In the last months of Word War II, the U.S. Military command decided to remove Kyoto from the air-raid list. Although Kyoto was a major population center of some strategic importance, the State Department argued that it was more than just a Japanese city—it was a treasure of the world. As a result, old Kyoto survived at the end of the war, a city of wooden houses, in streets lined with bamboo trellises. The first thing an arriving visitor saw as a train pulled in was the sweeping roof of Higashi Honganji Temple, like a great wave rising out of the sea of tiled roofs. To the eye of city officials, however, the sea of tiled roofs was an embarrassment. ...
—Alex Kerr, Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan 166 (2001.
With a beginning like that, you know that (at least in Kerr's telling) it will end badly. We're due to see for ourselves this morning. I promise an update after I've seen it.
No comments:
Post a Comment