Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture, July 2013

Tags

Amakusa, Amakusa Shiro Tokisada, Christianity in Japan, Kumamoto Prefecture, Oe Church, Sakitsu Church

Unbeknownst to me, I started learning about feudal Japanese history, Japanese pronunciation, and Kyushu dialect when I was 11 or 12 years old, sitting in front of the tele and the Super Nintendo.

「話にもならんわ！」I couldn’t understand it back then, but that’s what Amakusa says when he wins a battle. We could translate it to “You’re pathetic!” or something like that, but he says it in Kyushu dialect (which is considered very rough in other parts of Japan) with a sentence-final “wa,” considered a marker of feminine speech outside of certain Tokyo dialects.

There was no one named “Tokugawa” in the game Samurai Shodown so some of Amakusa Shiro Tokisada’s lines left me a bit confused. That was about 20 years ago. But little by little, I came across more things in real life that I’d first seen in the game. I learned about the Tokugawa Shogunate, I learned about the problems with romanizing Japanese, and understood why the voice overs in the game pronounced this character’s name as “Shirou” even though the letters said “Shiro.” And most interestingly for me, I learned that Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, presented in the game as an evil sorcerer with poor taste in makeup, had actually been a boy in the 1600s who led a failed Christian uprising on Kyushu, the Shimabara Rebellion.

When I first heard about the “kakure kirishitan,” or “hidden Christians” in Japan, I was fascinated by how people so far from Christianity’s origins would end up such stout converts as to lay down their lives for their new-found beliefs. In contrast, I enjoyed going to Mass because the church and artwork inside were visually stunning; yet even so, I hadn’t gone all that often, and never did the catechism. Between this and my colorful, pixelated introduction to Christians in Japan, I was bound to end up in Amakusa some day.

As I wrote in the previous post, I went to Amakusa in July of 2013 thanks to the kindness of a fellow gym member who offered to drive there. She didn’t have much time so it was a day trip, which is a bit insane considering it’s a 4-hour drive from Fukuoka. All we did in Amakusa was see two famous churches, have lunch, and walk around a couple of touristy spots. As such, perhaps this post won’t be particularly edifying, but I still thought it was an interesting trip. For a brief, but deeper explanation of the history of this place, read this article: Amakusa and the Hidden Christians.

First, we went to Sakitsu Church (崎津教会, also 崎津天主堂 Sakitsu Tenshudou). It’s tucked away among sleepy, narrow streets.

We didn’t have time to go in to Gallery Café Nazareth, but it was clear we were on the right track.

A representation of the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes near the church.

A beautiful Gothic church near the sea!

The plaque informs us that the first church built in this spot was built in 1883, after the ban on Christianity was lifted. The current, Gothic building was erected in 1934 by Father Harubu (Havre?).

Photography was not allowed inside, but I picked up the postcard set the church had for sale. (On an honor system at that. Put 500 yen in the box, take one of the sets laid out on the table.) Unfortunately, I can’t find said postcard set, though I know for sure I brought it with me, as I showed it to my mother. Hmm…well, in any case, here’s a Japanese site with pictures of the interior, as well as a more detailed history of the church, if you’re curious. The tatami mats are the only things that make it seem different from a Catholic church in the West.

The sea lies just a few steps from Sakitsu Church.

Next, we headed to Ooe Church (大江教会, also 大江天主堂 Ooe Tenshudou). On the way, we saw a junior high school student riding a motorbike. That’s how you know this is the countryside (=inaka). There’s just no other way to get around, so even the lil’uns have to (or “get to”) drive.

Anyway, Ooe Church sits atop a hill. We actually saw a couple at this church who had also been at Sakitsu Church. Maybe they were looking for a place to hold their wedding?

Photography inside this church is also prohibited. I picked up a postcard set here as well, but alas. (One day, I’ll find those postcards and update this post. ^_^;) But again, you can see some interior photos at this Japanese site. It’s impossible to tell from those photos, however, that there’s a figure of a samurai up on the altar. Wearing his swords and everything.

Ooe’s grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. It’s tucked away on a lower part of the hill, at the side of the church.

While there, a blue dragonfly alighted on the stones of the grotto. (You can see it more clearly by clicking the image for the full size.)

Before leaving, my friend insisted I take a picture in front of the church. It felt a little strange, ahaha….

After seeing these two churches, we set out to look for lunch. We found a restaurant not too far from the foot of Ooe Church’s hill with a banner saying they had lunch specials, so we decided to go there. Amakusa is particularly known for seafood, so that’s what we had.

I don’t remember what any of these fish were. But they were good and fresh!

After lunch we hit the road for Fukuoka. We happened to come across some octopuses being dried outside, which apparently is also something Amakusa is known for.

If I remember correctly, this is 干したこ (hoshi tako), meaning simply “dried octopus.” You can eat it as a snack!

We went to a rest stop so that I could buy omiyage. I wasn’t planning on taking any of it home with me, rather it was for the school, as a “thank you” rather than as souvenirs. I was pretty amused by the chibi Amakusa Shirou Tokisada imprinted on various omiyage boxes.

Left: Amakusa Shirou as drawn in Samurai Shodown III. Right: Shirou-kun on a box of manju. I’m willing to bet both representations would be funny to the real Amakusa Shirou if he could see them.

On the way back to Fukuoka, we were unexpectedly stuck in traffic. As we crawled forward, I saw why: we were near a huge statue of Amakusa Shirou, and people were crowding into the small parking lot before it. Given that we were short on time I said I wouldn’t mind if we didn’t turn around to see it ourselves. Later, I found out that it was the Aino Amakusa Mura. Other monuments to Amakusa Shirou are in Shimabara, which we couldn’t also visit given the time constraint.

We had set out around 7 in the morning, and were back in Fukuoka at 7 in the evening. I said goodbye to the kind woman who’d taken the time to make a rushed trip far south, and went back to the mess of moving in my apartment. I made very few trips on JET, and this was the last.

☆

おまけ！ Bonus! ①

The first kanji I learned were the numbers from 1 to 13, thanks to Samurai Shodown.

As I played, I noticed that some of the symbols changed with each battle while the others stayed the same the whole time, so I figured the symbols that changed represented the number of the battle. Of course, it’s fairly easy to confirm, since 1, 2, and 3 are 一、二、三. But still…who says video games don’t teach you anything?!

The above screencap, as well as the one at the top of this post, was taken from AcidGlow’s Amakusa playthrough video. I found it really interesting to watch the playthrough now that I can read and understand all the untranslated Japanese elements! And I realized that Haohmaru’s stage is Ganryuu-jima, which I’ve also been to.

おまけ！②

Samurai Shodown was apparently based on an 80s movie called Makai Tenshou, in which Amakusa Shirou is also the villain. Huh. I wonder if I can find this movie somewhere.

おまけ！③

This was the church I’d sometimes go to in my neighborhood. I found it pretty interesting to hear Mass in Japanese. Since Christianity was first introduced to Japan by the Portuguese, many elements are in said language, and since Portuguese is very close to Spanish, I could figure things out. For example, “Mass” is ミサ (misa) in Japanese, and that’s also the Spanish word (and Portuguese word too, I assume) for it.

