Aimi Town Tottori Persimmons & Haniwa

Aimi Town Tottori

Aimi Town, located west of Mount Daisen in Tottori, became subsumed under Nambu Town a few years ago. The local draincover shows persimmons and a haniwa. The area is known for its large type of persimmon, and one of the highlights of the local matsuri is a persimon-seed spitting competition.

Haniwa are clay figures that were placed around large tombs, and this area of Tottori has a large number of smaller kofun (burial mounds), indicating that this was quite an important political center in ancient times.

Many of the myths and stories connected with Okuninushi are set in this part of the country. At one shrine a a large rock is revered that legend has killed Okuninushi. Apparently he had 80 brothers (or step-brothers) known as the Yasogami, and they were constantly trying to do Okuninushi harm. In this story they told Okuninushi to wait at this spot while they went up the mountain to drive down a wild boar. They then heated a large rock until it was red hot and rolled it down the mountain. Okuninushi, somehow seeing a large red boulder as a wild boar, grabbed the rock and was of course burned to death. Not to worry though as his mother interceded with the kami and had him brought back to life.

Further stories of ancient times links another shrine with one of the early mythical emperors, and at a shrine to this emperor there are some wonderful carved reliefs on the shrine buildings.

I saw this rather incongruous pairing at a nearby temple that had hundreds of memorials to dead children.

Colorful Koi

For the past week or two the Koi have been erected throughout Japan in anticipation of Children's Day on May 5th. The koi are erected by families with sons as the koi represent strength and endurance.

Just upstream from us the town of Sakurae strings 2 lines of koi across the river at the site of the years most important matsuri, the Suijin Matsuri, which is held on May 5th.

Most koi though can be found in small groups flying from poles outside peoples houses.

To underscore that it's really Boy's Day, not Children's Day, some people put up banners with the koi,or sometimes instead of the koi. The banners display famous warriors and warlords. This one has Ieyasu, Hideyoshi, and Nobunaga, among others.

Typical Japanese Landscape 19

Most Japanese have lived along the coasts or on the plains, but there have always been some who lived deep in the mountains. The above shot is near Yasaka in Iwami. Iwami has no plains, so more people have traditionally lived in the mountains, but the number is decreasing.

This shot is from central Shikoku.

The people I have met while walking in the mountains have always been a little friendlier than most Japanese. Maybe I'm projecting, but they also seem to be a little more independant.

April harvest. Takenoko, bamboo shoots

It's takenoko season!! The shoots of new Giant Bamboo are now poking up from the ground and free food is to be had for the taking.

The best time to harvest is early morning following a rain. Look for shoots no more than a few centimetres in height. Any bigger and they are too tough.

Dig out the soil around the shoots down about 10 cms and cut. Most Japanese use a Japanese pick which has a sharp blade on one side, but I used a small hatchet with no trouble. The above photo is about 20 minutes worth of work.

Strip away the outer layers and trim the base and tips.

Preparation should be done as soon after harvesting as possible as the shoots quickly become tough and bitter. Before cooking the shoots need some preparation. Most people boil the shoots in water with nuka (rice bran) and a few red peppers, though if you can't easily get rice bran then boiling the shoots and changing the water twice works as well to remove the acridity.

Once drained and washed the shoot can now be cooked. Takenoko can be made into pickles, takenoko gohan, rice cooked with bamboo shoots, is also popular, but a good way is to boil the shoots in a mixture of water, soy sauce, sake, and fish stock.

My favorite way to use them is in Thai curry,.... a little to spicy for most japanese. Tonights supper.... made with eggplants, tomatoes and peppers out of the freezer from last years garden. There is no doubt that the tastiest food is free food!!!

NTT Docomo, Chugoku Head Office

Located in Nishi-ku, Hiroshima City, these are the regional offices for NTT Docomo.

I've been unable to find out who the architect is, but I have seen other NTT buildings with similar stylistic elements, so I suspect it is part of a cookie-cutter corporate design.

Passed by there twice, and on each occasion was able to take a few snaps that pleased me.

Gozamai The mat dance Izumo Kagura

Gozamai The mat dance Izumo Kagura

I have only ever seen this dance twice, and both times it was by the Ichiyama Kagura Group at an Omoto Kagura performance.

The dance is performed by a single dancer, and begins with the rolled-up mat in one hand and bells in the other. Later the mat is unfurled and the dancer steps backwards and forwards through it then wraps himself in it and spins around. As the dance progresses the pace increases.

The dance originates from Sada Shrine up in Izumo, where the dance is performed once a year as part of replacing of the mats in the shrine.

Sada Shrine, one of the 3 most important shrines in Izumo before the ascendency of Izumo Taisha in the late Heian Period, is the home of Izumo kagura, one of 3 or 4 styles of kagura in Japan. It is generally believed that Iwami Kagura is derived from Izumo kagura.

Three Lights Shrine

This is not a mosque, but a shrine. The symbol is of the three kami enshrined at Mihashinoyama Shrine on Sangaisan, at 378 metres the highest mountain overlooking Hamada.

