Some Photos of Inari Shrines

 

A short video about a small Inari shrine in Niigata City: https://youtu.be/FIQWj7dVceI?si=CzzCx_R2X4edLFJV

Homage to Basho: David Lehman in The Atlantic; and, some Basho

 The butterfly dips

its wings in aroma of

violet wild orchid.

Red plums of summer,
first green figs, so many ears
of corn eaten raw.

Leaves that left the trees
are litter now on the ground
in orange and yellow.

No one on this road
but me: It must be autumn
in the dark country.

Comes the freeze, and rain
falls all through the night and soaks
the morning paper.

Winter blows its white
storms across the hills: Even
monkeys need raincoats.

The spring night vanished
while we talked among cherry
blossoms and petals.

-David Lehman

Red dragonflies, or akatonbo, are associated with the harvest season. Here's Basho:

Crimson pepper pod

add two pairs of wings, and look

darting dragonfly

crimson pepper pod, called "hawk's claw"

The Mice Who Wrestled Sumo

 One upon a time there lived an elderly couple somewhere in rural Niigata. (Needless to say, the old man and his wife were poor.) One day the old man headed for the hills to cut grass. Arriving at the spot where he intended to work, the man was surprised to hear grunting and heaving coming from the base of a tree nearby. Looking closely, he saw two mice wearing loincloths, engaged in a spirited sumo contest. One of the mice was much larger than the other and had no trouble vanquishing his foe, bout after bout.  The smaller of the two he recognized as one that he had befriended in the past, the larger, the favorite of the wealthiest man in the district. "Poor little mouse", he thought, as yet another contest ended in defeat. When he returned home he told his wife about the wrestling mice. "Of course, we must take our mouse friend some rice cakes to get his strength up." The man thought this was a wonderful idea, so that evening he and his wife left mochi where the mouse would be sure to find them. The next morning the man set out for another day of grass cutting, and when he arrived he heard the self-same grunting and heaving, only this time it was his mouse that was triumphant. "Hey, you, how'd you get so strong all of a sudden?", said the larger mouse to his opponent.  "It's because of the mochi the old couple gave me." "I wonder if they'd give me a few rice cakes?" the other mused.  "Don't count on it. Rice cakes are a rare treat when you're poor." "That rich old guy. All that money, and not once has he given me so much as a single mochi. I wonder..." After discussing this overheard conversation with his wife that evening, the two decided to divide their store of rice, half for themselves, the other for the two mice. Later, they placed mochi for two and new red loincloths, one much smaller than the other, beside the sumo ring. Shortly afterwards the larger mouse appeared, staggering under the weight of the gold coins in his paws. He set them down and proceeded to nibble away at one of the rice cakes. The next day the old man returned to the hills. This time he noticed the two wrestlers were evenly matched and in high spirits. "We have the man and his wife to thank for this," they squeaked happily. The supply of gold coins continued, and the old couple lived happily and prospered. As did the two mice, who were never in want of rice cakes. Or loincloths, either.     

Translation: B. Southwick, 2020

A Japanese Folktale: The Statues with Hats

 Long ago a kindly old couple lived in the mountains, poor but happy. One year, the morning of New Year's Eve it was, the old man gathered together the sedge hats he and his wife had made and prepared to set out for the village nearby. "If I can sell all five hats, I should be able to buy us some rice cakes for tomorrow", he said (rice cakes being a traditional New Year's food in Japan). "Yes, please. And do be careful- I think it will snow later today." Sure enough, not long after the old man left for the village, snow began to fall, just as his wife had said. Harder and harder it fell, and faster and faster walked the man. On the outskirts of the village stood six statues of Jizo all in a line, the snow starting to pile up atop their heads and shoulders.  The old man stopped and considered for a moment. Then, he placed one of his hats on the head of the Jizo nearest him- after first wiping the snow off the statue's head, of course. And so on until five of the Jizo were wearing the hats the man had hoped to sell. Standing before the last statue, the old man took off his own hat. When her husband returned home, hatless and with a dome of snow on his head, the old woman exclaimed in surprise. "My, you are back early. What happened to your hat?" "Well, it's quite a story," and he told her about the Jizo. "You did the right thing. And what does it matter if we have no rice cakes for tomorrow?"  That night, while the two were asleep, strange happenings were afoot. First, an unearthly singing: "Where oh where does the old man live? We've come in thanks for the hats. Where oh where does the old man live? We've come in thanks for the hats." The singing stopped in front of the house. There was a sound as of something being laid before the door. And then a hurried shuffling away. The old couple, being light sleepers, had been awakened by the singing. Opening the door, they found rice cakes and many things besides to make a New Year's feast. Looking off into the distance, they beheld six figures with hats trudging through the snowy night.    

Translation: B. Southwick

The story (and some nice illustrations) can be found here: http://hukumusume.com/douwa/pc/jap/12/31.htm

          

For more on Jizo, a short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx1oE6F1ea0

The Sotoba, or Ihai

 The sotoba, or stupa, is a thin notched wooden lath on which the name of the deceased and a verse from Buddhist scripture are written.

Taiko Drum Workshop

 Marukei is one of just three taiko drum makers in Niigata Prefecture, which is home to the renowned taiko troupe Kodo, and therefore somewhat surprising to me. The current master- in his 60s, I'd guess- is seventh generation and does not appear to have a successor. He told me it can take up to 10 years to build one of the larger drums, with several years required to dry the handpicked keyaki - zelkova growing in Niigata do not grow straight enough, so he gets his wood from Tochigi. With summer festivals and other events at which taiko are played cancelled this year, the builder has seen business drop. Pictured is a repair job on a drum his grandfather built, lettering on the inside indicating the builder and date of completion. 

