Ah Blossoms!

Osaka Castle- the Umehana are out, That means plum blossoms! (just imagine that if these haiku were translated then they would actually be haiku)

Twittering of birds
First Umehana
Moves the spirit.

Sweet smells in the air
hana glow with silver skys!
Living art

Takoyaki (octopus balls), 3 man stand up comedy at the castle, then getting lost as I wander to the south in search of window shopping.

At Tennoji:
Furuimachi is apparently the term for the homeless encampment at Tennoji.
And by the way, these Ronin of today, are ordinary people who scrape together and existence quite well here in Japan, not just crazies as some might imagine. I only saw one obviously crazy guy in Japan, and that was at Hirakata station and I doubt he was homeless... I actually did not see many homeless at Tennoji, nothing compared with the Bay Area , yeah!

Tennoji park is a complex of walls and gates it seems. Many are see through, but always there is someplace impossible to get to, that is not necessarily very interesting anyway. I realized that I had been trying to get somewhere all day long... walking fast around streets trying to find something, and not knowing what it is. I had nowhere to go, in fact, everything seems to close exactly when I arrive...
finally I realized that this is where I was going, in fact, that I was there, just a little spot in the park, a road really, nobody stopped there. So I did, and I pulled out my hamtaro (a little girls cartoon theme, really it is all I could find) sketchbook, and decided that this was it, this section of road, gate and wall. It might be all I ever get to, the path itself, so I better see that it is golden and filled with evening light.

Then I wandered away and saw a 560 dollar jacket at Mio "early spring," an ultra-chic department store.

A saturday of sightseeing

So, I went to Fushimi Inari shrine at 10:08 just intime I thought to meet my class for the field trip. Unfortunatley I think they must have been at the other trainstation at that time. I never met them, so I headed up the mountain on my own. I called Kazu, sick unfortunatley. So I kept heading up the mountain, ah so many torii. Torii mark a sacred space, so thousands lined up to make a tunnel is a little like showing The Way I suppose, it is pretty, but it leads a little to much I think. The jinjas are nice though. I've got to say, praying at jinjas and temples is just not the same without sensei's educating lectures every 25 minutes making sure I am tip top shape on spiritual guidence. I cant help feeling not necessarily wanted as I enter a shrine or temple, but that dosnt stop me on the res either. Gotta pay respects to the mountain gods you know. I never pay money either. I think that I dont have to to be honest. I dont make any money in Japan so I dont need to pay spiritual taxes. Just respect. Usually, after going to a jinja I do find something interesting immidiately. Maybe it is just the time taken to rest. After I went to the top of the mountain I walked around back and followed an old couple into the woods. Although this sounds stupid, really I had read about this hiking trail before hand (I came down the mountain in the rain, stopped at a shrine for shelter, was met by a gruff old woman, and then trodded through many big bamboo forests, that were very beautiful... eventually I found my way back to Kyoto, with time to go a small temple with famous thatched roof, watch Nichiren chanting, creep away, get a dango (mochi) eat it on the bridge, and take the train deep into the city.
At the stop on Keihan right before Demachiyanagi there is the famous Heian Jingu which is like the Japanese version of the arch de triumph I think. It is triumphant, although intended to be an exact replica of the Heian period palace from a thousand years ago. I then wandered into the Kyoto art gallery fair. Full of nice booths and nice artwork. I felt like saying, "do you know Ikuta Atsuo Sensei?" and then chuckling when I say, "I do, hahahahhah!"
I then made it back to the homestay to talk about seasonal food and different kinds of snow over a delicious pot of homegrown vegetables in the host grandparents house.

Last Trains

Catching a series of last trains back from Kyoto after getting of at the wrong stop, it is kindof scary.
I changed trains 3 times, each time waiting anxiously for the last one amongst a staggering crowd of drunken salarimen...
the last local train stopped in the tracks as it approached Makino. The guy said it was a stoplight, but my 5 second gap in comprehension lead me to believe that this train was in fact that last train, the one TO HELL. The one reserved for especially drunk and mentally dead salarimen. I scrambled to open the door... to get to a car with a platform, no platform, oh god...
Ah, but I did make it to Makino station after all, still with its twittering electric swallows.

