About 8
kms west of Lhasa, we can find Drepung Monastery, located a slope of Mount
Gephel. Surrounding the monastery we will see many houses and building with
white walls and roofs scattered along the hill. Because of this the monastery
is also called “rice heap” monastery.
On the way to the monastery we can see a large stone painting
on the hill which seems to depict a deity. It is the painting of Tsong Kha Pa,
the founder of the Gelug School of thought in Buddhism. In this tradition, the classical
Indian treatises are studied with great detail using dialectical method.
Drepung
monastery was founded in 1416 by Jamyang Choge Tashi Palden, one of Tsong
Kha Pa main
disciples and also known as the second Dalai Lama. Drepung was the largest
monastery in the world, and was housing around 7,700 monks during the hey days.
Historically, Drepung used to be the seat of political and religious power in
Tibet, before the Potala Palace was built, in part due to it being the primary
seat of the Gelug School. In 1530, the second Dalai Lama built his palace here,
known as the Ganden Palace, which was used until the Potala Palace was built.
Drepung
monastery complex is large, and if we wish to visit all main buildings, it will
take you all day. Most of the visitors choose the most important buildings,
such as the Grand Sutra Hall, the Ganden Palace and a few chapels nearby.
The Grand Sutra Hall (Tsogchen)
is the largest structure in the complex
and the most impressive. The Grand Sutra Hallis a 3 storey building with the large terrace
overlooking the city of Lhasa and the valley. The main statue there is the
3-floors high Maitreya (Future) Buddha. In addition, there are statues of
Shakyamuni Buddha (Siddhārtha Gautama) , Tsong Kha Pa, 13th Dalai Lama and
protectors in the chapels.
The
middle row of the Grand Sutra Hall contains holy stupa for the 3rd Dalai Lama; the
northern one contains the holy stupa for the 4th Dalai Lama; and the southern
one contains the holy stupa for Chilai Gyamco.
On the way to Vatican, we saw a huge round building that
looked like a cholate tart, on the bank of the river Tiber. It is Castel
Sant’Angelo, affectionately nicknamed ‘The Wedding Cake’ by locals due to its appearance.
It is now a museum and has a long history which dates back to ancient Rome. Started
as an ancient imperial tomb of Emperor Hadrian in the year 138, turned into
fortress in the year 401, then functioning also as prison for many centuries. Among the prisoners were the sculptor Benvenuto
Cellini, charged with crime of sodomy; the philosopher Giordano Bruno, sentenced
to death as a hardline heretic; Giuseppe Balsamo, known as a conman sorcerer; Beatrice
Cenci, a noblewoman sentenced to death accused for having killed her abusive
father. The prison was also the drama setting for the third act opera of
Giacomo Puccini's Tosca.In this tragic
scene, Tosca, overwhelmed by the death of her lover, jumps to death to escape
capture by her enemies from the wall of the prison.
On top of the castle we can see a statue of an angel holding
a sword but not in a brandishing way, rather the angel is depicted to lower his
sword to return it to the sheath. Why is it like that? According to legend, at the end of the sixth
century AD, a terrible plague fell upon the city, named as the Justinian plague, with thousands
falling ill and the bodies of the dead choking the street. The disease spread
as far north as Denmark and west to Ireland, then further to Africa, the Middle
East and Asia Minor.
Pope Gregory then led a procession through the city, praying
to God to spare those who still lived. Looking up to the old mausoleum of Emperor
Hadrian, long fallen into disuse and ruin, Pope Gregory had a vision of a radiant
figure high atop the massive tomb. It was the Archangel Michael, his
outstretched wings, glowing brightly and holding a bloody sword and then lowering
it to return it back in the sheath. The Pope saw this as a sign of the end of
the plague that had been raging for about 50 years. Indeed, after this vision,
the plague ended, therefore the Castle was named as Castel Sant Angelo – Castle
of the Holy Angel. The current bronze statue of Archangel Michael on top of the
building was created in 1748 by Peter Anton von Verschaffelt, a Flemish
sculptor, to replace the marble statue damaged by time.
Photo: Wikimedia
Castel Sant’Angelo was slowly turned into a fortress and in
1277 it was acquired by the papacy. Popes used the castle as a refuge in this fortified
structure in times of danger. Living conditions inside the fortress were
probably not very comfortable, so Pope Paulus III decorated many of the rooms
inside the Castel with beautiful frescoes, mostly done by Perino del Vaga. The
most beautiful room is undoubtedly the Sala Paolina, with its lavishly
decorated walls and ceiling. In the beginning of the 14th century,
the Castle became the summer castle for the Pope. In 1901 it was converted to become
a national museum, named the Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant’Angelo.
Walking for about 1 km from Fontana di Trevi, we will reach
the Spanish Steps. The walk is only around 15 minutes, however in this place,
we can find many interesting buildings in every turn, so it may take longer if
you wish to ‘sight-seeing’ too.
The giant stone Spanish Steps starts from Piazza di Spagna (the
Spanish Square) up to the Trinità dei Monti church. The 135 steps staircase, built
in 1725 and designed by Alessandro Specki and Francesco De Santis, is a
favourite spot among tourists to sit, relax and enjoy the views of Piazza di
Spagna at the bottom. Piazza di Spagna itself was the location of the Spanish
Embassy for Vatican in the seventeenth century. So the Spanish name was extended
to the square and the steps as well.
