Jan 31,2008
Noriko Maehata

The Katachi Shcule was held having Prof.George Hart as a guest, who was staying in Kyoto invited by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. I participated it and had a wonderful experience of encountering variety of different forms in the history as well as getting to know the concept of hyperspace with the wonderful guidance of Prof. Emeritus of Kyoto University Koji Miyazaki, The Katachi Shule is a casual meeting for discussions held by the Society for Scientific on Form.
http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/form/
January 4, 2008
The participants met in front of The Pagoda of Yasaka at one o’clock. While waiting there, a priest came out of the pagoda and asked Prof. Miyazaki, "You are the professor on Plato and Pagoda, aren't you?" He has seen Prof. Miyazaki on TV and in some newspaper articles. In his book Solving Riddles on Forms published by Shokokusha, he tells us many of his observation on different historical forms. It is quite an eye-opening book and gives us a completely different way of looking at things.

About 20 participants including Prof. George Hart gathered and first went to Maisendo, which is a specialized shop of Japanese fan, SENSU. There, we were supposed to draw and make our original fans. Prof. Miyazaki explained Wasan that used to be the Japanese Math Drill, some of which are utilizing fan shape that was usually 120 degrees. They are beautiful as patterns also. Although I do not have much time to draw usually, it always gives me some serene and valuable time. It is maybe because I do not think and watch anything else but the object that I am drawing. Prof. Miyazaki is enjoying watching people try to draw. "Aha, everybody is doing what I did for the first time. It is fun to watch!" All the participants are very brilliant in concentrating in what they do. They immediately decide on what to draw and work on it. I followed Prof. Miyazaki’s advice that helps making the picture look good. I tried to draw spheres on parabola. Quite a simple drawing, but the lady at the shop says “Simple is the best” and makes me feel better. It was now sent to me finished as a nice fan. Very self-satisfied!
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It is said that the original folding fans derived from simple non-folding fan was found in 8th Century. It was fun to face with a fan. Then we went to a very interesting tea house renovated from a private mansion with a beautiful garden. There, Prof. Miyazaki introduced us Prof. George Hart, and then gave us a mini-seminar. George introduced himself by taking our some solid puzzles he designed out of a bag, in an order of difficulty so that people can try out and get them back to the original shape. He says he always separates art and science. And he gives his art work, which looks like a compound of roses, to Prof. Miyazaki. He curiously looks at it, while George explains about it. Prof. Miyazaki told us about　interesting forms we can find in Kyoto including some of the places we were going to visit tomorrow. We have a perfect master on forms in Kyoto as a guide!

After walking around Sannenzaka and Kiyomizu Temple in the twilight, although the place was so vibrant with all the Hatsumode people, which is a Japanese habit of the first visits to the shrines and temples in the new years, we had a New Year's Party. The photo is George enjoying one of the geometric toys of the participants. He loves toys and so we all do. Although this is the very first visit to Japan and it has been only a week or so after the arrival to Japan, George is amazingly perfectly acclimated to the Japanese style and manners. And surprisingly everything he does is more than appropriate. It is quite astonishing reaction to all the Japanese language spoken around him while he does not know very many Japanese. It shows how he is thoughtfully observing people and circumstances, which I believe is one of the keys to his successful workshops when he works with people.http://www.georgehart.com/Japan/index.html

January 5, 2008
At ten in the morning, we visited Fushimi Inari, where there are about 20,000 Torii Gates. It is located in a mountain, and people climb the mountain with worships. The location is close to Prof. Miyazaki's house, and he sometimes walks through the Fushimi Inari to go home. On the New Year's Day, Prof. Miyazaki and George visited Nakayashiro of Fushimi Inari and offered a miniature torii gate with their signatures. It was maybe a gate to the future Hyperspace studies of them.




In the afternoon, there was a lecture held at the Memorial Hall of Kyoto University. The guest speakers for the day was
Prof. Emeritus Miyazaki, Associate Prof. of Kyoto University
Tuiki, Prof. of Kurashiki College of Art and Technology Kasper Schwabe and George Hart, Professor of NY Stoney Brook University. The hall was full of audience, with about 100 people, and we all enjoyed the intensive and very interesting lecture there.

The Program of the Lecture
13:15-14:00
Video on 4-Dimentional Polytope
Prof Emeritus. Koji Miyazaki (Kyoto University)

14:15-15:15
Looks Like a Square? --- Solid Fractal and Its Projection
Associate Prof. Hideki Tsuiki (Kyoto University)

15:30-16:00
Playing with 3 Dimesional and 4 Dimensional Object
Prof. Kasper Schwabe (Kurashiki Art College of Technology)

16:45-17:45
Learning 4 Dimensional Forms
Prof. George Hart (NY Stony Brook University)


Although George Hart gave his lecture without interpreter, it was very well structured and the images helped us understand the contents. He introduced some of his geometrical sculptures he created at various places in the world as well as referring to the history of polytope. Prof. Tsuiki referred to the definition of N-Dimension and fractal. He introduced an actual model of cooling the heat-island phenomenon by utilizing fractal theory, which was very interesting. Prof. Miyazaki introduced a video tape on multi dimensional movement of polytope that was produced some time ago when computer graphics was not as advanced as of now. He humorously mentioned that the only thing he had to do in the production was to select the right music to the images. He said, "I once was quite enthusiastic about music and the information I had then was quite useful in selecting the music for this video. So it is better to pursue anything you are interested in when young." We can see that he is a very good teacher and facilitator not only being a good scientist. He mentioned that waltz is just perfect for the rotating images of hyper space polytope. They move just like they are breathing themselves. Altogether, the lecture was very rich in the context and helped our understanding of multi-dimensional polytope. Although in Japanese, you could refer to the Column 8 of Japan Zome Club website for further comments and reports on this lecture. Some of the members came to the lecture from Tokyo with his son, who gives an interesting comment on the lecture.
http://www.zome.jp/


After the lecture, we gathered with Prof. Miyazaki and George Hart with some of the participants and had a wonderful time together. The following address is on Hyper Space of Prof. Koji Miyazaki.


http://www009.upp.so-net.ne.jp/kojigen/2004v2/profile.htm