Hello and welcome to Travel + Explore + Play with Sallee Jay where I am your host. Today we are headed to The Metropolitan Museum of Art affectionately known as “the Met”in New York to view the exhibition “Japan: A History of Style.”
For those of you who having been following along for a while now, you’ll know that my love of Asian culture stems from my childhood. My parents would host exchange students in our home to immerse me into various cultures. Having had the most exposure to Japanese culture, I decided to check out this exhibit and create another scavenger hunt for you to follow along with! As with the Virtual Field Trip and Scavenger hunt: The Smithsonian -National Museum of Natural History scavenger hunt, a key is available upon request, email travelsalleejay@salleejay.com. Let’s go!
Clue #1 -Find Title: Poet Minamoto no Muneyuki, Section of Fujifusa handscroll of Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and complete the poem:
“Yamazato wa
fuyu zo sabishisa
___________________
hitome mo kusa mo
karenu to omoeba
In the mountain village
it is in _________ that my loneliness
increases most,
when I think how both have __________,
the grasses and people’s visits.”
(Translation by Joshua Mostow)
Clue #2 – What is a waka poem and what are its attributes? How does it contrast later forms as renga, haikai and haiku?
**Note this question is to promote further dialogue and discussion around Japanese poetry styles. **
Clue # 3 - ______________ is the chief of the Five Wisdom Kings (Godai myōō), is the wrathful avatar of Dainichi Buddha and the tenacious protector of Buddhist law.
Clue # 4 – Find “Kimono with Design of Pines, Plum, and Bamboo (Shōchikubai)”
According to the exhibition history, where has this piece been displayed?
Clue # 5– Find “The Tale of Genji 1594 (Bunroku 3)”
How many subjects are depicted in scroll 1, section 10?
“The Tale of Genji 1594 (Bunroku 3)”
Clue # 6 - Find “The Tale of Genji 1594 (Bunroku 3)”
What date/era is this hand scroll illustration from?
FUN FACT! *Lady Murasaki Shikibu’s 11th-century novel, The Tale of Genji, is a brilliant record of life among the nobility and is considered one of the great works of world literature. Written at the start of the 11th century, it is generally considered the world’s first novel. At its most basic, The Tale of Genji is an absorbing introduction to the culture of the aristocracy in early Heian Japan—its forms of entertainment, its manner of dress, its daily life, and its moral code. The era is exquisitely re-created through the story of Genji, the handsome, sensitive, gifted courtier, an excellent lover and a worthy friend. Most of the story concerns the loves of Genji, and each of the women in his life is vividly delineated. The work shows supreme sensitivity to human emotions and the beauties of nature, but as it proceeds its darkening tone reflects the Buddhist conviction of this world’s transience.*
Clue # 7 – Find the “Mirror with the Deity Zaō Gongen” 11th-12th Century
What period is this piece from? For a bonus points, google this period and learn more on your own and send me 3 fun facts that you learned to travelsalleejay@salleejay.com and I will send you a personalized post card from out new travel postcard card line.
I hope you enjoyed the clues as much as I enjoyed creating them! Be on the lookout over the next couple of months as I have some amazing travel experiences planned, as well as some additional surprises coming to the site. As always, thanks for stopping by and sharing in my world, your readership means everything to me!
XOXO
Sallee Jay