As I climbed the Spanish Steps in a spring afternoon, in a
moment I remembered the song “Credo” by the rock group Refugee:
I believe in constant pauses
Like a Roman holiday
And I often stop for air
As I climb the Spanish stairs
Indeed I often stopped for air, and near the top of the
steps I also stopped and looked down to the Piazza di Spagna. This square is an
important way to connect to the historic centre of the city and a famous
gathering place for locals and foreigners. Some of the city’s most iconic
streets branch off the square, such as Via del Condotti, Via del Babuino, Via
della Propaganda and Via Sistina.
At the centre of the square lies the Fontana della
Barcaccia, a fountain featuring a half-shrunk stone ship sculpted by Pietro
Bernini, father of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
The name Fontana della Barkaca means “Fountain of the Old Boat” as it has the
form of a sinking ship based upon a folk legend. According to the legend, as
the River Tiber flooded in 1598, water carried a small boat into the Piazza di
Spagna. When the water receded, the boat was deposited in the center of the
square, and it was this boat that inspired Bernini's creation.
I had the pleasure visiting Martin's hut, often referred to
as “die Hütte", at Todtnauberg, on the edge of the Black Forest, southern
Germany. He considered the seclusion provided by the forest to be the best
environment in which to engage in his philosophical thought, and here was where
he wrote his most famous book Being and Time.
It is a small ski hut measuring six meters by seven, the low
hanging roof covers three rooms: the kitchen which is also the living room, a
bedroom and a study. Scattered at wide intervals throughout the narrow base of
the valley and on the equally steep slope opposite, lie farmhouses with their
large over-hanging roofs. Higher up the slope the meadows and pasture lands
lead to the woods with its dark fir-tress, old and towering…This is his work
world.
That day he hiked the way up mountain, then ski back down,
he is an avid hiker and an accomplished skier.
I greeted him at the hut front door this short and stout professor with
dark piercing eyes, his sun tan face gleaming. We sat at the coffee table,
ready to discuss ‘Being and Time’.
I said:
“According to Plato truth is determined by how it relates to
the world and whether it accurately corresponds with that world, true beliefs
and true statements correspond to the facts. What is truth according to you?”
Martin, talking slowly and deliberately:
“For Plato, and those that followed, truth meant
correctness, a correspondence between knowledge, judgement, and the object. This view of truth implies that the experience
of truth is structured in terms of the relationship between a subject and an
object. There is an essential difference between viewing truth as correctness,
and truth as unconcealment , Aletheia. Truth as correctness has ignored the experience
of truth as an opening that lets unconcealment occur. In unconcealment, truth
lies not only in a judgement, but in the human existence itself. To draw real
things from concealedness to unconcealedness, Aletheia, requires a certain
'light'. This light is the existence of Being (Dasein) itself, its being-in-the-world.
Because of Dasein’s open-stance,
which involves engagement to the world as a whole, it is able to unconceal,
opening up its world for itself. “
I said:
“You reportedly saw the painting of Van Gogh “A
pair of shoes” on an exhibition in Amsterdam
and you were impressed by it. Tell us about your insight on the painting.”
Photo: Wikimedia
Martin, smiling:
“As long as we only imagine a pair of shoes in general, or
simply look at the empty, unused shoes as they merely stand there in the
picture, we shall never discover what the equipmental being of the equipment in
truth is. From Van Gogh’s painting we cannot even tell where these shoes stand.
There is nothing surrounding this pair of peasant shoes in or to which they
might belong — only an undefined space. There are not even clods of soil from
the field or the field-path sticking to them, which would at least hint at
their use. A pair of peasant shoes and nothing more. And yet.
From the dark opening of the worn insides of the shoes the
toilsome tread of the worker stares forth. In the stiffly rugged heaviness of
the shoes there is the accumulated tenacity of her slow trudge through the
far-spreading and ever-uniform furrows of the field swept by a raw wind. On the
leather lie the dampness and richness of the soil. Under the soles slides the
loneliness of the field-path as evening falls. In the shoes vibrate the silent
call of the earth, its quiet gift of the ripening grain and its unexplained
self-refusal in the fallow desolation of the wintry field."
I said:
“Your insight on this painting of rugged old shoes is very interesting,
it unconceals both the being of the shoes and the peasant women’s world to us. The painting lets us know what the shoes are
in truth, andit is not separable from
the entities in the world, including the one who unconceals the entities and
also oneself, Dasein. According to your book Being and Time this is authentic
Dasein, authentic Being-in-the world, Dasein’s understanding about the truth”.
Martin:
“Unconcealment can occur authentically, without a set of
predispositions. Entities are initially manifest but nevertheless concealed in
what they most authentically are. Authenticity by contrast, consists in Dasein
learning to “uncover the world in its own way … this uncovering of the ‘world’ is
… always accomplished as a clearing away of concealments and obscurities, as a
breaking up of the disguises with which Dasein bars its own way.”
I said:
“You further described that authentic Dasein means being something
of its own, not someone else, the Dasein that does not bow to assertion of the
mass, the public, which you call as ‘das Man’, or the ‘they’. The authentic
Dasein does not choose to follow tastes, interests, fashions, pop culture that
are made as consumer goods. Authentic Dasein is thereby opposed to inauthentic,
public Dasein, which is what Dasein is when submitting to the control of a
not-oneself, the public, the ‘they’, das Man. Authentic Dasein chooses its own
possibilities and acts on them, shutting out the voice of das Man and with it
the public understanding of the world.”
