在異鄉遇見故國

在異鄉遇見故國

MEETING THE HOMELAND IN A STRANGE LAND

One morning during my journey, I woke up on Tatami. The wooden sliding door was surrounding; the breeze blew in through the screen; the outside world was just several meters away, where the rain drops were sliding down the eaves and falling into the garden in front of the gate…This homestay in Shirakawago reminds me of the Tang Poetry lines:“Lying in drunken stupor in a thatched cottage with the door open, you may catch the sight of a castle peak immediately once you wake up.”

Text by Shen Chi Translations by Bian Jiajin Photos by CFP

旅行中的某個早晨，我在榻榻米上醒來。木制推拉門環繞周圍，微風從紗門吹入，相距咫尺的室外，雨滴正從屋檐滑落，落在門前的花圃內……這是日本岐阜縣白川鄉的民宿，卻讓我想起一句唐詩：“醉臥茅堂不閉關，覺來開眼見青山。”

The “smallness” of Shirakawago

Shirakawago early morning is gorgeous. In this damp space, the forests are shrouded in mist and Gassho and zukuris are located in the middle of greens. This is exactly the village that I've dreamed of.

The Gassho and zukuris in Shirakawago are adopting traditional construction techniques. The roofs and thatch are renewed every thirty years. At fi rst sight, they don't look like oriental architecture as the sharp roofs are somewhat European in style and even make me think of Swiss mountain villages. But inside the Gassho-zukuris, there are a lot of classic oriental features.

The village is small; you can wear getas and pyjamas to wander to the hot spring at night; the house is so small that it is hidden beneath the towering trees; the room is so small that a group of people must sit on tatami shoulder to shoulder; the corridor is small where people can sit quietly watching the view; the door is also so small that you need to lower your head humbly to enter. There are numerous conventional Japanese styles. They are like a Japanese meal box, tiny but sophisticated, and full of liveliness.

Smallness becomes the approach of Japanese aesthetics.

Tang Style Kyoto

Compared to the village, the ancient city Kyoto has another charm. One evening in Kyoto, some friends and I were looking for an Izakaya in Hanamikoji, but we accidentally entered some private areas in some alleys nearby. In Kyoto, it can be diff i cult to distinguish Izakayas from private areas. They have similar small doorplates or signboards. They both have very clean and tidy forecourts. Through the wooden framed windows, there is similar warm lighting. The houses are not so closed, while Izakayas are not that noisy. The window screen shimmering, the shadows fl oating; is that not the scene of a night view in the homeland described in the Chinese poem?

Kyoto is said to be built according to the look of Luoyang. Now, it's still very common to see“Luoyang” in Kyoto. The architecture most similar to Tang style can be seen here. Ryoanji or Sanjusangendo doesn't have the interior of a large and elegant building or cumbersome decorations, but all the interior components including the brackets are real, simple and quaint. Inside the building, you can smell the scent of wood at times.

The way the Japanese treat the old buildings is also interesting. Due to the poor durability of a wooden structure, Ise Grand Shrine is rebuilt every twenty years. Other old buildings are also renewed or repaired by “stealing girders to change the pillars”strictly according to the situation of the buildings. But whatever they do, they will not mix the repair with the genuine by using concrete, or pursuing the so-called “once for all”.

白川鄉的“小”

清晨的白川鄉分外美麗，濕漉漉的世界里，遠處的山林霧靄環繞，一棟棟合掌屋正坐落在翠色的田間，這正是我一直夢想的鄉村。

白川鄉的合掌屋仍使用傳統的工藝建造，每30年更換一次屋頂的結構和茅草。乍一看不太像東方的建筑，尖尖的屋頂很歐洲，甚至讓我想起瑞士的山村，但合掌屋內過著東方式生活。

村鎮很小，可以讓你穿著木屐和睡衣，在夜間輕松地走去泡溫泉；房子很小，可以藏身于參天大樹之下；和室很小，可以讓一群人在榻榻米上肩并肩地圍坐；檐廊很小，可以讓人在其下靜靜地觀景；門也很小，甚至要讓你低頭以謙卑的姿態方得進入。傳統日式的林林總總，就像它的餐食一樣小巧而精致，充滿生活的氣息。

“小”成了日式對于美的一種態度。

唐風京都

相比鄉村，古城京都則有著另一種魅力。

京都的夜，我和幾個同伴去花見小路尋找居酒屋，卻在附近的幾條小街里屢屢誤入私宅。在京都，居酒屋和私人宅邸居然難以分辨，一樣小小的門牌或店招，一樣干凈、整潔的前院，木格窗內，也一樣透露著溫暖的燈光。宅子沒那么封閉，居酒屋也沒那么喧囂。窗紗微亮，人影游動，這是唐詩宋詞中的故國夜色嗎？