 

 

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MOON SAGA Week

Tags

GACKT, MOON SAGA, MOON SAGA Yoshitsune Hiden, MOON SAGA〜義経秘伝〜

This is over a week late, but I’ve been crazy busy. During all the mayhem, I was able to squeeze in one showing of MOON SAGA~Yoshitsune Hiden~ and one visit to the GACKT X KIMONO Project exhibit.

I went to the kimono exhibit on Tuesday the 14th with two friends. Admittedly, I only went to get the free “GACKT produced” tenugui advertised on the site. So I made a reservation and anxiously awaited the invitation as the day drew near.

If it weren’t for the Nemuri crest I’d think this envelope was from the Liar Game Office.

We get to the exhibition venue and not a soul was to be seen. This was Obon week, but it was still surprising considering the hustle & bustle just one block away. Our invitation was for 7PM, but we were a few minutes early. The friendly staff welcomed us, showed us around, and told us about the kimono. Two kimono that GACKT actually wore during Nemuri Kyoushirou were on display, and one staffer informed us that “at first, it smelled very strongly of Platinum Egoist.” >o<;

Perhaps the staff sensed that we weren’t gonna buy anything, as they just kept on emphasizing how expensive the kimono were. The older gentleman did say once or twice that the yukata were much more affordable, but still, no hard selling going on. Which is a shame for them as salespeople; despite my nearly complete lack of interest in wearing kimono or yukata it probably wouldn’t have taken much swaying for me to get the hot pink & black yukata with the Nemuri crest just for the hell of it. ^_^; It’s one of those “I’m in Japan, might as well” things.

The other piece that had me seriously considering parting with my hard-earned dough was the black and white kimono with the DEARS logo on it. I would never wear it, it was too beautiful for that! I think it may be the “secret model” the Kimono Project site was talking about; at least I haven’t seen it in any of the photos on the site of the various lines.

Shining just as brightly as the kimono were the huge posters of GACKT. When we jokingly asked how much for the posters, we were told, “we can’t sell them.” But when I squealed at one of them the older gentleman said, “100,000 yen.” I said, “I’ll pay! Give me time!!” XD

Anyway, despite our invitation saying that the showing was from 7 PM, at a little past seven the staff said to us, “We have the venue until seven, so…” With that they collected our invitations and the gentleman brought over the tenugui. Only what we saw in his hands wasn’t the tenugui my friends and I were expecting.

Perhaps the feeling that we were being given leftovers was what made getting this disappointing. Can’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but…not as advertised!

We left the exhibit feeling a bit confused, but oh well. Only two more days till seeing GACKT live again!

My ticket for MOON SAGA was for the final Fukuoka show on the 16th. The difficult thing about this was that I had a business trip to Nagasaki that same day. x_X

Well, saying “business trip,” the common translation for 出張, sure conjures up a different image than what it actually was, but that’s what it’s called when one goes somewhere other than their usual workplace on some work-related thing.

The thing that had been keeping me crazy busy was planning for the first ever overnight English camp put on by Fukuoka Prefecture, taking place in none other than the Dutch-themed park Huis Ten Bosch in Sasebou, Nagasaki Prefecture. It was decided that all ALTs involved in this camp should go to the park for a preview (good) on the 16th (yikes!).

It’s been a while since I’ve cut something that close!

We left the park an hour and a half behind schedule. Doors for the play opened at 5:45, but we were still on the bus some 17 kilometers from the city at that time. I was getting really anxious, and texted the friend who would also go to that performance to pick up one of each of the clear files for me just in case.  Once we finally got into the city I started checking subway times on my phone. The next 25 minutes of well-orchestrated timing and running, I must say, I’m rather proud of. >o<;

18:00 Check subway on phone, aim for the 18:07 subway
18:03 Our chartered bus pulls up to Hakata Station, our group leader just says “Go, go!” to me and I dash off forgetting to even say “otsukare” to the team.
18:07 Catch the subway
18:13 Arrive in Tenjin Station. I stay underground for a bit but since I’m not too familiar with the underground I go up once I see a sign for the Fukuoka Building. When I get on the top streets and cross Showa-doori, I notice another person running. I wonder, “Are they going to the play too?!” but then it hits me: the lights on these two blocks must turn green at the same time. So I dash off after this guy and just barely make it across the next light. I keep running!
18:23 Arrive at the Fukuoka Shimin Kaikan (normally a 15-20 minute walk from Tenjin Station, depending on pace)
18:25 Am seated in my 16th row seat sweating profusely but with time to spare before the curtains rise!

Unlike with the play Nemuri Kyoushirou, I didn’t want to read fan reports before seeing the show myself so that I could see how much I understood on my own. All I knew was that this was going to be some sort of magical fantasy version of the life of Minamoto no Yoshitsune, and that eventually there would be vampires, or the precursors to vampires (it is a part of GACKT’s whole MOON SAGA project after all).

The play initially did not disappoint. It was funny, GACKT was adorable, and there was pandering to the local audience by the truckload! One of my minor “complaints” about Nemuri last year (or whenever that was) was that GACKT did not participate in what little Fukuoka gags there were, but this time, the whole cast busted out niwaka masks while saying 「ごめーん！」during…I don’t even remember what scene it was. I was just geeked to see the masks. Later in the show, Benkei’s actor went down the left side of the audience handing out these autographed masks, saving the one signed by GACKT for a girl near the front.

About midway through, however, I started to wonder, “what is the point of this?” It probably didn’t help that I needed to use the bathroom and was waiting anxiously for an intermission that never came. Anyway, I had done very little reading up on the play, so other than the characters I didn’t know much what the story would be about. The sets were interesting, the costumes were cool for the most part (not impressed by the bootleg Jack Sparrow look on Yoshinaka ^_^;), the music was fitting, and the dancers did a great job. And Kage’s fight scene! WOW.

But still, as a story, I was left unsatisfied by ~Yoshitsune Hiden~. It felt anticlimactic. I know it’s part of a larger work, but the play should still be strong by itself, but that last fight scene left me thinking “…that’s it?” The use of wire work as cool and all, but…that’s it? I think I would feel like this play didn’t have a proper ending even if it weren’t for the Swarm of Green Ninjas scene from Nemuri Kyoushirou to compare it to.

The play ended, but then the cast did a slightly changed version of an earlier scene as an encore. (I assume it was an encore, as most of the audience seemed surprised by the cast reappearing on stage ready for that scene.) I can’t remember now if the credits rolled before or after this. In any case, as it was the last Fukuoka showing, I wanted to stick around and see if GACKT would peek out, but since I hadn’t bought any goods and didn’t want to end up in a long line (I had a seat close to an exit), nor did I want to make my friend wait, I busted out with the other patrons and went to get some goods.

I see Kage and think of Sephiroth, but my friend, a CLAMP fan, thought of one of their other characters.

It would be nice if shows were added at venues on Kyushu, then I’d like to see this play again and see if maybe the latter half doesn’t leave me so “meh” after having seen it once already. As it is, I was happy for the chance to see GACKT again for the first time in 10 months, and enjoyed the overall artistry of the play. Story-wise…I’m gonna have to wait and see what else the MOON SAGA has in store.

