Hi all, me again, slaving over a hot and humid keyboard!!! It’s time to review week 34, to see what I have and haven’t been getting up to here in mushimushi Kyoto. I like that term – which means hot and humid – it seems very descriptive to me; it’s just how I feel when I’m outside in this weather. I have to admit that because it has been so mushimushi, I haven’t done that much this week. The aircon has been my friend! None-the-less I do have to go out occasionally, not just so that I can eat and drink, but also because I do need to maintain some contact with the outside world here.

This week I decided to go out and see what was happening with the matsuri floats on the Sunday afternoon before the second procession, which I didn’t mention last time involves only the smaller yama floats. I actually wanted to buy a new chimaki, for the coming year. A chimaki is a good luck charm made from bamboo leaves which is placed at the entrance of houses and looks rather like a bundle of straw. People in Kyoto hang it at the entrance of their house to ward off evil throughout the year.

The chimaki are sold at Yasaka shrine and at stalls for the yama and hoko during the Gion matsuri. On the three nights before each of the processions some of the streets where the floats are parked are closed to traffic and the area is filled with food and drink stalls and other stalls with various items for sale, such as yukata, obi, hair decorations, etc and chimaki. The evenings leading up to the first procession are known as Yoiyama (July 16), Yoiyoiyama (July 15) and Yoiyoiyoiyama (July 14). On these days you can also go inside some of the hoko. The chimaki sold during this time are hand made by volunteers from the areas related to each of the floats and are all decorated slightly differently.

(photos from last year)

So, I went for the fairly long walk to the precinct where the floats would be and had a look around. Unfortunately, either I was a little too early, or the number of stalls before the second procession is fewer. Whichever it is, I didn’t find any selling chimaki. Feeling a little annoyed with myself for not having made the effort to go to one of the yoiyama nights, I set off back home. I had nearly walked all the way down Shijo dori to the street I was going to go down to get home when I saw a stall selling some chimaki! It was, in fact, a stall selling chimaki from the Yasaka shrine, so I was very happy with that outcome. It is now hanging outside next to my front door.

While I haven’t watched any more tv than usual this week there have been some noteworthy shows to watch, and which I had a very close interest in. The first was a show about a duck family – mother, father and six ducklings. Yes, ducks! It happened that these ducks were the ones we had seen in a pond in a temple that we had wandered into when Steven was here, while I was looking for something else. It wasn’t a very large temple complex, but it had a smallish pond in it with a curved concrete bridge over it.

Under the bridge there was a platform on the water with some food (leaves) on it and a pet box which had been set up with a little ramp into it for the ducklings to sleep in and as a safe place. Obviously the people in the temple – monks and helpers – had taken it upon themselves to look after this little family. There were only a few other people there when we went in; it wasn’t one of those temples that had many visitors other than locals. I seem to recall there was a tripod set up near the pond, but I didn’t really think about it at the time.

The program followed these ducklings as they grew up and also showed there were people there looking after them 24/7, making sure nothing untoward happened to them and filming them day and night (with infra-red). I assume these people had talked to the local police at some point, too, to seek assistance for the day the mother would take her ducklings down to the Kamo river, when they were sufficiently grown.

Moves toward that time came one day when the mother flew off towards the Kamo – the first time she had left the ducklings since laying the eggs. A reconnaissance flight was the presumption. She returned after a short while and later made the same journey again, not sure if it was that day, or the next day. You can never be too careful when it comes to looking after the brood!

On this signal of intent, while she was away, the monks and helpers moved the platform from under the bridge and set it up as a ramp on one side of the pond. The sides were too steep for the ducklings to easily get out without flying. As soon as the mother came back and saw the ramp she went over to it and tested it out. She obviously was happy with it, because she then climbed up it and headed outside of the pond enclosure. There was an open gutter outside the pond enclosure that they would have to cross to get out of the temple area, not very wide but quite deep, so she also tested this out by jumping over it.

