Now, where was I up to? Oh, that’s right, it was the weekend of the kiln matsuri and, yes, we did visit all the other nearby potteries on the Sunday. Again there were some very interesting items; some expensive, some not so expensive. We bought a lovely vase from one pottery (for the tokonoma of one of our rooms), which cost ¥2,000 and they thanked us by giving us two lovely tea cups (Japanese style)😊.

The last place on the trail turned out to be the gymnasium at the local primary school, where there were stalls set up for all of the potteries, so we got to see all of the different styles together in one place. We also saw the lovely man from the pottery where they served us tea and mochi, and he rushed over to us to say hello then told the nearby people who we were, which was nice.

One of the potteries we went to had five kilns, ranging in size from very large down to almost an esky sized one. The pots/works they produced were a real mix of amazing through to fairly mundane and varied in price significantly. They were very friendly and allowed us to go into the room where all of the kilns were housed – yes, it was more like a warehouse than a room.

On the Monday, the first of our friends from taiko arrived. She had done the first week of the taiko workshop in Fukui and then stayed with us for four nights. She managed to fit a lot of sightseeing into those four days and we very much enjoyed her company – thanks Yve for staying with us and we look forward to seeing some of the art you produce in the future.

On one of the days Yve was here, we went down to the nearby shops to purchase some supplies. As we turned into one of the many deadend streets near the shops, we noticed an unusual car driving towards the end. It was one of the Google camera cars, obviously taking photos of this street. Naturally, we had to take some photos of it and are also now wondering if we will be in any of the photos for this street!! We are also hoping that it drove down our street, so that it might show up on Google maps in the near future.

During that week the weather was mostly very nice, so it gave me a chance to sit out on the back deck on a couple of days, which I have been wanting to do since we moved in – I had missed sitting outside enjoying the warmth and doing some nature watching. In the case of our new backyard, the stone wall provides not only a nice background but it is also home for numerous skinks, which range in size up to around 20 cms. There seem to be three different colours – a brass/gold colour, a greenish dark bronze and what I have dubbed the rainbow skink. A lovely way to spend some time relaxing!

In terms of the weather, the maximum temperature is now varying between 18C and 30C, with some lovely sunny days, some cloudy and some quite wet days, where it basically rains all day. The really good news is that I have been able to wear a t-shirt and sandals for the first time this year 😊.

The day after Yve left us, another two friends who had been attending the Fukui taiko workshop arrived. The day after they arrived, two other people from Fukui came to visit Kyoto for the day. One of these people was Nicole, who is one of the teachers from the taiko group we used to play with in Adelaide and who had been taking the workshop in Fukui. The other person who came with her was a lovely, funny woman from the UK. They came up to see our new abode and then we took all four out for a walk along the foothills to see the old shopping area and the temples along the way.

It is amazing how many temples and shrines there are along the length of the Higashiyama foothills and into the Fushimi area. You can literally walk in either the north or south direction from our house and find a temple or shrine within five to ten minutes. There are walks mapped out which are available from tourist centres, although they do charge for some of them.

Ironically, at one point we could hear a taiko drum being played, so had to go see where it was and who was playing. It was just a single, large drum inside a building which housed some Buddhist murals and I suspect the man was playing occasionally to attract attention to the building. We tried to get Nicole to play a piece but she said she was taiko’d out and, honestly, I couldn’t blame her!!

The next day we took Steven and Jenny (our friends) to see Mt Hiei (known as the mother mountain) which is near Kyoto, although in the next prefecture over. Enryakuji temple is near the top of the mountain and is where the Tendai sect of Buddhism was founded in 788 CE. It has an interesting history and, at its peak, Enryakuji had around 3,000 sub-temples and a powerful army of warrior monks who often engaged in power struggles with other monasteries and political leaders. That is until the warlord Nobunaga laid siege to the mountain in 1571 and slaughtered all those living on the mountain, then razed the temple complex. Today, the complex consists of around 100 buildings and it really is a beautiful setting.

After this big adventure, they did their own thing for the next two days, including more antiques shopping at the Kitano Tenmangu shrine – both ended up with many finds and were happy with their purchases! On the Thursday, Jenny departed Kyoto, to go stay with her son and his family here in Japan. The next day we took Steven on a walk from our house on one of the above mentioned walks, through to Fushimi Inari. We had never done this walk, but we had seen a signpost near our house and were itching to try it out.

The walk was great, taking us through lush green areas, pass a couple of temples we have never been to and up the hill to enter the Fushimi Inari area from fairly high up on the mountain. The last part of the walk was very steep, but in some ways was easier than climbing the multitude stairs that form the Fushimi Inari trail. Also, there were very few people taking this walk, so it was much quieter, without the push and shove that can be the case when walking the lower part of the Fushimi Inari trail.

We plan to do this walk again by ourselves, so we can take suitable photos to create a walking sheet with directions for our guests. We also want to take time to go into the temples along the way, since they are close – in the neighbourhood, so to speak!

After we left Fushimi Inari we went to an area within the Fushimi ward where there are some sake breweries, but I am going to leave that until my next blog…stay tuned!!!

On a final note, we are still waiting, waiting, waiting for our hotel licence…(sigh). Maybe there will be more news on that front next time I sit down in front of this keyboard. We had hoped for a 1 May start, however, we keep finding out about further new requirements before we can get our licence – the latest being that we have to contract a commercial garbage collection company and provide their name to the authorities, even though we haven’t got our licence and so can’t officially open yet. We are hoping it won’t be too expensive to have collections, especially when we just don’t need them. There is no doubt they are putting as many obstacles as possible in the path of those applying for a licence for a minpaku listed on Airbnb.

So, that’s it for now – as always with fingers crossed…

Cheers!!

Peonies, wisteria, rhododendrons and the bamboo is popping!!!

 It’s a crane fly (not a huge mosquito)

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 Inoshishi (me)

 quack, quack, quack at Sherry Bar