Martin:
“Yes, Dasein is authentically itself only to the extent that, as concernful
Being-alongside and solicitous Being-with, it projects itself upon its ownmost
potentiality-for-Being rather than upon the possibility of das Man. Becoming
authentic requires a process of self-assertion and self-initiated liberation
from the temptations of inauthentic understanding. In its normal, everyday way
of living in the world, Dasein is under the dominion of inauthentic understanding. Dasein has
a tendency to become absorbed in the concerns and possibilities that the world
presents to it as valuable.
Das Man comforts Dasein by hiding the truth from it, an act
that Dasein is complicit with. As a result, the particular Dasein in its everydayness is disburdened by
das Man. Not only that; by thus disburdening it of its Being, das Man
accommodates Dasein if Dasein has any tendency to take things easily and make
them easy. And because das Man constantly accommodates the particular Dasein by
disburdening it of its Being, das Man retains and enhances its stubborn
dominion. Inauthenticity is a “tranquilizing” way of existing.”
I said:
“What do you mean inauthencity is “tranquilizing” way of
existing?”
Martin:
“In utilizing public means of transport and in making use of
information services such as the newspaper, every Other is like the next . . . . We take
pleasure and enjoy ourselves as they, de Man, take pleasure; we read, see, and judge about
literature and art as they see and judge; likewise we shrink back from the ‘great mass’ as they shrink
back; we find ‘shocking’ what they find shocking.”
I said:
“In ‘The Question Concerning Technology’ you viewed
technology negatively. Technology, despite its contribution to humankind in
this modern era, you described it as a major threat to the authentic Dasein.”
Martin:
“The coming to presence of technology threatens revealing,
threatens it with the possibility that all revealing will be consumed in
ordering and that everything will present itself only in the unconcealedness of
standing-reserve. Human activity can never directly counter this danger. Human
achievement alone can never banish it. But human reflection can ponder the fact
that all saving power must be of a higher essence than what is endangered,
though at the same time kindred to it.”
I said:
“In what way does technology is dangerous to human
existence?”
Martin:
“Our current modern age is the epoch of technology which manifests
a specific way of understanding and interpreting the world, machination, just
as das Man manifested the public understanding of the world.
Machination, as technology’s mode of understanding, is a
“swaying of being”. Machination expands its sway as coercive force. By securing
power, this coercive force develops as the immediately eruptible and always
transformable capability for subjugation . .. . To the extent that in the epoch
of machination that is empowered to its unbounded coercive force man also
grasps himself as animal living-being, the only thing that remains for man
himself . . . is the appearance of self-assertion vis a vis beings.
But ‘the epoch of technology’ is far more than the control
or enslaving of man by technology. The dominant understanding of reality in the
epoch of technology is largely encompassed by the term ‘calculability,’ meaning
that everything that is real is understood in terms of discrete, calculable,
orderable units, of what can be produced or used for production.
Machination fosters in advance the completely surveyable
calculability of the subjugating empowering of beings to an accessible
arrangement. Machination fosters in advance a particular understanding of
beings such that they are accessible because calculable. Access to beings is
defined by calculability; to grasp what a being is, one must be able to
understand it in a calculable manner. Reality is organized, ordered, something
counted and assembled from parts.
What it is to exist, according to the epoch of technology,
is to be calculable; the world is understood as calculable, goals and purposes
are understood in terms of calculability and producibility, i.e., as discrete
entities consisting of potential forces that can be harnessed for ends.”
I said:
“That being said, if anything, can one do? “
Martin:
“Wherever man opens his eyes and ears, unlocks his heart,
and gives himself over to meditating and striving, shaping and working,
entreating and thanking, he finds himself everywhere already brought into the
unconcealed.
Man’s proper stance is to slow down, take a breath, and
observe the world around. Man is always in a world full of meanings that come
from beyond him, and the most important step to realizing that, by drawing away
from the modern rush and allowing the world itself to show itself as it is,
without trying to master it.”
I said:
“In ‘The
Origin of the Work of Art’ you said that the nature of art is poetry and the
nature of poetry, in turn, is the founding of truth. A work of art has the
ability to set up a world. World is a self-opening openness of thebroad paths of simple and essential
decisions in the destiny of a historical people. Art creates meaning by
allowing letting truth arise, by means of which Being becomes comprehensible.
The meaning of a work of art cannot be considered separately from the
conversation that the work initiates and which the artist anticipates. Can you
explain this please.”
Martin:
“What poetry,
as illuminating projection, unfolds of unconcealedness and projects ahead into
the design of the figure, is the open which poetry lets happen, and indeed in
such a way that only now, in the midst of beings, the open brings beings to
shine and ring out.
I like to
cite the poem ‘Autumn’ by Friedrich Hölderlin:
Nature’s gleaming is higher revealing,
Where with many joys the day draws to an end,
It is the year that completes itself in resplendence,
Where fruit come together with beaming radiance.
Earth’s orb is thus adorned, and rarely clamours
Sound through the open field, the sun warms
The day of autumn mildly, the fields lie
As a great wide view, the breezes blow
Through boughs and branches, rustling gladly,
When then already to emptiness the fields give way.