When she was happy with everything, and it was the right time, she stood outside the pond enclosure just past the gutter and started quacking. This must have been duck language for “come out here to me – use the ramp”, because the ducklings all immediately swam over to the ramp. They hesitated there for a little while until the bold one of the group jumped up onto the ramp and started walking up it. At this, the rest did the same and they all walked outside the enclosure, until they reached the gutter. Here they stopped, looked around briefly and eventually went back inside.

I think the mother must have been happy with this progress because she left it at that for the day. Next day, she went out again and again quacked. This time they went up the ramp, outside and straight to the gutter. She quacked again, and one by one they all jumped over the gutter. Then they were off on their long walk. It’s about 1km from the temple to the Kamo and there were two possible routes they could have taken, but she chose the shortest distance. The police were in place down the road, ready to direct traffic (was there a special code the temple helpers used when they called them?? Code: Big march? Kamo march? They’re moving?…).

The whole entourage, ducks, monks and helpers all walked together. Funnily enough, the ducks seemed completely unperturbed by all the people and cameras, I suppose they were used to them. I’m not sure how long it took, but they made it to the river, slipped down the bank (well, some did) and they were into the water. It really was lovely to watch and I felt very lucky to see the program, having seen the ducklings when they were very small.

Next night, when I turned on the tv, there kangaroos jumping across the screen – and I hadn’t been drinking! It was a program focussing on the kangaroos which live down the southern coast of NSW, near Eden, spend most of their time at the beach and actually go into the water when the conditions are right. It was an interesting show and talked about why they go into the water (not for fishing) and what they eat around the beach. They also mentioned another mob in far northern Qld that similarly go into the water.

Then, the next night, when I turned on the tv, there was footage of a street being shown, which looked very familiar to me. My first thought was that it could be a street in Adelaide and then the camera swung around to show the building on the other side of the street – it was the Central Market!!!! The first building on the other side of the street which looked so familiar was Her Maj! It was a program about Adelaide, but unfortunately I had missed most of it. They went inside the market, and filmed some of the stalls, with a particular focus on a butcher stall which specialised in kangaroo, believe it or not. I sort of winced at that, after the previous night’s show.

After the Central Market, they focussed Glenelg – the buildings and the beach. They also showed what appeared to be life savers practicing in a surf boat, probably preparing for competition. The boat had a Port Augusta sticker on the side. As you can imagine, I was very excited to see a show about Adelaide being shown in Japan. I wish I had seen the whole thing but I got the impression it was a very positive program and good promo for Adelaide. Not many people have heard of Adelaide here when we say that’s where we come from. They mainly know about Sydney and Cairns.

My final remarks are about a truly great champion – Hakuho!!!!!!! Not only did he win the basho (again) but he also achieved the most individual bout wins ever in sumo. He already has well surpassed the most basho championship wins. Fantastic achievement.

Well, that’s it for now – 2 weeks to settlement…

Cheers!

Post script: One thing I forgot to mention in my week 33 posting – the cicadas have finally started! It’s the sound of summer and we finally have it. They were few at first, but they are building. The cicada here in Kyoto, as far as I can work out, is the kuma-zemi or bear cicada, which is the largest in Japan (60 – 70 mm I believe). I find their sound quite pleasant, although I believe some of the other cicadas can be very loud and abrasive.

Week 33 and three weeks to go to settlement! Hello and welcome to my world – Kyoto – and a wrap of my 33^rd week here. Summertime, and the living is easy…actually, it’s hot and humid, which means that when I go out to attend to various tasks I have to recover on my return home. Some days, of course, are somewhat hotter than others, particularly when the sun is out (where is that umbrella with the fan in it????). Most of the recent days have been 34+ and high humidity, generally over 80%. We are also still getting the semi-regular thunderstorms and the kids still aren’t enjoying them, unlike me.

From the start here in Kyoto, my forays into the outside world have revolved around the weather since I have to walk to most places. This is even more so the case at the moment, however, when it is hot and humid every day, as it has been for the last few weeks, then it is a case of getting out and back as fast as possible. Sometimes it appears on the forecast that it will be slightly cooler/overcast, then when I do go out the cloud clears up, the sun beats down and I melt. I am just not good at coping with humidity (have I said that before?).

