From colored leaves in Japan

A wonderful trip unexpectedly came true, that is to walk around in the old cities in Japan, Kyoto and Nara, and what's more, in the season of colored leaves.
It was when I stayed in Japan in November.

Between the concerts in Kyoto, my co-player Abd wanted to go sightseeing. I agreed and we visited Kinkaku-ji (the Gold temple) when it was almost closing. The time was just sunset. The dazzling sunlight colored Kinkaku-ji real gold. For an instant, I wondered what happened. Many people nearby uttered a shout and kept silent afterwards. The shadow colored even the water gold. It was a festival of light for just 10 seconds. I was speechless over this unexpected encounter.

Kasugataisha in Nara... its unity with nature was explained to me. The chief priest told us that Japanese gods are so generous that we become united with the gods not just by watching cherry blossoms but also by drinking and having fun. Gods were supposed to come down to the village when the cherry blossoms bloomed, and return to the mountains in autumn. A heartwarming story.

We saw colored leaves in Nara park at sunset, as we walked out of the shrine. It was a rare occasion that I accompanied my mother walking slowly from Todaiji to Shosoin.

On the following morning, we visited Toshodaiji as the first visitors in the sunshine of a clear winter day. Volunteers made nice sounds with their brooms cleaning the site before they went to pray. The color of the leaves which were piled up at the roadside was beautiful.
Ganjin, from Tang Dynasty, built this temple. Among other things, I noticed the straight and primitive sculpture "Daijizaibosatsu" in the Gold shrine, standing in the front. There are really so many straight minded sculptures.

We went to the back leading to a joss house. The moss was beautiful! I have not been to the Moss temple in Kyoto, because it requires previous reservation, and I didn't have time. In Nara and in this temple, we can see moss so closely and so casually. I felt lucky.

There were small ponds on both sides of the road. We crossed over a small bridge and went on to the joss house.
The surface of the ponds was calm. It was exactly the same as the pond in the woods of Brussels named "etang des enfants noyer" ( a pond where a child drowned).
I thought it was a dreadful name, but colored leaves in red and yellow reflect on the surface nicely because of its calmness.

I felt that I understood why I was healed so nicely by the woods in Brussels by coming here. I am attracted by these small ponds rather than big flowing rivers which always exist in big cities. In Brussels, colored leaves and green young leaves reflect nicely on the calm surface of pondsﾉand marshes. There are plenty of ducks there, too.

We tend to be seized with surface movements.
It is not bad to feel the subtle moves and flows. However, something visible is not the only truth.
There was a man called Ganjin who came to Japan, even losing his eyesight. I was moved by the beauty of the temple, the elegance of the placement of the buildings and the strength of the soul cutting out all the unnecessary things, all of which he surely saw in his mind.

Today we have the Beethoven project, which is to scrutinize all the sonatas with my students. We are going to have the audition for the master class.
It is true that Beethoven had overcome the difficulties of his deafness. People always talk about it, but I have not thought about it that much. I thought that his deafness was a part of　his character, and it was too sentimental to think that his music is splendid because of his deafness.

We can see his later philosophy already in his early works. In his late period, there is a playful spirit as we see in his ﾒplay songsﾓ. The fact that Beethoven shows his existence throughout his whole life and works, is plain but wonderful. He is a kindred spirit of Ganjin and will survive for centuries to come.

Well, human beings are incredible!