Me, Myself and I Head East.....: Kanazawa

As you will have gathered from the earlier posts, I have to be up early to get to some of the places I am going to as I can only fit in a one day trip. Today is another such day with a repeat use of the free shuttle bus to leave the hotel at 7p.m. This gives enough time to locate the correct track and the serious business of travelling gets under way. Today the train was at 7.37 with only one change - after nine stations. Then switch to a limited stop train and continue to the end of the line. I am writing the words for today as I travel back as it makes good use of the time. The total time is about two and a half hours, but I was expecting to hav to change at Maibara again. However I have just checked with the guard as am on an earlier train than I had expected and it goes straight to Nagoya - stopping goodness knows how many times. We have just stopped at a station and all had to get up and twist the seats around 180 degrees! Quite caught me by surprise!

I had a good day at the very popular resort of Kanazawa. The day started chilly and on the way here we had sun, fog, sun and a very long tunnel to go through. I have my lightweight jacket today as the forecast said 19 degrees - don't know exactly what it reached, but took the jacket off not long after I arrived. I had a long list of places that I had thought I would like to visit but didn't succeed.

As always the first stop is with the tourist information office for a map and guidance. Today that revealed that my chances of doing all I planned were limited as many of the places were in far flung directions. As one of the reasons for coming here was the Noh museum and the gardens, finding them close to each other gave an obvious starting point. I bought a day ticket for the local tourist bus and got started. As it transpired there was a shop selling traditional crafts next door to the Noh museum so I popped in there first. It is the first shop that I have found selling temari - the decorative handballs that I recently became interested in making.

Just to show the value of these little objects (mine are in abox in th sewing room - but not for long!), a ball of about 6 inches with a good level of stitching on was about 6000 yen - and others were dearer. I will check that price as I might have made a mistake! This sort of shopis common and you always take a gulp at the prices, but at least the items are guaranteed to be hand made.

After a tiny bit of retail thrapy, I went next door to the Noh museum. This proved to be very well organisd and very interesting. I don't have enough time in the area to see a Noh performance but have found the costumes very good. I hadn't really taken in the details of the face mask before either although I knew they were made out of wood. I was able to study them in detail and of course look at the costumes. Not as many as I had hoped for, but maybe they don't have as many left from earlier times.

I had a chance to watch a bit of a performance on the video setup, maybe it is just as well I can't fit in a performance!! It seemed to take ages for anything much to happen. There was sounds - whether it was actual singing or just a way of making sounds I don't know but it wasn't unpleasant. The actors seemed to do an enormous amount of hanging about the stage!

Photography was permitted - no flash which goes without saying, so I did my best. I found all the explanations very succinct.

I was very aware of the time I was spending and was soon finished at the museum so made my way up the hill to the gardens. I don't want to run out of light here! These are the Kenrokuen Gardens and are thought to be one of the very best in Japan (according to one website at least!). I certainly would put them high on the list!

Again I was mindful of the time, but enjoying the sunshine and the beauty of the gardens. Along the way, after a brief sit down to eat my ice cream (just thought I would admit to this one!!) I came to a traditional craft museum. I think it was the one on my list but it wouldn't have mattered as it was excellent. Everything I was hoping to see in one place - apart from gold leaf work, but there is another museum for that. (Sadly the day ran out before I could go there, but there is always next time!!)

As I descended the staircase I could feel my heart racing as I could see a Japanese embroidery frame - and a lady was kneeling at it, working away. As I got closer it was clear she was in some level of discussion with one of a pair of young women. It transpired that they had just stopped to chat with the elderly lady as they liked what she was doing. Now here was something shocking to me - she was using Japanese techniques and materials but was working in a modern manner. She was producing jewellery!

This was a real eye opener! First she had marked the outline of the shape she needed to fit the tiny frame for the jewellery, then she laid a foundation of twisted thread. This was held down with flax leaf holding - a method of creating a grid of triangles to the uninitiated!
All of this had to be secured because she then went on to stitch the triangles in various colours. Finally a single fine thread was couched over the joins to camoflage and pretty up the piece. You will have to study the photos!

When I finally merged from the museum, the time was getting on and the light was beginning to go, so I started heading back to the station. I had my round trip ticket in my sticky little mitt so all I needed was to find the bus-stop! This was easier than sometimes, perhaps because the immediate area around the gardens is extremely popular. My walk had taken me past the castle, but with insufficient time to see more! Another reason to return one day!

I stoppd briefly to have a final look around and then headed into the station and a much neded seat on the train! I rounded the day off with a repeat trip to the onsen spa and followed this with the noodle-doodle supper. Yum!

I am now on the train home but from Matsumoto as it is Sunday. I am experiecing a degree of difficulty today - and the cause is tunnels. As I have been into the mountain area the reception has dropped - not so surprising with all the tunnels - I hadn't considered that when thinking of working on the train!

Noh masks - some others had articulated jaws with the joints held together with cords.

the next few photos are Noh theatre kimono, headbands and scarves, all of whih were lvely but I just loved the one with the cranes!

Don't you agree it looks good....and the detail stood up to scrutiny too!

Above sashiko which was on a kimono but too much reflection to photograph. Below is a lovely basket - again with reflection issues - shadows are lovely though!

Then there wre baskets of various materials - I hope to see more when I move to Beppu on Kyushu in a couple of days.

Another notable talent is that of the gold leaf merchants, some also had inlaid work. I wouldn't mind some f these flasks to adorn my room!

There was a special exhibition of mizuhiki - string work - items all made from what appears to be similar to gimp but stiffer. Some have wire inside and sme are paper that has been starched. Just amazing - as was the price of some of the very big pieces - 1.5million yen!!

Then there were parasoles and dolls of various kinds....and more mizuhiki.....

Fisherman's flies and also handmade bamboo fishing rods which reminded me of the lovely ones my Dad made when we were younger.

Lanterns....made with an inner support to ensure thy keep there shape. HTe paper is reinforced andthey withstand the weather well although I have seen many out and about with plastic covers over them.

More mizuhiki......beautiful!!

Lobster anyone?

Or fancy a dragon?

Then of course there were just a few temari balls - not enough in my opinion!

That was a mizuhiki chicken! Eventually I came to the end after seeing the embroidery lady - photos just a bit further down as I got them in the wrong place!!

Outside - girls dressed as Geisha for the day - they come from all over Japan to any of the big cities to have the kimono experience....and pay the pric for it too - makeup and hair are charged extra. How they manage to walk about in the shoes I don't know - htey look incredibly uncomfortable!

Another toilet sign for you to study......I wonder what has prompted some of the advice!

Now a series of garden shots.....they are fabulous gardens and if ever I could return, I would definitely try to come back to Kanazawa.

Old trees are supported so they keep the shape nature intended...pity our tree choppers don't do the same.