Takaozan & Shodo

6.29.08

As the end of my stay in Japan comes closer and closer to its end, Hiroko made it clear that she wanted to take Lauren and I to a special restaurant to celebrate the past year of teaching. Getting off at Takaosanguchi station, we took a quick shuttle bus ride to a very famous traditional Japanese restaurant called Ukagaitoriyama. At the entrance to the restaurant, we were greeted by waitresses in matching kimonos. It was a beautiful and old Japanese restaurant with several different complexes for different occasions. Our table was located next to a window overlooking a large garden decorated with a waterwheel, lanterns and a pond. The sound of the waterwheel was very calming and the restaurant had a pleasantly fresh smell.

Hiroko and Kawabata-san at the Takaosanguchi train station.

Me at the Takaosanguchi train station.

The Keio train at the Takaosanguchi train station. Hiroko explained that Takaozan (Mount Takao) is a famous mountain in this area and many people come from all over Japan just to climb it.

Entrance to the Ukagaitoriyama Restaurant

Hiroko ordered sake in a bamboo container.

Our traditional Japanese meal consisted of several different courses. Each was very delicious and very new to me. Here are "mountain vegetables" on the left and miso eggplant on the right. It is not pictured here but after this course we were given raw coi--also known as carp or goldfish. The coi didn't have much flavor on its own so we were given sweet mustard sauce as a dip.

This fish is called Ayu. According to wikipedia it is a relative of the smelt from Gunma, Japan. I went to Gunma three weekends ago! Wow.

In the middle of our table was this Japanese style barbecue. A man carried over a large pot full of hot coals and placed in in the middle of three cast iron slabs. The slabs absorbed the heat from the pot and transferred it to the ashes below. A grill was placed over the pot and we were given meat and vegetables to cook.

My five onions from the picture above accidentally slid off the grill and fell into the ash below. Here is a picture of the evidence. After this incident, Lauren told me she "didn't know me". Hiroko, on the other hand, just grabbed my onions from the ashes, cleaned them up and put them back on the grill while saying "It's just like camping!". :)

Just before the last two courses (rice and then dessert), the restaurant prepared for a thirty minute firefly show by distinguishing all the lights in the restaurant. We all sat out on the narrow porch and stared into the rainy garden while captured fireflies were released into the pitch black night. You could see their faint green glow as they flew to their freedom. One of the waitresses came around and placed a glowing firefly into my hand. I tried my best to be gentle and eventually returned it back to the nature of the garden.

6.30.08

Today in my Japanese class I learned how to do Japanese calligraphy, which is also known as Shodo in Japanese. My class provided all the materials: sumi (black ink make from charcoal), suzuri (an ink well), fude (traditional Japanese Shodo brush), bunchin (weight to hold the rice paper), hanshi (rice paper), shitajiki (mat blacked under the rice paper that is used to absorb the excess ink that may happen to bleed through the paper), and fudemaki (bamboo mat that is used to store the fude brush when you're not using it).

My teachers explained that I should hold the fude--with my right hand--at a ninety degree angle to the rice paper. They said I should also place my left hand on the lower left corner of the rice paper to hold it down. We practiced writing some basic kanji--the numbers one and two--and then we learned how to write then kanji for kokoro, which means "heart" in English. We right from top right to bottom left and sign our work on the left side. To be honest, it took me quite a while to feel comfortable with writing from right to left. All my teacher's were very supportive and great motivators!

Here is some new vocabulary for me to learn.

My calligraphy and Nakayama-san (Nakayama-san translated for us.)

Ogino-san is giving us some directions.

Shodo Painting

My Shodo painting of the kanji for "heart" (kokoro) with my first name in kanji (shiira) on the left side. Normally my name would be written as using characters like this　シーラ (shira) サヤ (saya), which are for all foreign/non-Japanese words. However, my friend Ryoji chose this kanji for my name: 紫衣羅 (shira) 早夜 (saya). Many parents will chose kanji for their children because of the meaning behind each character. The kanji for my first name means purple cloth while the kanji for my last name means early or fresh night.

Monica-san and Nakamura-san


Pictures care of Ogino-san posted 7.5.08.



This picture reminds me of when I help my students at Hands On English write their ABC's. I often have to guide their little five year old hands as they learn the shapes of the letters.

I am writing heart (kokoro). The kanji for kokoro has four strokes and in this picture I have finished two of the four.

Signing My Name: shi-i-ra