Gifu, Illuminated

A few months ago I went to Mino for a Lantern Festival. Mino is famous in Japan for its lanterns, and it's clear why. They are absolutely gorgeous, all hand-crafted right there. This post took awhile to create because I had to choose the best pictures from quite a few!

I headed to Mino with Matt, our friend Rachael, and Ai, the teacher from my school who went with me to the Oda Nobunaga festival. To the left you can see us in a fantastic lantern store holding some hand-made lanterns. I'll get Matt to translate what they say:

Abby's: Goyou (Imperial Business - pre-modern police)

Matt's: (probably) Kamiuchi (a place)

Ai's: Mino (the name of the town)

Rachael's: Kanamori Nagachika (another place)

This lantern store was unbelievable. We went into two that night and this was by far my favorite. It is very small, and one woman runs it. Where we are standing is a small walking area where most of the ready-to-purchase lanterns are displayed and packaged. Off to the left beside me is the artist's working area. She had the equipment set up and as she talked to us, she made lanterns! It's a wonderful process involving a spinning contraption that holds a mold of sorts. Special string is wrapped around the mold, painted with glue, and laid over with paper. The whole thing can be removed from the spinning base, allowed to dry, and then the mold is cracked off the finished lantern and pulled out in pieces. That's the basic idea, anyway. The woman made all kinds of lanterns in all shapes, sizes, and patterns. She made animal lanterns, like a rabbit in a tuxedo, and a penguin, and an owl. She made a lantern that looked like a hot air balloon. She made tall lanterns, fat lanterns, standing lanterns, hanging lanterns. If I hadn't been so broke before going into the store, I would have been broke coming out. I still plan to go back and get a few before my time here is over.

After spending a ridiculous amount of time in the awesome lantern shop, we headed out to the streets to see the main attractions. The lanterns were simply incredible. There were tons: some were encased in glass either lining the street or in an idyllic square, and some were in the open lining the street. I have chosen my favorites to put up here.

First, to the left, is what we refer to as the "rubix cube" lantern. I don't remember the actual name of it, but I think the artist did intend for it to be looked at as a rubix cube. I think it's a great idea and it shows off the artist's capabilities as paper crafter. Think of folding all those little pieces together! It's dedication and beauty at its finest.

Most of the lanterns in glass boxes did not photograph well, because of the glare, but this next one managed to come out fairly well. I love it. It's a wasp nest lantern, and if you look closely, you can see actual hornets in the comb-like structures. I'll say it again: I love it. It's a wonderful example of biology meeting art. In my own artwork I often focus on the synergy of science and art, and I like when I see it in other people's work too. Again, this lantern is obviously painstakingly crafted with the ultimate attention to detail. I have to admire that, no matter the subject material.

Throughout the town, there were these lantern boxes marking the entry way for each private residence. This is my personal favorite, although they were all striking. I am partial to fall leaves, and to the downward diagonal composition of the box. I think each home having a lantern box is a beautiful representation of each family, and an honoring of Mino's lantern-making history. It's a wonderful sight, walking down an old cobbled street, between ancient style houses, bathed in the glimmer of lanterns.

Okay, so yeah, of course I found a way to embarrass my friends. Is anyone surprised? This lantern seemed to be a wonderful picture frame just waiting to happen, so I had Rachael take my picture from the other side. I swear I didn't touch it at all. I am actually quite far behind the lantern. It was just so bright! Because of the brightness, the detailing of the paper gets lost, unfortunately. It was quite the beauty, all made of leaves. Although it's paper, it really looked just like leaves arranged into a frame. That's slightly visible near the inside edge, but this photo doesn't do it near enough justice.

Funny side note: Rachael also climbed behind the lantern. A couple of Japanese people insisted she stay there while they took her picture, too. Matt got a little miffed at me because he didn't want me to disturb the peace (which I do quite well in America, imagine how I could be taken in Japan), but he got over it a bit when we told him we actually improved the lantern for the Japanese people who couldn't get over all the blonde hair.

This next lantern strikes me as lovely and slightly funny. I felt like it was a hat my grandmother would have worn when she was in her twenties. I adore all the little butterflies. Don't they look like they are made out of lace, on top of chiffon?

I thought this lantern looked like a giant slinky toy that got a little out of control. Perhaps it could be seen as a snake as well. Some of my friends have a slightly more base approach to viewing this poor lantern, which I'm not going to type because it's dishonorable to the artist (in my opinion). Have whatever take you will, but I choose to see it as a giant slinky. Or a system of water slides. Or maybe an Escher-like series of tunnels that always leads back to the start, leaving its occupants crazed and delusional.

This is another of my top picks. Doesn't it look like it's floating, against that pitch-black background? It's definitely on the ground. It looks like what I imagine galaxies to be, if I could get far enough away from them to see them from this perspective. This is another reason why I love art: you can force perspective where you otherwise could never have it. Because of art, I can see galaxies and imagine the planets inside them and the life that must be there. I am fairly confident in saying that I will never get this kind of view in reality, but I can have a small taste because of artists.

This one is my favorite, absolutely. The title is "Global Warming," so perhaps from my earlier plug for science-related art my favoritism is understandable. I also just love the composition. I think it is the most unusual of all the lanterns, in a dynamic way that makes me look longer and ask questions. This is the pinnacle of art in my mind.

I'm not sure if it's visible in this picture, but the whole thing is actually in a frying pan. The handle of the pan is sticking out toward the left side. The small globe is suspended on a rod and the garlic-shaped bulbs seem to me both food and fire. It's like the larger garlic thing has taken over many planets and now it's coming for us, to wipe life off us like all the other planets in our particular chain. The image of getting cooked in a frying pan with flames licking up the side is really quite something.

Moving on from somber groundbreaking artwork to crazy tennis-playing cormorants. Yeah. Somehow they're on a floating tennis court with a referee/lifeguard. The water flickers! Cormorants are famous in this area for their fishing skills and used by fishermen to help catch fish - you can take trips out on a fishing boat and see the incredible dives the birds take - but I'm not really sure about their tennis skills.

After the festival, Ai invited us back to her home in Seki City, where her mother had laid out a scrumptious feast. It was incredible, and very traditional. In the picture below, you can see Matt and me contemplating the food, thinking about exactly what we needed to try first. Ai's mother prepared a wonderful beef dish with a slightly sweet sauce, an octopus dish with a lot of mushrooms and greens, ham and egg wrap, salmon and tuna sushi, tuna and scallion sashimi, and fried chicken (gluten free so I could actually eat it!) We ate family style, as is traditional in Japan, pulling things off of main plates and putting it into seaweed wraps or on our individual plates. We drank oolong tea, a traditional green tea. For dessert they brought out delicious Japanese pear (which has the consistency of an apple but the taste of a pear) and Fuji apples. It was a delicious end to a wonderful adventure!

One thing that must be mentioned: I finally tried natto. It is a soybean dish that is specially fermented more than a few times before being eaten. So it's spoiled, re-spoiled, and spoiled again, all before it reaches your table! I had heard horror stories, but never tried it, and of course they had some at Ai's house. I had to try it. It is slimy and a little pungent, and I'd need to pair it with something pretty good in order to eat a substantial amount of it, but it wasn't all that horrible. Rachael captured everything in real time, so enjoy!

My natto adventure!