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.

Hiroshima

We made a five day road trip to parts of Japan we hadn't been to before, 2,500 km in all.

High on the priority list was Hiroshima.

It turned out to be a marvellous place. Obviously you are  always aware of the tragic past and memorials were everywhere, but what a pretty and enjoyable city it is.
"Pretty" is a highly unsual word to use when referring to Japanese cities. They are usually anything but, apart from the odd temple etc. Indeed they tend to all look alike in their drabness and never-ending concrete and overhead wires.

Here is the view from our hotel with the sadly famous dome.

So Hiroshima sits on the many branches of the Ota River and is surrounded by green hills. It must have been  rebuilt from scratch of course and I guess this gave the opportunity for some planning. So streets are wide, trees are plentilul as are parks, on the whole a very pleasant mix.

The local food too is excellent. Along the river branches restaurants sell oysters from
floating terraces.

 The really famous thing though is Hiroshima Okonomyaki. Thought to have originated in Osaka this is a typical Western Japan dish.

 Most versions are pretty heavy, with a thick pancake resembling a pizza and various things on top. Including large amounts of mayonaise and a sort of thick Worcestershire Sauce.

A comfort food for exhausted salarymen it is washed down with prodigious quantities of beer, whiskey sodas and  Japanese Vodka.

The Hiroshima version is quite different, much lighter and full of more interesting things. We found a little place, there were dozens, near our hotel which turned out to be brilliant. The dish is prepared before you on a large hot plate, like Teppanyaki. The master is kept busy cooking various things for the different customers seated around the large hot plate.


The Hiroshima version consists of lots of cabbage, other vegetables and meat  sandwiched betweeen two wafer thin crispy pancakes.



First the thin pancakes are prepared.


Then other ingredients are added. In Hiroshima this often includes thin noodles.

At the same time he prepared other delicious dishes for us on the hot plate:

A wonderful tomato, basil and cheese concoction and a incredibly good dish of fresh scallops and clams.

The bill for two including drinks came to about $30.

What a wonderful place.

Truth in advertising and Poster Fenzy at the Station

Well its always a  cheap shot, I know,  but there is a constant joy in the use and misuse of the English language in Japan. (Just like my misuse of the Japanese language I suppose).

Here are some gems I've collected recently and following is an update on the poster frenzy at our  local train station.





Ah truth in advertising at last. This restaurant obviously has little faith in its pancakes.

It was reassuring to see that the hotel we were staying in were perfectly prepared for their disasters.










And here we have Oedepus' favourite bar.

Finally my favourite of all time. There were dozens and dozens of these official signs at the main airport in Hokaido. Its where you leave your cart, ... I think.







And now to our local station. What a wonderful little place from another place and time it is. The station master always has beautiful planter boxes full of flowers. He greats me every morning and then thanks me on my return each evening for using his station. In the early morning I chat with various pensioners who volunteer to tidy up around the station.

The other morning bright and early the village locals were out collecting for the local charities.















But once inside this calm is shattered by an onslaught of Japaense poster art. I love it. It is busy, colourful, badly designed, mostly, and of course largely unreadable, even for me.
So here's a current selection.

More Sumo

Back in Japan this September and back at the Sumo. We went twice this time and each time is more fun as you get to know the different wrestlers names and styles and actually start to take an interest in their progress, or lack thereof.

The whole history and culture of Sumo is fascinating, so for those who want to know more  here some information about it. My apologies to the real officianados if I get any of this wrong.

The history goes back thousands of years and Sumo itself has origins in sacred Shinto rituals. Originally it was connected with festivals relating to the harvest. It became more
formalised about 300 years ago and the rituals established then are still the ones used today.

The wrestlers belong to seperate "houses" we would use the word "stables". Many join straight from school or university and it is a more than slightly monastic existence for the young recruits. They wash, clean and look after their superiors as they learn the trade.

There are dozens of different house and old ones are closing and new ones starting quite frequently.

When they are wrestling in a match the wrestlers are split up into East and West teams,
everybody in a particular division wrestles everyone else, a West always against an East. The only exception is that brothers are not allowed to wrestle each other.

The are 6 divisions the top one being the "Makuuchi". During the year there are three rounds in Tokyo, then one each in Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka. Each round of matches lasts 15 consecutive days. At the end of each round of matches the  wrestlers are promoted or demoted depending on therir score of bouts won versus bouts lost.

The top rank is "Yokozuna" ther are only three at the moment and they are all Mongolians. A Yokozuna is like a living emodiment of all that is Sumo, they are usually pretty impossible to beat, and indeed cannot be demoted.. They are meant to gracefully retire when they lose their mojo.

Here is a list of the current top division wrestlers and their ranking during the last round of the year.

So here is listed their rank, their ring name and their house.

The names themselves are rather marvellous. the current top ranked Sumo is Hakuho. his name means "White Phoenix".

Here he is:

and here he is smiling because he has  just won this year's championship. It makes hom the 2nd greatest wrestler of all time. With 31 straight championship wins.

The young rising star, only just out of Uni and already in the top didivion is called "Endo". it means 'Far Whisteria".

Apart from the Mongolians the other non-Japanese in the top division are from; Georgia, China, Rumania, Egypt and Brazil. The Egytian is called "Osunaarashi" which means "Great Sandstorm".



It is wrong to think that this is just a lot of overwieght blokes pushing each other around. They are incredibly strong and incredibly skillful as well as being not a little sneaky. It takes some doing to pick up a 180 kg 1.8 meter apponent and chuck him out of the ring.

Each bout last usually no longer than a few miniutes, but there is much sizing up and ceremony before each bout.

Salt is thrown around the ring to purify it and the wrestlers practice the opening stances etc.

Going to the Sumo is truly wonderful thing to do. The area where the arena is. Ryogoku, is a completely Sumo area of Tokyo.  The train station's walls has portraits and details of the great wrestlers and the many restaurants around are owned by ex-wrestlers and their families.

Its a truly festive atmosphere with banners flying with the wrestlers names and happy crowds seething into the arena.

The matches start at about 8.00 in the morning with the babies and run to about 6.00 in the evening with top bouts coming last. There are two types of seat: the box seats on the ground floor which are very expensive and very cramped. About 1.5 Meters square where four people are meant to sit, on the floor. We always go for the balcony seats which are proper seats and you can see perfectly well. A ticket in the front of the balcomy costs about $90.

The whole thing is a lot of fun. You can get dirnks and bento boxes delivered to your seat or wonder out and grab all sorts of wonderful goodies yourself.

This is one of the bento delivery shops, there are about 40 to choose from.





We tend to go at about 2.00 after a good lunch near by and then watch the fianl, top two, divisions.

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 Here is the match up for the top division one of the days we went. Next to their names are the number of bouts won or lost so far in this round

After the match we usually have dinner with friends in one of the neighbouring restaurants. Our current favourite is a fish and sushi restaurant owned by a fishing company. So the fish is astonishingly fresh. It is also icredibly cheap as there are few middle men involved.

For an impossible amount of excellent food and an imoderate amount of good beer and sake you can expect to pay about $40 a head. An equivelent meal in Australia, if you could get it, would cost about 3-4 times as much.