THE BRITISH MUSEUM JAPONESE GALLERY TOUR
SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER
Led by our very knowledgeable guide Dr Monika Hinkel, our chronological tour started with Jõmon era pottery and progressed through the influence of Buddhism, the Samurai era, the tea ceremony tradition, the vibrant urban life of the Edo period, and artistic development into the 20th and 21st centuries.
The Jõmon era dates back to early settlements (13,500 - 500 BC). We looked at four pots representative of the Jõmon (means “cord marked”) technique used on early Japanese ceramics. We then jumped forward in time to 200 BC and looked at a bronze bell cast by the Yayoi people using metal imported from Korea and China, it is thought they may have been used in farming rituals.
Buddhism was introduced into Japan between AD 530 and AD 700 from China and Korea. It focused on the worship of deities promising protection for devout rulers . With the new religion came the Chinese writing system, new technologies and architecture. A Chinese style of centralised government was adopted by the Japanese state of Yamato. From AD 710 to AD 794 its capital was at Nara. The ruling family had official histories written to suggest its direct descent from the native gods, known as kami. Over many centuries kami worship evolved into the form of religion that is today called Shintõ. Our guide focused our attention on statues representing Pure Land Buddhism, which teaches that the Pure Land paradise is easily accessible to all, a revolutionary idea in medieval Japan. Another type of Buddhism was tantric Buddhism emphasizing complex rituals. To help understand these, monks created sculptures and mandalas (symbolic images representing the universe). And finally Zen Buddhism, which became important in Japan from 1200. It has had a great influence on Japanese culture including temple and garden design. Samurai warrior rulers in Kyoto saw the political benefits of Zen and were great patrons of its art and culture. We admired a painting in ink of the “Three Zen patriarchs” typical of the period.
We made another jump forward in time with the Hampton court vase and its delicate designs of birds and flowers made in the Kakiemon kilns for export to Europe between 1670 and 1700 by the Dutch India Company. The Dutch were the only Europeans allowed to trade with Japan at the time.
In 1868 the samurai government was replaced by a new regime, ruling in the name of the Meiji emperor. The court was moved to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo. We looked at prints and books telling stories of a nation embracing, political, cultural and social change.
Finally we looked at a stunning feather leaves bowl created in 2013 by Hosono Hitomi. Her bowl is uncannily reminiscent of ancient Jõmon flame pots. She represents a generation of artists who retain their national identity while absorbing influences from abroad. In Tokyo Story 7 : Nightfall, 2011, a British artist Allchurch digitally combined photographs she took in Tokyo to reimagine prints from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo by Hiroshige (1791-1858).
Following the superb tour, our group walked to the Fitzroy Tavern, a historic pub in the heart of Fitzrovia, renowned for its Victorian interior and its long-standing association with writers and artists including George Orwell and Dylan Thomas, where we enjoyed lunch in a warm and friendly atmosphere.
A SPIRITED SEPTEMBER STROLL
SATURDAY 19 SEPTEMBER
On a slightly overcast September morning a small group of Lyceum members set off from London by train to Hassocks, a village set about 7 miles north of Brighton in West Sussex. This would be the starting point of an exhilarating and rather blustery hike along the chalky grassland ridge of the South Downs, providing wonderful views to the sea and inland, with a patchwork of now green pastures and vineyards as far as the eye could see. The walk would then continue northwards through fields, woods and countryside lanes before ending in Plumpton (childhood home to Queen Camilla and home to Plumpton Racecourse).
Just after the 6 km mark a stile led to a steep descent and then a rocky, tree lined path to Westmeston (established 765 AD) after which the group negotiated various fields and numerous stiles before reaching the Artelium Wine Estate where they stopped for a much deserved break and a most agreeable lunch. A few members also sampled a couple of the Estate’s wines, which were most quaffable! The last part of the 15km hike followed a trail through more fields before reaching Plumpton from where the hourly London train would bring the group back to the capital.
Highlights included the historic Jack and Jill windmills at Clayton which were reached after a rather steep ascent. The first reference to a windmill in this location was in 1765 and it is widely believed that John Constable may have painted it on his visits to Brighton. Today one windmill is in private ownership whilst the other has been lovingly restored and is open to the public on select dates.
