Hello one and all, it’s that time again when I enlighten you with a little of what we have been doing and generally augment this with a lot of photos. This episode will be no exception, and, as is nearly always the case, I begin with a summary of the weather – wet then hot. Yes, that’s basically it, the rainy season extended well into July, but it appears to have ended and the heat is setting in, with most days now above 35C.

Having said that, we are still getting the nearly daily weather advisories which come directly to our phones. Most of these are for thunderstorms, although we are still occasionally getting advisories about rain; “heavy rain for ground loosening” or “heavy rain for inundation”. So the pattern for the last week, or so, is it starts out sunny and hot, with a medium level of humidity, then, in the afternoon the clouds start moving in – huge cumulonimbus clouds (or, as I like to call them, meringue clouds). Not that these advisories always come to anything; it seems that we get one actual event in about four or five warnings, and mostly it’s just the thunderstorm.

Meringues looming over our neighbour’s house

Recently, we have had a couple of days when we had the trifecta of warnings; thunderstorm, ground loosening rain and inundation rain. After a while, it becomes a bit like the ‘boy who cried wolf’, we assume it won’t happen, or is not very likely. I don’t know how long they have been transmitting these advisories via mobile phones, we only bought new phones here in the last year, but I do wonder how much attention people pay to them here. Still, we do get the clouds moving in and it could happen. Certainly if we were living in one of those areas where the rain events are reasonably regular, then I would pay them serious heed.

The interesting thing about this year is that both the cyclones and cicadas have started later this year. By this time last year we were into the high 20s of the numbered typhoon, while this year we are currently awaiting no. 8. It is interesting to me just how different these last two years have been. Anyway, we now have ‘the sound of summer’ happening, which I really do love, with the cicadas singing their songs for us.

Craig found this discarded exsuvia on our new fence post

I rescued this cicada from the side of the road, but it must have been on it’s last legs, as I found it where I left it later

Zowie being serenaded in the morning

In my last post I added some photos of lotus which were just coming into bloom. As a follow up to that, we made the pilgrimage to Tofukuji to see the large lotus pond there, which is a truly beautiful sight when in bloom. Tofukuji has many different garden areas, most of which you have to pay (separately) to get into. The lotus pond, however, is out in the free to visit area, which is an added bonus, and it is in front of the Sanmon gate, which makes a fantastic backdrop to the pond. Simply glorious.

July is also the month of the Gion Matsuri, a fantastic celebration which has been happening annually since the year 970CE (the floats became part of the matsuri in 999CE). Actually, it started out in the year 869CE not as a celebration but as a way to appease the gods thought to cause fire, floods and earthquakes. The floats in the parade are divided into two groups, the larger hoko and the smaller yama, collectively called yamaboko (or yamahoko). The nine hoko represent the 66 halberds used in the original purification ritual to appease the gods, and the 23 yama carry life-sized figures of famous people.

The lead float is always the naginata hoko (it has a halberd at the top of the spire) and on this float a young boy in Shinto robes and crowned with a golden phoenix rides up front. He is known as the chigo and is chosen from among the Kyoto merchant families as the sacred page (a great honour). He has to go through weeks of special purification ceremonies and is carried onto the float, as he is not permitted to touch the ground. The boy must also cut a sacred rope (shimenawa) with a single stroke of a real sword to begin the festival.

The naginata hoko (l)

What I didn’t realise until this year is that the floats are built in situ, on the streets, which we discovered from the tv show we watch fairly regularly. It never occurred to me that they were dismantled every year and then rebuilt literally from the ground up (but then, where would they be stored and how would they get there???). The floats are made with wood and held together with ropes – no nails or screws are used – and they are covered with incredibly ornate tapestries. So, while we have seen the floats before and the junko (parades) we hadn’t seen the floats being constructed, which meant I just had to go and have a look.

After watching this for a while, we went to buy new chimaki for our home (one for our door and one for the front door of the minshuku area) and then, to top it off, we went to one of my favourite places to eat, Engine Ramen, for a delicious spicy vegan ramen for lunch. Yum! Interestingly, on our way into town on the bus, we happened to pass the procession of the chigo going up to Yasaka shrine, where it is his duty to pray for a successful matsuri. He must have done pretty well, because the rain held off for both parades…

Speaking of eating out, the Kyoto vegan meet-up group recently had a get together, which was held at an Italian restaurant which only serves fish, vegetarian and vegan dishes, called Pettirosso. We decided that, as we were free, we should go. I’m glad we did, as we met some new people there, with the gathering including both Japanese and foreigners living in Japan, and the food was good. A very enjoyable night and surprisingly cheap, given the food we had.

Finally, I thought I would update you about my activities at gym and how it is going. I am still doing two ballet classes per week and really enjoying it. Both of the teachers are very good instructors and are also very good dancers. The teacher on Fridays spends a lot of time really explaining how to do things correctly, which is important since most of the class have never done ballet before. I have to say, I find it quite impressive how hard they try and how well they do, overall, since the majority don’t have the background in ballet like I do.

I’m happy to say that I have improved since returning to ballet, with my balance and flexibility much improved after a gap of nearly a decade. I have, however, changed the other classes I am attending; I am now doing Pilates before the Friday ballet class and there was an enforced change after Tuesday’s class, with a change of timetable from the beginning of July, when Zumba disappeared and a Latin class replaced it. I was a little trepidatious at first, having limited experience at Latin dancing, but I am loving it! The teacher is a professional dancer and he is teaching the correct way, starting with the Samba. He is very Strictly Ballroom, which I initially thought was somewhat hilarious, but it was such fantastic fun that I have continued on. The music is great and I think that I will end up with abs of steel if I continue on, with the exercises he gives us at the beginning of class, Pilates and ballet 😊.

I wonder if I should get an outfit like this?

Or any of these?

One other thing I should mention, before I sign off, I am now catching a different bus to gym, which is much less crowded and is apparently cleaned (somehow) to ensure the inside of the bus is a healthy environment, ie germ free. It is a bus line named “Princess Line” and has specifically been set up to service the Kyoto Women’s University and the all girls school near it. So, I am now chauffeured to gym in a big red bus, and when I say chauffeured, I am often the only person on the bus into town, mainly due to the time I catch it – just me and my chauffer. Oh, and their symbol is a pumpkin…

Princess Line with the sounds of summer. The only bus stop I know of where there are red couches to sit on…

Cheers!

A butterfly in our backyard

Yves St Laurent goes all dream catcher

Tomorrowland? Looks more like yesteryear…

Are you serious?

Just decorations in the gym building

There are so many interesting things to see here, sometimes you miss things – who knows how long this has been here and I didn’t see it?

Not sure I would want my nails done here!

You rarely see police stopping cars here for traffic violations. This poor guy went through a red light (I think) and the car that stopped him had 5 officers in it, who all piled out!