What a lovely month September has been! The weather is definitely changing and the days at the moment are practically perfect even if overcast, like today. Temperatures in the high 20s and occasionally low 30s, though they are becoming less frequent. The first half of the month was still quite humid and well into the 30s, but we had some wonderful thunderstorms, which more than makes up for any humid heat.

There were two particularly good storms, the first of which I rated as 10 out of 10 on the Addams’ Thunderous Applause Scale. Yes, the perfect storm…The thunder and lightning lasted for over 45 minutes and was basically continuous – fantastic. It sounded and appeared as if Raijin was having a thunder deity conference, and they were all having a red hot go. I, of course, imagined Thor there amongst the others (yes, the Chris Hemsworth version, of course 😊). There was a variety of lightning of both cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground types. I took about 15 minutes of video of the storm, but I won’t bore you with that (unless, like me, you are also a thunderstorm watcher and really want to see it). What I have managed to do is take some stills of the cloud-to-ground lightning from the video. There was a second thunderstorm which I rated highly, 7 out of 10, mainly because it continued for over three hours!

One of the other things I had mentioned previously about the summer weather here are the wonderfully monumental meringue clouds. These have continued on into this month and I set myself a task of trying to get some good photos of some of them. I probably should have used the ‘big’ camera for this, but often they were spur of the moment shots, so not brilliant, but they do give a brief perspective of the summer sky.

It has been interesting to continue watching the garden grow through the summer weather. Since the nearly daily rain has subsided, the garden has grown a lot more. I’m not sure if it is the increased sunlight, or that there was just too much water – likely both. The flying insects have also been taking advantage of the drier weather – we have had many different bees, wasps, at least one hornet, butterflies and moths. One of the latter provided me with an interesting search through the electronic oracle trying to work out what the hell it was.

You know when you have a “What the…?” moment, well, this was definitely one of those. Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera with me, so I have now resolved to always carry my phone when I go outside because I have also missed a few visits of the giant swallowtail butterflies; both the black and the yellow and black varieties. Anyway, back to the moth (which it turned out to be). It’s wings were moving extremely fast, although I could tell they were clear, and it was making a loud humming noise. One other thing I noticed was a very brightly coloured lobster-tail looking abdomen. This proved to be crucial in finding out that it was a Pellucid Moth, or Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. I found a couple of photos on-line – interestingly, one is feeding on a lantana, which is where I saw the one in our yard.

The one in our yard looked very close to the bottom photo

Continuing in the ‘creatures in our yard’ theme, we had an interesting visitor a few weeks back – a Japanese Weasel. The kids were outside at the time when we suddenly heard a ruckus. We assumed that one of the neighbourhood cats had come in to visit, but when Craig looked outside, he said “ah…stoat…weasel!!!!” By the time I looked over, it had run out of our yard and into the back block, but I saw it’s back end. It was a ruddy brown colour, not overly big. It moved very fast and so there was no photo.

As it happened, we saw another one the other day, when we went to a shrine for a festival. We were standing next to a deck, when we heard some people near us saying “itachi, itachi…”  (the Japanese word for weasel, which we had learnt following our experience). I looked down and it was about a metre away from me, a little face peeking out from under the deck. It was clearly trying to get out from there, but with the hundreds of people around, it was a bit wary. None-the-less, it eventually leapt out and ran across the deck (I was worried it would get hurt). I did, however, manage to get my phone turned on and focused in time to get it’s disappearing rear-end.

Other than unusual creature encounters, there were three major events we witnessed during September; the Harvest (full) Moon, the Seiryu-e procession and the Kushi Matsuri. The first – Harvest Moon, is the most important full moon of the year in Japan, and is celebrated at many shrines. It happened to fall on 13 September this year, which was a Friday! I had planned to celebrate this full moon by attending one of the shrines (one was giving a glass of sake to those who arrived early 😊), but it turned out that the guests who were arriving here that day, couldn’t get here until after dark. They said they’d arrive at 8pm, so any shrine visit was out of the question.

As it turned out, they arrived just after 7pm, so we were able to get out earlier, which was lucky because it had been cloudy all day but cleared up just after 7 for about an hour, then later after 10pm. My plan was to do the traditional Japanese way of moon viewing, which involves seeing the moon three ways: in the sky, reflected in a body of water and reflected in a cup of sake. We walked down to the river and managed the first two views, however the third proved much trickier than I thought. As a bonus, there were also little bats flittering around the bridge, which was wonderful.

After that, we spent some time at a nearby beer bar, which has a small courtyard at the front, so we could see the moon while imbibing. It’s a newish bar and it turns out the owner spent some time in Australia and experienced beer gardens, hence the courtyard area. It’s not overly common here, yet should be given the weather in the warmer months. Despite being outside, there was too much light for reflections in glasses. After we came home, I took my cup in hand and went in search of the reflection (it had water in it, but still…). I had significant difficulty but finally managed a shot using the flash, so not sure if the reflection is of the flash and the moon, or something else.

