potted plum trees

It’s about 1 hour train ride from Kyoto station to Nagahama located at the northern end Lake Biwa, the biggest lake in Japan, in Shiga Prefecture. Just one hour ride takes us to snow-country... but it wasn’t when I went there.
At least I saw Mt. Ibuki covered with snow, it looked beautiful but it wasn’t close enough to make me feel that I had come to snow-country.

photographs

A photograph has a certain kind of power.

My father passed away sometime ago and his photo brings back memories. After he passed away, we searched for some photos to use for his funeral. I found many pictures of him which I had never seen before. On the back of one of them was written my father’s name and 17 years old. His appearance was dramatically different and that made me think of his devotion to his work, family and friends, like many other Japanese men of his age his work was his hobby.


I found this picture in his photo pile. I think this is the area I was born, but nothing like it was even in those days.

A Thatching Village, Miyama

A Thatching Village, Miyama, Kyoto Pref.
京都美山 かやぶきの里 北村

It was 15:30 when I finish visiting Kozan-ji and decided to go further north along a meandering mountain road to Miyama, it was already 17:30 when I arrived.

Miyama is located in the central part of Kyoto prefecture, surrounded by mountains, actually the name Miyama means “beautiful mountains”.


The area is well-preserved and is as beautiful as the name suggests. I saw many of the thatched roofed houses the area is famed for and in particular the preserved area called “Kayabuki-no-sato” (Thatching Village). Out of around 50 of the village houses, 38 are thatched. 38 out of about 50 houses in this thriving village are thatched and most were built between the mid to late Edo period(1603-1867). To many visitors from around the country the place evokes the world of old Japanese stories. –Actually I thought of settling down when I visited the Shetland Islands. I might be easily fascinated with natural landscapes.

I was briefly tempted by the idea of living here too but realistically life without trains would be impossible at present.

It is undoubtedly an idyllic landscape, beautiful and peaceful.










access (Japanese)

Philosopher’s Path

Philosopher’s Path, Kyoto
哲学の道(京都)

Philosopher’s Path (哲学の道) is the path that runs along the Biwako canal, very popular with both domestic and overseas visitors.


Along the path there’re hundreds of cherry trees originally donated by a wife of Japanese painter Hashimoto Kansetsu and are called Kansetsu sakura (Kansetsu cherry trees): the present trees are not original ones which were planted nearly 100 years ago and they are carefully looked after and bloom every sakura season.


It’s easy to imagine how stunningly beautiful they must be in the cherry blossom season but I’ve never visited at that time myself. I don’t dare jump into the crowds. I may try to visit there at dusk next time.


The path is named after a philosophy professor Nishida Kitaro walked it regularly, hence its name which became officially adopted in 1972.

a day out to Uji: Tea

Taiho-an Tea House, Uji, Kyoto Pref.
対鳳庵(京都/宇治)

The city of Uji has a tea house, Taiho-an(対鳳庵), open to the public to experience tea ceremony for 500yen.



It literary means
"a hut opposite phoenix hall"
meaning that
it was located the opposite
Byodo-in Phoenix Hall.


It has a small
but decent "roji" garden.


It was built in 1993
and meant to be suitable
for any school of tea ceremony,
include ryurei(立礼), a bench seated, style.



15 of us were
in an 8 and half
tatami-mat size room.


Usually a sweet is served with tea
and corresponds with to the season,
or suited the theme of the tea ceremony.


The sweet had a Kakitsubata iris(杜若) motif
and later a tea was served in a bowl
with a matching motif.
The day I went was a Sunday and many people were waiting. 15 of us were squeezed into a room and the door could hardly be closed. It wasn’t the serene atmosphere needed to appreciate tea ceremony I must say. I recommend that you visit during weekdays or off-season to enjoy a better atmosphere.


You can also enjoy a boat trip on the Uji River.

Since Uji is an important tea producing area, you may see various kinds of green tea flavoured foods.


Green tea flavoured noodles(茶蕎麦) are one of the local specialities.


Cha-dango(茶団子), sweet green tea flavoured sticky rice cakes, are my favourite.

a day out to Uji: Byodo-in Temple

Byodo-in Temple, Uji, Kyoto Pref.
平等院(京都/宇治)

I visited Byodo-in(平等院) temple and Fushimi-Inari Shrine(伏見稲荷) with friends.

