在异乡遇见故国

在异乡遇见故国

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

旅行中的某个早晨，我在榻榻米上醒来。木制推拉门环绕周围，微风从纱门吹入，相距咫尺的室外，雨滴正从屋檐滑落，落在门前的花圃内……这是日本岐阜县白川乡的民宿，却让我想起一句唐诗：“醉卧茅堂不闭关，觉来开眼见青山。”

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”.

白川乡的“小”

清晨的白川乡分外美丽，湿漉漉的世界里，远处的山林雾霭环绕，一栋栋合掌屋正坐落在翠色的田间，这正是我一直梦想的乡村。

白川乡的合掌屋仍使用传统的工艺建造，每30年更换一次屋顶的结构和茅草。乍一看不太像东方的建筑，尖尖的屋顶很欧洲，甚至让我想起瑞士的山村，但合掌屋内过着东方式生活。

村镇很小，可以让你穿着木屐和睡衣，在夜间轻松地走去泡温泉；房子很小，可以藏身于参天大树之下；和室很小，可以让一群人在榻榻米上肩并肩地围坐；檐廊很小，可以让人在其下静静地观景；门也很小，甚至要让你低头以谦卑的姿态方得进入。传统日式的林林总总，就像它的餐食一样小巧而精致，充满生活的气息。

“小”成了日式对于美的一种态度。

唐风京都

相比乡村，古城京都则有着另一种魅力。

京都的夜，我和几个同伴去花见小路寻找居酒屋，却在附近的几条小街里屡屡误入私宅。在京都，居酒屋和私人宅邸居然难以分辨，一样小小的门牌或店招，一样干净、整洁的前院，木格窗内，也一样透露着温暖的灯光。宅子没那么封闭，居酒屋也没那么喧嚣。窗纱微亮，人影游动，这是唐诗宋词中的故国夜色吗？

京都据说是按照洛阳城的模样建设，至今还能看到不少“洛阳”的字样。在这里，能看到最接近唐代的建筑。不论是龙安寺，还是三十三间堂，没有雕梁画栋，没有繁琐装饰，包括斗拱在内的所有构件都真实、简洁和古朴，身处建筑中，不时闻到原木的清香。

日本人对待古建筑的方法也很有意思，因为木结构不耐久，所以伊势神宫每20年就重建一次，其他的古建筑也大都采用“偷梁换柱”的方式，严格按照原貌保持动态的更新和维护，但不论怎样，绝不会用混凝土以假乱真，不会追求所谓“一劳永逸”。

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.

故国的回响

日本传统建筑为框架结构体系，其简练真实的性格具有先天的现代基因。

在丰岛美术馆，在如天幕般纯粹的混凝土屋盖下，几十号人静默于此，只听到风吹树林、海浪起伏。透过两处洞天看着云的游走、树林婆娑，那一刻，我有着前所未有的体验。来之前，我不明白为什么要建造这样一座“空”的建筑。但当“万籁无声天地静”的一刻，我们开始注意平时看不见的事物，开始面对平时看不见的自己。言不尽则致远，情不尽则味深。这个作品或许就是“空”的意义，是人工向自然的致敬。

日本当代建筑绝不复古，但传统的哲学极大影响了当下的艺术和审美。安藤忠雄的建筑有着传统的仪式感和空间叙事，妹岛和世、西泽立卫的建筑有着传统的模糊界限，隈研吾的建筑有着传统的表皮与质感。日本当代的建筑师分别在不同的领域继承了日本的文化和审美，并用最现代的材料和工艺去诠释当下的建筑，他们是建筑师、艺术家、哲人，更是极致的匠人。

有人把日式的美学总结为“不均整、简素、孤高、自然、幽玄、超凡脱俗、静寂”等直观的特质，黑川雅之也用“微、并、气、间、秘、素、加、破”八个关键词来概括日本的审美意识。在我看来，日式美学具备谦卑与高傲两种看似矛盾的属性，有对自然、传统的谦卑和敬畏，也有着精神世界的高傲与孤独。

旅行即将结束的时刻，有些东西涌上心头。如果大唐是故国，日本是异乡，但当触碰传统文化、当代艺术，还有大师精神世界的时刻，似乎在异乡听到了故国的回响。