Well, now I am my own boss again, I will have a chance to catch up with you all! It has been so hectic, you wouldn’t believe. What with normal getting up and munching something for breakfast, dashing to Haitopia, 5 storey building which is venue for conference, not far away, but you still have to get there and not be late!, then lecture immediately followed by class, lunch, class and pause for breath after 4pm. Can’t relax as something else scheduled ...bazaar, lecture or social. Don’t forget you have to eat, especially if the lunch or Japanese breaka not your thing! Thank goodness for the bakery! Then when back at your hotel, dealing with technology enough to drain the brain, backup photos, charge everything including self (Japanese whisky not bad with lemonade!).....and then you get homework!! After that you might need to talk to folks back home or read emails to keep up with life at home. Next....thing Uk news....then typhoon continuing issues especially when it rains again as northern Japan still suffering landslides etc. Is where I am going next ok...and after that? So if you are still awake, you do your blog - and then you get more technical issues, tear your hair out and go to bed!
That has been life for the last 5 days! Now I also have to say it has been brilliant - to meet fellow Braiders from all around the world, Japan, UK, USA, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Israel, India,Australia, South Africa to mention those countries I remember spotting! The classes did suffer from the effects of the typhoon, but substitutes were found and you may not have done what was advertised, but you still had teachers of repute to take your class. Nobody knew that Hagibis was going to visit our conference - and she, he or it didn’t even bring any samples to show and tell!
Our conference ended in a splendid farewell party. We all had to wait outside the hall and were a little inquisitive...what is happening? Well, what a treat when suddenly the doors opened and we filed in to the accompaniment of a Japanese drum troup. Loud, you could feel it thro the vibrations in the floor. I loved it...then a few speeches and then Kanpai! time to down your sake! Not my favourite, but not bad. It was served in little pottery tumblers made of the local Iga pottery.
Food and mingling followed! Returned to hotel slightly fuzzy headed, red wine and sake, along with not overly much to eat as there was lots of prawns and other stuff I don’t eat! Was some lovely Iga beef though, just not enough of it! Salads are very good and I hadn’t realised that you ciuld do so much with sweet potatoes! Getting better with the chopsticks, but the last little bit is always a challenge! I think the Japanese are so thin as it takes so long to eT anything. They also love fried stuff or very sweet things....but protein is always in small portions!
So here is the local mayor- a jolly chap who seemed to enter into the spirit of things. This time he arrived In his Ninja gear!
Some of the buffet lunch dishes...
President of Japanese Kumihimo Society, Hirosawa sensei, he also has some other title which escapes me at present! He told us he didn’t expect to make a speech so he would make it up! As it was in Japanese then being translated he could have been listing his next weeks shopping list for all I know! Hirosawa-sensei is the reason we were all in Iga as well as being a master craftsman
Even dog statues sport ninja- gear!
Ninja park and in case you didn’t guess, it’s a shrine!
This weekend the locals celebrate the end of harvest with the Daijiri festival. Sadly it rained this morning and the festival processions were cancelled. Hopefully they will take plac3 tomorrow, but I will be on my way to Kanazawa on the west coast of Japan (well north east to south west coast!
Ninja are everywhere
Don’t know if video work for you!
Hirosawa invited us all to his home and studio where he demonstrated how silk was reeled and made into the warps that we all lust after. He also demonstrated his agility as well as the takadai!
People amassed for the Daijiri procession and all the side stalls. Many were food but there were also side shows like we have at a fun fair.
One of Basho’s haiku (sorry about spelling!), on a plaque ....
Shrine to the Fox god
Ghost ride or walk...
Sweet stalls..
Toys...
And at last, one of the traditional old carts that normally are pulled through the streets, this like all the others was parked near to where it is stored so that it could be protected if it rains again. After a wet start, the day was sunny and hot but by early evening the air was wet aNd rain felt imminent. It is so humidity!
To recap, Pat Hart and I spent the day together today. Lovely to have some company and it turned out that we had similar ideas etc! We went to the Ninja museum and show, the Kumihimo shop, in case we hadn’t bought enough for our stashes, then brief stop for a drink and cheesecake (Oishi! - delicious. Then we toured the streets looking at all the stalls and what carts we could find! We just had to sample some food as time was getting on and Pat was leaving for Kyoto at 8pm. We dined al fresco Japanese festival style.
This was the classroom at Kumihimo school
A shop window...
A print we both liked in a shop window
This is all braid!
Steam punk samurai!
Ninja museum guide throwing stars
Part of the embroidery on one of the carts...
Kumihimo frogs....just for you Ruth, but sadly far too expensive!
Father and son at the shrine for the cow/bull
Closer look at top of a cart
Colourful stalls
Interesting geographical information outside a booze shop! Could be useful if you were lost!
Miniature carts - all 9 from various sectors of the town.
Material shop where we both spent,
Another cart but in it’s ‘garage’!
Pat and I had Iga beef skewer followed after short walk by bbq’d sweetcorn and a bit later a bag of chips! Not at all bad ...apart from calorie intake but as both of us will be doing a lot of suitcase moving,walking with bags etc etc, we thought we deserved a treat. Earlier in the day I discovered that Pat likes ice cream nearly as much as me, I still prefer the orange but she opted for strawberry! Hopefully as she continues her trip she will try many more flavours!
Thanks for a lovely day, Pat!
And now my dear readers I must sign out as the clock is ticking and the glass was emptied some time ago. Now a final cuppa and some shut eye as have to be at bus stop for trip to Nagoya for 8.57 a.m.
TTFN
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