The whole meaning of this bright image lives
As an image, golden splendour hovering all about
This poem of Hölderlin is capable of awakening us the ‘astonishing’
and to the wonder of the ‘extraordinary’ in ‘the ordinary’.We think of the images of the landscape which
are resplendent. Yet the landscape is not yet nature itself, ‘being’ (sein) is
not ‘Being’ (Dasein) itself. Nature lets shine forth everything that belongs to
the landscape. In the look of landscape, which nature grants, the gleaming of
nature is higher revealing, that is to say, of divine essence. “
THE END
This is an imaginary
interview in memory of Martin Heidegger
Sources:
Derek R. O’Connell-
Heidegger’s Authenticity
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/158301888.pdf
MJ Geertsema - Heidegger’s
onto-poetology: the poetic projection of Being
Wherever we go, grandeur
monuments are usually located in a spacious popular plaza to enhance the
monument’s grandeur presence and importance. We can easily navigate these
monuments as the location must have been popular and we can see the place from
a distance. But this monument that we are going to visit is different, it is
stuck in a narrow square surrounded by buildings, restaurants, shops in the
middle of the city. There are many streets leading to this place, they are
narrow streets passing through ancient buildings, restaurants, shops. Surrounded
by building, while walking we cannot see what is a head of us in a distance. Thus,
coming from via del Lavatore, as we turned the corner, the suddenly monument emerged
in front of our eyes with its grandeur, with a distinct sound of gushing water.
Statues of ancient Greek mythological figures stand out in the fountain,
presenting a drama in the green water. The crowd admire the monument from the
side of the fountain, and trying to figure out what the display is telling us.
It is Fontana di Trevi,
the grand fountain depicting Oceanus, the Sea God, the divine personification
of the ocean, standing in a shell chariot to tame the water.The shell chariot is drawn by winged horses
led by Tritons, one Triton struggles with a wild horse whilst the other Triton
hold a tamed one. The theme “Taming of the Waters” is presented in grandiose
baroque style at the backdrop of Palazzo Poli. Designed by Italian architect Nicola
Salvi in 1732 and completed by Giuseppe Panini in 1762 after the death of
Nicola Salvi, and was decorated by artists from Bernini School. Its facade and reef were constructed using
Travertine, an elegant natural stone formed by hot springs near Tivoli.
In ancient Rome, water
was worshipped as divine substance and the availability of huge water supplies
was considered a symbol of opulence and therefore an expression of power. The
Fontana di Trevi water is supplied by the Aqua Virgo duct, an aqueduct
originally completed in 19 BC by Marcus Agrippa. Aqueducts serve to transport freshwater from water
source in highland about 13 kms away through ducts on top of arcades and
underground. Gravity alone was utilized to transport enough water for most of
the civilization, yet the aqueducts had very small gradients to do so. The
design and construction to create aqueducts transporting high volume of water
over long distances and varying terrains demonstrates the wealth of the
civilization constructing it. In this
context, the theme “Taming of the Waters” portrays in dramatic way the Greek Sea
God Oceanus taming the waters, like the way the ancient Roman aqueduct arranged
the water and the civilization’s amazing ability to control and manipulate
water.
The 11 aqueducts of ancient
Rome ensured enough water supply into the city to provide for more than a
million inhabitants, but the Aqua Virgo duct terminating at Fontana di Trevi is
the only aqueduct still being used in modern times as it mostly ran underground.
Today, most of the water is recycled for environmental reasons, but the source
is still from the ancient Aqua Virgo duct.
In the crowd we can
see some people throw coin into the fountain over his opposite shoulder. This habit
root back thousands of years BC, whereby
valuable items were tossed into water sources to keep the water gods happy. In
modern times, we still do that with a wish to return to Rome. Around 3,000 Euro
is tossed into the fountain every day, the money is collected each night and
given to a charity that supports the needy.
Fontana di Trevi is
really a dramatic fountain that scathed an wonderful memory of Rome, so when we
leave Rome this time saying “Arrivederci Roma”, Goodbye Rome, we wish to hear
“Bentornato a Roma”, Welcome back to Rome, the next time…..
I must confess that I like Airports, to experience the atmosphere, to
observe the architecture, to see people travelling and the unformed air crew
walking like on a catwalk, the decorations, the spacious and clean toilets, and
not to mentioned good stuffs in the souvenir shops not found in the city.
So, I like to leave our hotel early, apart from to get enough time to
travel in case there are traffic jams on
the way, or in case I board the wrong bus or train, or get on the wrong
terminal, I just like to come to the airport early. Arriving early also give us enough time to
check-in, considering that sometimes the queues are very long, to go the
faraway tax refund counter, then going through the lengthy security check, and
passport check. Depending the country, the security check could be slow and
annoying, and so is passport checking. So, allow time for that.
The travel from downtown Tokyo to Narita is about 60 km, if we take the non-stop
express train it will take about one hour depending on our hotel location, the
door-to-door journey takes between 90 and 120 minutes. Many train stations in
Tokyo are huge, have confusing layouts, the direction signs are not so clear
and most of them do not speak English, so it is hard to find your train if you
are not familiar with the train station. So learn first the train station
though the website, and even better if you come before your travel to
familiarize the layout.
