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.