A Special Guest

Tags

ありがとう, Dazaifu Tenmanguu, Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki

Late in June I finally had the pleasure of meeting one of my college era Japanese teachers here in Fukuoka. (先生、こんにちは〜！) I showed her around my neighborhood, had tonkotsu ramen at award-winning shop Danbou (暖房), and took her to Dazaifu Tenmanguu, where we had the local specialty umegaemochi (a mochi bun filled with red bean paste imprinted with a picture of a plum blossom. And I don’t know if “mochi bun” is a legitimate word.). We reminisced and made fun of my mistakes, past and present. I learned that finally, the Legend of the Toilet Paper has been surpassed. Well, it has been eight years since I did the homestay program. Eventually, someone had to do something as interesting as misinterpreting “take tissue paper with you because there is none in restrooms at temples” as “take toilet paper with you, even in the form of 2 whole toilet paper rolls.” >o<;;;

It’s a rare treat to see Tenmanguu without a huge crowd.

I was happy to receive some very Detroit omiyage. Uh, souvenirs? Ahaha…

Cheetos で赤くなった指．．．なつかし〜い！

It was pretty nostalgic to see my fingers turned red by the Cheetos. Some stores around here have the regular Cheetos, but I’ve never seen the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in Japan.

…man, that sounded way more dramatic than it needed to! XD

I also received a kit for Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. I’m afraid I couldn’t make it very well form-wise, but it tasted good!

You’d think it’d be hard to mess up with a recipe that spells things out as clearly as “Put in Packet 1, put in Packet 2.” But I’m special like that.

And this is what it turned out like! You can barely tell that it’s okonomiyaki, but oh well.

先生、わざわざ福岡までいらっしゃって誠にありがとうございました。楽しかったです！

Flower Fire

Tags

2012, Chikugo River Fireworks, 筑後川花火大会, Kurume, 久留米市

Summer is the season for 花火大会, or fireworks displays. On Kyushu, the biggest one is in Kurume City on the banks of the Chikugo River. I hadn’t been to this one in 2 years. I went with a neighbor and a recently arrived ALT. It was this past Sunday (August 5th). I was trying to take pictures but my timing wasn’t very good. At least the video of the finale turned out alright.

Here’s the description I wrote over on YT:

The finale of the 353rd annual Chikugo River Fireworks show, the most popular fireworks display on Kyushu. It takes place on the banks of the Chikugo River in the city of Kurume.

When the woman asked “How do you say “hime-sama”?” I said “dolls” because I misheard her. I thought she had said “hina” because the company that sponsored this part of the show was a doll company. ^_^; Well, the dolls represent princesses.

And so you get a sense of the scale of the crowd, here’s a shot of the crowd taken as we were leaving. This is just a small fraction of the whole crowd.

A sea of people! I even ran into a graduate of my former school here! Or rather, he found me. It was the second time I’d ran into him in the last few weeks!

Well, there’s a ton or random stuff I wanted to compile into a Random Life Stuff post, but I’ve been pretty busy this summer “vacation.” ^_^; One of these days…

☆

Cheerful Devils at the Lake of Blood

Tags

Beppu, Chi no Ike Jigoku, 血の池地獄, 別府

Besides hanging out with over-sized greenery, part of my Golden Week was spent relaxing in onsen (hot springs) in Beppu, Ooita Prefecture, which is famous for its many onsen.

Now, my friends and I hadn’t planned this trip in advance. Even if we had, if we traveled during the actual consecutive national holidays, we would have been price-gouged mercilessly. The cost of a one night stay can easily go up by one or two hundred US dollars during these days! So, to keep costs down, we decided to leave on the night of Monday, the second, even though my two friends had work that day. We had to buy dinner at a conbini because we wouldn’t make it in time to eat at the hotel.

The hotel was one of JR’s own accommodations, Beppusou, about a 5 minute walk from Beppu Station. We arrived at the hotel, chilled for an hour or so, eating our “dinners,” then went to the onsen. We mostly just stayed in the rotenburou, but there were no stars in the sky. Even so, it was very relaxing. Luckily, there were no other people in it, as by then it was 11PM. After an hour of soaking and chatting, we went back up to our room for ice cream and more yakking. We ended up staying up until 2 or 3AM! But we had to get up early for breakfast the next day.

The hotel breakfast was a traditional Japanese one, with fish, eggs, miso soup, rice, tsukemono (pickled vegetables), and nattou. The whole set seemed rather small, so I fought the sensation of eating watery boogers and consumed even the nattou. (I don’t mind the smell so much as the texture. So slippery…ugh.) Thankfully all the protein items filled me up.

<Random Side Note> At breakfast, we saw a man wearing a T-shirt that had a skull & crossbones and read, “Too fat to live Too young to die CREAM SODA.” </Random Side Note>

Given the price of just about 13,000 yen (161 USD at the moment) per person for round-trip train fare & hotel accommodation, I think we got a good deal. The hotel itself was pretty average; if we had paid more I might be disappointed.

I had wanted to go back in the onsen after breakfast, but alas, it was being cleaned. I wonder if something happened, as I had been told that it opened at 5AM and was available till 1AM. Too sleepy to go back to bed, I just chatted with the friend who was awake and packed slowly. Then we went down to buy omiyage and check out.

Our train back was at around 2PM, so we didn’t have much time. We wanted to see the 地獄温泉 (jigoku onsen – hell hot springs), which are onsen that are too hot to go into, and also have interesting features. The tour bus that hit all the spots took 2.5 hours, time we didn’t have. So we chose to just see one: 血の池地獄 (chi no ike jigoku – Lake of Blood Hell).

It wasn’t as red as it appears in official photos, but my photos do make it look slightly browner than it seemed in person. It was drizzling by this time, and the sky was hazy due to the dust storms from China, so I do wonder if it looks redder with no rain and direct sunshine.

Maybe Lake of Terra Cotta Hell is a more appropriate name.

I like how the little building back there has ogre horns. ^o^ They sell omiyage there, such as clay from the Lake of Blood.

温泉の足湯 (onsen no ashiyu - hot spring footbath). I just today learned the term 足湯 when I showed these photos to one of the secretaries. This little footbath is across from the Lake of Blood.

After that little soak, we got Lake of Blood-themed omiyage and headed back. We took a cab to the nearest train station (we had taken a bus there from Beppu Station because for some reason, there are hardly any local trains out of Beppu Station, it’s mostly just Sonics (AKA Limited Expresses) and Rapid Expresses, which don’t stop at Kamegawa Station, which is the nearest to Chi no Ike), and right as we were going in, the station master said to us, “Beppu? The train’s leaving right now, just run on in!” We just said “oh!” and ran down without buying tickets and even forgot to thank the guy in our frenzy. ^_^; But we sure were glad we didn’t get stuck waiting for an hour for a local train. We simply paid our fare at Beppu Station. We had lunch, then it was back to the tracks to head to Hakata.

A JR Kyuushuu ad in one of the cars of the Sonic.

