March Harvest

Red cabbage, or in Japanese, Murasikikabestu, which means purple cabbage, never seems to grow as big as regular green cabbage, but I always grow a couple just so I can make pickled red cabbage.

Mizuna, commonly known as Japanese Mustard in English, has been grown in Japan since ancient times, but probably came from China originally. Good in salads or as greens.

Brussel Sprouts, Mekabetsu in Japanese, are not common. Like most people it seems, I hated brussel sprouts as a kid, but now have come to love them. I just steam a bunch, lightly salt them, then munch on them all day as a snack!

Regular cabbage, daikon, green onions, and carrots are still in abundance.

As usual I am behind schedule in the gardens. I haven't even finished planted potatoes yet and need to do some weeding and mulching before planting....

The London Gherkin

A bit of non-Japanese architecture as I work my way through my photo backlog :)

The building known as the Gherkin in London was finished in 2003, and so a trip back to England I made a point of going to see it.

In the middle of "The City", Londons financial district, the building real name is 30 St. Mary Axe, which is its address.

The 40 story glass tower was designed by Norman Foster and Ken Shuttleworth.

I visited on a Sunday when all the offices were closed so the streets were deserted allowing me to wander into the roads to get good views.

Temples & Snacks

I love wandering around the old neighborhoods of Japanese towns and villages. All these photos are from one of the old parts of the castle area in Hamada.

There are usually a mishmash of architectural styles and periods. The photo above is probably Meiji era, and was probably a school originally.

The area south of the castle had an awful lot of "Snacks", or Sunaku, little drinking establishments that don't serve meals, just alcohol and "bar snacks" and in some instances female companionship.

I counted at least 30 within a few hundred metres of walking back streets. Most of them kind of funky.

There were also a lot of temples, many of them quite picturesque, with statues, and gardens etc

I'm not sure if there is a direct relationship between a neighborhood having a lot of temples and a lot of bars :)

There is a lot of history in these neighborhoods, and not the contrived museum kind of history one finds in tourist areas, and perhaps more interesting because of that.

Hamada Hachiman Shrine

There are steps leading up to Hamada Hachiman Shrine.

More than 100 of them.

There are steps leading up to most shrines and temples.

I did a rough calculation, and figure I must have climbed more than a million by now.

The steps and road to the steps lead back in a straight line to where Hamada castle stood on its hill overlooking Hamada, as this shrine was the tutelary shrine for the lords of Hamada.

Hachiman, kami of war, tutelary deity of all samurai.

It's a fairly standard Hachiman shrine, though I noticed on my last visit that it had a whole new set of front doors.

Behind the main shrine is a small secondary shrine, a Densha, some type of rice paddy kami, and a small old Inari shrine.

Being hamada, of course there is a kagura den.

To the side of the main shrine is a second, much larger Inari shrine. This was moved here from a few hundred metres away about 30 years ago. The original shrine was established by a son of the lord about 400 years ago.

Though its locally known simply as Hamada Hachimangu, its real name is Hisamitsuyama Hachimangu.

Pink, green, blue bridge.

When giving directions to people driving to our place, the one landmark we can easily give is the pastel pink bridge across the Gonokawa connecting Tanijyugo with kawado. It was recently repainted, so the pastel shades are bright again.

I guess the bridge is about 40 years old as there was a major flood back in the 60's, so the embankments have been raised since then. I have seen some old photos from the 1920's or 30's that showed a low wooden bridge crossing the river at this point.

Before the Meiji period there would not have been a bridge here as either side of the river belonged to different Hans, or Domains. Our side of the river belonged to Iwami Ginzan, so was controlled directly by the Bafuku in Edo. The Kawado side of the river belonged to Hamada Han.

Tengai Dance, Omoto Kagura

This short video is from my favorite of all the Omoto Kagura dances. The tengai is the canopy above a kagura performance space. The kami descend through the colored paper streamers and into the dancers.

The tengai dance is unusual in that it is not humans who dance, but the tengai itself. I have not come across anything like this anywhere else in japan, and I have a lot more research to do to understand it.

For Omoto kagura there is a somewhat different tengai, among the paper streamers are lantern/box like structures.

The boxes are connected by ropes to the priests who sit at the side of the area.

Before the dance begins long streamers inside the boxes are unfurled and hang down. I suspect the writing on them has daoist or esoteric buddhist meaning, as Omoto Kagura was brought to this area by Yamabushi of Shugendo.

The dance begins slowly with the boxes being lowered and raised slowly, gradually the tempo increases and then lateral movement, swinging, and twisting all begin. As with normal kagura, at times audience members or musicians will shout when a particularly fine sequence of movements are executed.

I've seen the Tengai dance performed by 3 priests, and once by only 2 priests, and was stunned by the intricacy and complexity of the movements created.

Typical Japanese Landscape 16

A view over the rooftops in Hakata, Fukuoka; though it could be any Japanese city.

Takashima Sunset

This is one of the draincovers from town of Misumi which lies near the Japan Sea coast about halfway between Hamada and Masuda. It depicts a sunset over takashima, a small island just off the coast that has been uninhabited for about 30 years.

The flowers in the design are Azaleas, and Misumi will be having an Azalea Festival soon when the 50,000 Azaleas in the town come into bloom.

I was fortunate to watch a sunset there last year.

Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival)

Today is Hina Matsuri, when displays of dolls in Heian Period costume are put up in homes. The dolls at the top are of the Emperor and Empress. This display is at Yoko's family home in Kyoto.
The festival comes from the ancient practise of using straw dolls thrown in the river to carry away sin and pollution, a practise which continues today in such matsuri as MushiokuriOdori.

Though May 5th is the National holiday called Childrens Day, in actuality it is celebrated as Boys Day, and Hina Matsuri is celebrated as Girls day.

Shakechi Hachiman Shrine, Hamada

Shakechi Hachiman Shrine is tucked away in a quiet neighborhood just off Route 186, the main road south out of Hamada towards Hiroshima.

Like most shrine it is unmanned, but I was surprised to see a display case with ofuda and Omamori for sale, until I learnt that amulets from this shrine are known specificly for traffic safety, so when you get a new car this is the place to come for protection while driving.

There are quite a few secondary shrines within the grounds including this Inari Shrine.

There is an Ebisu shrine, and Omoto Shrine, and a Jyunisha, which I believe is a shrine to the 12. animals of the Chinese zodiac.