Byodo-in is in Uji(宇治), about 15 minutes south of Kyoto by JR train from Kyoto Station.


Uji is one of the main tea producing areas in Japan though it isn’t always recognized as such elsewhere in Japan. Indeed it might be the oldest active tea producing area in the country, it goes back to the Kamakura period(1185-1333). It’s easy to imagine how prosperous the business was in the past judging by the size of the many old tea merchant houses remaining today.


The photo shows the Kanbayashi(上林) residence, one of the oldest tea merchant family homes, which is now open to public as a museum.


The area’s main attraction is Byodo-in temple which was designated as a World National Heritage Site in 1994. Since then the number of visitors dramatically increased, it is rather a pity that it has lost its layed-back atmosphere as a temple in the country. At the same time my local pride is pleased with the appreciation of its value.


Byodo-in’s Phoenix Hall(鳳凰堂) is one of only a few surviving examples of Heian period (794-1185) architecture. Most of the period’s structures have been lost to fire or war. It is a fine example from the era. The hall is praised for its symmetrical beauty and can be seen on the tail of 10 yen coins.

In the past visitors could casually walk in the hall, but now we must be guided in groups of 50 people, so inside is always full. There’s good side to it, we can benefit from the guides knowledge which helps us appreciate its value. –Unfortunately guided tours are only in Japanese.


Where the old treasure house stood The Byodo-in Museum(平等院鳳翔館) was built in 2001. Architect Akira Kuryu(栗生明) won an award for its design. It is a very modern but discreet building and doesn’t distract from the view of the temple.

a day trip to Shiga: a party with local specialities

Our original plan was having a barbecue at our friend’s garden and later visiting Kaigake-dani(鎌掛谷) which is a valley full of rhododendron(ホンシャクナゲ). Unfortunately the weather didn’t let us follow our plan, it started raining.

We had to put off visiting Kaigake-dani till next year and instead of having had barbecue in her garden we enjoyed local foods inside.

The old name of Shiga prefecture is “Omi” (近江). The region neighbours Kyoto and its population has increased as the commuting time to Osaka and Kyoto has decreased. Some of the area is still heavily cultivated and is the home of “Omi beef” (近江牛) which is one of the best known brands of marbled beef as well as “Omi-mai” a well-known type of rice.

I’m personally not a fan of beef, especially the marbled beef which I think too fatty, but I thought I should try what the locals recommended, usually they know best. Unexpectedly the beef was good and made me realise that it isn’t as bad as I thought. This area is also well-know for pork. We had miso marinated pork grilled on a charcoal fire, which was delicious.

Our friend had served us many local delicacies. This is one of them. This is a once a year festival dish from her area, but she was kind enough to have made it especially for us out of season. The fish is a sea bream with “somen”, thin noodles. We have somen in my area, but it’s never served with seafood.

We also had a pork “shabu-shabu” hot pot. I don’t know how we managed to finish it all.

"Gochisosama-deshita."

a day trip to Shiga: a serene boat tour

Omihachiman, Shiga Pref.
近江八幡水郷めぐり(滋賀/近江八幡)

During the holiday I went on a boat ride tour at Omihachiman in Shiga prefecture with friends.


The boat is long and narrow, only 8 seats with a boatman. There are 3 or 4 companies run similar tours and some use boats with engine, which I imagine might be rather noisy.We were recommended to take an old style boat tour by someone who knows the area pretty well and we were thankful we did.



The tour took 90 minutes and started on a canal. The boat soon went into a river which skirts Omihachiman. The river broadened in front of us and we could only hear the sound of nature, frogs, birds, wind and water. It was absolutely calm and pleasant.


The town is only 40 minutes train ride from Kyoto and what we experienced was very different from Kyoto. This space and quietness is hard to find in this area. It was a very good day-out.


He is our boatman, in his 70’s, and had started the job after his retirement and is surprisingly fit for his age. He told us the tour runs all year round showing the seasonal changes. Planting rice has just finished and the water from paddy fields made the river water muddy and unclear this time of the year. The river and canal used to be the area’s major artery and families had their own boats in the past.

Although some of us would have liked to visit the well-known old merchant town of Omihachiman, we had to leave without doing so due to our barbecue party planned for the afternoon.

Sakura at a temple

The Lake Biwa Canal flows into Kyoto from Lake Biwa.

It is a popular destination for sakura viewing

on both the Shiga and Kyoto sides.