Vignettes of the World
I have been doing a whole lot of autumn excursions, particularly in photographing red foliage scenery. There have been innumerable posts online showing the beautiful Bald Cypress in Lau Shui Heung. I have previously written about the Lau Shui Heung Country Trail loop, and so …
We picked a restaurant randomly for Restaurant Week and came across CulinArt 1862. We figured that it was part of the Towngas Avenue brand dining establishment because of its location and the 1862 reference. This has inspired me to look a bit deeper into Towngas …
The Jao Tsung-I Academy celebrates and memorializes the legendary life of Jao Tsung-I, a sinologist of many talents in arts and history. I took a walk at the venue and joined a public tour.
Jao Tsung-I was very accomplished in Chinese learning and fine arts. Born in Chaozhou (Chiu Chow), Jao Tsung-I came from an incredibly wealthy family that had 4 banks. His mother died when he was just 2 years old. At 11 years old, he stopped formal schooling. Instead, he just learned by reading in his home library. His father wrote a book on Chiu Chow. When he was 16, his father died. Jao took over the book writing.
At age 22 he became a researcher in Sun Yatsen University. In Hong Kong, he brushed shoulders with the literati. In 1949, he immigrated to Hong Kong. At age 35, he was already a professor at University of Hong Kong on classical literature, with research in a broad spectrum of historic Chinese interests such as dance, music, classical Chinese, the arts, and oracle script. Much of the learning in these academic fields are reflected in his artwork. He dedicated his life to the learning and teaching of classical Chinese. Innumerable awards and honors have been conferred to him for his work.
Photo above: The most significant artwork of Professor Jao.
Jao Tsung-I passed away at the very advanced age of 100 in 2018. He did live to see the day of opening of the Academy that celebrates his life. He left behind a rich heritage that constitutes the core substance of the Jao Tsung-I Academy today.
There are three sections in the Jao Tsung-I Academy. The very upper section is up on the hill. With five buildings there they are now serving as the Heritage Lodge, a hotel. In the middle section, the buildings were once the wards for the prisoners and the patients.
In the Lower section, the blocks retain their original red brick appearance. Together these buildings have had a long history in serving various purposes for the government and the community throughout its 114 years, pretty much as the needs arose.
As the former Lai Chi Kok Hospital, the structures of the Jao Tsung-I Academy were built between 1921 and 1924. All of the structures are of red brick, a common feature for colonial-era buildings in Hong Kong. Due to its history serving as healthcare and prison institutions, including as the quarantine center for infectious deceases, the buildings in the middle and upper sections were reinforced with very heavy layers of concrete and sealed with white paint.
During the restoration, effort was made to remove this thick layer of concrete and its white paint in the former wards of the middle section, as a means to reveal the very original face of the blocks. However, it proved to be too difficult to do so for all six blocks. Therefore, only the middle block shows the part of original red bricks now. The buildings in the lower section show the original red brick structures, as they served mostly as staff quarters and administrative units during the Academy’s former lives.
Photo above: This photo shows the parts of the red brick walls that were revealed after removing the concrete and the white paint during the restoration, as an illustration of the original appearance of the blocks in the middle section.
Architecturally, the red brick buildings are eclectic in style due to the combined use of the red bricks and the traditional pitched roofs showing double Chinese tiles.
The former hospital and prison wards in the middle and upper sections were of the utilitarian design, with external staircases in most of the blocks.
Photo above: The small garden pond in the lower section was carefully designed.
Most parts of its history do come with some stigma. In its long succession of many different roles, Jao Tsung-I Academy had been the a quarantine station for approaching vessels, Lai Chi Kok Prison, a specialist hospital for infectious deceases (including leprosy), a psychiatric hospital, and a psychiatric rehabilitation center in the 20th century.
The former Jao Tsung-I Academy stood on the coastline before the reclamation of the Mei Foo area. Its location in this part of Kowloon west also bears upon its previous role in the community. During the late 19th century, the Qing government had set up a customs station close by, called Kowloon Customs. The stone plaque with the inscription “Kowloon Customs Boundary” stands at the east hillside of the site as a testament to this early history.
Amongst the older generation of Hong Kong people there is this common phrase “being sold off as piglets,” referring to the practice of sending off people to do manual labor in foreign countries, as coolies. During a brief period of two years in the early 19th century, the British firm Swire (Taikoo) borrowed the name of The Chamber of Mines Labour Importation Agency and built “pigpens” at the former Jao Tsung-I site. This location served as the laborers’ quarters for those who would be ready for involuntary or voluntary servitude. The workers were held here before they were being sent off to sea at the pier very nearby. Many of those workers were heading off for the gold mines of South Africa.