This week I decided to visit the other temple complex here that is in some ‘top 10’ lists but I had never been to. As with many of these places, the best times to visit are spring and autumn for the respective blossom and colours, however, I do think it is important to see what they are like when the proverbial icing is not on the cake. Also, this temple is fairly close to where our new home will be and I am making it my business to check all these places so that I can talk to our guests about them, as necessary.

Anyway, the weather looked like it would be reasonable, so my plan was to catch a train there and walk back so I could drop in at the supermarket for a few items. This, I reasoned, would mean I was fairly fresh when I got there and make it a little more pleasant for me looking around. By the time I reached the temple area, however, it was starting to clear up, the temperature was rising, and the humidity was gradually increasing, prior to an evening thunderstorm. I hoped it was going to be worth it!

Well, I can only say I can’t believe I had never been to Tofuku-ji temple before and that it isn’t one of the top destinations in Kyoto. It was a huge complex, with three separate garden areas, one rock garden slightly away from the main complex and another rock garden within the largest garden area. As you walk up to the temple from the train station, you pass a number of small, unassuming gate entrances. Me being the curious type just had to go in (if there is no barrier or sign saying no entry, then I go in). Within the first gated area was a small hall and a path leading to some other buildings, which were all closed. Inside the small hall, as it turned out, was a wooden carved seated Buddha which was over 3 metres high. It looked old, but there was nothing there to say how old it was, nor any other information, except no photos to be taken.

(one entrance that was blocked)

Some temples and shrines allow photos to be taken of the inside of the halls, and some do not. Disappointing sometimes because the statues and decorations in some of them are amazing and the only way to see them again is by returning to the temple/shrine (I don’t have the ability to visualise things in my brain, so no visual memory, unfortunately). The next stop was a small temple called Hosho-ji which enshrines a Senju Kannon-zo (a “thousand-handed” statue of the goddess of mercy). No photos of that, but I took some in the courtyard.

Next was Reiun-in, a sub-temple of Tofuku-ji, and which has the most beautiful rock garden I have seen in Japan. Others may disagree but for me it was mesmerising, even with the sound of trains in the background. Very few people actually went into any of these temples before entering Tofuku-ji, so apart from myself there were few people inside any of them, and the only other people at the rock garden was a group of three French tourists who were respectfully quiet, which made it even better just being there.

The Reiun-in temple was set up in 1390 but the garden was ruined some time ago and the current garden was re-created in 1970 from an old image. The centre piece is a stone called an Iai-seki, which symbolises Mt Shumisen, the holy mountain where Buddha lives. This stone was given to a famous Buddhist monk in the 1600s. I could have stayed there and just sat and contemplated life, the universe and everything but I had to move on to the main complex.

There’s so much in the main complex to look at I could keep writing, but luckily I have photos. A couple of highlights there; I was taking a photo of one of the halls from the garden below and two monks photo-bombed my shot (!) and a beautiful lizard which was about 15 cms nose to tail tip and was coloured like a rainbow, starting from a brown lime colour through green, to blue and then purple. The photo doesn’t show the colours as well as I would have liked, but I couldn’t get any closer without it moving. Suffice it to say that it was worth the half hour recovery period I had to have when I got home!

(guilty parties)

Some of you will be aware that July in Kyoto means it’s time for the Gion Matsuri. The festivities last most of July and there are two festival processions during this time; the main one on the 17th and the other on the 24^th. Two types of floats are used in the procession, 23 yama and 10 hoko. The hoko are the biggest floats, being up to 25 metres tall and weighing up to 11 tonnes, have huge wooden wheels and are pulled by between 20 and 30 men. These wheels make it interesting when they have to turn corners, which is a spectacle in itself. Last year, when we were here, we placed ourselves on a corner so we could watch this process. It really is amazing and very hard work for those involved, especially considering the heat and humidity.

I decided to go down a bit later this year for a quick look and actually got there to see the last four of the hoko and the same number of yama passing down Shijo street. Interestingly, the floats were moving in the opposite direction to last year, so the turns they had to undertake were in the opposite direction this year. To keep them on their toes, or to even out the wear on the wooden wheels???