Another highlight was reaching the Ditchling Beacon, the highest point in Sussex at 248m. This was the site for a warning beacon, visible for miles around as well as the home to an Iron Age hill fort. Further on in Westmeston the group were able to visit St Martin’s Church, a Grade II listed medieval parish church. Parts of the building date back to around 1100 with 13th and 14th century additions. It was particularly lovely to see the preparations for the Harvest Festival and to see the rare 12th century chalk/clunch lead lined font, which is the only one of its kind still in use in the country.
It was a perfect autumn adventure and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and the opportunity to immerse themselves in the beautiful Sussex surroundings.
Dinner & books - Wednesday 9 September
The third Dinner & Books session focused on Hispanic writers. The five books selected offered very different perspectives on love, morality, power, reality, and fiction, taking us from nineteenth-century rural Spain to twentieth- and twenty-first-century Spain and Latin America.
Our five books were:
- A Little Lumpen Novelita (2002) Roberto Bolaño
- Don Quixote (1605-1615) Miguel de Cervantes
- The Infatuations (2011) Javier Marías
- The Kiss of the Spider Woman (1976) Manuel Puig
- The House of Ulloa (1886) Emilia Pardo Bazán
The House of Ulloa portrays the dark and unequal life of rural Galicia. A young, inexperienced priest arrives at the Ulloa estate, where he encounters the morally corrupt Don Pedro and becomes concerned about the fate of his newlywed wife within the dysfunctional household. Patriarchal power, morality, religion, social inequality, and the position of women are among the novel’s central themes.
The Kiss of the Spider Woman is a conversation between Molina, a gay man, and Valentín, a Marxist, who are both imprisoned. To escape the harsh reality of prison life, Molina recounts the plots of old films. As they spend more time together, their relationship gradually develops into a deeper intimate connection. The novel explores sexuality, politics, love, identity, and the power of storytelling as a form of escape.
The Infatuations explore love, death, obsession, and the uncertainty of what we think we know about others. María Dolz becomes fascinated by a seemingly perfect couple she regularly observes in a café. After the man is unexpectedly murdered, she becomes drawn into the mystery surrounding his death. The novel questions how we construct stories about other people and whether we can ever truly know the truth. Infatuation, guilt, perception, and the moral consequences of knowledge are at the heart of the book.
A Little Lumpen Novelita takes us into a darker and more unsettling world. After the death of their parents, a young brother and sister (Bianca) are left to navigate adulthood on their own, drifting slowly into a life of crime. Bolaño explores themes of loneliness, vulnerability, violence, and the uncertainty of identity through Bianca's narration.
Finally, Don Quixote takes us on one of the most famous journeys in literature. Alonso Quixano becomes so obsessed in books of chivalry that he decides to become a knight himself, taking the name Don Quixote and setting off on adventures with his down-to-earth companion, Sancho Panza. His imagination repeatedly clashes with reality, most famously when he mistakes windmills for giants. Beneath its humour and adventure, the novel explores illusion and reality, idealism and practicality, and friendship. It shows how the power of literature shapes our imagination.
We all enjoyed our convivial conversation, like the format for its freedom. Our next literature rendez-vous: 18th November. Same time, same place. Next theme: Australia
OLD BAILEY GUIDED TOUR
SATURDAY 18 JUNE
After passing through security, we met our incredibly knowledgeable guide, whose dry and very British sense of humour added a great touch to the tour. He took us through the Old Bailey, introducing us to the building’s fascinating history as we visited the imposing Entrance Hall, two courtrooms, the basement holding cells and the Judges dining room.
The Old Bailey began as a court beside Newgate Prison in the late 1500s and takes its nickname from the street it faces, which ran along the line of the outer defensive wall ‘bailey’ of the City of London near Ludgate Hill. The present building was build between 1902-1907 after Newgate Prison was demolished and opened by King Edward VII . The building was damaged during the Blitz and the IRA bombing in 1973 (after repairs, embedded debris were kept as part of the restoration history). In the 1970s more courtrooms and modern facilities were added as well as heavy lead-lined protective curtains installed over some of the large windows.
