Northwest Kyoto stroll

Today we decided to go for a long walk through the northwest corner of Kyoto.  This part of the city traditionally was famous for it's vegetable and rice fields.  In the years since WWII more and more  people have gotten tired of the crowded and noisy sections of the city and have moved into this area.  However it still retains a "countryside" feel with small fields throughout the area containing vegetable gardens and even small rice fields.


 The plants in the foreground are okra
- very popular in Kyoto.

.  Several neighborhood farmers had planted new fall crops especially onions and cabbage.

As we walked we found a family putting a cover over their greenhouse frame

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Ohara scenes

We were hoping to get to Ohara before the rice was harvested to see the fields of grain.  Too late!  The same fields I had taken photos of last May were now cut.

All over Japan the farmers have varieties of methods of hanging the rice to dry.

  We walked out into the gardens and fields to get photos.

Ohara

Ohara is a village in the countryside about an hour north of the Kyoto train station but still technically within the city limits.  It is a farming village that is famous both for the temples in the area and for the lovely mountains surrounding it - especially in autumn when the leaves turn. 

There is a t.v. show David and I watch called "Venetia in Kyoto" which is about a woman from England who lives in Ohara.  We have watched this show for 5 years and almost feel like we know her and the people of Ohara.

On Saturday we decided to walk all over Ohara.  We wandered up a trail toward a temple that was built in 600.  It burned down in 2000 and was rebuilt in 2004.  On our way up the trail we saw a sign that said something about beeswax.  I remembered a show on Venetia about honey so we decided to investigate.  We discovered a family that does silk screening on long strips of fabric using vegetable dyes (tumeric, rose madder, persimmon etc).

A young man showed us the entire process including where they rinse the fabric in a stream.

Sure enough we had seen him on t.v the year before when he and his family had been featured on Venetia's show!  What a fun accidental discovery.

We never did find out why the sign said "beeswax".

Traditional Dyeing

While we were staying in central Kyoto we decided to visit Aizen Kobo.  One hundred years ago the Utsuki family made brocade obi - the sash around the middle of kimono.  After the jacquard loom was introduced to Japan and the kimono became less popular for every day wear, the family joined the Japan Folk Art movement and learned the old way of making natural indigo dye - or aizome.   This is the only shop in Kyoto, and one of very few left in Japan that makes and sells handwoven, hand dyed, hand embroidered garments of true indigo.

We spent an hour with Mr. Utsuki.  He is the second generation of this craft and his son is following in the family business as well.  He showed us the 140 year old house and walked us through the entire dyeing process.  He uses plants to make indigo,  putting them through a fermentation process.  He also uses persimmons and the rose madder root for colors others than the deep blue indigo.

He is pictured above stirring the fermenting indigo and (right) showing us an antique fire fighter's coat and hat. In addition to the fact that indigo does not burn, the coat is stuffed with paper which is soaked with water to keep the fire fighter from burning.  Both the house and Mr. Utsuki are considered national treasures of Japan.

Undoki

The church we attend in Kyoto has a preschool. They held their annual sports day (undoki) at a local nearby elementary school.  9:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. including bento lunches. Lots of races and fun contests for both the children and their parents. 

One of the events was a wheelbarrow race

 - another  included assembly of "animals" created out of large boxes.

When it was all over David helped with the take-down.

Most everyone there picked up some of the equipment and carried it the 3 blocks back to the church from the school.

Shakuhachi Ensemble

(click picture to enlarge)

Yesterday afternoon we went with brother-in-law Zen to hear an ensemble called Yugao. The instrumentation for the group consists of cello, piano, tabla (Indian drums), and shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute). It's not a combination of sounds I would have expected to find. (And we wonder how the group found each other in the  first place.) But it works. I mean, it really works. The sound was full and rich and totally involving.

The setting was interesting. Down some cramped stairs off a main street into a little, slightly run-down bar/restaurant. (There must be hundreds of these in Kyoto and any Japanese city.) There was seating for perhaps twenty people.

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Small World

The local church we attend here in Kyoto is a delight to come back to.  Warm and welcoming.  At the lunch time after worship we sat with a couple who are hoping to go to the US so the husband can work on a research project.  The place they want to go to is WWU in Bellingham!  Small world.   Several years ago they lived in Pullman to attend school and had one visit to Seattle.  (They had seen the movie  Sleepless in Seattle and wanted to see the fish tossing at Pike Street Market)    David stayed after church and attended the council meeting - just to be supportive.  After more than 30 years of church council meetings I decided to miss this meeting and go for a walk!

School Matsuri

Spent much of the afternoon at a matsuri (festival) at the local grade school. Several parents from our local church in Kyoto have children at this school. Similar in many ways to a grade school fair in the US. There were games (Fish pond, races, golf), food booths (hot dogs, chicken wings, mochi dango (sweet sticky rice flour balls roasted on a stick and coated with a sweet sauce) teriyaki, and the kids favorite – a cracker shaped like an octopus with a thick soy sauce and mayonnaise on top, and drink booths with water, juice , soda and beer.

In the middle of the playground was a stage - performers included singing moms from the PTA, a group of hula dancers, and children Taiko drummers. (Especially notice the little girl who takes her turn at the left-hand drum below.)

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First Breakfast

Went to Royal Host (looks a little like Denny's) for my favorite Japanese breakfast but they were not open yet. Walked around the neighborhood and discovered a tiny coffee shop (2 tables and a few stools) run by an elderly man who made yummy pancakes for David and a very good egg sandwich for me. A good find that we will most likely return to again.

David spent much of the afternoon trying to to straighten out the problem we are having with getting wi-fi. (The service provider will no longer take foreign credit card) Not connected yet at the house however David found a very temporary solution to get a few e-mails by using some live wi-fi he found floating around in the sky above  one corner of the playground across the street.

Not as tired on the first day as we have been in past trips. Don't know if it is because we flew at a different time or if we are just getting used to 22 hours of travel before we arrive.

To Kyoto Again...

Question: Why don't they just fly in a straight line?

We are back in Kyoto. This time we flew to Japan on Asiana (Korean) Airlines. It was quite nice.The service was good. The food was healthy and well prepared. The seats were not as cramped as we have experienced on other airlines. The computer screen on the seat back in front of each of us was a sanity-saver.

One big difference this time was the time of day of our arrival. Previously (on United Airlines) we have landed around 3:30pm at Kansai Airport. Add time for baggage claim, immigration, and a 1 hour 40 minute train ride and we still got to Kyoto from the airport in time for dinner.

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