Yamatane Art Museum

Jan. 7th--Still smarting from yesterday, today we played FIRST and worked on school in the afternoon. Taking advantage of Raymond being home (even though he's already doing homework for the upcoming semester), I left the two youngest home with him and took the five oldest to an art museum. It was a short 10 minute walk from our apartment.



We were excited to see some Japanese art in real life.



Higashiyama Kaii, Autumn Colors

I won't insert copies of all of the amazing artwork that we saw and loved, but here are three that we all liked. 



Hashimoto Meiji, Cherry Tree in Morning Sun



Kawai Gyokudō, Autumn Landscape with Colored Maple Trees


We also saw these screens called Kakitsubata-zu (Irises) by Ogata Korin, Edo period, 18th century

We happily spent about an hour and a half looking at the art and talking about the use of color, line, and texture in the different pieces. Our absolute favorites were the art pieces done on silk scrolls. They were very typical of what you think of when you think of Japanese art and they were truly beautiful.



On the way home, we stopped at a produce stand and bought two large apples for 350 yen--pretty cheap compared to the store. The apples here are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!



It's fun to look at the houses, streets, and ways of life...it's a part of Tokyo and part of the experience of being here. Many people will hang their laundry out to dry on hangers, you see it at almost every house. I love how there are collections of pots with flowers all over too. This picture shows a rather small pot collection, usually they are much bigger.



We are amazed at the narrow streets. This street is a little more narrow than usual. The Ford Excursion would never make it here...it's way too wide. Somehow, people are able to drive their cars down these narrow streets. The road here is only as wide and Caitlin, Christopher, and Tayla. This is fairly typical for the narrowness of the roads that we have been on so far, unless they are the busy road with several lanes of traffic. 
It was a peaceful, successful day and each of us enjoyed it. The kids asked me if we can go back when they change the exhibits. I love that they know enough about art that they can appreciate and enjoy it and we can have conversations about it!
 Here's what they thought about it:
Caitlin: There are some pieces that I love, but others are dumb. I love the attention to detail in the grass, leaves, and flowers. You can tell it's a painting, but it's really detailed. So typical of the Japanese. I love the reflections in the water in the paintings. They were very realistic. 
Tayla: Some of it was really awesome, but others, I could have done and they were kind of lame. I think the art on the silk and the sparkly paint was really cool.
Christopher: Cool. It was so neat.
Logan: I thought it was neat to see all of the Japanese art and how they do their art with all of the material. A lot of it was color on silk and color on paper. 
Nathan: Mostly bad, and when we went in the area to get souvenirs, that part was good. I liked the really big picture of the waves and the rocks. I wondered if there were fish in it.