The three kami are Amaterasu, represented as the sun, Tsukiyomi, the kami of the moon, and Susano represented as a star,.... the three lights.

There are actually 3 shrines on the mountaintop, lower, middle, and upper. The middle shrine, shown above, contains the main buildings, and is in the style of the meiji era, so I suspect that the attribution of the 3 kami occurred at that time. Prior to that the 3 kami were known as Gongen, buddhist manifestations of Japanese kami.

The most common version of the story of the creation of the 3 kami is from the Kojiki, when Izanagi fled from visiting his dead wife, Izanami, in the underworld, Yomi. While ritually purifying himself in a stream, Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi, and Susano are expelled from Izanagi's eyes and nose.

In the Kojiki version of the myths, thats the last we hear of Tsukiyomi, and there are very few shrines to him in Japan. I've never come across another shrine where all 3 of the kami are represented in the same way as here.

The mountaintop shrine was known as a place to view sunrise, and a place to pray for safety on sea journeys and for fishing.

There are great views looking down over Hamada as well as down the coast and also inland.

Its possible to drive to within a few hundred meters of the shrine, and there is a footpath up the mountain that starts behind the University.

The gardens

There is not a lot to harvest this month, a little spinach, the last of the cabbage, spring onions, and a sack of carrots. Mostly this month is planting and weeding!

The top photo is our village garden. It was constructed with landfill, and was very poor quality. For six years we have been taking out rocks, and now stones, and adding chickenshit, ash from the woodstove, compost, and ricehusks, and therefore the quality of the soil has improved. In the photo you can see potatoes, green onions, carrots, regular onions, a few peas, garlic, lima beans, and some new cabbage and cauliflower.

About half a kilometer away is our riverside garden. It's actually our neighbors land but she is too old to use it so lets us have it rather than see it go to waste. The soil is soft and rich. a couple of years ago the river flooded and took out everything except some sweet potatoes, but in return left a layer of fresh, fertile silt. At the moment it is planted with potatoes, lima beans, onions, garlic, and very young carrots.

Spring color

It was a nice sunny day today, so I took my camera with me when I walked to my garden.

Water & light

We had a friend visiting last weekend, so of course we took him to my favorite museum, Mizunokuni, and this gives me an excuse to post some more pics.

My overriding experience there is of water, light, and stone, so thats what these few pics are of.

Museum 104, or its more common name "Mizunokuni" is open from 9 to 5, Thursdays through Mondays. Entrance 400yen per adult, 200yen for kids.

Mizunokuni is located on Rte 261 along the Gonokawa River, about 25 kilometres upstream from Gotsu. There is a JR station about 2k away at Shikaga.

The chances are that the vast majority of you reading this blog will never make it to Mizunokuni as it is simply off the beaten track, but if anyone is interested in visiting, please contact me and I can help arrange a visit.

More post on Mizunokuni

Tatara Bridge

I found this draincover on Ikuchijima, Hiroshima Prefecture, and it depicts the Tatara Bridge which connects Ikuchijima with Omishima.

Sunrise

When I took the photos it was the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world, with a central span of 890 metres, but last year a longer bridge was built over the Yangtze in China, and a soon to be completed bridge in Hong Kong will cause the Tatara bridge to drop to third.

Sunset

The bridge is one of 10 that connects Honshu with Shikoku along the Nishiseto Expressway, also known as the Shimanami Kaido. Each bridge has a section for cyclists and for pedestrians, and the route has become a popular cycling destination with plenty of campsites and accomodations along the route.

See more Japanese draincovers.

Typical Japanese Landscape 18

Though you will often see images of the Shinkansen hurtling past Mount Fuji, the Shinkansen mostly runs through the heavily populated corridor along the Pacific Coast between Tokyo and Fukuoka.

This was shot in downtown Hiroshima.

Mizunokuni: the Art (inside)

Continuing on the theme of my favorite museum, Mizunokuni, here are a selection of the artworks that can be found inside.

Many provincial museums in Japan have interesting (and expensive) architecture, but contain weak or thin collections. Mizunokuni's collection is large, diverse, and I would guess expensive, though it is hard to discern the connection to water with some of the art!

A lot of the art, like this sculpture, is kinetic. All these little "aquanauts" are moving.

The nicest thing about Mizunokuni is that it is empty most days so you can wander at your leisure and not have to worry about crowds. It is empty because the museum is in the middle of nowhere, with no public transport, and almost no advertising.

This piece on the lower-level is a huge bar of iron immersed in water encased in a clear perspex block that extends from the inside, through the glass wall to the outside.

This final piece is actually a 3D model, set inside a case with a small viewing window to keep the illusion.

Museum 104, or its more common name "Mizunokuni" is open from 9 to 5, Thursdays through Mondays. Entrance 400yen per adult, 200yen for kids.

Mizunokuni is located on Rte 261 along the Gonokawa River, about 25 kilometres upstream from Gotsu. There is a JR station about 2k away at Shikaga.

See outside Mizunokuni

See inside Mizunokuni