I became an aunt this week!
Roman Scott Kinion was born this Tuesday, and he’s an absolute doll. I’m sad that I wasn’t there for his birth, but I’m excited to see him when I come home for Christmas.
My sister and her boyfriend surprised my dad by making his middle name my dad’s first. He had been joking about it for a while, but they had claimed they were going to give him some other name. It was apparently very well-received, and everyone got very emotional. Heck, I wasn’t even there, and I teared up.
In Japan-related news, I went to Kawai Kanjiro’s house in Kyoto this Thursday. It was spur of the moment; I was on my way to class, noticed that the weather was nice, and thought it would be a good day to go. I went there as part of an assignment for my Japanese Design class, where we’re supposed to choose a topic we’re interested in, and present on it.
Kawai Kanjiro was a mingei (or folk) artist, and I was interested to see the place where he created his artwork.
When I went there, it was dusk, and the only light in the house was from dim lamps, making the space feel almost other-worldly. The house itself is incredible; it’s very old, and creaky, and has a bizarre composure to it. It’s larger than I expected, and has an interesting design.
The stair up to the second floor were made up of a tea tanzu, and while that looked nice, it felt cramped and unsteady, and both going up and especially down I clung onto the walls for fear of falling.
In another part of the house, when accessing a kiln, you have to duck and go through a narrow doorway. It was marvelous; the space felt exciting and secretive, and I wanted to explore the entire house.
I think this would be a marvelous place to take a child (or someone with a childlike spirit, such as myself), because the it’s a beautiful and curious place, where it seems like the house WANTS you to look around, to marvel at its design while you view the artwork.
I took a lot of pictures while there, so I’ll have plenty to use in my presentation.
That’s all, for now.