The Seiryu-e procession is held at Kiyomizu-dera and through the main shopping area nearby. There is a local legend that says a blue dragon (seiryu in Japanese), an incarnation of Kannon, flies to drink from the waterfall that is in the temple grounds every night. In 2000 this event began using an 18-metre long figure of the blue dragon which had been created to lead the way through the area, with prayers being given for regional peace and to expel bad luck. The dragon is carried by some men who perform the movements of the dragon and is joined by some monks and other attendants, who chant and play some hand held instruments. With most of these people wearing a blue green coloured outfit, it was somewhat reminiscent of the guards of Emerald City.

After we had some kakigori (shaved ice with flavourings) to cool down

The final event, The Kushi Matsuri, is held at the Yasui Konpiragu shrine in the Gion area. The shrine was built in its present form on the site in 1695, but its history goes back over 1,400 years. One of the deities worshipped there is Ōmononushi no Kami, a serpentine water deity. A legend says that he spent time hiding in his snake form in a woman’s comb case, and due to this association a burial mound (of sorts) for combs was created at the shrine (a kushizuka), Kushi is the word for comb and hence the matsuri celebrates combs, along with other hair ornaments and the hairstyles associated with them.

Ceremonies begin in the shrine in front of the kushizaka, then combs which have been donated to the shrine (ended their usefulness, etc) are added to the mound. After this, a woman dressed as a maiko performs a dance called Kurokami (black hair) on a stage in front of the main hall. Finally, the comb procession begins where each woman is introduced and her hair style and ornamentation is described. These may date back as far as the Kofun period (starting around 250CE) through to the present. After being presented they gather out the front and proceed to walk through the Gion area.

We were positioned in front of the stage, so didn’t see the commencing ceremonies as there were many hundreds of people there and if you moved, your space was taken. We should have guessed how crowded it was going to be – as it was we got there around half an hour before it started and ended up near the back of the crowd. Anyway, Craig was tall enough to get some good photos. There were 42 women in all in the parade and it was extremely interesting seeing the styles developing through the ages, from the very simple, to more Chinese inspired designs and finally to more distinctly Japanese styles. Some of the styles were so complex, I’m not sure how they kept them in place. The kimono they were wearing were stunning.

Well, that’s it for now – what will October bring I wonder?

Cheers

On the night of the full moon, the muse was upon me (or maybe the whisky I drank…)

The moon floats in the sky;

O, what a wondrous night;

A small bat flitters by;

When full moon’s in sight.

😂🤔🤗

Our street on full moon

Not sure exactly what this is – at the shrine and it looks like you can crawl through it

Young people standing round chatting?

You can buy transport here quite cheaply…

Zowie enjoying the cooler weather

Late season flowers – the one on the right is ours

Halloween pics

Autumn shikishi

Autumn grasses

The dragon suddenly entered this shop – then it emerged How did it fit in there???

Hello all, I am here yet again to sit and talk about what we’ve been up to, and anything else that takes my interest!!!. So here we are at the time when summer starts to recede and autumn should be advancing into our lives. Well, that’s the theory anyway. In fact what has been happening more and more recently both here and elsewhere (from what I hear) is that summer and winter are both getting longer, while spring and autumn are shortening, becoming more like inter seasons.

This year the warmer weather period has been very different to how it was last year. There have been significantly fewer typhoons this year; we have only just had number 12 move through Asia. In my last post I noted the rainy season, which I said appeared to be over, had lasted a lot longer than last year. Now we seem to be back into a rainy season – rainy season part 2. We have been getting some rain nearly every day over the last few weeks. Perhaps my statement that it appeared to have ended stirred up the two gods related to weather – Raijin and Fujin – who then decided to prove me wrong.

Raijin is the god of thunder, lightning and storms, while Fujin is the god of wind. They are feared deities in Japan because of the damage typhoons and storms have caused here over the years. In an interesting aside, apparently parents used to tell their children to cover their bellybuttons during storms, because Raijin likes to eat bellies! Anyway, they are often depicted in statues at the entrances to Shinto shrines, as protectors for the shrine.

Speaking of storms, this year we have had only one typhoon pass fairly close to us; number 10. It was a very large cyclone, and also very slow moving. It impacted the more westerly areas of Honshu along with Kyushu and Shikoku for quite a few days, causing significant rainfalls and associated flooding. For a while it looked like it was going to turn further east than it did, which would have brought the eye very close to us, however, it wasn’t to be, so we just had some heavier than usual rain (around 120 mls in about 7 hours).

With so much rain about, we have been spending more time inside, sometimes looking to see what midday movies are on BS Cinema (which plays in the original language as well as overdubbed or sub-titled in Japanese). Recently, a film was advertised – Johnny Oro, which the Japanese called Apple Kid (not sure why) – and they termed it a “macaroni western”. Interesting, so I just had to find out why this genre title was used.

