Japan - Textile and Photographic tour

• Meet crafts people at the height of their professions
• Take the bullet train and stay in a traditional Japanese Inn
• Discover the seldom visited Tango Peninsula

This specialist tour focuses on Tokyo and historic Kyoto with short visits into the countryside. Concentrating on the traditional textile processes related to the national dress, the kimono, you will visit a variety of crafts people with opportunities to buy Japanese textiles and products. En route see the fascinating contrast between Japan’s modern and traditional architecture as well as some of the country’s most spectacular Buddhist and Shinto temples and gardens.

Day 1  London Heathrow/ Tokyo – Overnight flight.

Day 2  Tokyo – Arrive in Tokyo with time to settle in.

Day 3  Tokyo – Visit the Reiko Sudo’s textile showroom, the kimono department of a department store and the Meiji Shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife.

Day 4  Tokyo, Kyoto – Take the bullet train to Kyoto with a possible sighting of Mount Fuji en route. Enjoy the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts, which flourished when Kyoto was the capital city, between 8^th-19th centuries.

Day 5  Kyoto – Visit a resident of the Nishijin textile area, the beautiful Golden Temple (Kinaki) and the excellent Zen stone garden of Rokuon-ji.

Day 6  Kyoto – Explore scenic Miyama with its traditional A-frame houses and meet Mr Shindo, a resident artist who specialises in Indigo. Visit a house museum and wander through the village with its exquisitely kept gardens.

Day 7  Kyoto – Visit a weaving workshop that creates high quality obi’s for the Noh theatre and a shop selling beautiful pieces of old textiles.

Day 8  Kyoto – Return to Nishijin for the daily kimono show and the Kyoto Saibai Craft Centre for various types of ciboria and clamp resist. In the Kodai Yuzen-en Gallery see how stencils were used before attending a lesson in wrapping cloth techniques.

Day 9  Kyoto – Explore the Kiyomizu-dera Buddhist temple, one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, and stroll through the old streets of traditional wooden houses. Visit Ginkaku ji temple, considered a masterpiece of garden design.

Day 10  Kyoto, Tango Peninsula – Travel into the countryside to the Tango Peninsula and meet a person who uses wisteria fibre in the making of Obi sashes. See the production of Chirimen silk before spending the night in a traditional Japanese Inn (ryokan).

Day 11  Tango Peninsula, Kyoto – Enjoy the beautiful scenery of the peninsula and see local crafts being practised, including mother-of pearl inlay and hand-made paper-making.

Day 12  Kyoto, Nara – Explore Nara, founded as the capital in 710 and a centre of Buddhism during this period. See many of the old buildings that have survived and walk to the Kasuga shrine with its evocative 3,000 stone lanterns.

Day 13  Kyoto, Osaka/ Dubai – A day at leisure before transferring to Osaka for your departure flight to London via Dubai.

Day 14  Dubai/ London – Arrive in London.

Gina Corrigan

Gina Corrigan, BSc. MEd. FRPS., was born and educated in England. She completed a London external BSc degree while teaching and then went on to Nottingham University to study for a Masters degree in Education. After gaining her Masters degree, she changed course, helping to plan tours to China during the 1970’s. In 1980, she launched her own company, Occidor Adventure Tours, which organised special interest tours to China. Gina led many of the tours herself and has travelled extensively for over 35 years throughout China, pioneering new programmes.

In 1987 Gina organised her first textile tour to S.W. China and from then on, became fascinated by the textiles. She began collecting costumes and textiles from Guizhou because she was concerned that they were going to disappear from everyday use. Her collection has been exhibited at three major venues in U.K: James Hockey Gallery, Farnham; The Holburne Museum, Bath: and the Glasgow School of Art. Accompanying lectures were given. In 1998, Gina’s collection of over fifty Miao costumes was acquired by the British Museum with a documentation file for each costume, containing illustrative material from her large collection of related photographs. A selection of the costumes was exhibited at the British Museum in the new B.P. gallery in 1998. Her book published by the British Museum followed, based on the Miao collection. Her personal collection of other minority costumes toured museums in Hampshire in 2007 and her additional Miao collection was exhibited at Birmingham, London, Harrogate and Dublin at the prestigious Knitting and Stitching Shows 2007.

She continues to study the textiles, visiting Guizhou frequently, carrying out further research and taking at least one textile tour every year. Gina lectures widely on Guizhou textiles and speaks regularly to Embroiderers’ Guilds throughout UK. She has lectured on various subjects relating to the Miao, at the Hong Kong and Kuwait Textile Societies, The Oxford Asian Textile Society, The Royal Geographic Society, The International Batik Conference in Ghent, The Museum der Kulturen, Basel and at the International Forum on Guizhou Rural Tourism in Guiyang 2004. Gina’s greatest love is photography and she gained her Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Gallery using a selection of Chinese images. Her photographs have been published in a wide range of books and articles. Gina was co-author of a geography textbook of China.

She wrote and illustrated the Odyssey Guide to Guizhou, which was published in 1995 and updated in 2001. A photographic book entitled “Images of China” was published in 1997. In 2003 Gina organised and chaired a research team studying some of her Miao textiles. This resulted in the publication in 2005 of ‘Miao Embroidery from South West China’ by Ruth Smith and a second companion book on Guizhou minorities entitled ‘Ethnic Minority Costumes: Textile Techniques from SW China’ edited by Ruth Smith was published in 2007. Gina has provided all the photographs and written the chapters on fibres, indigo, dyes and finishes, skirt pleating and wax resist, as well as the introduction and conclusion. The book, with a gallery of the costumes of Guizhou, has been well received.

Other tours led by this lecturer:

• A Photographic Tibetan Adventure