FIRST CALLIGRAPHY LESSON

                                          Image via WikipediaEven though I've lived in Japan for seven years, I never tried shodou (Japanese calligraphy) before. What took me so long? Well, I thought it would be an interesting experience... but Japan is so full of 'interesting experiences' so I felt no urgency. Somehow I never got around to it until yesterday.

The husband of a new friend I met recently is a calligraphy teacher. She invited me to their home for lunch and a calligraphy lesson. After a delicious meal of chirashi-zushi, home-made tsukemono, and the best oden I've ever eaten, we relocated to the lesson room It was a large, pleasant room with several low tables covered with dark felt, one wall covered by shelves stuffed with reference books, and a sink for washing brushes in one corner.

The teacher showed me a few different styles of calligraphy and asked me to choose the style I preferred. He said he liked a more abstract style, and that it was easier for beginners because it took less practice. That sounded good to me, and I thought the abstract characters looked very attractive. Then he gave me a demonstration of how to use the brush to achieve three different effects, just painting spirals. After I tried out the brush with a few spirals of my own, we started to paint the character that means pleasure, or fun, 楽.

The first few attempts were to practice the shape. Then he showed me some ways to make it more interesting - how to create edges that bleed by loading the brush with more ink, and pressing harder on the paper, and how to mess up the brush with the first few strokes so that the strokes after that became streaky and more artistic.

When I could produce something that looked kind of OK, he encouraged me to sign it, and we finished the session with me painting the character onto a shikishi - an art board used for various kinds of Japanese art - as a souvenir to take home.

I expected an interesting experience. I didn't expect that it would be so much fun. I suppose I thought that practicing writing the same character over and over again could get rather boring. I've never been the kind of person who enjoys repetition. But actually, I think part of shodou's fascination  is that every stroke is unique. Every stroke has to be what it is. You aren't allowed to go back and try to improve it. You can't fix mistakes. There is only one chance for that moment, and that piece of paper. And the nature of the elements involved (absorbent paper, watery ink, a brush, a human being) means that perfect replication is impossible. So the aim of shodou isn't to produce perfection through repetitious practice, like other forms of art, it's to express the artist's vision. And maybe to capture beauty. I think Kitagawa-sensei's calligraphy is very beautiful!

 I'm totally hooked after just one go!

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MY CHRISTMAS TREE

In New Zealand we always had a real Christmas tree. In fact the smell I associate with Christmas is a mixture of pine and Christmas lilies (Christmas comes in the middle of Summer in New Zealand.) But in Japan I have a 2 meter high fake tree. A couple of days ago, with some help of my neighbor, I took it out of the box and hung the decorations on it . After all, it's nearly December!


Some tree ornaments get passed down through families. They can develop histories and nostalgic associations. Like, "this one is cracked because Uncle George stood on it when he was a little boy, but Grandpa glued it together again," and "Auntie Mary made this angel at school when she was only seven years old."

I don't have those kind of tree ornaments... but in my third Christmas in Japan I had a tree decorating origami party with some Japanese friends. We made lots of origami ornaments out of pretty paper and I've used them every year since then. There is an origami Santa Claus, and a candle, and several cranes and balls, but my absolute favorite is the origami reindeer one friend made using a book she borrowed from the library.

Now whenever I see my origami ornaments I remember that party, and think of the friends who helped make my Japanese Christmas tree special.

HUNGRY CATERPILLARS

Near Amagase Dam in Uji, I photographed the fiercest caterpillars I have ever seen. They raced up and down the stems of their host plants, efficiently stripping the plants of leaves and tender stems. They were fat and a little scary, and not at all cute. Caterpillars are supposed to move slowly!

 

The same day I saw this caterpillar as well. He looks like an alien, but he's kind of cute.

SPIDER LILIES ON THE SHORE

Every year in early Autumn red spider lilies bloom everywhere in Japan - on the edges of rice fields, along riverbanks, and under trees beside Lake Biwa.

I'm told that because of the extremely long, hot Summer we endured this year the lilies were late, and much less plentiful than usual, but I was still able to see lots on my trip around Lake Biwa in October.

In my New Zealand hometown, Christchurch, the countryside is often brown and dry in Autumn. The trees turn the landscape gold, but there aren't many flowers, so I was thrilled by the vibrant red splashes of color so generously spread throughout the countryside.

MORE ABOUT NAGAHAMA

I have to go back to Nagahama. Not only is it surrounded by glorious countryside, and blessed with the most beautiful JR station in Shiga Prefecture, but it also boasts an area of beautiful old shops and traditional wooden homes, and an interesting history.

I always assumed that Nagahama meant long beach because there is a long beach there... but Wikipedia says that Hideyoshi Toyotomi named the town after Nobunaga. The kanji (長浜) mean long  beach but maybe it was a play on words as well.



Anyway Hideyoshi built a castle there in the 1570s.  Flintlock guns were produced in the area from 1544. Nagahama is also home to a famous bunraku puppet troupe, and I'm told they make beautiful glass ware there.

 

WHITE EGRETS ON LAKE BIWA

I've seen much more wildlife in Japan than I ever did in New Zealand. Probably that's because I usually traveled by car in NZ. So I saw a lot of farm animals, but rabbits and possums (both pests) were the only wild animals I saw. There are lots of interesting birds in New Zealand, but they're hard to observe from a car. Apparently we have herons and white egrets, but I never saw one.