The Entrance Hall is the main public access area and central distribution point from which corridors and lifts lead to different courtrooms and administrative areas of the Old Bailey.
We went to the oldest courtroom referred to as Court No 1 used for high-profile criminal trials such as Ruth Ellis (1955) the last woman to be hanged in the UK, William Joyce (1945) tried and executed for treason after broadcasting Nazi propaganda during WW2 , the “Yorkshire Ripper” (1981) Peter Sutcliffe was convicted for 13 murders to life imprisonment.
It has a traditional, Victorian-era judicial atmosphere, with dark wood furnishings, formal seating with a traditional layout : the judge’s bench is elevated at the far end, the witness box sits to one side and the dock for defendants is enclosed by glass and a wooden partition. From the dock we went down a staircase to the secure holding cells located below ground level where defendants are held before and during hearing or trials before being transferred back to remand prisons like HMP Pentonville or Belmarsch for men and HMP Bronzefield and Downview for women. They are divided in three categories and are separated from each other to prevent contact between defendants from different cases. A sobering experience for visitors.
Our final destination was the Judges’ dining room used for lunches and private gatherings during court sittings. It is decorated in a formal, traditional style with wood panelling, royal portraits, senior judicial figures and heraldic coats of arms representing the Sheriffs of the City of London. They symbolise the link between the City’s civic government and the criminal justice system.
Seeing the Old Bailey firsthand was awe-inspiring and served as a powerful reminder of the heritage and authority of the English justice system.
AMBASSADOR THEATER TRIP : 1536
MONDAY 15 JUNE
After a delicious, Eastern Mediterranean tapas style, early dinner at Brothers Marcus in the delightful pedestrianised Slingsby Place in Covent Garden, a small group of us made our way to the Ambassador’s theatre nearby to watch Ava Pickett’s debut play, 1536.
Set in a rural Essex village during the tumultuous year Henry VIII ordered the execution of his wife, Anne Boleyn, 1536 tracks how distant political turmoil and royal scandals embolden local men to control and condemn the women in their community.
The play was effortlessly funny, bold and definitely ballsy. It blended dark themes with earthy, sharp-tongued humour. The three central characters were aptly cast, delivering emotionally strong performances alongside perfectly timed comic lines. We watched Anna (a thunderbolt of a character, selfish, brave yet naive), Mariella (a bristling yet fragile midwife) and Jane (the good girl, who starts off making us believe she is anxious and vulnerable, longing for a good marriage, but then reveals a more steely and ugly side.) argue, flirt, swear and spiral in exchanges that are gossipy, occasionally filthy and very frequently hilarious!
The play’s most powerful achievement is how effortlessly it removes the distance between 1536 and the present day. Pickett's writing draws a clear, unflinching line from the court of Henry VIII through to modern culture, tracing the same patterns of male entitlement across five centuries. The ‘operating system’ is always the same: idealise the woman, crave her validation, feel entitled to possess her, reward those who fit the fantasy, punish or destroy those who do not. It was a message that landed on us full force and stayed with us some time after the performance ended.
GUIDED TOUR OF THE V&A TOSHIBA GALLERY
SATURDAY 6 JUNE
With our very knowledgeable guide Dr Monika Hinkel, a distinguished lecturer and curator in the field of Japanese Art, specialising in Japanese wood-block prints, an Academic Member of the Japan Research Centre at SOAS University of London and an Academic Associate of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, we stepped into the rich world of Japanese art, design and craftsmanship. Exploring highlights from the gallery’s renowned collection, the tour traced Japan’s artistic traditions from the seventeenth century to the present day, moving from samurai armour, tea ceramics, kimono, woodblock prints, and lacquerware to modern and contemporary design.
Special attention was given to the new display, Urushi Now: Contemporary Japanese Lacquer, which celebrates the enduring and evolving art of Japanese urushi. Featuring works by leading contemporary lacquer artists, the exhibition reveals how this 7,000-year-old medium continues to inspire bold new forms and expressions today. We admired works like ishizuka Genta’s Red Flow and Mine Tanigawa’s fluid, organic sculptures that look almost impossible to fashion out of wood and sap.
Following the tour, our group walked up Exhibition Road to the Polish Club, where we enjoyed lunch in a warm and friendly atmosphere.