Mr. & Mrs. Maegaki @ Kamoizumi

Mr. & Mrs. Maegaki, Heart of Kamoizumi 

Energetic President Maegaki of Kamoizumi and his indispensable wife stand in front of Shusen-kan, one of the buildings which consisted of the former Saijo Branch of Hiroshima Prefectural Sake Laboratory. Shusen-kan is now owned by Kamoizumi and used as a sake cafe and sake library. The second floor can be rented and hold a variety of activities. 

Today, my friend and I went up to the second floor to see ART in SAKAGURA artworks. It was much better than an ordinary art museum visit. I much preferred the Sakagura site than the museum setting and fully enjoyed art by local college students.

Besides on the second floor of Shusen-kan, there are other places on the sake factory grounds where artworks by students are exhibited. 

So much fun to tour around the area where eight sake breweries stand. 

This program was held last year too. The second year has been attracting more people of many age brackets. Power of youth and traditional sites interact.

Tomorrow, I'm visiting a rural district called Uyama, where artists display their site specific works. 

Be aware and it's easy to find beauty just around your corner.  Your neighborhood is your living museum.

Matsushima has amazing gulls

Someone's shoulder in the left bottom corner
photo taken while cruising on a boat

Matsushima, known as one of the three most scenic places in Japan since the 17^th century, revived itself swiftly after the great Tohoku earthquake which shook East Japan on March 11, 2011. A few people were sacrificed in Matsushima Town and the tsunami waves attacked the stores and pleasure boats for bay cruising. But compared with the neighboring communities like Shiogama and Higashi-matsushima, the town was spared from the total devastation. By the end of April, 2011, all tour boats resumed their operations.

Lots of black-tailed sea gulls live in the area and they fly to the boats for snacks. Bags of food is on sale on the boat. They are originally for humans and sold at supermarkets or many other places but here at Matsushima the food is used to feed the gulls. They are amazing. They can take food from your fingers or catch it in the air.

Thanks to some 260 islands in Matsushima Bay, the tsunami waves must have been mitigated. The great Zuiganji Temple survived the quake and tsunami with slight scar. All 1300 tourists managed to evacuate to higher places.

Matsushima got a story to tell; not an easy job to talk about the disaster but the locals have to let people know, and pass down the lesson learned.

Matsushima is particularly reputed to be an inspiring place for the moon viewing. Albert Einstein came to Matsushima in 1922. Local story has it that he was speechless, seeing the moon of Matsushima.

Kosaka mine had Koraku-kan theater for workers

Former Kosaka Mine Office

The theater was completed in 1910 for part of the welfare of mine workers. Originally the theater accommodated 800 people. Now the capacity is reduced to 607 due to fire safety regulations.

Performers and audience can be close enough so that the stage should be truly exciting and engaging. The theater is busy and active.

Click here to see the theater photos.

The office building of Kosaka Mine standing next to the theater expresses the idea of “East meets West.” It looks western at a glance but the interior has traditional tools and equipment just like the theater for Kabuki plays. In addition, the design for balconies is Islamic and its open work motif is associated with the company, Fujita, that once owned the mine. It was provided with electric power, a rare case in those days.

Odaira Namihei, the founder of Hitachi, worked for the Kosaka Mine where he, as a young engineer, was assigned to build an electric power station and related facilities. He did it well and hopped jobs to climb up the ladders for starting his own company in 1910 where he developed Japan's first 5-horsepower electric induction motor.

Kosaka Mine first dealt with silver, then switched to copper. Now no mining is conducted but rather metal recycling has been done making the best use of the technology nurtured while the town was thriving as one of the three largest copper mines in Japan. 

Restored roof of the former office
shingled with cryptomeria slates
faithful to the original 

Everywhere in Japan, there are legacies that would lead to the future. What was done in the past leads to the future, whether it was a good deed or not. Face the past and go ahead!

Spiral staircase at the office
built with advanced techniques

Know Shirakami Mountains?

Ao-ike or Lake Blue
Due to refraction, the lake looks mysterious 

In 1993, nearly 17000 ha of the Shirakami Mountains was recognized as a World Heritage Site. It was one of the first designations in Japan along with Horyu-ji temple, Himeji Castle, and Yakushima Island.

Situated in the mountains of Tohoku, this trackless site includes the last virgin remains of the cool-temperate forest of Siebold's beech trees that once covered the hills and mountain slopes of northern Japan. The black bear, the serow and 87 species of birds can be found in this forest.

The Shirakami Mountains comprise a maze of steep sided hills with summits rising to just over 1,200 m. Many streams have their sources within the area and it is an important water catchment area.