Like other travel writers, I have to frequently fly solo, I generally
arrive at the airport more than two hours before my flight. This way I get time
to wander around the airport corridors, looking at the fabulous design of
luxury brand shops, hearing the crispy announcements, watching various
airplanes landing and taking-off. At the
Narita Terminal 1 and 2 observation decks, we will have a perfect view of the planes
landing and taking off, and from the corridor windows we can see the parked and
taxiing planes.
The airport is also great for people watching, I think every one like to
do that, to look at the excitement on the face most of the travelers, the cool
frequent travelers, the worried face of the late travelers, the honeymooners,
but there are also sad faces. In Narita most of them are trendy upper middle class
people, the older dressed neatly ironed clothes with hats, the younger more hip
hop and bright. I also saw a couple of lovers, the woman looked like in the
early 30’s wearing very boutique like clothes, shoes, bag and colored hair while
the man much younger in the early 20’s wearing red black checkered shirt loosely
and baggy pants. They looked so much in love.
If you missed a meal before travelling to Narita, the Airport has many restaurants
decent to good food, a wide variety of Japanese food, tempura, yakiniku,
tonkatsu, sushi, ramen, and soba, but also Western, Chinese and vegetarian food.
Unlike any other airports, food here is also not much more expensive than in
central Tokyo. If you are in a hurry go for the ramen noodles, you fill full enough
and have more time to wander. In one of the ramen noodles shop I saw a teenage
girl with a teddy bear backpack, eating her ramen thoughtlessly, she seemed to
miss someone left behind in Tokyo.
If you still have time, try the Japanese specialty snacks, dried foods,
crackers, tea, jams, and the like. There are many types of rice crackers flavoured
with various taste from garlic, miso to seaweed. There are also chocolate-covered wafers
flavoured like matcha tea, wasabi, plum, sake, melon, peach, grape.
But hurry-up grab your snacks, your plane is waiting!
As Tokyo is such a big city and Narita Airport is located about
60 km from downtown Tokyo, we have to travel about one hour from Tokyo train
station to the Narita Airport. There are many ways to go from Tokyo to Narita
Airport, we can choose train, bus or taxi. I choose to travel by express train,
it is not the cheapest, but it is most comfortable and the travel duration is
certain. If we take bus or taxi, we never know whether there is traffic jam on
the road, and we could be stuck for hours on the road.
With the ticket price of around 3,000 yen one way and 4,000
yen round trip, the Narita Express train offers comfortable seats with spacious
leg room, large toilets. Not to mentioned the very clean and quite atmosphere
found in most of the trains in Japan. We can only hear the monotone clacking
sound of the train railway which is soothing and tranquilizing.
The train departs every 30 minutes and always on time, so we
can rely on the travel plan based on the train schedule. But as the layout of
train station in Tokyo is complicated, we must first familiarize with the train
station layout to avoid getting on the wrong train or wasting time searching
for the right platform. We can search in the internet or survey it ourselves
before the departure.
The journey from Tokyo to Narita Airport will pass urban
towns, it is enjoyable to watch the scenes of Tokyo passing by the window, the
concrete buildings of the city gradually disappear as the countryside of Chiba appears.
The dreamy journey ends as we hear announcement that the train is approaching
the airport.
We need to get ready to disembark if our flight is located
in Terminal 2, and pick-up our luggage. The train will only stop for a while as
it will continue to Terminal 1. Therefore it is more convenient not to lock-up your
baggage at the storage rack, because if you forget the code to unlock it then you
have to ride the train till the end terminal, Terminal 1, to get it unlocked by
the officer. Not to mention that you have to convince the officer the luggage
is yours. It could really mess-up your well planned journey.
I saw this Japanese lady went pale and breathless as she
forgot the code, nervously asking in Japanese how to get it unlocked. Her young
daughter also looked helpless. I hope their flight didn’t say ‘sayonara’ to them
on take-off.
Entering the Meiji
Shrine ground from Harayuku station we will find a huge wooden torii gate which
marks the beginning of this Shinto shrine. Like other Shinto shrines, a visit
to this place is like a pilgrimage which gradually transforms the world from
the mortal to the sacral. The torii gate serves as the entrance dividing the profane
human world from the sacred home of the divine spirit (Kami). We see people
bowing when they pass under the torii, to show respect as they enter into the sacred
site.
Then we follow the winding
gravel path approaching the shrine, called sando. The pathway is surrounded by huge
trees, like a deep tranquil forest. It
doesn’t feel like we are in the middle of Tokyo, in Shibuya district, one of
the busiest commercial area. In this serene forest we can only hear the sound
of birds chirping and the visitors’ footsteps on the gravel.
The shrine is
dedicated to the divine spirit (Kami) of Emperor Meiji and the Empress Shoken. Emperor
Meiji laid the foundation of modernization of Japan, known as the Meiji
Restoration, ending the Tokugawa shogunate influence. Under his leadership Japan
adopted Western ideas and production methods to industrialize the country. Japan
opened the country to the world and emerged from a closed society to one of the
most modern societies in the world, in less than 40 years. After the Emperor
died in 1912, the parliament decided to build a memorial site in the area near Yoyogi
Park, this shrine site, because the emperor and his wife liked to walk through
the gardens here.