2nd night of Tea in Shimabara

A beautiful but rather easy trip there. However, coming an hour early I thought it might be nice to go on a little sanpo (walk). After reaching the convini(ence store) and buying an onigiri, I wandered back in the direction of the house, or so I thought. Then cornered in an unfamiliar web of streets I quickly became lost. After racing around in circles for half an hour, I did find Kinse again.
We had an extra thick tea late at night, passed around from Hashiguchi Sensei to the hosts counterclockwise.
Tea is such a physical art, I think, yet at the same time, so playful and social- great! I've been mixed up like azuki but clear warabi is like soft sunlight and first ume blossoms.
Apparently, said a fellow student, and business man I presume, I need to see manzai, standup comedy. But 3 months is such a short time in Japan. Yes it is.

Warabi mochi is clear,
dry powder on top,
moist azuki inside, hints of small rain,
puddles on the sidewalk two nights ago?
Perhaps the clarity is only a fleeting mirage,
conjured by sunrays on cold winter days.
As the blossoms begin to appear
powder will only become more muddled beans.

Mmm, there isnt much better than fried mochi in the monin! With mango juice.

Matsumoto, Inaka kaerimashita

2/12/7
monkeys, sansai, koshi mado, Narai, delicious water, Suve a place to wash horses, Hirasawa laquerware, Kobayashi Taketo- a nice little kid/ international embassador at the soba shop eating the ice, Jomon Kamisama, wasabi farm, a warm room, a beaming grandmother, A blindgrandfather, lets not forget Taka, rumi, and the most relaxed parents around, who happen to be in charge of the community meeting hall right now, so much food, so much generosity,
They cooked me the most succulent salmon, possibly ever, and spinach fresh with fish flakes, and daikon, and gyoza, and hot miso shiro- I remember the ogisan had asked if I liked miso shiro, like the Japanese version of my own grandfather, he then went on about history. I was on the bus leaving Matsumoto, writing this down, not looking up, when Taka, my friend from Nagano Daigaku hands me a bottle of tea. He had run onto the bus at the last minute, just to be extra generous. That pretty much typifies my stay. Then he ran off, its funny it is so nice.
2 weeks in Nagano is like a year any where else and 3 days, well thats like a long time in terms of humanity and generosity demonstrated.
As we drove to the station the yama (mountains) were pink, the new snow glowed. Such a beautiful place. Taka had explained that this region's mochi is so simple (just a bun with vegetables) because in the mountains they often did not have enough food. Maybe that is why they are so giving.
We, all the passengers of the bus, all have the same look on our faces, going back to Osaka. A look of contentment. We have been well cared for.
The mountain environment is very beautiful: delicate trees, stones, a natural garden. The people here have taken that like beautiful wood, its grain and warp intact, and built a strong and delicate bridge over the rapid and fresh mountain river.
Kazu, in Kyoto, said that is very hard to speak really good Japanese, be both very polite and very welcoming and warm. They do that here I think.
The dialect of this region has basically become the standard for the whole nation, and Naganoken is a very high standard to meet. Matsumoto lies in a valley and perhaps teh people here aspire for the sky and the moon... after coming here, I do to.

karakuni, shortened to "rakuni." Maybe it is just a Nagano word, but it is what you need to be when you are "very very tired."