As the Lai Chi Kok Prison, the Jao Tsung-I Academy took in the prisoner population that crowded the Victoria Prison. It had a good reputation despite being a place of confinement. The Lai Chi Kok Prison was considered a “model prison,” with rehabilitation as its objective. The conditions and treatment here were humane. Female prisoners could raise their children here for three years.
In 2008, the Antique and Monuments Office gave the Jao Tsung-I Academy a rating of Grade 3 Historic Building. The revitalization of the Jao Tsung-I Academy was the very first batch of projects under the government’s Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme, which began in 2008. The partner in this revitalization effort is the Hong Kong Institute for Promotion of Chinese Culture. As it is named after a preeminent sinologist, the Jao Tsung-I Academy is now the venue for cultural and educational activities.
On-site facilities include multiple museums displaying the arts of Jao Tsung-I himself, a Heritage Hall explaining the history of the site, a higher-end restaurant serving western cuisine (House of Joy), a smaller coffee shop (Timeless Café), and a heritage hotel that welcomes pets. The former prison and hospital wards now serve as the cultural space, showcasing exhibitions and holding seminars for a rental fee.
Beyond the initial contribution by the Hong Kong Government, there is no more subsidy for the running of the Jao Tsung-I Academy. It is operated as an NGO with self-sufficiency.
The Jao Tsung-I Academy is located on 800 Castle Peak Road. Although most people think that the only way to get there is to walk from the Mei Foo MTR Station, there are actually many bus routes (heading the Shatin direction) that stop right outside of the Academy. Please see above picture showing you the bus routes.
Descriptions on site at the Jao Tsung-I Academy.
Public tour at the Jao Tsung-I Academy.
The website of the Jao Tsung-I Academy.
The bloggers and photographers in Hong Kong have been raving about the red foliage that has lined up the public parks in Shenzhen. I jumped on the bandwagon and visited two parks. I first visited the Sihai Park in Shekou, then headed over to the …
I had limited time in the day. My reserved table at the Unagiya Hirokawa Restaurant would be up at 2pm, and I spent too much time at the bamboo grove. After some debate, I decided that I would see the Okochi-Sanso Villa, despite initial doubts. …
If you have only limited time in Arashiyama, I highly recommend three sites to visit: the bamboo grove, the Tenryu-ji Temple and the Okochi-Sanso Villa. After walking the bamboo grove, I entered the Tenryu-ji Temple via the North Gate.
One dominant theme of the temples in the Arashiyama region is that they are representatives of Zen Buddhism. The Tenryu-ji Temple in Arashiyama is considered the top temple for Zen Buddhism, specifically the Rinzai school of the Zen tradition. For this reason alone, you should definitely pay a visit at the Tenryu-ji Temple.
Needless to say, the environment at the temple is serene, as surrounded by the mountains of the Arashiyama area. I found its gardens to be one of the most beautiful I had seen in Kyoto in this trip.
As said below, most of the standing structures at the Tenryu-ji Temple were the work of the Meiji period in the 19th century due to many significant fires. However, the Sogenchi Garden was the very original that was designed by founding abbot Muso Soseki in the 14th century.
Indeed, the Temple suggests a scenic route for tourists to immerse in the beautiful nature at the temple grounds.
As said in my previous entry, the bamboo groves in this area were the garden adornment for the royal villas and temples. Some of the bamboo groves remain in the Tenryu-ji Temple. At this time of the year, the evergreen of the bamboo is juxtaposed with the unbridled flush of the red foliage, as if nature murmured joy through the curtain of bamboo stillness with the boisterous ruffles of a clever red muse. I soaked in the generous sunshine of the day and wished that I could stay.
A final word about sightseeing at the Tenryu-ji Temple. The Cloud Dragon painting lines the ceiling of the Hatto (the Dharma Hall), where the didactics of Buddhism took place between the master and the monks. There is an additional fee to see this painting, and I did not see it. The Dharma Hall of the Tenryu-ji Temple now serves ceremonial purposes.
Before the official founding of the Tenryu-ji Temple, the same site had a long history intertwined in both imperial and religious heritage. “In the ninth century Empress Tachibana no Kachiko founded the temple Danrin-ji, Japan’s first Zen temple, on the present site of Tenryu-ji. After the temple fell into disrepair the site was used by the emperors Go-Saga and Kameyama as a detached palace (in the 13th century).” (tenryuji.com). Due to Danrin-ji’s history as its predecessor, the Tenryu-ji is recognized as the first Zen temple of Japan, which really is an exceptional designation. Zen Buddhism is a philosophical practice that has far-reaching contemporary influence as it was introduced to Japan from China and then popularized in the west by Japan.