京都據說是按照洛陽城的模樣建設，至今還能看到不少“洛陽”的字樣。在這里，能看到最接近唐代的建筑。不論是龍安寺，還是三十三間堂，沒有雕梁畫棟，沒有繁瑣裝飾，包括斗拱在內的所有構件都真實、簡潔和古樸，身處建筑中，不時聞到原木的清香。

日本人對待古建筑的方法也很有意思，因為木結構不耐久，所以伊勢神宮每20年就重建一次，其他的古建筑也大都采用“偷梁換柱”的方式，嚴格按照原貌保持動態的更新和維護，但不論怎樣，絕不會用混凝土以假亂真，不會追求所謂“一勞永逸”。

Echoes of the homeland

Traditional Japanese architecture is epitomised

by its frame structure. Being minimal and real is its modern factor.

In Teshima Art Museum, under the concrete roof like the purity of sky, dozens of people are silent, just hearing the sound of the wind touching the trees, the waves rolling up and down. Through two holes in the roof, we can see the clouds wandering and the forests dancing. I've never had an experience like that. Before I came here, I didn't even understand why they built such an “empty” building. But as all is still, we started to feel the things we hadn't seen, to face the self we hadn't ever noticed. This work may represent the meaning of “emptiness”, may be a salute to nature from mankind.

Modern Japanese architecture doesn't just reproduce old styles, but traditional philosophy does inf l uence contemporary art and aesthetics. Tadao Ando's design has the traditional sense of ceremony and spatial narratives; Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa's works have the traditional blurred boundary; Kengo Kuma emphasizes the

traditional surface and texture. Contemporary Japanese architects draw on classical Japanese culture and aesthetics from different fi elds, and employ the most modern materials and techniques to illustrate the contemporary architecture. They are architects, artists and philosophers, but above all, they are craftsmen pursuing extremity.

Some people describe Japanese aesthetics as these features: “uneven, simple, proud, natural, mysterious, extraordinary, ref i ned and silent.”Masayuki Kurokawa also described Japanese artistic attitudes with eight key words: “Miniature, Integrate, Imposing, Spacious, mysterious, Simplicity, Addition, Break-through”. In my opinion, they have modesty and reverance towards nature and tradition, and they have haughtiness and loneliness in their spiritual world.

In the last moments of my travels, something occurs to me. If Tang is my homeland and Japan a strange land, when something touches on traditional culture, contemporary arts or the spiritual world of masters, I seem to hear the echoes from my homeland.

故國的回響

日本傳統建筑為框架結構體系，其簡練真實的性格具有先天的現代基因。

在豐島美術館，在如天幕般純粹的混凝土屋蓋下，幾十號人靜默于此，只聽到風吹樹林、海浪起伏。透過兩處洞天看著云的游走、樹林婆娑，那一刻，我有著前所未有的體驗。來之前，我不明白為什么要建造這樣一座“空”的建筑。但當“萬籟無聲天地靜”的一刻，我們開始注意平時看不見的事物，開始面對平時看不見的自己。言不盡則致遠，情不盡則味深。這個作品或許就是“空”的意義，是人工向自然的致敬。

日本當代建筑絕不復古，但傳統的哲學極大影響了當下的藝術和審美。安藤忠雄的建筑有著傳統的儀式感和空間敘事，妹島和世、西澤立衛的建筑有著傳統的模糊界限，隈研吾的建筑有著傳統的表皮與質感。日本當代的建筑師分別在不同的領域繼承了日本的文化和審美，并用最現代的材料和工藝去詮釋當下的建筑，他們是建筑師、藝術家、哲人，更是極致的匠人。

有人把日式的美學總結為“不均整、簡素、孤高、自然、幽玄、超凡脫俗、靜寂”等直觀的特質，黑川雅之也用“微、并、氣、間、秘、素、加、破”八個關鍵詞來概括日本的審美意識。在我看來，日式美學具備謙卑與高傲兩種看似矛盾的屬性，有對自然、傳統的謙卑和敬畏，也有著精神世界的高傲與孤獨。

旅行即將結束的時刻，有些東西涌上心頭。如果大唐是故國，日本是異鄉，但當觸碰傳統文化、當代藝術，還有大師精神世界的時刻，似乎在異鄉聽到了故國的回響。