Photo: Wikimedia
In Shinto, something divine
is regarded as Kami (divine spirit), it can be found in mythology, in nature,
and in human beings. Japanese people are amazed and have gratitude towards such
Kami and enshrined them. In this way the Meiji Shrine is dedicated to honouring
the Kami of Emperor Meiji and his wife. We can feel the whole site as an
awesome home for the Kami, reflecting how the Japanese people honour and feel grateful
to their emperor and empress.
The gravel pathway leads
us to a number of sake and wine barrels stacked up along both sides of the pathway.
More than 200 sake barrels were displayed as offering to the Emperor, donated
by famous sake breweries in the country. As the Emperor loved French wines, wine
barrels were imported from France and displayed along with the sake barrels.
Photo: Own Work
Passing the Ootori (Second
Torii Gate), we reach the Temizusha (water
font) at the entrance to the main sanctuary, to wash your hands and cleanse
mouths. Wooden ladles are provided at this water font so we can wash our hands
and cleanse our mouths. This is a ritual to purify ourselves before entering the
main sanctuary.
Before entering the
main sanctuary we can also go to the Juyosho, Amulet Kiosk, to buy charms and
amulets or writing our wish on an ema, a wooden tablet. People wrote everything
from wishing good luck, passing exams, to get a child, love and broken hearts,
forgiveness and gratefulness. There are also omamori (protective amulets) for
traffic safety, health, or success in education. Omamori are usually attached
to or put into a bag, purse or pocket, and kept until they have fulfilled their
purpose.
Photo: Own Work
Then we approach Minami
Shinmon, the main entrance to the main shrine complex. The gate is a two-story
building, made from Japanese hinoki cypress, and copper roof. We can see small
heart-shaped patterns carved into the wood work as ornament. When passing
through the gate, we must step over the wooden beam under the gate, and not
step on it, and bow our head to show respect while passing through the gate.
Photo: Own Work
On the east side of
the main shrine complex there is the Kaguraden, a building where the Shinto
people pray and participate in the special ritual (Kigansai). During the
special ritual a kagura, or sacred music and dance, Yamato-Mai, is performed as
an offering to the Kami. This sacred dance is based on a poem by Emperor Meiji
saying that we should not forget paying respect to the Kami, as we owe our
existence to the them.
Next to the the
Kaguraden, is the most sacred building, the honden, where the Kami are
enshrined. The main shrine is built in the nagare zukuri style, a common style
of Shinto shrine architecture. In this style, the roof at the front of the
shrine is extended covering the steps up to the building. The honden includes
the noritoden (prayer recital hall), the naihaiden (inner shrine hall), and the
gehaiden (outer shrine hall). The gehaiden is at the front of the main shrine,
and is where visitors pray.
Photo: Abrahami -Wikimedia
On the way-out we pass
through the Iris garden, a beautiful garden designed by the emperor for his
wife. In summer, many types of irises, the empress' favorite, blooming in
violet, blue, and white colors. Further down there is the Kiyomasa’s well a
pure spring. It is named after a military commander who dug it around 400 years
ago. The well was visited frequently by the emperor and empress while they were
alive.
When I visited Huangshan in Anhui province, my
guide showed me the place where Mister Deng often sit during his leisure time to
enjoy the scenery of the magnificent mountains, floating above the clouds. This
place seemed to be Mister Deng favorite spot and he chose this mountain area to
deliver his 'Huang Shan Speech' to promote this place as a key site to revitalize
the tourism industry, and to address the future direction of Chinese tourism.
Years later, the Chinese tourism market has transformed into one of the world's
most-watched tourist markets, the number of domestic trips reached six billion
in 2019, indicating an exponential increase compared to the number of trips
made in China ten years ago.
Known as China’s “father of reforms” Mister Deng
in 1978 announced a new policy, the “Open Door Policy”, to open the door to
foreign businesses that wanted to set up in China. The policy of “reform and openness”
(gaige kaifang) laid the foundation for a successful transition from a planned
economy to a market economy, achieving unprecedented high growth rates. Average
annual growth rates of 9.7 percent pulled hundreds of millions of Chinese out
of poverty. The policy of reform and openness also led to a fundamental
departure from norms in Mao’s China, replacing collectivism and group
conformity with individual performance and diversity.
Enough said about him, I desperately wanted to
interview this man and made an application through the CPC (Communist Party of
China) office in Beijing. Knowing the tight bureaucracy of this office I wasn’t
expecting approval soon and might be never ever get the approval, I was just
trying my luck. I knew there were not many foreign journalists that got the
chance to interview him personally, Mike Wallace, Oriana Fallaci, Ezra Vogel to
name a few, who else?
Then after 4 months, I found a red envelope in
my apartment letter box, it was from the CPC office indicating an appointment in
the next month meeting Mister Deng. Wow , really? It made my day! It was my first interview with a political
leader, and from China!
So on a Saturday, at the CPC Office at Chang’an
Avenue in Beijing, I met a small man in a gray Mao suit, white socks and black Neiliansheng
shoes. I didn’t expect that he was Mister Deng, he looked so humble for such a
paramount leader. For sure, he didn’t look like as what once pronounced by Henry
Kissinger, a ''nasty little man''.
