Annual Exhibition of Shoso-in Treasures

The 65th Annual Exhibition of Shoso-in Treasures is being held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (until 7 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays), from October 26 to November 11 at the Nara National Museum. YOMIURI ONLINE(Japanese version) is offering information on waiting times to enter the venue.

Refer to a previous post for information about Shoso-in Treasures:
http://ichinen-fourseasonsinjapan.blogspot.com/2010/10/exhibition-of-shoso-in-treasures.html

At this year's exhibition, 66 items in its collections are on display.  The exhibits include“Heiradenhai no Enkyo”(round bronze mirror with floral and bird designs in mother-of-pearl and amber) and“Urushi Kinpaku E no Ban” (lacquered incense burner tray with painting on gold leaf).

Shoso-in was repeatedly robbed. In 1230, some monks broke down a round bronze mirror into smaller bits and concealed it from view to sneak it out of Shoso-in. The mirror was made of white copper, but they took it for silver. They were executed. The broken-down mirror is on exhibit at this year's exhibition.

In 1610, bowls with lid made of tin in combination with copper were stolen and returned. 

One of the criminals died in prison and the others were executed in 1612. A container for the bowls is also on view.

Many chrysanthemum festivals are being held throughout Japan.

major chrysanthemum festivals: 

http://www.87spot.com/link/hsp@kiku.htm(Japanese version only)

http://www.hanazakura.jp/kiku/ (Japanese version only)

The Kyoto Imperial Palace is being opened to the public from October 31 to November 4. Admission is free.

The autumn imperial garden party was held with 1,800 persons of merit in various fields at Akasaka Gyoen on October 31.

At Kenroku-en(兼六園) in Kanazawa, plantsmen started to place ropes or wires around trees to protect them from the snow on November 1. Its release is scheduled for mid-March.