things Japanese...

I don't believe in a Karmic kind of "next life", but I do think I was a tatami mat maker in a previous life. Or some kind of crafts person in Japan. Contradictions. I have always loved the simple beauty of older Japanese utilitarian objects, and I remember visiting one town on my first trip to Japan just to see it's Folkcraft Musuem.
What I like is the idea that "function" can also be aesthetically pleasing. The joinery of interlocking wooden beams in buildings, propping up a heavy old tree branch by wrapping some jute around the branch and resting it on an old wooden post. Binding the two with twine. Textures of nature.
I also love the woodblock prints from the 18th and 19th centuries. I visited the new exhibit at the Seattle Asian Art Museum today, and I was transported back to Japan in my mind.

Fleeting Beauty: Japanese Woodblock Prints
April 1–July 4, 2010
SAAM Tateuchi Galleries



"This exhibition brings together prints from the most renowned ukiyo-e artists of the 18th and 19th centuries—including Harunobu, Utamaro, Eishi and Hiroshige—along with Hokusai’s most beloved prints, Great Wave off Kanagawa and Red Fuji. These Japanese woodblock prints demonstrate an evocative play between delicate ink lines and rich blocks of color in portraits of beautiful women and kabuki actors, jewel-like landscapes of famous places, and more."
ps - I googled the bottom 2 images, but they are representative of the exhibit.