One thing I hadn’t noticed last year is that all the traffic lights, which are on a pole on the sides of Shijo street, hanging across the street, had been moved out of the way and we’re talking around ten sets of lights. As it turned out, the lights actually pivot on the poles they are on, so after the last floats went through there was a mad rush of cherry-picker trucks moving down the street and returning the lights to their normal positions. Japanese efficiency.

On my way back home, I was walking down Kiya-machi dori (previously talked about canal street) and was very near the Gojo street bridge corner, when I heard a didgeridoo being played! At first I thought it must be a recording, but when I reached the stairs that run down to the river’s edge, I saw a guy there playing a didge!!!! I had to go down and see who it was, so I went down and asked him if he was from Australia. He thought I was asking about the didge, at which he said yes, it was a proper didgeridoo from Australia. He was very proud of it. I am no expert in didges, but to me it did look authentic; made by a traditional custodian. It had a beautiful sound and he played it very well. Amazing what you find here…

This week there is nothing in particular to report from the tv, except the Nagoya Basho is on and it looks like there is a good chance that Hakuho (my favourite rikishi) will achieve the all time record of wins. Ganbatte Hakuho!!!

On a final note, yet another icon has passed this week – George Romero, the creator of the best Zombie movies, starting with Night of the Living Dead and also all the ‘rules’ about zombies. Vale George.

I wonder if he will come back…?

Cheers

It’s been two weeks???? Did I miss a week? Well, actually, I did – I just couldn’t bring myself to the keyboard last week due to a largish disappointment. We thought we had sold our house to a nice young couple – it was to be their first home (how do you afford that much money in your earlier 30s????). Anyway, bottom line is they got cold feet and cooled off, probably in part because of one of their fathers who came to look at the house on their third viewing and didn’t seem to like it.

There also wasn’t that much to talk about – there has been quite a lot of rain during the last two weeks (you may have heard of the flooding on Kyushu). It seems the weather was trying to catch up with the missed rain in a splurge. Other areas also got a lot of rain, but nothing like what was experienced on Kyushu – particularly in the Fukuoka prefecture. In Kyoto we had quite a lot of rain, well over 300 mls during this period, along with multiple thunderstorms. You may, or may not, know that I love thunderstorms, so it’s been good for me – but the kids…

So to week 31, when the highlight was a Kodo (taiko group) concert! Unfortunately I had to go by myself (my bag had a lovely view in the other seat) because of the delays in selling our house and Craig being stuck in Adelaide. I tried to find someone to fill the other seat but they all had things on, so it was me and my bag. I don’t want to go over the top with superlatives, but Kodo were GREAT!!!!!! It was two hours of energy, with mainly taiko drums, although there were other instruments such as various flutes, other percussion instruments and what appeared to be a Jamaican steelpan; it certainly sounded like it.

They played nearly every type of taiko drum there is, from shime through various sizes of nagadō-daiko and three hira-daiko. They also have a very large odaiko which sits on a stand on top of a large wooden float which can be moved around on the stage because it is on wheels (it takes a few people to do it, but it is easier than trying to pick up a drum that large, along with its stand!).

There were two significant highlights for me. One was a song which commenced with seven men on shime, playing a relatively simple beat but was made very difficult because they were playing it very quietly most of the time, with one at first and building up to the seven and some pattern changes by different individuals and changes in loudness, from very quiet to very loud and back, in the same beat. Technically difficult. They also added in some nagado daiko and other percussives, including a large gong. As I was listening to it I recognised it as rain and thunder – it was very similar to what I had envisioned as a song when we had to write our own song at our taiko class last year in Adelaide.

The other highlight was the odaiko on the float. It was used a few times, including an amazing solo piece. The stage was darkened and the float moved into position, with the head facing the audience. When the light came up there was a male drummer in front of it, back to audience, with only a mawashi type of belt on. He was very muscly (as you’d expect doing that type of drumming professionally) and with the rest of the stage darkened and a cream coloured mawashi on, he looked nearly naked (well, essentially he was).