There were two significant names associated with the establishment of the Tenryu-ji Temple. The standard historic descriptions state that the shogun Ashikaga Takauji converted the former royal grounds into the Tenryu-ji Temple in memory of Emperor Go-Daigo, the year that Emperor Go-Daigo died.
In line with the theme of shogunate history in Kyoto, I wish to tell the briefest version of the story between shogun Ashikaga Takauji and Emperor Go-Daigo as the context in understanding the imperial-religious heritage of Tenryu-ji Temple. First of all, Emperor Go-Daigo grew up in the royal villa in Kameyama’s time and received his education on this very site. Emperor Go-Daigo successfully overthrew the first shogunate, the Kamakura shogunate, in 1333. Following his victory he founded the Kenmu Restoration, in which time a very short-lived imperial control of real power was instituted. That brief time of only three years would be the very last time that the Japanese emperors wielded actual power, until the Meiji period.
The shogun Ashikaga Takauji overthrew the Kenmu Restoration in 1336, as a result, establishing the Ashikaga shogunate, based in Kyoto. What followed was a split of the imperial family into the Northern Court in Kyoto and the Southern Court in Yoshino. Emperor Go-Daigo remained in the Southern Court until his death in 1339.
Emperor Go-Daigo, his name meaning “the latter Daigo,” chose his own posthumous name after Emperor Daigo of the Engi era (901-923). Emperor Daigo is the emperor that abdicated the throne and practiced Buddhism as a monk in present-day Daigo-ji Temple, also in Kyoto. This fact shows amply of the way that the Japanese emperors allude to their own royal history as a practice, showing the emperor’s admiration of their predecessors’ legacies that inspired them.
Photo: The Main Hall (Abbot’s Quarter)
The founding abbot of the Tenryu-ji Temple was Zen master Muso Soseki. Meaning the “Heavenly Dragon Temple,” Tenryu-ji is ranked first in the “Five Zen Mountains of Kyoto,” as the lineage of Muso Soseki had resulted in a flourishing of Zen literary culture.
Perhaps of particular interest to Chinese visitors would be the way that Muso Soseki sought to finance the construction of the Tenryu-ji Temple. Muso Soseki sent the ship named Tenryu-ji to China during the 14th century Yuan dynasty to engage in trade. This had resulted in the temple completing its construction by 1343 or so.
As with so many wooden temples in Japan, the Tenryu-ji had been destroyed by fire numerous times throughout its long history. Most of the structures standing today were the reconstruction of the Meiji period in late 19th to the early 20th century.
Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in Tang dynasty China. It emphasizes both meditation and teaching, in that one should develop insights into one’s own Buddha nature and practice the expression of such traits in daily life to benefit the self and the others.
In the practice of the Japanese Rinzai school, introspection is based upon a set of koan recitations. Monks are to “become one” with their koan. There are both intellectual and personal aspects to Rinzai meditation, including standard answers, but the masters do demand monks to have a spiritual understanding of the text. It is said that the traditional Japanese Rinzai koan curriculum can take 15 years for a full-time monk to complete.
Rinzai founder Myoan Eisai (1141-1215) traveled to China to study Zen as a separate school and returned to establish a Linji lineage. This might have been the beginning of Zen as a standalone Buddhist tradition in Japan.
The official website of Tenryuji (tenryuji.com).
The Wikipedia on Emperor Go-Daigo.
The Wikipedia on Daigo-ji.
The Wikipedia on Zen.
In my original planning, I envisioned spending one full day in Arashiyama’s most famous sites, including the bamboo grove, the Tenryu-ji Temple, Jojakko-ji Temple, Nison-in Temple and the Okochi-Sanso Villa. Those I have done on the first day indeed (and more). As it turned out, …
From the Kiyomizu-dera Temple I headed toward the direction of the Yasaka-jinja Shrine. I was quite tired, as in this day I have visited the Nijo Castle and have had to bear the cold at the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. I pressed on, however, as I wanted …
The adventurous lunch of the day was at a convenience store. I have long heard that the convenience stores of Japan serve up wonderful egg salad sando’s. And it certainly lived up to its good name.
From the 7-Eleven, going on Matsubara-dori, was a gentle walk up to reach the Kiyomizu-dera Temple, which lies at the foothill range from the peak of the Otowa Mountain. Located on the eastern side of Kyoto, this area is called Higashiyama, meaning “Eastern Mountain,” with rolling ridges in the mountainous range.
While the walk was easy, there was a throng of tourists and expect to not really being able to walk at your own pace.
There were plenty of shops on the sides selling beautiful Japanese crafts, as well as snacks of all kinds in the flavor spectrum.
At this touristy spot, Kyoto was festive and lively. The air became increasingly fresh as one continued to climb up, and the autumn colors came into view, from the evergreen that was the pine trees to the dark amber and flushed scarlet of the Japanese maple and the shrubs of Azaleas. The trees at the Kiyomizu-dera Temple are mostly of one species, namely of the Japanese maple, and as such when they change colors, they do so uniformly.
