Children's Day Koinobori

Today is Children's Day, and for the past week or so the koinobori, carp streamers, have been flying around Japan.

Our local Chamber of Commerce puts up 2 strings of them across the Gonokawa river.

This is the spot where the Suijin Matsuri will take place on May 5th.

Though it is called Childrens Day, really its Boys Day as the girls celebrate Hina Matsuri, the Doll Festival.

The carp symbolize endurance and strength as they swim upstream.

Suetsugu Shrine

Suetsugu Shrine is located on the shore of Lake Shinji right next to the main bridge coming into Matsue, though as the shrine is listed in the Izumo Fudoki it has probably been in existence for a millenia before Matsue was built.

The two main kami enshrined here are Susano and his "mother" Izanami, and there is also a group of three uncommon kami, Hayatamano, Kotosakano, and Kukurihime, who are all connected to Izanagis visit to see Izanami in the underworld, Yomi.

There are numerous small shrines within the grounds to various aragami including kojin, and also an ebisu shrine.

Right next to the main building is a small shrine that seems particularly popular that I think may be to Benzaiten as there were several small depictions of snakes on the altar.

Kujira Studios Exhibition

Went upriver yesterday to visit a friends ceramic exhibition. Operating under the name of Kujira Studios he opens his house and studio once a year for an exhibition of his latest work.

While the emphasis this year was on less expensive, more utilitarian works, there was still plenty of more arty pieces.

Photos from a previous exhibition can be found here

The exhibition runs until May 8th. and the studio is in Kamino village, Misato Town, about 40k from Miyoshi and Oda City.

A whole range of pieces were done in a new "Misato Blue" glaze.

Hakudo Hashimoto can be reached on 090 8361-8065, or rikihas7@ezweb.ne.jp

Sheep shearing & Cherry Blossom Viewing

A friend in a nearby village has started raising a small flock of sheep and we went up to visit while they started the shearing. Good job I did. They started by two people holding on to a poor sheep while one of them worked on it with some electric clippers.

First thing I showed them were the 2ways to tie up a sheep so it can be sheared by a single person.

Next I showed them how to shear most efficiently so that the fleece comes off pretty much in one-piece.

It sure was good to be covered in lanolin and sheepshit again......

Also took the opportunity to do a bit of cherry blossom viewing. I was out of the country for the mania that is Ohanami in Japan. Seems to be a thing for city-dwellers, and Ive never really gotten how getting drunk while sitting on a blur tarp indicates a unique Japanese love of nature, but up in the hills there was still lots of cherry trees in bloom on peoples farms and hillsides.

The upper photo is a Shidare Zakura, a species of Weeping Cherry and the pink/red hue was really intense. The lower photo is a Yae Zakura, with big solid groups of blossoms. I prefer both species to the standard one.

We also came across a huge pile of discarded wood that once cut and transported down the valley to our place should just about see us through next winter for firewood.

A good day.

ACROS Fukuoka

From the back and the sides ACROS looks like many other glass and steel buildings, though with an unusual stepped structure.

From the front however it looks as if the park in front of it has spread up over the building.

Designed by Argentinian architect Emilio Ambasz, the Tenjin Central Park, one of the last green spaces in the area, climbs up 15 terraces and in a very real sense doubles the size of the park.

During daylight hours the stairs running up the building are open and from the top good views can be had looking over the city.

ACROS stands for Asian CrossRoads Over the Sea and is the Fukuoka Prefectural International Hall.

It opened in 1994

Weeds

It promises to be a dry day today so I have to get out and whack the weeds around the house and garden.

With the warmer weather and the abundant precipitation, a month away allows the vegetation to prosper.

But I thought I would take a few snaps before...

I'm ashamed (only mildly) to admit I have no idea what any of these flowers are

This one I do know, they are wild rasberries, so I must be careful to leave them.....

Vacation 2011: day 1, Yahata

For this years vacation I flew out of Fukuoka airport so was able to spend the day exploring a bit of Kitakyushu before my flight. First I headed to an area I had not been to before, Yahata.

I wanted to see the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art as it was designed by Arata Isozaki. Later I will do a complete post on it.

From the hill on which the museum is located there are great views over Yahata!!!

Yahata is dominated by a big amusement park, Spaceworld, built around the theme of space. Most visitors to Yahata will be heading there and it even has its own JR station.

Next to Spaceworld is the small Kitakyushu Environment Museum which focuses on the environmental problems created by the areas industrialization and the steps taken to combat pollution both locally and globally. The building itself utilizes various sustainable technologies and while the displays have no english information its worth a visit at 100yen.

Next door is the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History which was surprisingly good and large. The main hall has dozens of dinosaur skeletons and there are some quite good historical displays too.

The first steel works in japan were built in Kitakyushu and the first blast furnace, opened in 1901, has been preserved as an open air museum. Its located right next to Spaceworld station.

Osaka Castle

Both of these draincovers are from Osaka, and both feature what is probably the main tourist attraction of the city, Osaka castle.

The current castle is a modern, concrete reproduction complete with elevators. The original　tower was destroyed during the Meiji Restoration but was rebuilt in 1928. Subsequently damaged by bombing during WWII it was finally reconstructed in 1997.

Originally built in 1583 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Following the Siege of Osaka in 1614, Tokugawa Ieyasu finally defeated the Toyotomi the following year.

The castle is huge and grand, but more interesting to me visually are the walls constructed in a style known as Burdock Piling which is constructed without mortar and able to withstand earthquakes.

Tahara Shrine

Tahara Shrine is a large shrine located at the foot of the hills north of Matsue castle. It is approached up a long flight of steps flanked by dozens of stone lanterns and komainu. Notable are a pair of komainu that are the largest in the San-in region. Most if not all of the komainu and lanterns are made of Kimachi sandstone, quarried not far away on the shore of Lake Shinji.

Another interesting feature is that 12 of the lanterns are topped with small sculptures of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac.

Also known as Tawara Shrine, it includes a branch of the Kasuga Taisha, and the main halls shimenawa is I believe Kasuga style, being braided rather than twisted. The shrine is listed in the 8th Century Izumo Fudoki and has therefore existed for close to a thousand years before Matsue and its castle came into being. The shrine was originally located 500 meters away but was moved here during the war between the Amago and Mori clans.

One of the secondary shrines in the grounds had a polypropylene shimenawa that shows how even plastic can achieve wabi sabi!!

The shrine features a twin pair of hondens. In the east honden are enshrined Futsunushi, Takemikazuchi, and Amenokoyane. The latter two kami are considered ancestors of the Nakatomi-Fujiwara clan, and Futsunushi is the ancestor of the Mononobe. In Izumo records it was Futsunushi who came from the High Plain of Heaven to entreat Okuninushi to give Japan to Amaterasu and her descendants. According to Yamato stories it was Takemikazuchi and Futsunushi, and appears to be a rewriting of the myths to favor the powerful Fujiwara.

The west hinden enshrines Ukanomitama, the child of Susano now mostly identified as Inari.

Behind the hondens a path leads into the forest and a grove of sacred trees with numerous altars scattered around their bases.

Secondary shrines within the grounds include Inari, various aragami, Kojin, Suijin etc

Japanese Childrens songs

These 3 short clips of traditional Japanese children's songs are from the Warabekan, a toy and childrens song museum in Tottori City.

The childrens song section of the museum I found particularly interesting and thought the way they displayed these songs were good.

Unfortunately I have no information about these particular songs, so if any readers know what they are aor anything about them please post a comment.