I must say, I’m really feelin’ the art direction of JR Kyuushuu’s ads lately. The same neo-retro style that first appeared on the advertising for Steam Locomotive Hitoyoshi (you can see an example in the opening of my video about said train over at this post) is now on several Kyuushuu trip ads.

An inter-car compartment (if that's a term) on the Sonic. It's like the future yo.

Lemme stop talking about trains before I get called a train otaku. ^o^;

Well, that’s pretty much it for Beppu!

☆

次回！Probably an RLS post. ^o^;

Big Wisteria Festival

Tags

羽犬, 羽犬塚, 黒木, Hainu, Hainuzuka, Kurogi, Oofuji, Tsue Jinja, Tsue Shrine, Wisteria, 大藤, 津江神社の樟

I don’t know if Desperate Housewives is still on, but I sure did get a whole lotta “Wisteria Lane” last week and during Golden Week when I went with one friend to visit another friend and see the Big Wisteria (大藤 – oofuji) in the small, small town of Kurogi, which is now a part of Yame City. We had lots of fun eating, drinking homemade ume shuu (plum wine), exploring the mountainside, and watching episodes of The X-Files.

Usually, my friend told us, the wisteria is in full bloom by mid to late April, so we went down there one weekend before Golden Week. But since the winter had been unusually long, it had barely started to bloom, and I couldn’t even smell anything. I did get some interesting shots, however.

The plaque letting us know the big wisteria is a national treasure. Also, creeper cameramen in the background.

One of those reporters finally got the courage to go up to my friend and ask if she would do an interview, but she said no. Can’t say I blame her.

Don't know if these are roots or branches, but they're very interesting.

Looking up. It was a dreary day.

I named the file "wisteria gazebo" but it's not a gazebo at all. ^o^; It's more like a "viewing deck."

After looking around at the wisteria, we went to the various stalls and stores lining the main street. I got some yakiniku, and one of the shop guys asked me if I was from Sweden. @_@ Guess it was my lack of an English-speaker’s accent that threw him off.

Then we went to a coffee shop, got some lengthy stares (including one from a young mother who just looked surprised and delighted beyond her wildest dreams; it was pretty weird), scared small children and customers with our mere presence, and got ignored by the shop pooch. Luckily the friend who lives there said the people that know her are really nice and take care of her, and any of her students that we ran into greeted her cheerfully.

At the end of the day, since the wisteria had been a semi-bust, and none of us had plans for Golden Week, we decided to take a last minute trip to somewhere, and return to Kurogi as well.

When we did go back, the wisteria was in full bloom and exuded a soft fragrance. However, because it was Golden Week, there were many more people than previously, and I couldn’t get many shots without the wild assortment of kids running around, poorly dressed young & middle-aged people, and well-dressed old people.

Lush & Fragrant

Here you can almost see just how far the Big Wisteria spreads out.

Here's a crop from a much larger photo so you can see the flowers more clearly.

The Big Wisteria isn’t the only big plant in Kurogi, there’s also a huge Camphor tree （樟 – kusu) at Tsue Shrine (津江神社 – Tsue Jinja). It is over 800 years old, dating from the Heian Era. We didn’t really have much time to stop and look at it, so I couldn’t go to a spot far away enough to get the whole enormous tree in the shot.

I was kneeling down, hence the warped perspective. I swear I always try to straighten my photos before I post them! XD

So, that’s it, the expedition to see the purple hanging flowers.

Speaking of expeditions…

Side Post: Goggies R Owr Friends ~ Winged Goggies

(XD Sorry…too much time spent on LOLCats…)

*Ahem* Anyway…to get to Kurogi, we had to pass through Hainuzuka Station (羽犬塚駅). “Hainuzuka” means “winged dog mound.” There are several statues of winged dogs in the area, such as this one directly in front of the station:

When dogs fly!

So what’s up with these critters? There’s a board at the station explaining the origins of these winged doggies.

You can also see photos of some other winged dog sculptures on this board.

Here’s my translation of the board’s text:

Legend of the Winged Dog

There are various monuments of winged dogs scattered throughout Chikugo City. The origins of “Hainuzuka” lie in legends of a winged dog that have been passed down from generation to generation for about 400 years.

One legend is that a long time ago, there was a fierce dog who had grown wings that would attack people and cattle. The people feared this dog.

In the 15th year of the Tenshou Era (1587), when Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who strived to unify the land, came on an expedition to Kyuushuu, his path was blocked by the winged dog. Hideyoshi sent forth more and more troops, and after a great struggle, was able to kill the dog. Impressed by the dog’s wisdom and strength, Hideyoshi built a mound for the dog and properly buried it.

Another legend is that, when Hideyoshi came on an expedition to Kyuushuu, he brought along a dog he adored. This dog would run and jump about as if it had wings. But, the dog became sick and died here in Kyuushuu. Hideyoshi, overwhelmed with grief, built a mound to have a proper funeral for the dog and buried it.

Even now, the winged dog’s burial mound is at Sougakuji, quietly watching over this town as time flows on. How about taking a stroll while feeling the romanticism of history?

☆

次回！Every day is Hell.

Pottery in the Mountains

Tags

ezara, Koishiwara, Koishiwarayaki

This past Thursday the 17th, I went with the first and second year Art students, their teachers, and my co-ALT to the pottery village of Koishiwara to make 絵皿 – ezara – meaning “decorative plates,” or more literally, “picture plates.” About a week and a half before this trip, the head of the art department (whom many teachers at the school say looks like French actor Jean Reno rather than a Japanese person) gave us the handout the students got, and a template for our picture plates. Trudging through the handout full of art terms I didn’t know, I was rewarded with an introduction to three very interesting Edo-period artists: Ogata Kourin, Itou Jakuchuu, and Shibata Zeshin.

Anyway, I decided to go with a common motif in my work, the contrast of hard and soft (just that not Dalí-ish, haha). This is the sketch for the plate:

"Man is condemned to be free..." --Sartre. A meaning added after the fact. ^o^;

I made photocopies and colored them in different ways. We would only have 5 colors available to us: blue, brown, black, black made my scratching, and the beige of the unglazed plate. Of course, laying the glaze on in several coats would make that color darker. We would have carbon paper to transfer the drawing directly unto the plate.

The day of the trip, we got to the school at the usual time. We were told to get on the ichinensei bus. It was a nearly two hour bus ride to Koishiwara. On the way, we passed the Egawa Dam, which sits on the Chikugo River (I think). The mountains around the dam’s reservoir lake were really beautiful. I tried to photograph them from the bus:

I actually took this on the way back.

Once we got to the village, we went straight to the pottery studio we’d be working at, Yamaichigama. “Kama”（窯 – sound changed to “gama”) means “kiln” but in this case it appears to serve more as “house of” as in specific fashion houses (Chanel, Vuitton, etc). Apparently, the Emperor bought pottery from this studio nearly 20 years ago!