The sensation of viewing a large swathe of crimson foliage was much more than what meets the eye. At this season, the nature of Kyoto exhibits a repertoire of colors, the very tone of which warms up the atmosphere, fully compensating for the cold currents that were circulating in the air. It was a warmth that enters through one’s vision into the depths of the soul. I was moved, to say the least, by the brilliant display of nature’s craftsmanship.
The appearance of the Niomon Gate indicates the entrance into one of the most worshipped sites in Kyoto.
Meaning “The Pure Water Monastery,” the Kiyomizu-dera Temple stands holy on Mt. Otowa, by the Otowa spring, which still flows today. The resident deity Kannon, known for compassion, graces the Kiyomizu-dera Temple.
Kannon is an 11-headed and thousand-armed Bodhisattva. Chiefly in the teaching of the Kiyomizu-dera Temple was the idea that Buddhism contributes to the society. Since the times of the chief abbot of the temple, Ryokei Onishi Wajo, the temple has been committed to the work of the public good, including the caring of the elderly and disaster victims.
The Kiyomizu-dera Temple was born of the vision of Monk Enchin Shonin from Nara. It was founded in the year 778 A.D. At that distant point in history, Japan’s capital was in Nara, until the Emperor relocated his seat of authority to Kyoto in 794 A.D., in his attempt to avoid the increasingly intermeddling influence of the Nara Buddhists in matters of politics.
Having received this vision, Enchin Shonin came to Kyoto. He met an ascetic Buddhist, Gyoei-koji, who instructed him to build a sacred statue of Kannon. That was how Enchin Shonin came to guard the sacred hut of Gyoei-koji by the waterfall, and eventually established the temple. Two years later, warrior Sakanoue-no-Tamuramaro was hunting in this location for deer. Having met Enchin Shonin, he learned about the teachings of compassion. As shogun Tamuramaro, he was the benefactor of the Kiyomizu-dera Temple in establishing it and improving the site significantly.
The Buddhists of Japan have long had influence in politics and society, and the Kiyomizu-dera Temple was no exception. It is said that the Kiyomizu-dera Temple was a rivalry of the Kofuku-ji Temple.
When chief abbot Ryokei Onishi Wajo took over the leadership of the temple in 1965, he adopted the Hosso Sect of Nara Buddhism, and Kiyomizu-dera Temple became the representative of the Kita (Northern) Hosso Sect.
The current structures standing in Kiyomizu-dera Temple were constructed in 1633 on the orders of shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, who had also made significant effort in expanding the structures of the Nijo Castle. All of the wooden structures were destroyed by fire for many times, and they were reconstructed numerous times in their history. Architecturally, there has been not one nail used in building these structures, this is a wonder in terms of technique, but common in all of Japan’s ancient buildings.
In the winter, the Kiyomizu-dera Temple is lit up for night scenery amidst its fall foliage, and it would be an understatement to call it fantastic. I really encourage visitors to plan for night scenery viewing in the Kiyomizu-dera Temple (and other temples in Kyoto as well, as I did also for the Eikando Temple).
In terms of timing, I encourage visitors to arrive at the Kiyomizu-dera Temple by 3:30pm or so. In this way you will be able to capture breathtaking scenery there both in daylight and in the early evening. Around 4pm or so, you would not really have a choice, as the throng will push you toward the viewing platform at Okuno-in Hall, where you will see the Main Hall against the silhouette of Kyoto City. That is the time when everybody wishes to grab a prime spot for photo taking. 4pm or so is when people mark their spots.
Thereafter, you are stuck in the crowd, until the dusk has befallen. The lights will turn on around 5:15 to 5:30pm. Yes, you will be standing there in an increasingly freezing temperature, until the moment comes when you can appreciate the Main Hall in nightlights. Therefore, wear warm clothing no matter what the day was feeling like. By that hour, it will be cold up in the mountainous climate of Higashiyama.
I thought the night scenery at the Kiyomizu-dera Temple was truly a marvel to behold. But the evening had descended, so had the cold, and I decided that I must have hot food. I bid farewell to Kiyomizu-dera Temple, and headed toward the direction of the Yasaka Jinja Shrine, which lies in the Gion District.
The website of the Kiyomizu-dera Temple.
The Wikipedia on the Kiyomizu-dera Temple.
Seasonal Japanese Garden, Kiyomizu-dera Temple.
Along the busy Queen’s Road Central stands a market that has a long history serving the daily needs of Central residents since the beginning of Hong Kong as a British colony. First opened in 1842, the year after the British formally began their colonial administration …