![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I began my day by picking up![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
layla_lilah, stopping at Peets to caffeine up, then catching the BART over to San Francisco. We caught the Afghanistan show of treasures (including the famous "Bactrian Hoard") from the National Museum in Kabul, plus their current exhibition of Islamic art at the Asian Art Museum. I recall seeing a documentary on PBS last year about the remarkable and courageous lengths gone to in order to save these treasures from the Taliban.
Then we went across the street to the SF Public library for a free celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the writing of Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji.
Photos are up:
(They include a couple of shots of an Edo period kyogen costume at the Asian Art Museum next door. The hemp so fine you can read the Chronicle through the weave.)
The hall was well lit so I was able to get a few photos during the dressing demo and at the end of the performance. They are distinctly underdressed, BTW. One of the dancers is wearing only a green hitoe, a pink uwagi, karaginu and mo. The other is wearing an uwagi that has false layers sewn into the sleeves.
Hara-sho-kai performed two dances this afternoon: Genjoraku (sometimes called the snake viewing dance), traditionally performed by a masked male dancer, and Gosechi no Mai. The dances were preceded by a DVD about the Tale of Genji and a 20 minute lecture by Professor Midori McKeon of San Francisco State University. I'd seen Genjoraku performed before when Reigakusha gave a gagaku concert at Cal Berkeley a couple seasons ago. The Gosechi no Mai was particularly lovely.
Hungry, we headed back across the bay for dinner at Da Lian in Berkeley, which specializes in Northern Chinese cuisine. The sesame bread was very good, as was the lamb with cumin. The smoked tea duck and spinach dumplings were killer.
layla_lilah, stopping at Peets to caffeine up, then catching the BART over to San Francisco. We caught the Afghanistan show of treasures (including the famous "Bactrian Hoard") from the National Museum in Kabul, plus their current exhibition of Islamic art at the Asian Art Museum. I recall seeing a documentary on PBS last year about the remarkable and courageous lengths gone to in order to save these treasures from the Taliban. Then we went across the street to the SF Public library for a free celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the writing of Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji.
Photos are up:
(They include a couple of shots of an Edo period kyogen costume at the Asian Art Museum next door. The hemp so fine you can read the Chronicle through the weave.)
The hall was well lit so I was able to get a few photos during the dressing demo and at the end of the performance. They are distinctly underdressed, BTW. One of the dancers is wearing only a green hitoe, a pink uwagi, karaginu and mo. The other is wearing an uwagi that has false layers sewn into the sleeves.
Hara-sho-kai performed two dances this afternoon: Genjoraku (sometimes called the snake viewing dance), traditionally performed by a masked male dancer, and Gosechi no Mai. The dances were preceded by a DVD about the Tale of Genji and a 20 minute lecture by Professor Midori McKeon of San Francisco State University. I'd seen Genjoraku performed before when Reigakusha gave a gagaku concert at Cal Berkeley a couple seasons ago. The Gosechi no Mai was particularly lovely.
Hungry, we headed back across the bay for dinner at Da Lian in Berkeley, which specializes in Northern Chinese cuisine. The sesame bread was very good, as was the lamb with cumin. The smoked tea duck and spinach dumplings were killer.