I said:
“Good afternoon Mister Deng, you are known to
be the de facto leader of China, in the way that although you are not the
chairman of the CPC and neither are you the President of China, but you are the
chief policy maker and reformer of China throughout the decades leading to China’s
great development. You are a member of Standing Committee of the Political
Bureau, and the chairman of the CCP’s Central Military Commission, but it seems
you avoid to be the top leader of China.”
Mister Deng:
“See, we must remember that chairman Mao for
most of his life, he did very good things to China. Many times he united China
and saved the party and the state from various crises. Mao Zedong Thought lead
us to victory in the revolution and it will continue to be a treasured
possession of the our country, and we will always remember him as a founder of
our party and state.
Because of his leadership he was treated like
an emperor reminiscent of the country’s imperial past. The people created Mao
Zedong’s cult of personality, fueled by fanatics, mass media, propaganda and books,
elevating his status to that of an infallible heroic leader. The whole nation
mimicked his style of drab clothing, memorizing his quotations from the little Red
Book and living under the gaze of his imposing portraits.
He then became authoritarian and led the
country in patriarchal ways, one-man rule, which are feudal in nature. He
became unwilling to listen to other comrades, did not listen to differing
opinions. We can’t say that all criticisms were right, but neither was he ready
to listen to many right opinions put forward not only by me but by other party
members. At this time, he increasingly lost touch with reality. For instance, he
did not consistently practice democratic centralism and the mass line, and he
failed to institutionalize them during his lifetime. Democratic centralism was
impaired and so was collective leadership.
I opposed the notion of lifelong terms, of
personality cult, and of one-man rule and desired to prevent the emergence of a
Mao-like strongman. I promoted ideological pragmatism and emphasized above all
the necessity of a fundamental reform of the party, especially by reviving the
inner-party discussion and decision-making processes, known as collective
leadership.”
I said:
“The world can observe the great progress that
China achieved in economic development in past decades, but many Western
scholars believed that China’s reform and opening-up policy only achieved great
success concerning economic modernization, with no significant progress in
political democratization. Some even went so far as to claim the reason for the
successful Chinese economic modernization was precisely because China did not
have any accompanying democratic reforms.”
Mister Deng:
“In this century China has been a land of
warlords, invading armies, floods, famines and revolution. Tens of millions
have died violently, or wretchedly from starvation. I told President Bush in
1989 that if all one billion of us undertake multiparty elections, we will
certainly run into a full-scale civil war. Taking precedence over all China's
problems is stability, therefore to avoid disorder and the violence we opposed political pluralism.
However, as I told Oriana Fallaci of the
Washington Post, I can tell you that after the overthrow of the Gang of Four we
emphasized very much the promotion of the socialist democracy. Without giving
up, of course, the dictatorship of the proletariat. Democracy and dictatorship
of the proletariat are the two aspects of one antithesis, and I should add that
proletarian democracy is far superior to capitalistic democracy.”
I said:
“I guess with proletarian democracy you mean the
key concept of democracy held by the Chinese elites who sought to combine
democracy with authority, dictatorship and centralism. “
Mister Deng:
“The essence and the core of socialist
democracy is that the people are the masters of the country, and it is the
system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the
leadership of the CCP. We practice democratic centralism, which is the
integration based on democracy, with democracy under the guidance of
centralism. Democratic centralism is an integral part of the socialist system.
Under this system, personal interests must be subordinated to collective ones,
the interests of part to those of the whole, and immediate to long-term
interests.”
I said:
“ John Naisbitt, a well-known American scholar
of future studies, predicts that a new ‘vertical democracy’, which combines the
bottom-up mass participation with the top-down central command, emerging in
China, and is likely to become an alternative to the Western style of
‘horizontal democracy’.
We can observe that this ‘vertical democracy’
worked well in achieving fast economic development in China. The world is impressed by the striking
economic reform under your leadership, but through the eyes of many Western observers
there has been slow progress toward political reform. Despite some random democratic
free speech, as in the ‘Democracy Wall’ period during the late seventies,
political freedom has shown almost no progress.”
Mister Deng:
“I deeply understand this point. If we fail to
do political reform, we shall be unable to preserve the gains we have made in
the economic reform. Without political reform, economic reform cannot succeed …
So in the final analysis, the success of all our other reforms depends on the
success of the political reform.
We do allow political reform, but on condition that
the three elements of China’s socialist democracy are upheld: first, the people’s rule over the government,
which is the main principle of democracy; second, the CCP’s leadership and
centralism, which are necessary for democracy; and third, collectivism, which
is also the major principle for resolving the conflicts of different interests
in practice.”
I said:
“I think while there is general agreement that
democracy literally means ‘rule by the people’ the Communist Party concept of
‘the people’ differs from the Western concept. The Western liberal view of ‘the
people’ is all-inclusive, referring to all members of society and viewing
society as an aggregation of individuals and a plurality of diversified social
groups and interests. By contrast, in the Communist Party view, ‘the people’ is
a collectivist concept. The emphasis was on the pursuit of collective
interests, rather than being based upon, or even recognising, individual
autonomy and expression of interests.”
Mister Deng:
“What China needed is socialist democracy, for
this is people’s democracy, and not bourgeois democracy, individual democracy. We practice democratic centralism, which is
the integration based on democracy, with democracy under the guidance of centralism.
