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Hinotori
Hinotori translates as firebird or phoenixToday I went to the International Manga Museum, something I was looking forward to. The museum didn’t open until 11 am, so I decided to spend an hour or so at the Imperial Palace gardens. These grounds had been the home of the Emperor, noblemen, and various other hangers-on, starting in 1331, and ending in 1868 when the capital and Imperial Palace moved to Tokyo.
The palace grounds are beautiful and well maintained. The only building that can be visited is Kaninnomiya Mansion, a former residence of court nobles, where a history of the palace and its grounds has been set up. I could have happily spent all day wandering around, but manga called.
The Manga Museum was only a subway stop away. The museum was founded as a joint project of the city of Kyoto and Kyoto Seika University to preserve manga materials and research manga culture. (Who knew there was a manga culture?? My ignorance is showing!) It is housed in an old elementary school, and much of the original building is still intact, squeaky wooden floors and all. Before you get into the museum proper, there is a café, where manga artists
have been let loose to draw on the walls. It’s unique, and a much interesting than run-of-the mill wallpaper or paint.
Can I say I was disappointed in the museum? I think it was more a question of managing my expectations, but there wasn’t much there for me. There was (of course) a gift shop and a couple of room of shelves full of manga volumes going back to the 1920s arranged by decade. You were free to browse through the shelves, and even to take a book from the shelves and it read it on one of the many school desks scattered around. There is also a Research Reference Room that is not open to the public. One of the best things (for me) was the huge sculpture of a manga character, Hinotori (Firebird) built by a Buddhist sculptor that hangs in the atrium.
One of the draws of the manga museum is that on Saturdays you can have a manga artist draw your portrait in the style of manga. Well, sign me up! Manga characters are traditional drawn to be attractive, even the villains are drawn to be appealing. Sadly,
manga museum 7
this is what happens when you let artists draw on the walls when I got there the artist had stopped taking appointments for the day, so I wasn’t able to fulfill my fantasy of being a manga heroine. (sigh)
Possible useful information: • The closest subway stop to the manga museum is Karasuma Oike on the Karasuma Line.
• The museum entrance fee is 900 Yen.
• Maeda Café on the museum grounds serves coffee, pastries, ice cream and sandwiches.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Koyoto
I'm glad you are out exploring the world again. That is disappointing you were unable to get your manga sketch. I'm sure you will find other things to do.