From "Seramika" by Takeshi Matsuyama
(Published by Fujinsha in 1993)
When I returned to Taipei from the countryside, I first settled on the Grand Hotel Yuanshan. It was indeed a good hotel. As expected, this hotel had a great presence. As soon as I entered the entrance to the annex, called the Qilin Tong, the elderly manager at the front desk said, "It's good to see you again." It turned out he remembered my family's stay there in early spring.
"This time, it's for an interview with a magazine. I hope your family is doing well. Yes, please use the nice room."
There is nothing more satisfying when traveling than this kind of heartfelt connection, and that is why a hotel blessed with a professional like him is so wonderful.
From that day onwards, I enjoyed a hard schedule of visiting places like the Tenren Tea shop on Ximending Street, the antique shops in the Chinese Market, and the National Palace Museum, taking photos and searching for the finest gourmet food. I realized that such meticulous reporting, devoted to my hobby, doesn't tire me out at all, and that humans are extremely carefree.
The National Palace Museum was holding a special exhibition of porcelain from various eras, and we were able to see plenty of yellow-glazed items.
But what was even more rewarding was being able to get a broader view of porcelain. I use a book called "Guide to the Study of Ancient Chinese Ceramics," a 12 edition by Kyosuke Ueda, as my textbook. But because it was a book from that time, it has few colored illustrations and lists a plethora of glaze color names, but I couldn't really visualize the colors. But seeing the actual pieces, everything made sense. For example, the colors of tea-leaf glazes, also known as soba-te, are truly compelling. I also got a few textbooks from the gift shop at the National Palace Museum, and these days I pore over them whenever I have free time. The copper-glazed kiln-changed pieces from the Qing dynasty, in colors like peach bloom and apple green, are simply unmatched, and I was left completely lost in the sheer depth of the material, perhaps due to the difference in history.
And, rather presumptuously, I thought to myself that I would like to line up such beautiful vessels on the table and eat and drink to my heart's content, even if only once in my life.
Of course, we shouldn't equate the dining tables of royalty with those of restaurants, but there are far too few Chinese restaurants that serve food with quality tableware. Of course, it's a big world. There may be such restaurants out there that I don't know about, but unfortunately I've never been there or even heard of one.
A digression. Near the end of my trip, I finally had the chance to peek inside an antique dealer's shop. There are many antique shops in Taipei, including several near Section 2 of Zhongshan North Road, a major artery that runs north and south through the city, and around Section 2 of Bade Road, but I had my hopes set on the few shops on the second floor of the Chung Hua Shopping Mall. This was because when I went there in the spring, I saw items with green dragon motifs painted on a yellow glaze.
