Farewell Tokyo! On Thursday morning, dragging bags heavily laden with Tokyo souvenirs, the Master Class sleepily boarded a Shinkansen (Bullet Train) headed for Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan.   Arriving in Kyoto, the Master Class dropped off their bags, and then went straight to the first item of business:

“Shin-Cho-Sa-Ryou”

Shinchosaryou is built on the site of the former Honnoji Temple, the final resting place of the Japanese Warlord Oda Nobunaga. It serves as a shrine to Nobunaga and Samurai Manga set in the Sengoku period. On the lower floors of Shinchosaryou, the Master Class came face-to-face with: The Ghost of Oda Nobunaga!!!! Have no fear, he’s no vengeful spirit, he’s the guide! The tour began with the “Tomb of Nobunaga”. Since Honnoji Temple was burned to the ground around the warlord, no body remains, but Nobunaga’s ashes are thought to be mixed into the earth in this spot. On the wall behind Nobunaga-san is the phrase 天下布武 (Ten-ka-fu-bu : “Governing the land while following the 7 virtues of the Samurai”), painted by a famous calligrapher. This phrase was used on Nobunaga’s personal seal. But Shinchosaryou contains more than dark basements and old calligraphy! On the 2nd floor is a recreation of Tetsu Hara‘s (creator of Fist of the North Star) workplace. This is a replica of Hara-sensei’s desk, complete with all the tools that he uses. The skeleton is for reference when drawing Fist of the North Star’s martial arts techniques (A-TATATATATA!!!!) Some of the Master Class couldn’t resist trying out the Hara-sensei’s comfy chair 😉 Shinchosaryou also contains a SILENT MANGA AUDITION “Hall of Fame”, and a bar where you can order manga character-themed cocktails. After the tour, the Master Class settled in for a manga workshop. Also participating in the workshop were students from Kyoto Zoukei Daigaku (a famous art college in Kyoto). This was a chance to both learn about story-telling, and rub shoulders with local manga students. Task 1: To learn how to tell a story across cultures, using wire-man as characters. First, everyone created a “wire-man”, using 3 pieces of wire. These wire-men were then put in a variety of poses to create various stories and situations. If there’s no explanation, then depending on the viewers background or culture, they might interpret the situations in different ways… just like a SILENT MANGA! Of course, as winners of SILENT MANGA AUDITION, they’re already old-hands as this sort of thing. Even recreating and guessing anime titles using wire-men was no problem;)   Task 2: Drawing a samurai from the Sengoku period. Everyone picked up their pens, and suddenly a very different group sat before us. The easy-going smiles were replaced with looks of intense concentration as they practiced their craft.   The results… Look at that artistic skill! In just under 90 minutes, we had 14 amazing Samurai, done in 14 different styles. That’s the talent that won SILENT MANGA AUDITION 😉 Finally, a tired but satisfied group of mangaka headed back to the hotel, to eat, and to rest. The following day, their Kyoto cultural education would begin… The Manga Museum, famous temples and Geisha!!