Tea ceremony and Kimono Wearing

 First there is the under layer. This is tied with a string and then it's own mini obi belt.

 Then the kimono goes on. It is tied with a couple of strings.

 Then the obi is tied. Inside the back is a cushioned pad which is tied around the front. The front is kept straight with a plastic shaper and then a scarf is tied around. There follows a final string around the front of the obi.

This is the tea ceremony area set up inside Seki's culture hall. There were a lot of people there. Every single one of them stared at me. Many people stopped to congratulate my kimono wearing and people my students knew stopped to touch me. It was a very strange experience.

Tea ceremony itself involves drinking different kinds of tea (depending on the ceremony) and eating a small confection. There are many rules about bowing and rotating cups, placing dishes in different areas of the table etc. We were served tea by many kimono wearing people and there was a set that looked like a forest. The first time we drank a leaf filled cup of tea, the second we drank frothy macha green tea.

We went to Gifu for lunch. It was a many course affair and very delicious. It began with lotus roots and fish eggs, followed by tofu in a delicious sauce, followed by salmon on a radish rosti with mushrooms in a thin sauce, followed by rice and miso soup, followed by tea and green tea dessert.
We had a stroll around the old streets. Tottering about on our zori sandals wearing kimono and holding umbrellas in these untouched traditional streets was quite an experience. I felt like I was walking inside a movie. We had more tea at a traditional tea house where I could see the mountain that Gifu castle perches atop.

 

Halloween

This week is Halloween week at school. It's not really a big thing here but I guess as we're an English school we make a big thing of famous American festivals. The place looks amazing with bats and skeletons and ghosts everywhere. The kids all dress up and everyone gets treats and snacks. We've made ghoulish biscuits for the adults classes. With the kids we play pin the tail on the cat, Halloween 'go fish' and a game that involves moving paper shapes with straws which makes it hard to breathe but us fun.

 Biscuits.

 Pin the tale on the cat.

Table decorations.

Knife Festival and Lantern Art

Seki's annual knife festival is big news in this area and yesterdays glorious weather must have tempted everyone out because it was heaving. Seki's main street was lined with knife stalls interspersed with classic Japanese street food. The crowds edged their way along and you had to queue and dodge to get close to the best knife sellers. It was interesting seeing our sleepy city transformed into a tourist hotspot not least for all the foreign faces and snatches of English conversation. 
Seki's knife fame comes from it's Katana (Samuri sword) making heritage. It's location near the incredibly fresh water of the Nagara river and the quality of the soil made it ideal for forging swords. We watched a demonstration of traditional sword making with the blacksmiths in traditional dress. 

After this we found a carpark transformed into a fighting and sword demonstration arena where surprisingly few of the crowd had ended up. 

In the evening we made our way to Mino and walked around the pretty, old streets to atmospheric music shuffling through the crowds looking at the huge array of lit up paper lanterns. There were wedding dresses, globes, even a church made of paper and lit up. There were a couple of live music venues and all the cafes and shops were open. It was really cold strolling around and the late night opening and festive atmosphere reminded us of a Christmas market in England.

Today we went to a garden party in Mino and met some of the lantern artists. There are currently four foreign paper artists staying and working in Mino. Two of my students are working as translation helpers and invited us to the party mostly because of the coincidence of there being a young English woman from around Bristol among the artists. It was very nice to chat to her and of course she'd spent time living in Brighton-who under 30 hasn't it seems?! We met many other interesting people; Japanese and otherwise. The temperatures in the day are still in the high twenties but if you keep to the shade it's quite comfortable and the blue skies mid-October are really glorious. 

So a lovely fusion of new vs old, Japanese vs foreign and summer vs winter this weekend. 


P.S Mum for you a picture of the carp in the river:

Rice Harvest and Persimmons

Hello.
Although the day time temperatures are still in the mid twenties night times are cold and the leaves are beginning to turn. Most of the green rice fields are now harvested brown stumps. And here I have failed you-I have some pictures of the rice harvest but on my useless Japanese phone where they are trapped. So I'll try and explain.
The rice is harvested using a miniature combine and the stalks are gathered into cone shapes tied at the base and then hung upside-down along a horizontal pole. The green smell of rice growing is no longer in the breeze but instead is the scent of persimmon trees. Persimmons are traditional Japanese fruits that are ready to eat in autumn. They look a bit like yellowy beef tomatoes. The smell is slightly citrusy and fresh but with a hint of sherbet. The flavour is quite delicate and the texture somewhere between an apple and a plum.
Japan is waking up for the sleepiness induced by the heavy summer heat and now it is festival season again. We missed out on the Spring festival time because most events were cancelled after the earthquake. So this weekend we're looking forward to Seki Knife festival and Mino lantern festivals. Pictures to follow.
Love Jo