Democratic centralism is an integral part of the socialist system. Under this
system, personal interests must be subordinated to collective ones, the
interests of part to those of the whole. The purpose of socialist democracy is
not, after all, to validate individualism or pluralism, but to unify the people
for the pursuit of common interests and objectives. “
I said:
“According to Western media, you ordered to use
military force through martial law in order to squash the protests that had
erupted in the Tiananmen Square in 1989, despite resistance from some leaders.
The result was bloodshed and within 48 hours Tiananmen Square was cleared. According
to intelligence estimate about 1,000 people died and several dozen of soldiers
and police were killed by protesters. Did you order the bloodshed or was it a
military blunder, Mister Deng?”
Mister Deng:
“I praised the army as ‘the bastion of iron of
the state’ and stressed that China would continue the basic policies of
economic reform and openness to the outside world. This incident has impelled
us to think over the future as well as the past sober-mindedly. It will enable
us to carry forward our cause more steadily, better and even faster and correct
our mistakes faster.
We cannot tolerate turmoil. We will impose
martial law again if turmoil appears again. Our purpose is to maintain
stability so that we can work on construction, and our logic is simple: with so
many people and so few resources, China can accomplish nothing without peace
and unity in politics and a stable social order. Stability must take precedence
over everything.
We can't handle chaos while we're busy with construction.
If today we have a big demonstration and tomorrow we have a great airing of
views and a bunch of wall posts, we won't have any energy left to get anything
done. That's why we have to insist on clearing the square.”
I said:
“There was a dramatic incident during the
Tiananmen Square crackdown that captured the whole world attention. The Western
media called it ‘The Tank Man’ incident, a lone man holding a grocery bag was
photographed and videoed standing in front of a column of tanks leaving
Tiananmen Square via Chang'an Avenue. As the tank driver tried to go around him,
the ‘Tank Man’ moved into the tank's path. He continued to stand defiantly in
front of the tanks for some time, then climbed up onto the turret of the lead
tank to speak to the soldiers inside. After returning to his position in front
of the tanks, the man was pulled aside by a group of people. The fate of
"Tank Man" following the demonstration is not known and for the world
the ‘Tank Man’ remained faceless and nameless.
May I ask you Mister Deng, who is this man that
stopped the tanks, and what happened to him?”
Mister Deng sat motionless on his overstuffed
chair, his feet barely touch the floor. Suddenly an officer came approaching
him and whispered something in his ear, Mister Deng nodded and then declared
that he had other appointment in his schedule and must go now. So the meeting
was over….
THE END
This is an imaginary interview
in memory of Deng Xiaoping
Walking the one kilometer Omotesando street is a great
experience. Known as Tokyo's Champs-Elysees, it is a zelkova tree lined avenue, featuring numerous fashion flagship stores.
Omote being ‘frontal’ and Sando being ‘approach’, it has been serving as the
main approach to Meiji shrine since the Taisho era. Nowadays the broad avenue
stretching from the Meiji shrine entrance all the way to Aoyama Street sees
millions walking its pavements to shop at the luxury brand stores.
The narrower, winding back streets of Ura-Harajuku on either
side of Omotesando are also interesting. In these streets, we find many not so
branded stores yet charming clothing stores, themed cafes, and some of the best
Japanese restaurants in Tokyo.
But even if we are not in Tokyo to shop, just walking along
Omotesando is refreshing, enjoying the atmosphere, and observing the distinct architecture
of the buildings designed by Japan superstar architects such as Tadao Ando, Toyo
Ito, Jun Aoki, Hiroshi Nakamura and Norihiko Dan.
Tadao Ando designed the shopping mall Omotesando
Hills, with 250m facade made along the street, each floor was built along a
slope to create a continuation from the street, giving additional public space.
A garden was made on the rooftop, to continue the atmosphere from the zelkova
trees along the street.
Photo: Wikimedia
Toyo Ito designed the building especially for
Tod’s, famous Italian shoe and handbag brand. With the L-shaped and a narrow frontage, the concrete wall gives
the impression of a row of zelkova trees in relation to environment in
Omotesando. Where many luxury brand
boutiques have been built, by selecting concrete as a material the designer daringly
proposed a substance and strength in contract with the surrounding glass buildings.
Photo: Wikimedia
Jun Aoki designed the Louis Vuitton building in
the image of a stack of trunks, as Louis Vuitton is famous for its luggages and
bags . The trunks, each representing a unique room, are connected with
corridors between trunks. The building with the soft texture of the metal
fabric on the facade representing fallen leaves from the zelkova trees in front
of the building.
Photo: Wikimedia
Norihiko Dan’s Hugo Boss eight-story building is
surrounded by Tod’s L-shaped building. Thus, he designed it trying to loosen the
influence of the Tod’s building by creating vertical shapes combined with
circular floors. This seems to accentuate the adjacent Tod’s building, and
creates a symbiotic harmony. The building’s structure is composed of columns
made from steel with a wood-like texture.
Photo: Wikimedia
Another shopping mall, Tokyu Plaza, has emerged
as a fortress of fashion. The unique structure was designed by Hiroshi
Nakamura, an award-winning architect. It officially becoming the home base for big
fashion retailers, as well as a host of smaller domestic Japanese brands. The
front elevator walled with mirrors looks attractive from far, but when we climb
the elevator it is quite dizzying to see all the reflections on the mirrors. It
is like walking inside a tunnel with walls of discotheque glittering ball. Fancy,
but not something for the minimalists.
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