Shintoism

This is probably usually associated with the large shrines that most tourists see in Japan. But what fascinates me is the many small shrines that appear to be near every home especially in the countryside. The entrance to most shrines is usually associated with one or multiple torii or gates consisting of two upright posts and two horizontal beams frequently painted orange. But there are many much more obscure shrines some with a vase of flowers, a green tea cup and not much else. What is the purpose of these shrines? I suspect that they are a means of offering thanks for everyday blessings and are apparently also used to ask for aid from the spirit world or kami.

Kobuntei

Nariaki Tokugawa who designed the Kairukuen plum garden also had Kobuntei built as a place for nobility to live and entertain. It could also be used as a backup dwelling in case there was a problem with the castle. It is a very traditional building, three stories high with stairs that are extremely steep. There is a nearby teahouse and waiting area for the teahouse. The rooms are relatively small tatami floored rooms with beautiful murals on the sliding doors/walls. One rice straw tatami is 175 by 88cm. One room might be as small as six tatami mats. The roofs are made with very thick straw/grass bundles and the exterior walls with a unique brown coloured plaster reinforced with bamboo laths. One room displays a traditional tokonoma wall used to display artwork, scrolls of shodo (Japanese writing) or ikebana (flower arrangements). Another room has a small square pit in the floor that would have contained a charcoal fire to possibly heat a tea pot as well as warm the occupants of the room. One room has a moon window or door offering a view of the outside garden. Views of the garden from different angles can be seen from many areas of the building.
To view photographs please see Picasa at Kobuntei.

Pottery Sensei

January 10, 2012 we went to a windup potluck lunch and party hosted by the pottery teacher of Yayoi's second brother. The Nihonshu or sake available appeared to loosen the sensei's tongue and details of his life were described. The pottery sensei (teacher) asked some questions of Yayoi and then the two compared notes regarding religion when he admitted he had been a Catholic priest at one time. No details were given as to what ended that phase.
Then the presence of an elongated cloth bag in one corner of the very cluttered room elucidated the obvious question. I had been guessing that it was possibly fishing equipment. Sensei asked for the bag to be handed to him and he pulled out a katana or Japanese sword. He explained that the handle was three handwidths long to allow for a better reach when in combat. He said he had martial arts training (aikido) including the use of the katana. Then he admitted he was a certified ninja and was not allowed to use his skills in case of home invasion or other such problem as he was registered with the police. He described various aspects of Ninja skills such as jumping, climbing ropes and that tricks were used to achieve the apparent ease of a Ninja's ability.
Later in the afternoon it was revealed that he has an interest in herbal medicine and healing powers and has apparently healed a member of his pottery class. He was working with one of the student's hands while we watched. We do not know the outcome of this intervention.
Does nobody in this country lead a simple life or do we just meet the unusual people?

Mito Komon

Mito Kōmon is a television series that has just ended after running for about forty years. It involves Tokugawa Mitsukuni a daimyo (lord) of the Mito area who retires and according to the fictionalized accounts wanders the country side with two companions and 2-3 others who show up when required. His purpose is to find and right wrongs he encounters. The script writers wrote one script at the beginning of the series and follow the same script week after week. After interacting with the villains and the wronged a battle between the villains and the threesome occurs during which one of the companions pulls an emblem from his clothing and everyone exclaims and bows as this represents the shogun or supreme government of the country.
It is nice to see the good guys win and we all love our heroes.

Kairukuen Plum Garden

Although some trees in Japan will bloom mid-winter, I feel the blossoming plum trees are a true harbinger of spring. The Japanese are fanatical about sakura or cherry blossoms partially due to their ephemeral nature and have parties beneath the blossoms on tarps or blankets. Yet as we walked through Kairakuen in Mito and as lunch time approached we realized that plum blossoms were also an invitation to party and have family picnics on the dry brown winter grass.
There are many species of plum or "ume" trees in Japan. They present a variety of blossom pastel colours from red to pink to white in single or double flowers. The fragrance is subtle, but incredible.
The park opened in 1842 thanks to the efforts of the ninth daimyo (lord) of Mito area whose name is Nariaki Tokugawa. The park was designed for commoners as well as nobility. It incorporates the plum trees as well as a sugi (cedar, actually cryptomeria family) forest, a well maintained open bamboo forest (unlike some of the tangles seen near our current home) and a number of other flowers.
To see photographs in Picasa use the following link Kairukuen Plum Garden.