The beech forests were already formed some 8000 years back. It is believed that the beech forests grew soon after the end of the glacial age. They have never been cultivated, mainly because beech trees were useless.

However, the trees came to be processed into musical instruments in the 1970s and logging projects were proposed. The construction of a forest road started in Akita but was halted due to active opposition. People in Aomori were fiercely against the projects, which changed the attitude of the Aomori Prefecture. In 1988, the construction was suspended.

The thirty three lakes which form the Juni-ko area are considered to have been formed from the rivers isolated by the landslides in 1704. Juni-ko means twelve lakes but as already mentioned there are thirty three lakes. But at least there seems to be a specific point from which the exact 12 lakes can be seen. That’s where the large scale landslide happened and its trace is still visible.

Serious alpinists will try some of the peaks but casual easy forest walk is also possible.

Wear comfortable walking shoes and explore the Juni-ko area, hopefully with a local guide (and me as an interpreter). Fantastic lakes, trees, air, wind, soil, sky, light and shadow.

The Japanese beech, Siebold's beech, or buna:

A deciduous tree of the beech family Fagaceae. Native to Japan and one of the dominant trees of Japan's deciduous forests.

Walk the beech forest and breathe the fresh air

Shamisen Tsugaru style is soulful

Professional and amateur; both were fantastic
Shakuhachi flute and great folk song

At a hotel in Aomori where my guests and I stayed, there was a great shamisen performance starting at 9:00 pm and lasting more than 30 minutes. Very soulful. The performer invited a few of the audience to come forward and try the drum while he played the musical instruments and sang traditional folk songs. Later toward the end of the show, a gentleman asked to let him sing along the shamisen tune. The whole venue was full of Tsugaru spirit. I didn't completely understand their Tsugaru or Tohoku dialect but even that was fun and impressed me.

Once blind female shamisen performers visited households and played tunes when asked. That was the way they made income. The music had to be loud since they sometimes performed on snowy days when the family would not be able to hear well if the shamisen only made ordinary levels of sound. 

The Tsugaru Shamisen, pronounced Tsugaru Jamisen in Japanese, is powerful and soulful. No doubt about that. 

The performer plays the Tsugaru Shamisen
The lady was invited to come forward to try out the drum

Five-storied pagoda at Kaijusen-ji, Kyoto

Notice the Mokoshi eaves at the lowest level.

The pagoda standing in Kamo Town, Kidugawa City, Kyoto, was built in 1214, relatively short but delightful to your eyes. The location of the temple is not convenient for modern visitors but this remote settings are essential to retain the serenity and peace of the temple. 

The shinbashira central pillar stands from the ceiling of the first floor, one of the six examples among the historical five-storied pagodas in the country.

The pagoda has Mokoshi eaves at the first level. This pagoda and the one at Horyu-ji temple have this type of eaves. Only two examples of this style.

Loved the temple. Quiet and breezy. Talked with the lady who received me at the main hall of the temple. Appreciated the statues enshrined in the main hall.

A combination of this temple, Joruri-ji temple, and Gansen-ji temple are highly recommended. They are all in Kamo Town. Transportation between this temple and the other two is a bit of trouble. Bus services are not frequent at all. But taxis are available.

Five-storied pagoda in Aomori

Notice the reduced dimensions
toward the top

Saisho-in temple has a particularly beautiful, well-balanced five-storied pagoda. The temple is one of the two major among forty six temples standing to the south of Hirosaki Castle, the other being Chosho-ji temple. Saisho-in originated in the Buddhist halls built and dedicated by a warlord in 1532. When the castle was built at the beginning of the 17^th century, the temple was relocated to the northeast of the castle to stop evil influences from entering the castle grounds from that direction. The temple was patronized by the fiefdom, and supervised temples and shrines in the Tsugaru Domain in the Edo period. However, the temple suffered and forced to come to the present site where Daien-ji temple once stood but moved out at the beginning of the Meiji period when the Meiji government made Shinto the national religion and made little of the Buddhist temples. Many of the temples were discontinued at that time.

The pagoda once belonged to Daien-ji and was built in 1667 to honor the sacrifice of those who died in battles, regardless of friends or foes. More than ten years had passed when the tower was finally completed. The Shinbashira central pillar of the pagoda is square and stands from the ceiling of the first floor. Note; the five storied pagodas are practically one-floored, the upper space being a vast attic.

Across the country, there are six historical five-storied pagodas whose central pillar stands from above the first floor. Except the one at Honmon-ji temple in Tokyo, I saw them all. Hey I’m a tower hunter.

The temple premises are accessible free of charge during the day.