Oya Quarry in Utsunomiya

The Oya quarry is situated  just outside of Utsunomiya is a truly huge underground cavern. The stone mined is a beautiful off white colour and is actually ancient compacted volcanic ash. The depth is hundreds of meters which would mean really gigantic ancient eruptions produced it.

 The formations that contain the quarry are beautiful in themselves

You go down many many steps to the vast underground chambers.

 The scale is hard to imagine but it is a really incredibly large space. With dozens of enormous caverns.

One interesting aspect is how incredibly neat Japanese miners are. The walls are all perfectly straight and smooth.

The stone is quite light and porous and is used for decoration, retaining walls and facings. It is too light for very heavy load bearing.

The stone was much loved by Frank Lloyd Wright and he used it extensively in the building of his famous Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

Ancient Village

Near the border of Gifu and Toyama prefectures there are a group of ancient villages. The buildings there are built in the old way with thatched roofs and are know as 'Gassho" houses.









The most famous village is Shirakawa-go which is world heritage listed and full of tourists and every second building is now a shop. However nearby there are villages that are much quieter with people going about their lives in a normal way and with minimal tourism.

We visited one such village on a glorious sunny day. There was a little restaurant and a shop and small museum but apart from that the houses were being lived in and the rice and vegetable fields being worked as they always have.

         Local mountain food available for lunch.

 

One of the houses was being repaired and you can see the intricate nature of the roof .The thatching is about 40 cm thick.

Inside the roof: Note the beams have been pre-charred to help with insect and fire protection.

The amount of arable land was small so the village supplimented its income by making gunpowder, silk and paper.

A really most heavenly place, would be pretty cold, snowy and isolated in winter though.

 

 

Kairakuen

Located in Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture the Kairakuen is rated as one of the top three public gardens in Japan.

Built originally by a Tokugawa noble it  is famous for its thousands of plum trees that blossom in the spring before the cherry blossoms and rival them in diversity and beauty.

Also in middle of the park perched on a hill is the fabulous Kobuntei which was used as a sort pleasure house/ home away from home by the Tokugawa lord. It then it was also used as a samurai school.

 It has been stunningly restored and houses the most beautuful series of rooms and screens overlooking the park.The wonderful and careful use of all the tradional materials is a joy to see.

Oshibana

We went to the Ofuna Botanic Gardens South of Tokyo. It's a lovely area and all the Spring flowers were in full flight.




The highlight was an exhibition of Oshibana, pressed flowers, it was very different from the usual types you see.






These were actually quite marvellous artworks. Not craft, but obviously art.














Even fruit. No idea how they managed to do this :

Incredibly lifelike with the colours and structures wonderfully preserved.






Amazing care had been taken with the arranging and choice of backgrounds to stunning effect.