A forest of persimmons, Noh theatre and a strange rock.

In Autumn here you can't escape persimmons. The trees ares everywhere in people's gardens and fruit can be seen hanging from peoples' houses drying in the sunshine.







In Ibaraki we came across a hidden valley that was basically a forest of persimmon trees. Four families had planted the whole valley from ancient times. A farmer was selling  by the roadside and there were a few new and rare varieties to try.

In Saitama, near the mountains,we went to the horse archery festival, a great feature was a traditional Noh play being performed on an old stage next to the temple.

A drive further into the mountains yielded  amazingly ancient and isolated villages and farmhouses like this. Still only a few hours drive from Tokyo.




Further on was this strange rock. It is a sort of Japanese  Stone Henge, used to track the sun and the stars. Astrological inscriptions can still be seen carved into the rock, no-one
knows how old it is.
























Then a bit further on, truly stunning views from the mountains on a lovely autumn day.

At the risk of repeating myself,
this is two hours drive from the the biggest city in the world. Greater Tokyo is now some 33 million people.

Wine tasting party for the local village

Winetasting party? Well, "wine tasting riot " would be a fairer description.

A friend of ours organises local events and for many years now we have wanted to something for the local community. So the other weekend we held a wine-tasting lunch / seminar for about 30 of the local people.

I chose 6 wines, 3 whites and 3 reds from 4 countries to taste, buying all of them at local supermarkets. All supermarkets and indeed most convenience stores sell alcohol in  Japan. The average price per bottle was about $10. This was done on purpose as perfectly good wine is available at this price here and I wanted people to be able to easily find again anything they liked.

Wine is still viewed as something rather special here. It what you drink if you go to a fancy French or Italian restaurant and is not a part of everyday life as it is in Australia.

So wine consumption per capita is comparatively low in Japan, about 2/l per person per year. The figure for Australia is about 22 liters.

The wines were carefully tasted one by one for about an hour then we had a large lunch

Members  of the local band were there and after lunch I was drafted to play keyboard with them. So we played music for about 4 hours, so enjoyable.

Songs  I knew or had heard once or twice before we fairly easy to play. The problem, and of course the fun, came with the other songs I had never heard before.  They would throw the sheet music to me and say, "Page 47!" . you can see me squinting at it all in these photos.






Japanese popular songs tend to weave around a lot more than Western ones. You get quite a few key changes to and from  odd places and indeed quite often the Eastern pentatonic scale is used. Also of course the lyrics are written in Japanese making them at times difficult to follow along to,.. to say the least.

A challenge, but terrific fun. 

Pickle-man, Chrysanthemums and the home for lost foxes.

In Kasama in Ibaraki Prefecture each year they hold a massive Chrysanthemum festival.
At the Inari fox shrine and surrounding areas literally hundreds of different types  of Chrysanthemums are on display in the autumn sunshine.

 Particularly interstingly, there were extensive displays of Chrysanthemum bonsai plants. We spoke to a proud prize winner about how they do it. The plants are not perrenial so they have a limited time each year. The whole process takes about 16 months. First they grow a plant in a PVC pipe and only really allow  the roots to develope to full size. This is done in winter inside the house or green house. Then is spring they start training and pruning and selecting shoots. They results can be astounding.

This rather curious plant on the right is also a Chrysanthemum but about 3 meters across and, incredibly, all one plant. They were quite a few versions of this on display.

All around too were vendors selling fresh local produce. A highlight was meeting pickle-man and his fabulous range.

Pickled eggplant in Moromi, a fruity gentle miso-like paste with soya beans. Pickled, garlic and shallots. Carrots and plums. Pickled cabbage and cucumber. Fruit pickled with red basil, ...all delicious.

A rather curious thing was the home for lost foxes. The shrine is a fox shrine, with fox statues everywhere . The locals keep little fox statues in their homes to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.

When the person dies the foxes may not be needed, as the children may have their own. So they are returned to the temple and form this marvellous collection in the temple grounds.  A sort of ' Used fox yard', a little sad perhaps but at least they have company.

Izumo Shrine

Izumo, in Shimane Prefecture Southern Japan. is regarded as the oldest and most famous shrine in the country.  It is here that the Gods first came to Japan, apparently, and in October each year they come back and stay at a specially built "God Hotel" next to the shrine

Here's the hotel.

So if you want to pray to your local God he or she won't be in your local shrine they will be here during October. So the you have to come here and the place gets very crowded.

We went early on a sunny Autumn morning to avoid  the hordes of tourists. It is a  wonderful place that also houses the original Sumo shrine as it is here that Sumo is also thought to have originated.

 The shrine has been particularly in the news reccently as Princess Noriko married the son of the shrine family, 96th generation in the job or some such, and as a result there has been much publicity around the place. It is meant to be a lucky shrine for couples, marriages etc.
Although she became a commoner by marrying one.

 Prayers and wishes stuck on a tree in the temple grounds.

Kumano, Japan's great brush making village.

Kumano is in the hills close to Hiroshima and is an astonishing place. For countless centuries it has been the home of fine brush making in Japan. To this day some 80% of all the calligraphy brushes made in Japan come from here. It is a calligraphers dream.

The whole village is dedicated to brush making and there are some truly fine shops with an amazing array of writing equipment for sale.

As these are hand made by master craftsmen the prices can be a bit eye-watering. You pick up a quite small brush and check the price and have to read it twice, $700-$1,000 is not unusual. There are of course cheaper ones available as well but a good calligraphy brush is going to set you back at least $200.



The really wonderful thing about the place though is the museum. Very big and very new it sits on a hill top above the town and is dedicated to all things calligraphic. It would be worth a trip to Hiroshuima just to visit this museum.

It has an incredible amount of information on display about the history of calligraphy and indeed the Japanese writing sytsem in general as well as permanent and special exhibitions of the moist wonderful calligraphies, books etc. Many going back to ancinet times. If you are interested in languge, books and writing then this is the place for you.

The brushes are made from a wide range of materials, all sorts of furs, hairs, feathers, bamboo etc. 

The highlight of the many displays is a tatami room where a real brushmaking master happily sits making brushes from an astonishng array of  materials. You can chat with him, in Japanese of course, and learn all about it .

Surely  one of the most womderfull things about this country that you have dotted here and there people making such things. brushes, knives, hammers, silks, pottery lacquerware etc in tradiaitonal ways and by people who have been doing it in the same place for countless generations.

There are detailed explanations of the origin, chemistry and structure of the materials used.