Notice the kanji for "Yamaichi." @_@

<Kanji Geek Moment>I noticed it in several places around the village, unusual (to me) kanji that consisted of the upper part “hitoyane” (…or maybe it’s “irigashira,” I’m not sure since they look the same and both would make sense, I think) and things that you don’t normally see under that radical, such as in this case, the kanji for “ichi.” This seems to be some sort of naming system for pottery houses. I have no idea if it’s possible to make regular computers write these things, but online I’ve not been able to find any. The names of the pottery houses with such kanji just get written in katakana.</Kanji Geek Moment>

*Ahem* Anyway, the studio inside was a bit chilly, but all in all a very nice country cabin. There were many pieces on display, and more up for sale.

There were other rooms, but this is where I worked with some first years. Actually, at the table behind the couch there.

I sat with two girls and my co-ALT and got down to business. Given how intricate my design was, I knew I would need all the time allotted. As we worked, I couldn’t help but hear the girls’ conversation. One was telling the other what happened on the previous night’s episode of The Best House 123, a show that, every time I’ve seen it, has dealt with reenacting incredible incidents from abroad (not necessarily with the utmost accuracy).

Then the girl listening to the recap finished glazing her design, that of a boy giving a girl some flowers. I heard her say, “I want to write some English on it…something about love…but what? Should I ask…?” I said, “It’s okay, go ahead.” The girl was surprised and said, “She understood?!” ^_^; (I don’t know how many times I’ve spoken to Art Course in Japanese…) So the girl says, “I want something like, 若い恋人…” Even though I knew that there was an English term for what she was trying to say, I couldn’t remember it. I said, “Young Lovers? But that sounds kinda…” So I asked my co-ALT, “How do you say ‘young lovers’ without sounding–” and before I could finish he said, “Puppy love.”

I felt like an idiot for not being able to remember that term. I said, “I must be too jaded for that.” ^o^;

So the girl wrote “puppy love” on her plate but remained unsatisfied: “How about some lyrics from a love song? An Avril Lavigne song maybe?” I, who don’t particularly like Miss Lavigne’s oeuvre, couldn’t help her there either, but luckily, my co-ALT could. He wasn’t 100% sure he was getting the lyrics right, but close enough.

Time was almost up, so I decided to just leave my design as it was.

After applying the glaze, before firing.

The green will turn black, the blue will stay about the same, and the brown will hopefully remain light enough to pass for gold. The plate will be fired and varnished by the studio’s people.

Now here’s some unfired plates by three different student artists:

I didn't feel like waiting for Photoshop to load so I could smudge out the student's name on the lower right plate, so I just miniturized my iTunes window, put it over the name, and took a screencap. ^o^;

I can’t wait to see what these will turn out like! I don’t know when we’ll get them back though. At least in time for bunkasai in May, since the plates are put on display then.

Once everyone had finished their plate, they went about chatting with their classmates and buying a little plate or cup. I was enchanted by one of the studio’s motifs, and felt it was a bit pointless to buy just one plate, so I got 2 chawan and 2 plates. ^_^; They were on sale, and I got one of them for free because it had a tiny little crack in the foot. Besides, I can’t help but respect people who make their living off of their artwork.

This design spins me right round. Photographed once I got back home.

Once we left the studio, we headed to the pottery museum. Near the entrance, there were some pieces on sale. As I was looking at them, one of the very few boys in Art Course came up to me and said of one of the mini flower pots, “It’s very cute.” I said, “Oh yes, it is. Maybe you can buy one and give it to your mother?” To which he replied, “It’s a desk.” Myself now confused as much as he must’ve been, all I could muster was an “ah.” He then went back to his friends, told them what he said to me, and one of them told him, “You idiot, you just said ‘it’s a desk’!” ^o^;

Photography was allowed in the museum, but my batteries were low and I wanted to save energy for the mountains near the dam, so I only photographed a few of the pieces. Here’s my favorite, I think it’s what black holes would look like if they had any Aesthetic Emotions:

Believe it or not, that center black part is actually a good 5 inches deep! @o@

I didn’t try to remember the artist’s name, thinking it would show up in the picture, but unfortunately it’s a bit hard to read. Using my mad Google skillz, I think I found the right potter: Ohta Tomitaka (太田富隆). The title of the piece is 「青釉掛分鉢」which I really don’t know how to translate. It seems to be just a description of the piece, something like “Blue Glaze [some sort of] Bowl.” But I much prefer to think of it as “Infinity Basin” or “Black Hole Bowl” or something else cooler sounding than Blue Glaze Bowl. ^o^

After the museum, we got back on the buses to head back. Due to my sleep-deprived weekend, once we were past the Egawa Dam and I got my shots, I let myself doze off. The students had also fallen asleep by then.

~Side Post: Calligraphy in the Juutaku~

As for the cause of said sleep-deprived weekend, it was mostly that everything I had planned on doing got interrupted by watching coverage of the Touhoku disaster and answering messages from the States. Add this to the fact that I’m a terrible procrastinator, and the main task I needed to finish in time for Monday’s classes didn’t get done until 5AM that Monday. ^_^;

There were a few kids who had earned so many participation points throughout the year that they had more points than they needed to achieve a perfect score on our Oral Communication test.  (We make the test have only about 45 points each time, so that they cannot achieve the full 50 point score without participating in class.) I had asked the teachers what to do about these cases, since I thought it was unfair that the kids not get credit somewhere for their work. I was told to write down the names of students with leftover points, but I got the feeling nothing would be done with it, so I decided to give these students a present.

What I usually give out are nameplates/bookmarks done in calligraphy, in a style based on Gothic Black Letter. Depending on how much time I have, I’ll add an outline of silver or gold on the letters so that they pop out. With even more time, I like to laminate the nameplate so it can better serve as a bookmark, but unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to do so here in Japan.

I’ll end this post with a picture of the ones that I think turned out the best from that all-nighter. I took this photo before I erased the guideline. I don’t have photos of the ones I did before this.

I wasn't sure which system of romanization each student prefered, so I just did whichever looked best. The non-Japanese name is that of an immigrant student.

☆

次回！Ahhh…mmm…and I just realized that from the standpoint of symbolism, it was a bit strange to end the concert with “Smoke on the Water.” Good thing they called it “Deep Purple Medley” instead.

Huis Ten Bosch

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Huis Ten Bosch, Nagasaki Prefecture

This past Wednesday was the national holiday 文化の日 (Culture Day).  I spent the day with some friends at the theme park Huis Ten Bosch in Sasebou, Nagasaki Prefecture. (I don’t know how Huis Ten Bosch is pronounced in Dutch, but the katakana is ハウステンボス.)

When Tokugawa Iemitsu decided to close Japan off to most of the rest of the world in the 1600s, the only Europeans allowed to maintain trade were the Dutch, who were restricted to Dejima in Nagasaki.  So, the amusement park Huis Ten Bosch, which is named after one of the residences of the Dutch Royal Family, reflects this history of cultural and mercantile exchange.  The park is meant to resemble a Dutch town, and indeed, most (if not all) of the buildings in the park are replicas of buildings in the Netherlands.  The Dutch Royals even gave permission for  a replica of the house Huis Ten Bosch itself to be built.

The park is currently hosting the Gardening World Cup.  This was the reason the friend of a friend, a landscaper, wanted to go there.  He drove us down and we all had a blast!  Below are some of my favorite photos from this trip.