In the House of Yabe Sensei I had Tea

Sensei says that Tea is, of course, more about the context than just about the tea. I had a lot of context this time.
I spent just a little bit too long talking at Kansai Gaidai trying to make friends, then a little too slow of a walk to Makino station. Starting to feel a little irrachi. Get to station, and think to myself that I might not have dinner tonight so I think I will buy some mochi( of course). I see a sign at the shop saying 60 en. Oo cheap! I ask for one, and the woman gives me a whole box for 600 en, oh well too late to change now. I now have a pack of kinako mochi, really powdery brown kinako mochi. In the station I try to eat one inconspicuously and choke it down, powder all over myself. Local train to Kuzuha. There I try to eat a couple more, brown powder all over myself. Quite innapropriate I am sure. Train to Tambabashi. At Tambabashi, starting to get worried, it is getting dark. Cant find Kintetsu line, ask a highschool kid, he says oh that way. I jog to Kintetsu line. Train to Kyoto station. Now I am afraid I dont have enough money to make it back, very worried. Give up on finding the Sonenin line or whatever it is called. Luckily I drew a exact copy of the map Kojiro sent me on google! Just in case. I want to find a bank, Asking the guards they gruffly laugh and say, "Famous banks in the tower, TAW-WA." In the tower I find no bank, I do find a small bathroom.
Very small and covered in pee, I need to change my clothes. Holding the straps of my backpack, and various articles of clothing in my mouth I manage to stand on my shoes and change my pants. Okay, god so small. Racing outside now it is real dark.
Snot starts pouring from my nose, the really gooy kind, once it starts it just keeps stretching, yeah,I have hardly any tissues. I try not to make too much of scene on the street.
I find my way through the dark streets to something that I think is Tayuuchou. There is a guard there. Luckily right? I dont see Kinse, thats the house. I ask the guard. He tells me, "Kinse, kinse, hmmm, no Sanki, you want sanki. So I go into Sanki. Which appears to be a ryookan. Just like Kojiro described right? There is a nice woman, "hi hi hi hi hi." "You are from France she says," and "you want to study with Yabe sensei, hihiiihi".... I know something is wrong when she takes me to ofuro. I say, I want to do okeiko, tonight... then she really laughs, as do I of course, and I go to kinse, across the street. I am there way early, as a matter of fact. And so Yabe Sensei lets me in, and we attempt to chat, and I sit. And sit. I dont want to wear out my legs in sazai yet, you know, but I go ahead.
The guests started to arrive, and I'll just say that it was all very magical.
It seems I met all of kyoto last night, all at tea, Hashiguchi, and Yabe Sensei, and so many others, many of whom had been to Whitman, and so many different styles, and I was even instructed a little too.
And my legs died, several times over, and I shocked them as much as I could, trying to be inconspicous of course.
It seems Kyoto dialect is not so far from Osaka, hens and all that, but I dont really know what was going on, lots of talk about family members, and ghosts and mice, and shiomizu, or something like that, very nice tea bowls.
Wagashi was Suetomisan's green powdered with azuki inside, very delicious. And chocoleto. And the tea. And the sitting, and it was all so warm and inviting.
It is so nice to be in a place, and do a thing, it seems, so welcoming.
The contexts, the wrappings,
I did make it back, with money to spare, by 1 oclock! So ahahhah!

Fushimi Inari

2/5/7
All the food on the platform, vegetables and a hoard of sake. Chanting to the crowd inside the jinja. No pictures please. Women move about with headresses of gold and green in a room, on display it seems, all blessed by the emperial chrysanthemum.
Booths and booths. Toriis and Toriis. Fortune tellers.
Waffle fish with angko inside. Sweet potatos hot roasted with sugar crust.
And hot fresh baked mochi with purple flakes on top.
Fluffy and crunchy- kari kari.
Hot nuts and so many daikons. Omiyage anyone?

Irrachi

Legend has it that a group of Minoan settlers came to Osaka 3 thousand years ago, after the destruction of Thera. Or maybe it was the other way around- Osakans became Dorians and invaded the southern Balkans...
Anyway, I am here, in the Greece of Japan and I think nothing says it better than "Irrachi" (I mis-spelled it before)

Irrachi is that feeling deep inside, that fire so to speak, when one must live life, and one must MUST dart across the street on a red light! To stay, to be yukuri, or take it easy, would be to go against this fundamental part of life. Stress would then build up. No, hurry, hurry!
And this of course explains the little kenka (fight) that may have occured with the homestay argument- In Hirakata, the southern Peloponessus of Osaka- I was put it seems with the most Greek-like of the Osakans, or shall I say, the most Osakans of the Osakans, and so we live life passionately at the homestay!

