Sacred Tokyo & Japanese History
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Scarlet Heart: Why the Fourteenth Prince Lost the Throne
Near the end of Scarlet Heart, the Fourteenth Prince performs a sword dance and then recites a poem — a Song-dynasty lyric about the reckless honour of a young man’s life, remembered from the far side of losing it. A great many viewers have cried at that scene. Underneath it is a simple question. How does a man with that much lose? A hundred thousand troops. His father’s confidence. A faction behind him. Ceremonial honours no other prince in the…
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The Summer Palace Cixi Built for Herself
— “They Built a Garden with the Navy’s Money”: Re-examining the Summer Palace and the First Sino-Japanese War Every guide tells you the same thing When I visited the Summer Palace in Beijing, our Japanese-speaking guide told us that this garden was the reason China lost the war against Japan. Walking on, I passed an English-language tour group. Their guide was saying the same thing. The story is told with remarkable consistency: Empress Dowager Cixi diverted the navy’s budget to…
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The Tiny Gold Seal Japan Nearly Died to Fetch
This is a companion to [The Heirloom Seal of the Realm: the empty stone that ruled China for a thousand years]. That article looked at the center — the jade in which the Son of Heaven held the whole Mandate. This one looks at the far rim. What a little island at the outermost ring of that world crossed a deadly sea to fetch was not “the Mandate” at all, but something much smaller: mere *recognition*. And the gap…
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A Bodhisattva from the Northern Qi Dynasty Visiting the Tokyo National Museum — Oriental Gallery, Room 1
A Bodhisattva from the Northern Qi Dynasty Visiting the Tokyo National Museum — Oriental Gallery, Room 1 I recently visited the Oriental Gallery at the Tokyo National Museum — and it was wonderful! The moment I stepped into Room 1 on the first floor, a single statue caught my eye: a Standing Bodhisattva, created in Shanxi Province, China, in 552 CE during the Northern Qi dynasty. That predates even the beginning of Japan’s Asuka period. It is a piece from…
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HOW TO READ BUDDHIST STATUES IN JAPAN A Beginner’s Guide for Travelers to Japan
HOW TO READ BUDDHIST STATUES IN JAPAN | Part 1 What Are All These Buddhist Statues Doing? A Beginner’s Guide for Travelers to Japan You may have seen it already — perhaps in a photo before your trip, or on a postcard at the airport: the Great Buddha of Kamakura, sitting serenely in the open air, one hand raised with the palm facing outward. It is one of the most iconic images in Japan. But what is that hand gesture…
