COTTON ROSES IN DARUMA-DERA TEMPLE

Known as the fuyo in Japan, the cotton rose is a flower elegantly blooming in for only one day
in midsummer. With five thin, fragile petals, this white or white-pink flower blossoms only
briefly from morning until sunset. Fuyo flowers can be seen in early August in the garden of
the Daruma-dera temple, which is located in the northwest of Kyoto City.
Daruma-dera, a temple of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism, was built in the early 18th
century with the formal name of Horinji. However, people began to call it "Daruma-dera"
since the tenth head abbot Izan-Osho took up his post there in 1933. He played a great role in
popularizing Zen with his gifted writings and eloquence. He established Darumado Hall in
the temple's precinct in memory of Daruma-Taishi, the founder of the Zen Sect and organized
various related events, even opening a school to teach Shaolin Kung Fu, one of China's most
influential martial arts originated by the monk, Daruma-Taishi.
Daruma-Taishi or Bodhidharma was an Indian monk born the prince of a country in
Southern India in the mid-5th century. He sailed to China to tell everyone there about the
fundamental teachings of Buddhism in the early 500s after a difficult three-year voyage.
However, when he met the Chinese Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty, who was reputed to be
a devout Buddhist, he realized that the emperor was not committed to the true teachings.
Parting ways from him, the monk crossed the Yangtse River and went to the Shaolin
Monastery, where he was refused admittance at first.
He spent the next nine years gazing at the rock wall of a nearby cave until he finally reached
enlightenment. This is the final blessed state marked by the absence of desire or suffering,
which originated in the Zen School of Buddhism. Zen emphasizes personal enlightenment
based on a simple life close to nature, and using various methods of meditation avoids
complicated rituals and unnecessary thought. Daruma-Taishi is also credited with creating
Shaolin Kung Fu, which became famous world-wide through the movies of the late Chinese
actor Bruce Lee.
In Japan, Zen Buddhism, flourished especially in the late 12th century and resulted in the
idealization of the personality and teachings of Daruma-Taishi. Greatly impressed by the
legend that Daruma-Taishi lost the use of his hands and feet during his stringent self-
training in the cave, Japanese people invented a unique doll for luck called the "Daruma-san"
doll with a rounded body lacking hands or feet representing the saint's meditating figure
clothed in red.
Although Daruma-san dolls come in many variations, the most popular one is the Okiagari-
Koboshi type, or spring-back type. Usually made of paper mache, the doll has a weighted
lower section and when you push it over to the side, the body instantly springs back up again,
although it has neither feet nor hands. The doll symbolizes one of the monk's most famous
sayings, "Even if you fall, don't worry. Just rise to your feet again." The idea of this is also
expressed in the Japanese proverb "Nanakorobi Yaoki" (���]���N), which means "If you fall
seven times, rise eight times, and never give up" (If at first you fail, try, try again).
Darumado Hall houses a full range of more than 10,000 Daruma-san dolls from tiny ones to
huge ones measuring as large as 2 meters. During the Setsubun Festival (a ritual welcoming
spring) held at the beginning of February, the Hall is packed with a crowd who bring back
their lucky Daruma dolls originally obtained from the temple to obtain a blessing again to be
free from illness or to fulfill their desires.
To visit the temple, take the city bus (numbers 203, 205) to Enmachi, walk to the north and
turn to the east at the first traffic signal, and you'll find it on your right. A kind member of
the temple will welcome you with a big smile.
S. Sakae