Yuzu mochi

Yuzu (I think) with hot cocao to drink,
Quite a debate with Kazu about where it could be properly eaten. In train no, outside, no. Walking, no. In a restaurant, definitely and laughably no. In a house yes. Or maybe on a park bench.
Having to go someplace to eat, adds to the flavour and moment a lot. It also means going, and stopping.

So light and soft, so dense and thick. Awake citrus.
Waking up with Keiko running in and opening the mado. Cold Cold.
Soft light of Kyoto, ceramics and touching clay, hard but gentle.
This mochi is a good contrast of experiences that range from tactless and pushy, to soft and luminescent.

Setsubun and Kyoto

Kyoto,
Amazing rice cracker mochi, 840 en, takai ne. Dango and brown soy bean smeared mochi omiyage at shijo. Hoping to win back a little confidence after our small kenka at the homestay- dust becomes mountains.
Hon San Yo Ho Ji, the perfect place to eat a little rice cracker (although probably not allowed.) I could here chanting from inside.
Burning sticks and things at Taishogu Jinja.

Setsubun is out with the demon and in with the good fortune. After a good maki to the northwest, the men literally became demons, me included and growled from outside the house, grasping at the children as the women and children threw peanuts at us.
We then ate our age in soy beans.

1/27
The first day with the homestay family hit me like the "nesobesu?" of seeing stars after a very hot bath.
Bed in a tatami mat room, that is house isogashi they are, "chizurika?" something like that is the word I later learned describes Osaka people. Always in a hurry. The Uncle died today, so Keiko is off to the funeral later. Gochishyosama deshita. Mizuki is so nice. Ko rough and tumble cute. Kazu is a very chill husband. Little Makochan is very cute, although she is a little fox. One month old cute, 2 months and she grew horns, said Keiko. "Kids" Kazu likes to say, and then laughs. At the neigborhood park the kids liked to steal my stuff, especially Nishikese, although there was a slightly older kid who took it all very seriously.
Guest the first time over, family the second time. Only plain form. When Kazu called it was "Kimura! Kimura!"
Mickey and her mother and two kids came over for the Gyoza party. They brought momiji manju.
cuteness vs sterness.
A show about animated water droplet people.

Deep Fried

1/27
Deep fried mochi.
Hidden in a veil of brown batter soft sweet mochi.
Like Brown walls, Brown jackets.
Biting in, a clear day, bright white sky.
Biting dry air.

Available at Fresco!

Such a long walk

January 23?
Mochi of a long walk in the wrong direction, dango, looking for Hirakata station, getting stuck on a Japanese freeway a little refreshment at the 7/11 and stadning outside. Maybe a little too much talk about appearances of the customers as we peered in the window, kind of makes me sick. I want the innocence of Nagano Daigaku. Thighs burn from the cold. Japanese always mention the weather, every day a different season. A look at winter tambohs. Yung-hun says they think he is Japanese and then he says, "hi!"

Mon, January 22, mochi
Goma yes, soft purple inside yes, very very needed. yes. Scrunched up in my pocket after feverish food deprived run to "kyu kyu" for food, but enlightening, Chinese wonton soup hitting the spot. Warm inside, listening to Italians talk, watching the owner and his friend play majong it looks like, though I cant really see it, in the corner of the room. Fish posters of dead fish, and sapporo posters of living women...- mochi. Stange coldness and friendliness of people mochi, Glad I have friends, out there, mochi. Warm goma definitely needed, soft needed, I'm twitching tired, exhausted, yeah, thats good mochi.
Squished and crinkled in a bag. Yeah thats about right.
But the night air is nice.

Travel Mochi

6 pieces of mochi
soft and powdered on the outside
succelent sweet on the inside

2 left to share before I left
because life is better in pairs

2 while waiting for a delayed flight
wishing I was still in Her car

3 shared with family
They thought it was some of the best

1 left uneaten but not forgotten.

I'll have to search the world to find mochi
to match this one
made with love and care.