Tsukuba here we come

On March 18, 2012 Akio Okano, Yayoi and I hopped in the mini-mini van and drove to Tsukuba. Firstly an exception, when the speed limit is 50 Okano-san drives 50km/hr unlike my description of people driving 80-90km/hr (someone Okano-san lives with :). Anyway Tsukuba is the science capital of Japan. It was built from scratch to be a science/technology city. It has wide streets, buildings which look as though they could be from any international city and of course a university.
First we went to a large exhibition hall, where Okano-san's art, along with many others was being displayed. Being modest he suggested that his picture be placed in the last position and there it was "In the Sky". It represents what he saw lying down underneath a very large tree located on one edge of the farm feeling the effects of heat stroke. He will be displaying another painting in a large art gallery in Tokyo in the near future.
After this we went to Akio's friend's place nearby. Kenji is another fascinating character. His educational background is Japanese literature. But until he retired he taught horticulture. Recently he obtained a certificate and is teaching English part time. He explained that the furniture in his mansion (condominium) comes from the recycle shop. He refinished the wooden parts himself and had the upholstery done professionally. He has a very nice looking and neat place. Yet he has never been married, something to do with his father being lonely and Kenji essentially filling that gap. Anyway when the suggestion was made by Okano-san that we go out for lunch, Kenji very quickly prepared spaghetti for us and together with a batch of slow cooked ribs from the day before we had a very delicious lunch. Kenji gave us two jars of jam, a jar of orange marmalade he made himself and a jar of strawberry jam students had given him. Okano-san had to leave to clean up his art and we kept talking with Kenji (English is very good) and ended up being late for the concert nearby. The music was quite good and deserved a larger audience.
After the concert Okano-san was back and the four of us were joined by another four and we went to the cafe nearby where we had tea and most of us had zenzai (red beans in a sweet liquid) which is one of my favourite treats.
Akio Okano's singing teacher was one of the people at the cafe. They sing Gregorian Chants in Latin.

People We Meet

I am weeding alone early in the week and a lady comes up to me and offers me a bottle of green tea and goes off to weed her garden patch. Today Friday, March 16 we find out she is our host's sister in law, namely another Okano. She can be seen on the right in the photograph. Later in the afternoon another woman shows up, essentially introduces herself and begins asking me all sorts of questions. My Japanese is not good, but I know she is asking where the boss is (Okano-san) and why he is not working since I was. Then she asks about okusan (my wife) and why she is not working (she had to stay in the house and wait for gas guys to hook up LPG tanks for our kitchen cooking gas burner). Then she asked including some sign language whether the wife was still in bed and thought this was quite hilarious. When I replied to some of her questions with "wakaranai" or I don't understand she again thought this was hilarious and began yelling at the first lady across the field about the hilarious situation she had encountered. I would have trouble answering these questions tactfully in English, never mind Japanese, anyway what business was it of her's where my two bosses were.
Yesterday, after walking the dog, we took the bicycles into town to do a bit of shopping including looking for a small cosmetic style mirror, which we seem to have a lot of trouble finding. Japan is strange that way, some things that are available everywhere in Canada can be hard to find here. Anyway we passed by our usual grocery store, went to the post office to get money out of the ATM machine and then went to a two story shopping mall nearby. Found a few items in the pharmacy here and then decided to go up the long hill (these softies walked their bikes uphill) to a boy's store, a bit like a Canadian tire, but probably more gear for the farming crowd. There are all sorts of fascinating tools and gadgets. We did not buy anything, not even the bicycle I tried to tempt Yayoi with. So off we went again, ah, let's amend that, I immediately noticed that my rear tire was half empty. I tried riding, but I could feel every little bump, so I decided to walk the bike.
We approached a Toyota Corolla shop (in Japan Corolla is a genus of Toyota, not a species) and I suggested to Yayoi we try to get some air in the tire. We looked around outside for compressed air, did not see any and spotted an employee in the back having a break. There was a look of trepidation on his face as we (I) approached, but when Yayoi explained our situation, he sprang into action. He spent quite a bit of time trying to get the valve to function, but realized the valve had exceeded it's life expectancy. Then Yayoi asked about a bicycle repair shop and he spent quite a bit of time in the office looking this up and then brought out a book of maps to show us where there was a bike repair shop. We said thank you very much and continued our walk, with my rear tire now totally flat.
The location appeared to be close to the post office so off we went, but did not see any such shop. Around the corner we met a lady leading her bike and Yayoi asked her, whether she knew about the bike repair shop. Yes, she did and indicated it was next to the grocery store we usually shop at.The situation was explained again at the bike shop, where the mechanic pointed out that the bike needed a new tire(s). Tell me something I don't know as you can see strings and not much rubber. Anyway he suggested charging us about 4000¥ for the tire. I said no way as the bike in the boy's store we had been in earlier was about 9600¥. Essentially we were being charged half the price of a new although probably not a top quality bicycle. Taking off the rear tire on a Japanese bicycle would be twice as much work as an American bike due to the mechanisms such as chain protectors. Anyway Yayoi suggested to the mechanic that we needed to get going, so he helpfully got a new valve, installed this and filled the tire at a much more reasonable cost.
Then we got our groceries and went home uneventfully. Today we find out from my tea lady that her older sister had been observing us in town in almost every store we were in. As I have been telling Yayoi, we will be (in)famous here very soon.
The tea lady and our host have both been apologizing for the chatterbox lady, who didn't really bother me much. Today she showed up again and had to have a few words with me across half the field. She has good lungs.