Going in.

A canal looking towards...I forgot the name of the bridge. ^_^;

Teddy Bear Kingdom!

There were many windmills, each of which had what I think was a name on it. I only remember "Slaper" and "Waker." I assume that's Dutch.

A replica of the Dom Tower in Utrecht. It was lucky those frilly clouds appeared, they go well with the frilly building.

I don't know if this is supposed to be a replica of the De Liefde.

The De Liefde was the first Dutch ship to arrive in Japan.  I didn’t know this when at the park so I didn’t think to go to the back of the ship to see its name.  In any case, I was too busy imagining Captain Jack Sparrow stealing this ship to chase after whoever has the Black Pearl at the moment.

Actually, there was a somewhat amusing moment near this ship.  As I was photographing it, 5 middle school girls were trying to figure out who would take their picture.  I wasn’t really listening to them, but I heard the general sounds of people struggling to make a decision that needs to be made in a matter of seconds.  When I turned to leave and heard one of them say 「行っちゃった．．．」(“icchatta” which in this case means “[she] left”) I realized that the need to ask me to take their picture was the source of their panic, so I asked them if they wanted me to take their picture.  At which point 3 of them handed me their cameras. ^o^;

When I found my friends again, we entered the Gardening World Cup area.  I won’t put up pictures of all of the 10 entries, just the ones that I liked and photographed well.  I also don’t have photos of the replica of Huis Ten Bosch (the house) because I thought it was actually kinda drab, at least from the side that we were at.  ^_^;  The theme in all of these is Peace.

Of course there was a bigger gate with the name of the event and sponsors, etc., but we've seen such photos 10 trillion times before so I took this instead.

First up, the American entry “Pax et Bonum” by John Cullen.  It represents the story of St. Francis of Assisi, particularly, his restoration of the Porziuncola.  I’ve always liked Caspar David Friedrich’s painting Monastery Graveyard in the Snow, and this garden reminded me of it. Of course, St. Francis restored the Porziuncola, whereas the monastery in the painting is beyond repair, and the painting itself was destroyed during WWII, so the atmosphere at the garden is much more filled with hope.

There's more to this garden but I couldn't really get a good shot of the whole thing.

Next, we have an entry from the U.K. by John Towillis.  When I first approached it, it had the most impact because I could tell what the theme was without reading the explanation, and its design is simple and bold.  I thought the explanation was a bit convoluted, something about humans feeling disconnected from nature but by allowing ourselves to get sucked in by it we would realize we’re a part of it.

This one is called "Resurgence Garden."

Another one I liked was “Australian Style Garden” by Jim Fogarty.  This one won Best Construction.  I thought it looked like something out of Star Trek. ^o^  The explanation was that by getting to know each other, for example, by sharing meals, people from different parts of the world could work for peace.

This would've looked cooler if the trees directly behind the structure had already turned red, then I could've taken the photo from a better angle while still getting the red-black-white contrast.

The last garden I want to share is by New Zealander Ben Hoyle.  It’s called “A Moment in Time.”  This one won the show’s Peace Prize:

The back of the banners are in Japanese.

The clock on the left marks the date and time of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.  The one on the right has question marks, representing the uncertainty we live in as countries continue to hold nuclear weapons.  In between these two clocks were a bunch of pictures on spinning cogs, that at a set time, would align to produce a picture of a white dove.  Out of order it looked a bit creepy so I didn’t take a picture of it from that angle.

That’s mostly it.  As they were playing a waltz over the loudspeakers at the entrance to the gardening exhibit, one of my friends and I literally waltzed in and out of there.  ^o^  On the way out, I picked up some cheeses I’d had samples of earlier.

 

May Gouda imported from Holland and Cream Cheese from Denmark. The sauce seems to have been made in Japan.

I’ve already eaten all the gouda. ^o^;  It was soooooo good melted!

Now, we had been planning to go to the onsen town Unzen (which was created in 2005 through the merger of several smaller towns, including the town of Obama, that is, 小浜) but we dallied longer than expected at Huis Ten Bosch, so instead we just looked across the street, saw the onsen symbol ♨ on a hotel, and went there instead.  This time, there were other people in the onsen, unlike when I tried onsen for the first time in Hitoyoshi, so…it was a bit weird for me.   I definitely prefer having the onsen to myself.  ^_^;

Well, I wanted to get this post up so that when I get back from the GACKT concert in Kobe tomorrow, I won’t have any to-do’s on this blog.

Buddha Bless You

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篠栗町, Nanzoin, Nanzouin, Reclining Buddha, Sasagurimachi, 南蔵院

There were a couple years during which my shita no ani (younger older brother) and I would watch lots and lots of kung fu movies.  The raspy, dubbed voice of a monk saying to the protagonist in one of them “Buddha bleeeeeess youuuuuuu” has stayed in my mind for all these years.  I don’t know why.

The last Saturday in August I went with two friends to the Buddhist temple Nanzouin (南蔵院) in Sasagurimachi, which is about a 30 minute train ride from where I live.  There were very few people there when we went, though we did get there kinda late, at around 3PM.  There’s not much to explain of the pictures themselves, but since I don’t like going to famous places without knowing anything about them, snapping pictures, and leaving, I did a little research and will write the fruits of that effort below.  Contrary to what the foreigners around here know, it’s not just because there’s a really big Buddha there.  (Can you tell that checklist sightseeing is one of my pet peeves? ^o^;;;)

According to the Japanese version of Wikipedia, Sasagurimachi has been considered sacred ground since the Tenpou Era (1830-1844).  If I understood the article correctly, a nun who had made a pilgrimage to the designated 88 holy temples of Shikoku arrived in Sasagurimachi, saw the distress of the people, and began praying for them and spreading the teachings of Buddha.  Soon thereafter there was peace, so the villagers started making many sculptures of Buddha, and to correspond with the 88-temple pilgrimage circuit in Shikoku, there came to be an 88-temple pilgrimage circuit in Sasagurimachi.  So, on the way to Nanzouin’s main hall proper, we saw many sculptures, small temples, and minor halls.  Also a kitty cat.

Nyaa?

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

Not sure if these are supposed to be monks or Buddhas. I'm aslo not sure if the names indicate a person funded the sculpture, or that their ashes rest there.

We walk down a very narrow path shaded by trees, turn a corner, and come upon this rocky clearing with its green-roofed temple hall. A very mysterious atmosphere. We're getting closer to the main hall.

These monks drew my attention. A spider chills on its web above the left monk.

The offerings here are prayers for the souls of miscarried and aborted fetuses.

Soon after that, we reached the main hall.  There I bought a 交通安全お守り (koutsuu anzen omamori), a traffic safety charm, but one specifically for bicycles.  The back is adhesive so you can stick it on your bike.  It looks like a red reflector.  I’ll add a picture of it later. (I kept forgetting to do it. ^o^;)

The front of the main hall of Nanzouin.

Then it was time for the highlight of the temple, the bronze reclining Buddha.

The largest bronze reclining Buddha in the world. For a sense of scale, look at the grown woman at the left edge of the photo. This sculpture is as large as the Statue of Liberty (the copper portion).

