Mt Fuji with dragons.

I spend as much time as I can wandering the back roads of Japan exploring. I pay a visit to every shrine I pass. As well as being a place to learn about the history and mmyths of a place, shrines are also like art galleries. There are statues, and carvings, often gardens, and sometimes paintings, like this exquisite one I discovered at Ichiki Shrine up in the mountains.

The design, of dragons and Mt Fuji, is one that is thought to bring good luck.

Concrete Wabi sabi: Tetrapods part 2

A further look at Japan's favorite construction material... concrete!

I heard an interesting statistic yesterday from an architect who described concrete as a very environmentally unfriendly building material. He said that 10% of all the carbon dioxide emissions on the planet come from the production of cement.

There are some wonderful sections of coastline in Japan, viewable by boat, but too much of it is concreted over. Often I am reminded of the coastal defences built along the English and French coasts during WWII.

The entrance to any harbor is often now a maze of concrete breakers.

The rivers too are lined with concrete making them more like drains than living rivers. There is an environmental biologist working around Lake Biwa who is responsible for concrete being taken out from the lakeside as it destroys the ecosystem.

Isotake Guro

Monday was Tondo Matsuri in my village, but it was cold and rainy so we gave it a miss. Photos from last years Tondo can be seen here.

Instead we went up the coast a little to the fishing village of Isotake where they have a version of Tondo Matsuri that is unique in all of Japan. For their Tondo they erect a 10m wide bamboo structure called a "Guro".

You may think it looks very Mongolian, and you would be right as it is acknowledged that its roots are from the mainland. This area has a strong connection to the mainland through the korean kingdom of Sila. A few kilometres away is the spot where Susano and his son Isotake arrived here from Korea. The shrine behind the Guro recounts how many local "kami" travelled back and forth with Susano to the mainland to learn skills.

The structure is built almost completely out of bamboo, covered with mats. Inside fire burn and the villagers gather for the next 4 days.

The tall central bamboo, similar to other tondo matsuris, is for the kami Toshitokujin, the kami of the new year, to descend into the guro. Toshitokujin, like much that is called shinto now, has its roots in Daoism.

Over the fires mochi is toasted. It was freezing outside but very warm inside.

On friday the guro, along with all the new years ornaments, will be ceremonially burned as with other Tondo matsuri's.

Omiki by the One Cup.

Omiki is the name given to sake that is left on altars as offerings to the Kami.

At major shrines it will be donated by the barrel. At most shrines it will be donated by the bottle.

At small wayside shrines (Hokora) or secondary shrines (Sessha) in the grounds of main shrines, the Omiki is left by the "One Cup".

Put on the market in 1964, to coincide with the opening of the Tokyo Olympics, the Ozeki Sake Company's "One Cup Sake" came in a small jar holding 180ml. Other companies soon followed suit.

The size was based on a traditional measure of rice or sake, the "go", which was a small wooden box with an interior volume of roughly 180ml.

Obviously, some kami prefer other beverages, like cafe au lait....

.. or shochu cocktails.

Winter in the village

It's early days yet, but the stinkbugs prediction of heavy snow this winter has not materialized yet. We are getting a lot of snow, but its melting pretty soon after falling. Hotei, sitting outside our front door doesn't seem to mind the snow.

My neighbours tea doesn't seem to mind the snow either.

The village rice paddies with my garden in the foreground. Won't be working in the garden today. I don't mind.

My favorite viewpoint over the Gonokawa, about 1k upstream from my house.

Round Windows: looking in (modern)

The last post, for a while at least, on circular windows in Japan. These are in Milky Way Hall in Gotsu.

This one is at the local aquarium, Aquas.

These are the doors to the Treasure House/ Storeroom of a shrine in Yamaguchi City. Gandalf or Dumbledore or Santa is being watched by a komainu

This one is at the Contemporary Art Museum in Hiroshima City.

And another one from Aquas

Some other glimpses...

Here are a few more blogs that I've recently discovered and added to my links list. Enjoy!

Flightytemptress365
One photo a day from an island in Nagasaki


Osaka Insider
A blog that delves into Osaka and the Kansai area


Sendai-Shi
Lots of photos and interesting info from the Occupation era.


Spice of Life
One photo a day from Kyoto and environs.

New Shimenawa

The new year so far has been cold and windy with snow flurries and sleet. I've stayed in my nest close to woodstove. Yesterday there was a break in the weather, so I decided to venture out and visit the local shrine for Hatsumode (first shrine visit of the year). The tori were still decked out in their new years decorations.

My main reason to visit was to see the new shimenawa, the "sacred rope" that is used to demarcate sacred space. In my village the shimenawa is replaced every 10 years, and this one was made in the weeks after the harvest matsuri last November.

Shimenawa come in all shapes and sizes, and are traditionally made of rice-straw, though in some places plastic is now being used. Here in Iwami the shimenawa tend to be large, though not as large as those in Izumo. I remember when I first came here a villager apologized that because the village was poor they couldn't afford to make on as big as the one at Izumo Taisha, the biggest in Japan.

I had hoped to see this one being constructed, but in the end i was too busy in November..

After that brief spell of sunshine and stillness the weather has reverted to freezing wind and flurries.

I have quite an extensive collection of photos of different types of shimenawa, so eventually will get round to posting a more explanatory blog about them.

Riverwalk at night.

A final look at the Riverwalk complex in Kokura, Kitakyushu.

More details can be found in the previous posts

For those of you who don't know Kokura, nowadays it has been merged into Kitakyushu.

It was the secondary target for the first atom bomb, but good weather over the primary target, Hiroshima, spared it.

It was the primary target for the second atom bomb, but bad weather meant the secondary target, Nagasaki, was chosen.

Concrete Wabi sabi: Tetrapods

Continuing with a further look at Japan's favorite building material, concrete.

In Japan tetrapod is the generic name for a variety of concretes shapes used in "coastal defence" and riverside erosion control. There are dozens of variations in size and shape other than the true tetrapod which has 4 legs.

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that they often cause more problems than they solve, not least of which the uglification of the coast. More than 50% of the Japanese coast has been concreted. Less than 2% of Osaka Bay is natural.

Of course, some might say that the main function of tetrapods is to provide profits for concrete and construction companies.

In Junior High Schools in Japan kids are taught that "We Japanese love nature, but the West (by which is meant the USA) try to control nature"