What really caught my attention (and I tried really hard not to look…) was that his glutes were moving in time with the beat, so that when he hit with his right hand, his right glute flexed, and similarly with the left hand, his left glute flexed. That aside, it was an amazing piece, very physical and went on for some time – you could see at the end he was breathing very heavily.

As we were leaving the auditorium, it was raining, which I had expected – I had taken my sun parasol with me because it was sunny and hot when I left and I thought I could use it for the rain. It was raining pretty heavily when I went outside, so really I just kept my head dry (my parasol isn’t as big as a ‘normal’ umbrella). The other thing was the thunder and lightning that was happening as we got outside. Funny, it was sort of like a continuation of the performance! I had a ten minute walk to the railway station and about halfway there, there was a lightning bolt directly above me…very bright it was, and the thunder was like a massive gun going off concurrently. Amazing. There was another bolt directly above just after I reached the station platform. Good day all round!!!!!

My outing during week 32 was to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibition in the Gion! Yes, thanks to Craig’s eagle eye and an article in the Kyoto journal, we found it. I mentioned last post I had searched the electronic oracle, and walked around in the Gion area in the hope I would see a poster referring to it, but had found nothing. So, as you can imagine, I was very excited to go and see it, and I wasn’t disappointed. I love her work and there were many paintings and prints she had produced I had never seen before. Also, there was one of her giant pumpkins outside the venue. It was fantastic, especially sitting in the very traditional Japanese surroundings it was in.

(Photos taken inside exhibition where we were allowed to)

The added bonus was a beautiful garden behind the museum space, and I found the theatre where many Geiko and Maiko performances are held. Another fantastic day seeing some of my favourite things. How can I top this??? One thing is the sale of our house, so that Craig can finally join me and we can experience these things together – and, as of today, our house is officially sold!! Settlement is on 8 August, so Craig should be here in around a month. Finally. To top it off, I may have found a taiko group to join.

On Monday this week, I met with the builder and architect, to sign off some more paperwork and get an update of where everything is up to. It seems everything is progressing and the builder expects to commence construction work on 28 July; yes, this month! While at this meeting, I was talking about the Kodo performance, in part because Hisayo (the interpreter) was one of the people I invited to see Kodo, and I was saying how much I missed playing and wanted to find a group to join. She had previously told me her father had donated some taiko drums to a local shrine so they could set up a group and she and her brother, the builder, could see them play.

When I said Craig and I wanted to join a group, she told me that Fukuda-san (the builder) actually knows the leader of the group his father donated the drums to and he might be able to introduce us! Fukuda-san showed some footage of them playing. The drums her father donated consisted of three odaiko, three shime and some nagado-daiko. They would have cost a lot of money. Anyway, the group seemed pretty good, so I look forward to meeting them. (As an aside, they were very surprised we had been playing taiko in Australia – they didn’t realise there was anything like this in Australia).

In the world of tv, I have two things of interest to mention. One was accidentally coming across Bondi Rescue on one of the stations as I flicked through – over-dubbed! My curiosity got the better of me, and the over-dubbing was funny seeing those very Australian guys speaking through the megaphone in Japanese, so I continued watching. It turns out this was part of a program which was showing segments of rescue shows from around the world. Amusing to see Bondi Rescue on Japanese tv.

The other item of interest was a performance which was in a Noh theatre and was very Noh-like, except it didn’t seem to be a play. It was more like showing the physical movements and music of a Noh performance. Having said that, I have never seen a Noh performance, so it might be I missed the subtlety of a Noh play in the performance. None-the-less, very interesting to watch and the movements were like a cross between dance and walking, with a gliding sort of movement, use of fans and the movement of their slightly exaggerated clothing.

Well, that’s it for now. Things are progressing and soon we’ll have the excitement of seeing our dreams starting to become realisation. I have to meet with the new neighbours in a couple of weeks, which should be interesting. They are worried about an accommodation place being built there and any potential fallout in terms of amenity for them. Apparently there are a lot of foreigners building accommodation but not living there and some guests have caused issues for the locals.

Cheers!