Turns out that it dates back to the time when Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars was released in Japan around 1964. A well known Japanese film critic (Yodogawa Nagaharu) in his critique said that “spaghettis are thin and meagre”, which he obviously thought this was not, so he instead referred to this genre of movies as “macaroni westerns”, a name which has stuck here in Japan.

A DVD set

A CD

A book

Despite the weather, we have managed a few outings during this time, mostly trying to fit them in around the rain. The first outing was to the local Buddhist high school (Otani School) to view the Daimonji (fire) festival. People who live in our area are invited each year to go to the school and watch the fires from the roof. Last year we couldn’t go because I had a broken toe, so we decided to take up the offer this year, and we went with a friend who lives near us – Rachel.

Before many arrived

Daimonji is the culmination of the Obon festival, on 16 August, which involves the lighting of five fires on the hills around Kyoto. These fires form specific shapes and are lit as a send off for all the spirits of ancestors who have revisited the household altars during Obon. (Obon has been celebrated in Japan for over 500 years.) Specific families in Kyoto have the hereditary duty of organising all the logistics of the bonfires, and they spend many hours each year maintaining this tradition.

The teachers and students were very welcoming, with some of the students practising their English on us. There were many people there and you could see all but one of the fires, though not in one position. Unfortunately I couldn’t get any good photos of the fires – the limitations of a phone camera. I should have taken the ‘big’ camera. When we were leaving, some of the students were walking around passing out ‘yoyos’, which were actually small balloons with some water in them and a longish piece of elastic tied to the top. A bit of fun learning how to use them!

You can just see the orange glow of the front of the boat

The next day we met up with a Taiko friend from Adelaide, who had been travelling around Japan with a tour group. It was a hot/humid day, so we spent a lot of the time with her indoors, at Starbucks for a coffee, then Mumokuteki for lunch. This café is mostly vegan, so Dot (who is a vegetarian) enjoyed having a complete meal, as the tour group didn’t really cater well to her dietary needs. Later we walked across to the Gion area. It was nice, as always, to spend some time with someone from Adelaide.

Speaking of vegan restaurants, we visited another place which we hadn’t been to before – Yamashokuon – a vegan Indian restaurant. It is run by two Japanese people and they serve mainly south Indian oriented cuisine. Not sure how this came about, but the food was good and the restaurant was an interesting space as it was part of a hiking goods shop. One thing that really caught my attention is that they had two curry leaf trees growing in pots in the shop. I asked if they bought them here, but they said they didn’t – they did, however, offer to try to grow a sapling for us from one of the seed pods. We have our fingers crossed.

Our final outing during this period was to see a teamLab installation at Shimogamo shrine. You may recall we went to an installation of theirs in August last year, with many, many hundreds of other people. This year we decided to go during the week and it turned out to be a night which was slightly damp, ie raining. This, however, was a good thing as there weren’t anywhere near as many people there so we could move around quite freely, see things easily and didn’t have to wait for long periods to take photos.

The installation was a mix of some of last year’s eggs and spheres, with the addition of a long screen in the forest in front of the shrine, on which figures were moving along a virtual track. It was not a pre-recorded video, but rather a computer simulated creation using an algorithm which meant that it continually changed in some ways. There was also some music and sounds playing, including mooing of the cows/bullocks as they moved past. Again a fantastic experience.

So, that was August. There is one final incident worth mentioning – I call it “the Lizard Incident”. I have mentioned the skinks that live in our backyard, well Ziggy has recently started trying to catch them, as they are moving around a lot more at the moment. Despite the fact he is on a lead, tethered to the deck, he has managed to capture a few. If we see him do it, then we try to save them (at the moment we are at around 40% success rate, because they often die just from the shock).

The incident in question happened when I rushed outside to get him and he rushed inside with the lizard. As I battled to get it away from him, it escaped…into our house. After a bit of searching we found it behind the large cupboard which is in the lounge area. Following the removal of some weight from the cupboard, we were able to move it but couldn’t see the lizard. Eventually, we discovered it on a ledge underneath, and coaxed it out. Then we spent around half an hour nearly getting it in a container (it was very fast), only to finally lose sight of it. Some time later I noticed Zowie showing some interest in something in our spare room and finally, after another 15 minutes, or so, we caught it. Thank goodness it survived all that! Lesson learnt.

Cheers 😊

  Love dragonflies

More of these mouse/cat/bear creatures

This is outside the front entrance of a clothes shop…

Ah, my favourite time of year – Halloween is coming. Thankyou Costco!

The science of happiness?

A friend on our deck – note the food leftovers in the web, including other spiders

Would you buy these?

Just a lantern

There were three geckos grouped around this light – one on the other side, two this side – but one ran away

Finally coming into flower after being transplanted