The final plate in this exceptionally gorgeous photo collection is the jagged, mirrored facade of Kyoto Station, a structure so spectacularly in disagreement with its surroundings.
Splintered in one panel is the reflection of that other anomaly, Kyoto Tower, and faintly replicated in a lower plexiglass octagonal are a few tile roofs -- from this vantage all that is visible of the traditional city.
Coming after pages of the most beautifully colorful examples of the old capital's traditional culture, this final picture both indicates the imperiled state of tradition and, at the same time, its endurance. The authors -- photographer and writer -- of this collection are well aware of the threat of the future but at the same time are determined to celebrate the admirable persistence of the past.
This is indicated in many ways. The iconic Gold Pavilion is, for example, not exhibited in full. It appears, however, enormous, embroidered on an obi. There is thus a strong suggestion that tradition is for use, that beauty is flexible and endures, though its forms may change.
One of the ways to observe this is to place modern Kyoto in the context of its past -- not the other way around. The contemporary city is glimpsed, slightly out of focus, from the sharply focused Kiyomizu temple terrace. The mess around the Gion's Shirakawa Canal is rendered invisible by a shot taken from a precise position where it would be unseen. A bridal couple's limousine is all but obscured by its enormous traditional fan-shaped radiator ornament calling for such time-tested desires as happiness and good fortune.
Another way to suggest a permanent past is to link it to contemporary life. Daitoku-ji is rendered as the bottom part of a weathered wooden corridor in the middle of which, sleeping in the sun, is a very Zen-looking cat. To-ji becomes the shadow of one of its stone lanterns cast against a traditional votive board.
Again and again, traditional Kyoto is captured through its details -- textures, sheens, colors, surfaces. The Katsura Villa becomes a single sun-struck tea-room screen. The Minami-za becomes one of its huge paper lanterns. To be sure, such details are often all that is left. But at the same time it is in the details that the essence (as well as God) is often found.
Most convincingly the bond between past and present is found in people. Books of this sort often avoid them, as though their presence might disturb the cultural calm. In this collection, however, people preserve the past.
Most of them are taking part in Kyoto's several annual festivals and are consequently in traditional dress. Often in makeup as well, so that the individual disappears into the group with as much security as it does in the old prints and scrolls.
Yet, this crowd is vital. It allows Kyoto to escape the senility of Asakusa -- Tokyo's version of the traditional. Here in Japan's capital the past has been taxidermied out of all recognition and at night the streets are empty. Kyoto, on the other hand, has still not turned into Kyotoland.
The subtitle of this fine collection of words and pictures is "A Cultural Sojourn." A "sojourn" indicates a stay that is merely temporary. Such a tenure is certainly appropriate in a city so massively eroding as Kyoto. Still, the culture of the place is millenniums deep, so what is a century or two of change?
As this memorable collection indicates, tradition is -- with a little help from art -- still plainly visible.
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