ONISHI SEI'UEMON MUSEUM

A glance at work which sustains the Way of Tea

Can you find a common characteristic in these Kyoto street names: Kamanza,
Kiyamachi, Takeyamachi?
These names come from the vocation of people living around these areas in Kyoto.
Sanjo-Kamanza, west of Sanjo Karasuma, was an area of iron foundries. Kamanza is
written in �� and ��, meaning kettle and craft guild. In the 15th century, Momoyama
era, 72 castmen were living in that area. They had special rights to deal in iron crafts.
They made pots and pans for daily use, gongs and lanterns for religious use, and
utensils for tea ceremony.
Just two families are left nowadays. One of them, the ONISHI family, is still making
kettles for the tea ceremony. It was 400 years ago that Mr. Onishi's ancestors begun to
live in that area. At the location where the family has been living and working, Onishi
Sei'uemon museum was opened in November 1998. The Onishi family has counted 16
generations up to now. The 16th generation, Mr.Onishi Sei'uemon, the director of the
museum, says that his family was in danger of dying out several times. He wants to
pass down the family's history and convey the interest of kettle making to people today.
You may have heard about the Sen family, the grand tea masters and descendants of
Sen-no Rikyu, the founder of tea ceremony. There are ten families making utensils only
for the tearoom. Some of them date back to Rikyu. They are known as the ten craft-
families for the Sen family. Each family makes particular utensils from metal, clay,
paper, fabric lacquer and bamboo. These families play a significant role in preservation
of the history and technique of traditional high quality Japanese art and crafts.
Meantime they create new designs by themselves and by order of the tea masters. They
still maintain a close relationship with the grand tea masters and each other. The
Onishi family is one of these ten, working with metal and regarded as Kamashi, ���t,
the kettle makers.
It takes three months to make a kettle for the tearoom. Mr.Onishi puts hot iron of
1550�� between ceramic molds for the inside and the outside. He engraves pictures or
patterns on the outside mold. After cooling down, the kettle is removed from the molds,
and heated again at 800��, which makes the iron stronger. Looking at this process on a
video at the museum I realized that I had never imaged how much hard physical work
sustains a delicate moment in a tearoom.
For the most of tea gatherings the kettle stays in one place, on the fire. Beautiful tea
bowls and the tea containers may attract your eyes by being moved, whereas the kettle
has a significant role of its pure existence in quietness.
In tearoom it is good manners not to wear a watch. The only a clock in a tearoom is the
kettle, which lets you know the best timing for a bowl of good tea. When the guests enter
the tearoom, the kettle has cold water in it. So the host makes the water hot by adding
some charcoal into the fire pit. The kettle, which is sitting still, begins to gush out steam
and makes more and more noise. This sound is named Matukaze,����, which means
wind through pine trees. What a beautiful poetic name for the sound of boiling water!
The sound changes gently when the host takes hot water or adds cold water. You will
forget your daily busy life in this sensitive moment of tranquility. Mr.Onishi makes
kettles for this very moment.
Moreover the kettle's important role is to provide good water for tea. Being used for a
long time, iron gets a film of water inside, which will neutralize the water adding acid or
alkali. When you see good change of color inside, you will know that the tea will be tasty
made from this kettle. Also the outside color changes naturally. Because of the passing
of time and because of the good care by its owners, kettles look very colorful. Like people,
kettles get old in various ways. Mr. Onishi makes not only new kettles but also repairs
old kettles. He says that it is possible to make tea with kettle hundreds of years old.
The museum helps us to understand the whole process of the work on a kettle, with
videos and displayed kettles made by Onishi Sei'uemon, from former generations until
now. Along with this, the museum offers a bowl of green tea and sweets. The museum
plans seasonal exhibitions and events such as special night opening (till 9:00) during
Gion Matsuri festival, 14-16 and 24th July. The museum also provides a special
gathering regularly to introduce kettles. At this event you can talk to Mr.Onishi in
person. And you can touch kettles, which will be displayed in the showcase. Though you
must wear gloves, it is quite impressive looking at a several hundreds of year old kettles
very close. Please ask the museum about details.

Open from 10:00 am to 4:30pm (admission until 4:00pm)
Closed every Monday, new years holiday, and terms for changing displays.
Location: Nakagyo-ku Sanjo Shinmachi Nishi-iru Kamanza-cho
Access: 6 minutes walk from subway Oike station No 6 exit.
Tel 075-221-2881
Admission: Adults \800. Tea and sweets \ 500

M.Yoshioka