According to the temple’s website linked above, this sculpture was built to house the ashes of a Buddha and two disciples that were donated by a Buddhist society in Myanmar (Burma) as a thank-you for years of donations made by Nanzouin to the poor in Myanmar and Nepal.  The canisters in front of the Buddha contain sand from the grounds of each of the 88 temples of both Shikoku and Sasagurimachi.

In the foreground to the right you can see what just one of the coils that make up the Buddha's hair looks like. To be honest when I first saw it, before reading the plaque, I was like, "Why is there some coiled poo--ohhh." ^o^;;;;;

That’s pretty much it.  If you want to visit the Reclining Buddha, it’s very simple: from Hakata Station, get on the Sasaguri Line (AKA Fukuhoku Yutaka Line) and get off at Kido Nanzouin-mae. When you exit the station you’ll see the top of Buddha’s head peaking out from some trees.

Two Days in Hitoyoshi

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Aoi Aso Shrine, Eikokuji, Hitoyoshi, Hitoyoshi Castle Ruins, Kumamoto Prefecture, Onsen, SL Hitoyoshi, SL人吉号, 人吉

As you may know from the previous post, Thursday the 19th I took a trip down to the city of Hitoyoshi in neighboring Kumamoto Prefecture.  My main goal was to ride on Steam Locomotive Hitoyoshi, but I got to enjoy some other things as well.  If you haven’t already seen the video, scroll down to watch it eh.

…

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Did you watch it? ^o^

DAY 1

Anyway, I left at 10 in the morning for Hitoyoshi via Kumamoto Station.  On the way there I rode regular (electric) trains.  I guess it’s not too often that people ride down that far, since on the train from Kumamoto to Hitoyoshi, on the Trans-Kyuushuu Limited Express (九州横断特急), one of the attendants went around with a poster board with a picture of the train for people to take a photo with.

Anyone else feel like bumpin' some Kraftwerk? >o<

At Hitoyoshi Station I went to the information center to get a map of the area.  The attendant also gave me a few pages explaining important local sites in English.  After getting the map and info I hopped on a cab to the ryokan (旅館 a traditional style inn) I’d be staying at, Suiranrou (翠嵐楼).  Since I got there too early I chilled in the lobby for an hour going over the map and making a plan since I hadn’t really made one other than “get on the choo-choo at all costs!!!” ^o^;  I also got to enjoy kakigoori (かき氷), which is shaved ice, that was made with water from the onsen (温泉 hot springs).

Once the room was ready I pulled out the futon and conked out for two hours.  When I woke up, I went for a stroll alongside the Kuma River.  I saw many interesting butterflies on the walk, but they wouldn’t stop long enough for me to photograph them.

Compositionally one of the best photos I took, but thematically...I feel like I've seen this before. Probably on a motivational poster.

I also came across this little shrine to the God of the Hot Springs.

After that I went back to the ryokan and chilled in my room till dinner was brought up.  It was a FEAST.  First course:

Nom nom nom

There’s sashimi, shrimp, tofu, and the little cup is umeshuu (plum wine).  The pot with SL Hitoyoshi drawn on it was “SL Nabe.”  You’ll get it a few photos down. ^o^ Then, second course:

Ayu! But not Hamasaki. *Rimshot*

Ayu is a fish from the Kuma River.  The big one in the photo was still cooking when it was brought up (there’s hot coals in that thing it’s on), but the little ones were done.  The woman told me to eat the little ones entirely, from head to tail.  I asked about the big one, but was told that the head would be too bitter to eat.  They were very, very tasty!

Now, the dish called “SL Nabe” is naberyouri, which is a stew cooked at the table, usually in a regular looking pot.  But since it’s SL Nabe:

Get it? It's steaming! ^o^ ♡

Once it was ready, it looked like this:

*Mouth waters*

It…was…OH MY GOD DELICIOUS.  Especially the pork.  Kumamoto pork.  So tender and juicy! Mmmmmm!

In the same photo you can see the miso soup (it’s covered ^_^;) and to the right of that, some purin (flan).  This was brought up after the ayu, along with rice which I was told was particularly delicious since it was cooked with water from the hot spring–I think it really did taste particularly good, and not as mushy as rice elsewhere–and a poached egg cooled off in cold harusame (clear noodles).

Afterward, when an attendant cleared the dishes she asked if I had gone into the onsen yet.  I told her no and confessed that while I wanted to go, I was a bit embarrassed by the thought.  I’d been debating with myself whether I should go or not before the attendant asked.  On the one hand I thought it’d be wasteful not to, plus I would feel bad if the attendants later asked what I had thought of the onsen, and also I thought that I should try onsen at least once while in Japan but…on the other hand going to the onsen meant I had to shower in front of other people and walk from the shower to the onsen bath with nothing but a puny towel some 10 x 20 inches.  In the end what made me go was the thought that I always tell my kids to have courage in class, so how could I run away from entering the onsen?  There’s two things I’ve always tried not to be: a bother and a hypocrite.

Before she left, the attendant said, “Well, tonight will be your onsen debut.” XDDDD

So I put on the provided yukata and headed down to the 露天風呂 – rotenburo, which means “open air bath.” I heard voices coming from the bath below that one, which I’d been told was the most popular.  But luckily, when I entered the rotenburo…

…there was no one else there! *Victory Fanfare* XDDD

It was wonderful!  I like the feeling of water nudging at me, and this particular bath had a soft fragrance. While it was a rotenburo, it wasn’t completely exposed. It had bamboo walls about 10 feet high, but no roof.  Unfortunately it was a cloudy night so I could only see one bright star.  Still, it was so relaxing. The temperature in this onsen was 50℃ (122°F).

I soaked for about 20 minutes.  I got up, rinsed off, dried off, and was putting the yukata back on when I thought, “how likely is it that I’ll get the chance to enjoy onsen by myself ever again?” Yeah, you know what happened next. Back in for another 15 minutes!

When I got back to my room I was hoping I could do some 月見 (tsukimi – moon viewing) and star gazing, but the clouds persisted.  I wanted to enjoy the night air at least, so I turned off the AC and opened the window, turned out the lights, and put trippy music on. Miguel Bose’s “Agua Clara” to start things off. ^o^ Fittingly enough for staring at a river. Well, good things come to those who wait, and eventually the clouds started moving out, giving me glimpses of an orange waxing moon.  After 30 minutes the clouds were gone entirely.

DAY 2

In the morning, I went down to the ryokan’s restaurant for breakfast.  That morning I’d seen the news about the egg recall in the States, and what should be in the breakfast?  Raw egg. ^o^; It didn’t taste bad, but I don’t see the appeal.  Dipping the toast into it was pretty good, but…not something I’ll go out of my way to eat again.  The best part of breakfast was definitely the 湯豆腐 (yudoufu – boiled tofu).

While I ate, an attendant said to me, “When I heard we’d be having a foreign guest I tried to brush up on my English, but I can’t remember anything after all.”   I said to her, “Oh, surely you remember your self-introduction?” Of course…she did. ^o^; </ALT humor> Also, the attendant who’d brought me my dinner the previous night told me, “you should go to the onsen again before you check out if you have time.” Since I’d requested my breakfast early (because I had a mind fart when I picked the unholy hour of 7:30AM) I had plenty of time before the 10AM check-out.

