O-miki by the barrel

A huge stack of sakedaru (sake barrels) at Matsuo Shrine near Kyoto. Matsuo is the home of the patron kami of sake brewers.

Sake when offered to the kami is known as O-miki. It is one of the primary offering (shinsen) to the kami. After a ceremony the omiki will be shared among the participants and congregation.

I don't drink sake, but gladly drink omiki.

The wooden sakedaru are wrapped in a ricestraw blanket to protect them during transportation.

Most of the major shrines will have a stack of sakedaru, usually, but not always, donated by brewers.

Typical Japanese Landscape 26

Foothills of Katsuragi Mountain (Nara) at sunset.

It's going to be a snowy winter...

...at least according to these critters! They are Kamemushi ( Turtle Bug), and this fall there has been a much larger number of them invading the house. Local wisdom says this means heavier than usual snowfall this winter.

Members of the Pentatomidae family of bugs, in English they are commonly known as Stinkbugs because of the unpleasant smell they excrete when attacked. Many Japanese women and kids freak out if they see one as if it were a deadly creature, but in fact the smell is a little unpleasant but not that bad. Japanese say the smell of Cilantro is like that of the kamemushi, ..one reason freash cilantro is hard to find in Japanese supermarkets.

In Vietnam they eat the bugs. From personal experience I can tell you that even after cooking they remain crunchy!!

Round Windows: looking out.

Circular windows are not uniquely Japanese, but they do seem a little more common here traditionally.

Kennin-Ji, the oldest Zen Temple in Kyoto


The former Wilds Gallery, Omori, Iwami Ginzan


Tea room, Chofu gardens, Yamaguchi Pref.


Manor House, Takahashi, Okayama.


Park. Asari, near Gotsu

Haikyo

Haikyo is a Japanese word that means something along the lines of "ruin" and "abandoned building", and its a word that is becoming used in English now. There are lots of people who's hobby is exploring abandoned sites around Japan. Where I live close to half the buildings are abandoned, so it doesn't seem anything special.

This tiny haikyo was on the trail leading up to the small chapel at Otome Pass, in Tsuwano, the site of the torture and martydom of Japanese christians in the late 19th Century.

It was a small tea room/cafe, and was probably built in the late 1960's when Japan started to experience a domestic travel boom

One of the fascinations of haikyo seems to be that often things will be left untouched as they were.

Traditional japanese house

It's only been quite recently that I have begun to appreciate the aesthetics of traditional Japanese houses. This one seemed a little lighter than many.

I have also come to appreciate the gardens, though I can't quite get used to the fact that Japanese gardens are meant to be looked at, not walked in.

For many years I didn't even bother going into any of the many old houses open to the public.

This one is located in the small village of Chikauchi-cho, a few hundred meters from Takeuchi JR station in SW Nara Prefecture.

We stopped in on our way to walk the Katsuragi kaido. The place had obviously been recently renovated and had just opened to the public. Like many places off the beaten track, entrance was free.

Jellyfish invasion

Not sure what these species are. There was an interesting article in last week's Japan Times about the invasion of Nomura jellyfish, the worlds largest. The article is here

The one in the photo above was pretty small, and it was trapped in a tide pool.

Just off the rocks was this much larger one, about 50cms wide. While sailing off the Shimane coast I have seen some monsters more than 1 meter across, but apparently they can grow to 2 meters.

Concrete wabi sabi: Steps

Concrete is everywhere in japan. Japan pours, by far, more concrete than anywhere else on the planet. One of the few factoids I knew of Japan before I came was that japan was self-sufficient in limestone.

There is an aesthetic to concrete that I call Concrete Wabi sabi.

The first pic is a harbor wall in a tiny fishing village near Hamada.

Also in Hamada, steps down to the river.

Steps down to the river in Hiroshima City.

In Fukuoka City, steps up the ACROS building.

Also in Fukuoka, spiral staircase to a multi-storey car park.

Steps down to the beach at Kuromatsu, near Gotsu

Marine Hall, a wedding chapel.

Marine Hall is one of 2 wedding chapels at the Meriken Park Oriental Hotel in Kobe.

Rather than go for the "traditional" architecture of Japanese wedding chapels that look like sets from a Takarazuka performance, the design is based on the form of a seashell.

Built in 1995 and designed by the Takenaka Company, the roof is 14 metres above ground.

Nearby is the Kobe Maritime Museum and the Kobe Port Tower, and so makes for a nice cluster of interesting architecture

A morning walk through Senjokei

Senjokei

Ted of Notes From The Nog fame was visiting for a couple of days, so decided to take advantage of the fine weather and went for a hike down Senjokei, a local beauty spot.

It's a narrow gorge that has 12 waterfalls within the space of 3 kilometres.

We started at the top of the gorge in Hiwa, thinking, correctly as it turned out, that on top of the mountains the sun would have already burnt off the mist that was filling the valleys down below.

The trail through Senjokei is part of the Chugoku Nature Trail that passes through most of the interesting spots in Shimane. On all the sections of the trail that I've walked I have yet to see anyone else out walking.

There was a bit of color, though the wet and cloudy weather has made it a less than usually spectacular Fall display this year.

The mountainsides are too steep for the state to clearcut the forest and replace with tree farm

The trail has lots of walkways and stairs constructed to get through and around otherwise impassable sections of the gorge. There are also three pretty footbridges. There are also numerous toilets and picnic shelters along the trail.

The gorge opens out and the river hits the Yato River at Eno.