commodity, and that it's used with respect and gratitude.  This scene, taken in what you might call a "back alley" in downtown Ishigaki, isn't at all atypical. Tucked between a row of darkened doors, a little pub, open late, with the noren curtain veiling the entrance and a warm glow spilling out onto the pavement through the glass panes of the sliding doors.  Irashaimase! yells the owner as you duck inside. Welcome!

In The Jungle

Okinawa, Japan

©2012 Darren DeRidder

Holding Hands

Taketomi Island, Okinawa, Japan

© 2012 Darren DeRidder

Rocky Shore

Okinawa, Japan

© 2012 Darren DeRidder

Toudai (Lighthouse)

Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan

©2012 Darren DeRidder

A Far Distant Island

Okinawa, Japan

©2012 Darren DeRidder

The North Shore

Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan

©2012 Darren DeRidder

Geta

Geta
© 2010 Darren DeRidder. Originally uploaded by soto voce
Sandals for guests in the entryway of a ryokan. Kinosaki, Japan.

Yasaka Jinja

Yasaka Jinja, Kyoto, Japan

© 2011 Darren DeRidder

Himeji-jo Corridor

Himeji-jo Corridor
© 2010 Darren DeRidder. Originally uploaded by soto voce

A room within one of the outer walls of Himeji Castle, Himeji, Japan.

Himeji-jo no Kabe

Himeji-jo no Kabe
© 2010 Darren DeRidder. Originally uploaded by soto voce

Himeji castle wall, Himeji, Japan

Japanese Craftsmanship

In his wonderful and comprehensive book, "Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings", first published in 1885 and now available from Google Books, Edward S. Morse writes the following delightful description of Japanese home-building craftsmanship.

Within these houses there are often to be seen marvels of exquisite carving, and the perfection of cabinet work; and surprise follows surprise, as one becomes more fully acquainted with the interior finish of these curious and remarkable dwellings.

... as to altering the present plan of housebuilding... If such changes are effected, then will perish many of the best features of true Japanese art, which has been the surprise and admiration of Western nations, and of which in the past they have been the unwitting cause of modification and degradation it has already undergone.

A somewhat extended experience with the common everyday carpenter at home leads me to say, without fear of contradiction, that in matters pertaining to their craft the Japanese carpenters are superior to American. Not only do they show their superiority in their work, but in their versatile ability in making new things. It is a notorious fact that most of the carpenters in our smaller towns and villages are utterly incompetent to carry out any special demand made upon them, outside the building of the conventional two-storied house and ordinary roof. They stand bewildered in the presence of a window-projection or cornice outside the prescribed ruts with which they and their fathers were familiar. Indeed, in most cases their fathers were not carpenters, nor will their children be; and herein alone the Japanese carpenter has an immense advantage over the American, for his trade, as well as other trades, have been perpetuated through generations of families. The little children have been brought up amidst the odor of fragrant shavings, -- have with childish hands performed the duties of an adjustable vice or clamp; and with the same tools which when children they have handed to their fathers, they have in later days earned their daily rice.

When I see one of our carpenters' ponderous tool-chests, made of polished woods, inlaid with brass decorations, and filled to repletion with several hundred dollars' worth of highly polished and elaborate machine-made implements, and contemplate the work done with them, -- with everything binding that should go loose, and everything rattling that should be tight, and much work that has to be done twice over, with an indication everywhere of a poverty of ideas, -- and then recall the Japanese carpenter with his ridiculously lights and flimsy tool-box containing a meager assortment of rude and primitive tools, -- considering the carpentry of the two people, I am forced to the conviction that civilization and modern appliances count as nothing unless accompanied with a moiety of brains and some little taste and wit.

It is a very serious fact that now-a-days no one in our country is acquiring faithfully the carpenter's trade. Much of this lamentable condition of things is no doubt due to the fact that machine-work has supplanted the hand-work of former times. Doors, blinds, sashes, mouldings are now turned out by the cord and mile, and all done in such greedy haste, and with the greenest of lumber, that if it does not tumble to pieces in transportation it is sure to do so very soon after entering into the house-structure. Nevertheless, the miserable truth yet remains that any man who has nailed up a few boxes, or stood in front of a circular saw for a few months, feels competent to exercise all the duties of that most honorable craft, -- the building of a house.