So I was happy to find how abundant they are in Japan. You can see big water birds everywhere, probably because growing rice provides them with lots of feeding grounds. White egrets in the emerald green rice fields of summer is one of my favorite images of Japan. On my ride around Lake Biwa I saw many white egrets on the lake shore. I hope you enjoy these photos!

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NAGAHAMA JR STATION

Image by kansaikate via Flickr

I'll have to go back to Nagahama. It is much more interesting than I thought. The first time I visited there, I rode my bicycle into town late in the day along an unpleasant, busy highway, searching with increasing desperation for a 'HOTEL' sign. I never make reservations on bike trips because I never know how far I will ride. Besides, 'playing it by ear' increases my sense of adventure. I finally found a hotel but I remember the room smelled funny, and I left at 5 am the next morning, before anyone was even up and about (don't worry, I paid when I checked in!)

On my recent ride around Lake Biwa, I put my bicycle in station bicycle parking every night and traveled home on a JR train to Kyoto, returning the following morning. So this time I noticed Nagahama's JR station. It's an impressive building. Still fairly new, it was opened in October 2006. Something that is quite unusual in Japan is that the architect successfully designed the building to resemble Nagahama's Historic JR Station (pictured below.) Of special interest to me were the beautiful stained glass windows. Nagahama is famous for glassware production, so stained glass windows seem a very appropriate decoration for the station.

The style and quality of the station building caused me to revise my previous impression that Nagahama was just another dull country town, so I did a little exploring before continuing my ride South along the East side of Lake Biwa. I'll write about my findings in a future post.

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NEW TEA STORE IN KYOTO

There's a new store in Kyoto, near the Oike Street end of Teramachi, my favorite shopping street. The store is called Lupicia.  (ルピシア）They sell tea, and they are a class act! The shop is gorgeous. Along the one wall there are small tins of different teas - probably hundreds - for customers to inspect and smell. If you want to try before you buy there is an area at the back of the store where they will brew a cup of whichever tea you are interested in. They have teas from all over the world, green teas, black teas, herb teas, fruit teas, flower teas, even South African red bush tea. There are some very special Japanese style teas available in pretty little sample packs of three teabags for 300 yen, and also in various sizes of beautifully packaged gift tins. They would make wonderful souvenirs or gifts for tea drinking friends back home.

The store opened just yesterday. I found they have a mail order tea business on the internet, but I chatted with the charming European manager who was strolling around the shop in traditional Japanese dress, and he told me the store is the only one in Kyoto. (After we left the store my friend and I were speculating about the nationality of the manager. My friend thought French but I thought perhaps Belgian or Swiss...)

Now I'll tell you what I bought! The first tea that attracted my interest was 'Karigane Nikki' ( 雁ヶ音日記 ) which is Houjicha (roasted tea) with cinnamon. Then there was the fruity-scented 'Karakoro' ( からころ ), a black tea flavored with yuzu (citrus) and  plum. Finally I bought 'Tattoo', a green tea blend with jasmine flowers and longan fruit, which smells heavenly and is described on the packet as having a smoky flavor.

I only bought 300 yen sample packs of each of these, but I still received three gift teas at the check-out, where they also inquired whether I wanted my purchases gift wrapped. So in addition to my selections I will also be able to try 'First Flush', 'Grapefruit' and 'Champagne Rose' (no English description on the packets so I don't know what I'm in for.)

It's enough to make me wish I was more into tea... but sadly, although I like to try new things, and I do drink the occasional cup of tea, what I really like is coffee...

TAKING THE SCENIC ROUTE

If you travel along the Western shore of Lake Biwa by train (JR Kosei Line) you can enjoy a fine view of the lake for much of the journey, but after Makino station the train leaves the lake to pass through a series of tunnels before coming out on the Eastern side, and Biwako line which runs down the Eastern side is mostly too far inland to see the lake.

So it's only motorists and cyclists who have the opportunity to travel along the scenic road around the top of the lake, where the scenery is so beautiful I can't keep the smile off my face.

In some places the cedar-clad mountain-side sweeps right down to the lake edge, and dusty sunbeams streak down through the trunks. Elsewhere, homesteads and tourist lodges nestle into lush valleys planted with rice.

Cherry trees line the shore, and in spring heavy loads of blossom weight the branches down. Egrets and shags fish from rocks that have tumbled into the water. The road follows the curve of the bays, in and out, in and out. Two small monkeys scramble up the retaining wall at the side of the road. Small boats drift dreamily against a backdrop of blue hills. An island rises out of the lake, misty, indistinct, and mysterious. A man fishes from a small jetty in water that reflects the clouds. A mossy wall encloses a house with shining roof tiles. Hawks glide on air currents over the water.

People always say New Zealand is beautiful, and it is.... but no more so than the wild, lovely area at the top of Lake Biwa.

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A SMALL TOWN NAMED MAKINO

On the West side of Lake Biwa, right at the top of the lake, there's a small town called Makino. I've been there several times in various seasons of the year. It really is small - a JR station, a main street lined with old wooden houses, a few lodges and restaurants for visitors who probably only come in cherry blossom season, and that's about it.

But it draws me back again and again. It's the kind of place I like. Glimpses of lovely lake views between old wooden buildings. Orange persimmons against a blue sky. Daffodils by stone walls. Crumbling mud-plaster walls. Dark mysterious little stores.  The proximity of Kaizu Osaki, a stunning beauty spot in the spring.

Sometimes I meet Japanese people who tell me they have a holiday house there, which might account for the sleepy, shut-up look of the place. Perhaps a lot of the houses are empty most of the time. If I owned a house in a place like Makino I'd spend most of my time there.

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