I decided to try the aforementioned popular onsen, the “retro” onsen.  It was the first onsen to open in Hitoyoshi City, back in 1910.  It looks today the same way it did back then.  It was also very good, and thanks to the somewhat strange hour for bathing, 8AM, completely empty! More WIN. I took two 15-minute soaks.

When it was time to go, I was driven to the train station in one of the ryokan’s cars.  I put the messenger bag with my clothes into a coin locker and set off to look around.

First up: National Treasure Aoi Aso Shrine.

Aoi Aso has a unique style featuring these weird little heads/masks up in the eaves.

At Aoi Aso I got an omamori that I’d never seen before: an 足腰健康御守, that is, a good luck charm for leg health. How appropriate!  It’s in the shape of sandals. Maybe it’s for old people, not young people who slip on ice and break themselves.  Oh yeah, also the sidewalk in front of the shrine tried to kill me, so I figured it’d be a good charm to get. ^o^;

Entrance to Eikokuji. I like this gate better than the main hall. ^_^;

Next I went to Eikokuji, a Buddhist temple.  It has a very old painting of a ghost. According to materials I got in English at Hitoyoshi Station’s information desk, the story goes that a man’s beautiful mistress committed suicide but became a ghost who haunted the man’s wife.  The wife went to the priest of Eikokuji for help.  When the ghost appeared before the priest, he made a painting of her, and she was shocked to see that she’d become an ugly ghost.  The priest then gave her some edifying spiritual lessons and a memorial service, which made her go away.

I didn’t see the painting in person because there were several people praying up in the main hall, and I didn’t want to distract them with my foreigness.

After that I went to the Ruins of Hitoyoshi Castle.  All that’s left of it is its stone foundation.  The castle proper, completed in the 1600s, was dismantled in 1871 when feudal domains were abolished. The materials were sold.  While the information I got doesn’t make this clear, it seems to me that the castle suffered this fate because nearly a decade earlier it had been damaged in a fire that had nearly consumed the whole city.

Part of a rampart, I think.

Trees growing where there used to be castle.

Because I thought I wouldn’t have enough time, I didn’t go to the Castle Museum.  I wish I had.  Oh well.

Next I headed to a soba restaurant that was recommended in the travel brochure for this trip package.  It was pretty tasty and affordable.  Right when I left, it started to rain.  It only lasted about 10 minutes but it was hard so I got soaked.  Blergh. With feet wet, I went to one omiyage store and bought all the gifts for the school, killed another hour by going to a little store with a mini-cafe, then watched the automaton clock.  Killed some more time, and finally, it was time to get on SL Hitoyoshi!

It ended up being that the seat next to my aisle seat belonged to one of a family of four.  The family must’ve got their tickets late because their seats were scattered throughout the one car. They looked at the situation and after some 10 minutes the father came up to me and said, “You can understand Japanese right? Go ahead and sit by the window, since we’ll all just sit in the observation deck.”  I was glad and said thank you, but I wondered if they’d really be comfortable back there since the seats were narrower and they were traveling with small children. But oh well, their call right?

Getting ready to pull out.

Car 1 is actually the last one.

Now, the trip to Kumamoto Station takes 3 hours, twice as long as a usual Limited Express train. Partly because the train goes slower, but also because it stays at each station it stops at longer.  One of the first stations we stopped at was Shiroishi. It’s been around in essentially the same building for over 100 years.

You can see into the observation deck a bit in this photo.

Now, shortly before stopping at this station, the mother of the one family came and sat in my aisle seat as I was in their window seat, carrying her youngest son, who was asleep in her arms.  I wasn’t going to get off to look around the station to not disturb them, but she asked me if I wanted to go look.  I took it as an opportunity to give them back the window seat, so I got out and told her to please sit by the window.  Before coming to Japan I knew that it wasn’t uncommon to use kinship terms with strangers, but I didn’t know you could even use ‘mother’ and ‘father’ until recently. So I addressed her as お母さん (okaa-san – used for someone else’s mother).  I think this helped break the ice a bit.

After about 8 minutes at Shiroishi, we started chugging along again.

The glass of the windows wasn't as clear as on newer trains, so...

We stopped at another station, Isshouchi, were I bought some pears.

Back on the train, I went to sit in the observation deck for a while so the family could be together.  I stayed back there for about half an hour, when the elder son came to ask me if I’d gotten my commemorative stamp yet.  I guess since I left the card you get the stamp on on the table at the seat he saw that it was blank.  I asked him to show me where to get it and he led me to the front of the train in a little kid rush to get the stamp. ^o^

Then it was time for one of the highlights of the trip.  Along the way, there’s an old man named Hachirou who lives on the riverside opposite the tracks. Every time he hears Hitoyoshi’s steam whistle, he goes out on his deck and waves a white towel at the train.  Once we spotted him, everyone became very animated and waved back, though it’s unlikely he could see the people in the train.  But given that the attendants announce his presence, I’m sure he knows everyone’s waving back at him. ^o^

Besides Hachirou, there were people at several points who waved at the train.  It was obvious some were waiting for it to pass.  There were also plenty of train enthusiasts with their cameras up anticipating the train’s approach.  Every group of rafters on the Kuma River we passed also waved their oars at us.  The mother said to me, “Kumamoto’s people are warm.” (The family was from Shimane Prefecture.)

When the little boy woke up, the family went back to the observation deck, and I went back to my seat.  The mother called me “onee-san” (older sister, but not as her sister, rather the sister of her kids) which made me feel warm and squishy inside. I bought some chuuhai-flavored ice cream on the train as we approached Yatsushiro. When we stopped there I took some photos of the train and bought yakisaba (fried mackerel) sushi.

"I just gotta let off some steam, man."

You think you're hot in the summer? Do this man's job!

Filled with the "locals' love," as the attendant said.

Once we were about an hour from Kumamoto, a family who’d had 2 consecutive benches got off, so the family I’d been sitting with moved into those benches, so I got to sit by the window again.

As we pulled in to Kumamoto Station, another train, likewise a special sightseeing train, coming in from Aso if I remember correctly, was pulling in simultaneously a couple of tracks away. The passengers were holding signs in the windows that spelled out a message, but I don’t know what it said and neither did the family from Shimane.  (They said, “What’s that mean?  Must be a local word.” ^o^;) At the same time in our train an attendant came by and gave the people sitting at the window seats laminated sheets with a single character on them to hold up to the window and make a message.  I got the number “6” so I thought the message must’ve said something about “58645” which is the number on SL Hitoyoshi, but the people to my sides didn’t have “8” and “4” so I’ve no idea what our message spelled out. ^_^;

Then it was time to get off.  The trip was over.  The Relay Tsubame I was riding back to Fukuoka happened to be on the track next to the one Hitoyoshi was on, so I filmed as we pulled away from it and said goodbye to the choo-choo in my mind. ^o^

Well, to anyone who read this whole post without skipping around, お疲れさまでした！