Heijo-kyo (now with Pictures!)

[Please Delete]

So we finally are uploading the photos we took at Heijo-kyo, and I thought I should share. There was much that was of interest.

Let's start on a light note. They have found many mokkan (wooden memo tablets) from this period; not surprising considering it was one of the main implements for writing out notes, etc. Apparently the notches are so that they can be bundled and tied together for record keeping purposes. Anyway, it is clear that bored scribes were not above doodling in their free time:



Of course, what most people are there to see are the reconstructed buildings:

Suzaku gate (Suzakumon):


Main ceremonial hall (Daigokuden):


And a reconstructed Nara-era boat, like the "Kentoushi", or ambassadors to the Tang court, would have traveled in:


Of course, we were really into the costumes:



And the armor (conjectural though it might be):




It was really something. Feel free to look through the photos for more.

[AJBryant]

Fffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu....

Umm...

WAY SPIFF.

Dammit.


What's the story on the food spread?

[Deleted]

Awesome. Judging by your smiles, it looks like you two had a wonderful time. Thank you for sharing these pictures.

[Saionji Shonagon]

I need to win the lottery or something. Looks like SO much fun.

[solveig]

Ii dono!

Greetings from Solveig! Where are the other pictures hiding? I would like to look at them too.

[Saionji Shonagon]

If you click on any of the photos, it will take you to Ii-dono's Flickr photo album. If you click on the set name "Nara" (I think there will be a note on the right hand side of the screen saying the photo is part of that set), you can get to the main page of the set and see everything in it.

[Please Delete]

solveig et al: As Saionji-hime mentioned, click through and you will go to my flickr site. Things there are somewhat organized (I need to organize collections better, because going to the front page is a mess); "Nara" should take you to all of the photos of Nara from various trips. "Heijo" will specifically give you the "Heijo-kyo" pictures. "Nara Period" will give you various things from different museums, but from the Nara Period (or reconstructions thereof.

@hiraizumi-gimi: The food spread (and some of the other photos around it) are from the Heijo Site Archaeological Center (I think that was the name--I'll have to go back). It had information on the dig, some of the artifacts (surprisingly small for such a busy site, mostly because they moved it all up to Nagaoka in 784), and some full-scale dioramas of what life was like. They did take some liberties (the carpets are woven, vice felted, but the design comes from the Shosoin), and I'm always on the lookout for info on food.

Picked up two new books on that in Japan, btw--one having to do with the food of Nobunaga, and another just on Japanese food history. I'm trying to copy down some of the menus that are given.

-Ii

[solveig]

Ii dono!

Greetings from Solveig!

Sept 9, 2010 19:17:39 GMT -5 Please Delete said:

Picked up two new books on that in Japan, btw--one having to do with the food of Nobunaga, and another just on Japanese food history. I'm trying to copy down some of the menus that are given.

I'm pretty sure that I have a copy of the Nobunaga food book. I am very interested in whether or not the Heijoukyou　平城京 people have anything in writing about their food reconstructions. There are some interesting books out there. I have one on what would Pimiko eat.

[AJBryant]

Spiffers!

I'd love to know the titles of those books if you could dig 'em up at some point. Might be fun readin'.

I'm curious about that food spread. Was that food supposed to represent a royal thing, a ceremonial thing, a typical banquet thing, or a "normal" dinner?

[Please Delete]

One of the books was 「信長のおもてなし：中世食べもの百科」--the other I'll have to get the name of when I get home, because I don't think I brought it.

Regarding the food shown--I have no idea what they are showing. I would doubt it was a typical meal, as they had several copies of things, so at least two or three persons supposedly sitting down to eat. The arrangement looks more similar to a "kyo", or feast, of some sort. I'm thinking that they are extrapolating from the Heian period, rather than going off of strictly Nara period information.

-Ii

[AJBryant]

Sounds logical. Looks cool as hell -- thanks for the pics on that.

I'm adding that title to my Amazon.co.jp list of "books to snag." Muchos arigatos.

[Please Delete]

Question for you, now: The armor. What are your thoughts? I'm currently leaning towards "complete conjecture", but I'm wondering what you might know, otherwise.

-Ii

[AJBryant]

It's pretty much conjecture -- sort of the putative "transitional" form between the keiko and the yoroi. You see it depicted (more or less along those lines) in many books, but only as line drawings and with notes like "author's reconstruction." I've never seen any extant examples, or even enough surviving bits to get a real structure. It's a fairly logical guesstimation, but that's all it is. Unless something really spectacular has come to light in the past couple of years...

[Please Delete]

I think my problem with it is that it shows it like a poncho, with just two flaps, which doesn't jive with the way I've seen either the keiko or the yoroi--they always seem to encircle the body. I think the poncho look (just a hole for the head, and hanging straight down on either side) seems to probably be related to the bugaku dance outfits. That in and of itself begs the question of whether or not the dance outfit could be actually inspired by real armor or if it is depicting something else (perhaps something so stylized it doesn't really make sense any more). I'm hoping to eventually explore the possibility of doing up an interpretation of one of the Tang dynasty armors, and maybe that will help provide clues, but in the meantime, I would expect a transitional armor to show more bits of the two armors it is transitioning between, not just a commonality of sane.

[AJBryant]

Some of the transitions (as speculative models) just went with a poncho design-- some include under-body wraps that supposedly transformed into the single waidate on the left side (remember that the o-yoroi is open there, and that's the supposed reason for it). At this point, supposedly, the armours were still relatively flexible, and when they were "rigid-ized", things changed.