adekun’s japan blog

A little way from nearby Kurayoshi is the town of Misasa. While the town is famed for it’s radon spas, Sanbutsuji set upon Mitokusan (Mt. Mitoku) really draws the crowds. The temple’s pinnacle is Nageiredo hall. Back in 706 it is said to have been thrown in the mountain by a monk. It rests between two and three hundred metres above a steep gorge, seemingly defying gravity.
Having just visited you have to wonder. To reach it from the main complex takes half an hour; up tangles of exposed tree roots, chains and ropes. In bloom were yama tsutsuji (mountain azalea) and fuji (wisteria). The last Sunday in October the entrance fee is waived for yamabushi (fire walking festival).
At the entrance, those lacking sufficient grip on there footwear are sold wara-zori (straw sandals). It’s not difficult and doesn’t deter people of all ages and sizes - if it’s busy expect the clamber to take a lot longer.

I’ve been too hasty planting out the summer vegetables. It probably would have been okay if it wasn’t for the weather that soon followed. Since the cold and the rain it has been super hot; a bit too hot for digging. The leaves on the tomatoes promptly grew dark brown spots. I wondered if I might be in with a chance of winning a prize for the quickest onset of blight. After an anxious week they seem to be in the clear. There are even a few tomatoes forming.

The rest of the veg are in a similar state, not perky but alive. Hopefully we’ll have some rain and save them from being frazzled.

I was thinking of giving this post the title of adekun’s arse smorgasbord. It’s really been a two pronged assault. Firstly, my wife decided to quite wisely store my garden clothes outside in the plastic ‘bunker’ along with the biting insects. The other more lately, is the onset of warmer weather and with it mosquitoes. I guess the worst of it followed the aforesaid carrot picking when I unknowingly donned my trousers.
Anyway, early March I got told to cut down the four tsubaki (camellia) trees in the corner of the garden. An irritating type of caterpillar is overly fond of them, little Mr Investigator might meet with similar results as his father when playing in the garden. It’s a shame to have to do away with the trees. The upshot is the veg garden has greatly increased in size and somebody else’s tired knees get saved from the weeding.
Before: (Last year and a little mulch)

After: (It does look a bit barren)

Last Monday was hot. I bought most of the summer vegetables, a replacement spade and a compost fork (hurrah). Just as the last plants were going in (early again) the next day it started to rain. What great timing I thought, only it was so heavy and lasted until Saturday night. Toyama gets a mention again; the news Wednesday morning reported pictures of drifts (I think) 4 or 5 metres high. Today, the plants look okay and the potatoes planted where the trees were have emerged. As it’s been dry a day, digging started again.

As mentioned before it has been windy and rainy the past week. The sakura held out for the sakura matsuri (cherry blossom festival) on Saturday. Cloudy early on, it soon warmed up. We walked through the park, through wafts of pink petals and barbeques.

A little further to the south, the following afternoon was spent around Shoyama. Countless trees line the river.

It’s hard to portray in a couple of photos, especially being overcast. I had a really nice time despite sneezing myself inside out.

I’m probably going to regret not going hanami last Sunday. Since then, the weather has taken a turn for the worse. The last few days the rain has been heavy and I wonder if there will be any sakura blossom left on the trees. It’s good for the garden though. No amount of rain was going to turn around my carrot’s fortune. I think it’s apparent with everything else this year, being frugal with the organic stuff (through want of more) has stunted or slowed it. The cores of the carrots had turned woody. Yesterday, under a pale sky, in moderate drizzle, they got yanked out. The roots got their whiskers scraped off before going into the compost bin, whilst the tops got scattered on the ground. The most direct route to the thankfully good asparagus can perhaps be likened to that of a scene from Palm Sunday. As it got even wetter outside, I took the best specimen I saved and performed a simple vegetable autopsy. Running a knife around the circumference, down the front and back, and with a twist…

It’s been a busy month both in and out of the garden. The cabbage went to soup; eight mini ones (those that didn’t swell) with some of the beetroot. My wife made lots of kimchi with the hakusai. I’ve been trying to manage the consumption of the latter around teaching. On Tuesday I espied the first asparagus thrusting through the earth. Once I’ve finished in the current undertaking in the garden I’ll post a photo. In the meantime, anyone interested in Japanese rock gardens may want to check this article I got sent.

A year and two weeks ago I put up a post about haruichiban, the first strong winds of the year. Just as this year’s winds arrived we had our own mini whirlwind as the Yoshihara family descended upon us. Both parents are long time friends of my wife and the have four young daughters; there must be some truth in old wives’ tales. Their planned visit had been put off three successive weeks because of the snow. I kept to the kitchen with my heavy cold and got to try out the pie dish my parents kindly sent me. O what excitement enamelware can bring. To try to clear the guise of sarcasm, I’ve have been waiting for the right moment and I’m really happy with it. You just can’t get stuff like that here.
In the news, along the coast to the east, a breakwater in Toyama was breached forcing 150 families to evacuate their homes. An old man was swept out to sea as he watched the waves from a costal road. It’s been calmer here and today the sun is out. The compost has defrosted. Soon I hope, I’ll be able to get some digging done in the garden.

Plenty of snow fell over the weekend. On Sunday I started heaping some on the half buried snowman. The carrot nose and hair we gave him was nowhere to be seen. Despite a late start, it was still light as my fingers grew purple. Maybe with a wooden handle and the warmth from shovelling I could have continued into the evening. Anyhow the mound was complete enough so I headed in. Curry and rice for dinner.

After padding out the top further the next day and a break to let it refreeze, the fun bit started. It was warm and sunny mid morning and I found the carrot.

Kento had woken up. We spent some time together inside peering out, as the snow tumbled like those small polystyrene balls. Inside the quinze (quinzee, quinzhee etc.) it was snug.

The other day, I got to try my hand at making nihachi soba (lit. two eight soba). Despite the measures being simple, two parts flour to eight parts buckwheat, the motions are best watched at least once. I will post a recipe at some point. In lieu of that; in essence, to the sifted flour half the weight of water is added. Once brought together, fifty presses are applied (seventy for the girls). It is rolled and stretched out to a square, folded and chopped.

The resulting noodles are dropped into a pan of boiling water for sixty seconds before being plunged into ice cold water.

A typical accompaniment would be a sauce of dashi, soy and mirin.

On Sunday we spent a few hours at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Park. Although the setting is at odds to the camps at Auschwitz, it is none the less moving. I was keen to find out what the museum cited as reasons for the attack and what mention it gave to activities in Asia prior to WWII.
For me the often stated reason never answered the questions. Reading at school, it was easy to spot contradictions. It just seemed the most palatable. What does seem common is Truman’s and Tibbets’s sentiments, and that of Bomber Harris.

I was unaware of the forced demolished of homes to provide fire breaks. In addition to the civilians from neighbouring towns, schoolchildren were mobilized for demolition duty. At the time of the attack they were outside. The bomb was a little off target and detonated above the Shima hospital. A plaque marking the hypocentre can be found in front of an apartment block a street back from the Dome.

Above, the targeted T shaped Aoio bridge and Hiroshima Peace Memorial (A-Bomb Dome).

There didn’t seem much information on the subsequent bombing of Nagasaki. The focus was on the after effects, the rebuilding and peace activities. Towards the end of the exhibition, of note was the numbers of times nuclear weapon use has since been contemplated. The 13 kiloton yield of ‘Little Boy’ compared to the 50 megatons of ‘Tsar Bomba’. While it’s all too easy to comment on the past, only the other week NATO’s top five were asserting “first strike nuclear option remains an indispensable instrument”.