Masks

I recently had to travel to Tokyo. Everyone on the shinkansen that day was wearing a mask. The same was true of the people I saw at Tokyo Station. I observed many thousands of people that Saturday, over 99% of them masked. What Japanese understand, particularly in times of crisis such as this, is that we are called upon to consider the greater good, and act accordingly.  

Contrast this with the mask kerfuffle in the US. "I'm being repressed" bellow the boobs when asked to don a face covering. "Consider the safety of family and friends", remonstrate the responsible.  More than this, even: honor your end of the social contract. Listen to the professionals, follow their advice, do your part. For the sake of family, friends, everyone.          

Evening Ride in Kamo, Niigata

Evening Ride in Kamo: Scaredycats, Jizo and the Frogs

inflatable tiger scarecrows; tree frogs on a roadside shrine to jizo, protector of travelers

Misc. Photos from Kamo

stuffed cloth 鈴緒 suzuno bell pull

shrine (not inari)

narrow residential street

irises in bloom

Japan by Bike: Niigata Files: Tagami, Late Afternon

Old Structures and Satoyama Scapes

At top: 古民家 (kominka) private residence built in 1935, vacant for the last 20 years, now the home of a new NPO promoting community affairs

Middle: classic satoyama landscape, hillside abutting rice fields, bamboo grove, and a fallow field, evidence of Japan's shrinking population

Bottom: disused commercial structure most likely built in early 20th C  

The Japanese Macrobiotic Diet

The author of this book on macrobiotic lunch box recipes recommends a ratio of 6:4. That is, 60% brown rice and 40% side dishes of fresh vegetables and pulses. For lunch today: genmai (brown rice) with hijiki (a type of dried seaweed, also recommended by the author), and steamed potato, broccoli, carrot, and zucchini as the okazu side. The lower photo shows a recent dinner, with potato, bean, and hijiki croquettes (from a recipe in the book) in the frying pan. Canned mackerel in olive oil and asari short-necked clam soup are also pictured. 

Japan by Bike: Niigata Files: Tagami Town and Niitsu

Photos from a recent trip through the hills of Tagami and Niitsu. The rice was planted about a month ago and is coming along nicely. The rock wall was formed some 1400 years ago as magma from a volcanic eruption cooled.

Inari Shrine in Kamo

Inari is the god or rice and of success in commercial ventures, and his temples are readily identified by their numerous torii gates, which are presented to the shrine as offerings to the god. The fox is the god's familiar and relation, hence the carvings, statues, and fox figurines at these shrines. Why the mouse figures at these shrines? Well, foxes are known to consider the rodent a delicacy, and an offering of mouse, fried so as to slow putrefaction, was believed particularly pleasing to the fox. Fried tofu (aburage) was eventually adopted as a substitute for the harder-to-obtain mice. The small shrine at the bottom of the steps contains an iron lantern presented to some worthy individual (and later placed at the shrine) by the Imperial Regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi (latter half of the 16th C, if memory serves).

The Common Kingfisher: Recent Sightings

I've been treated to sightings of this uncommonly beautiful bird twice in Kamo City this week.

(photo: Wikipedia)

The common kingfisher is known as the "kawasemi" in Japanese, a compound of "kawa" (川- river) and "semi" (蝉- cicada). So, "river cicada" (川蝉). If someone sounds like a cricket, the person has a "cicada voice", or "semigoe" (蝉声). And leaving this world, sloughing off the mortal coil, is "sendatsu" (蝉脱), cicada shell.     

Japan by Bike: Niigata Files: Kamo City

From top: Former Tsurumaki Sake Brewery, Tsurumaki Open Garden (same surname, not sure if there's a connection), Old Post Office (now a gallery and cafe)

COVIDiaries Japan

Primary and secondary schools throughout much of the country welcomed students last week as the new academic year began, while universities have delayed their in- person classes until mid- May.

The government's non- binding state of emergency for seven prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka has been moderately successful, with districts that are ordinarily packed referred to as "ghost towns" by locals.

All prefectures with the lone exception of Iwate are reporting cases, the nationwide total currently at 7268, with 138 deaths.  

Social Distancing Scarecrows

Japanese Pride and Japan Today

Japan Today has become the go-to source of Japan-related news in English for the expat community. The quality of the reporting is fine when the articles originally appeared at Reuters, AP, and Kyodo News (among others), as opposed to inhouse productions. The comments section reveals many of JT's readers to be unable to understand Japanese, uninterested in learning the country's culture or history, and just plain uninformed.

An example from an article today re pride in Japan:

 That's been a concern for me ever since I came here. Everything in the supermarkets is so expensive. I can get most things for less than half the price back home. And I'm tired of eating bananas and moyashi. I wonder how many Japanese are proud of the expensive fruit.

The reader has exposed his flanks on this one, but I'll resist the urge. Instead, let's consider food prices (Walmart Grocery US for comparison).

green onions@ 98￥/ horenso spinach@ 128￥/ shishito sweet green peppers@ 74￥ (50% off)/ 3 nishin herring fillets@160￥ (20% off)/ aburage fried tofu@60￥/ oboro semi- soft tofu@70￥　(1USD=108￥)

I compared prices on similar items/ sizes (ones I could find) at Walmart Grocery (online): green onions (1 bunch) @$.50/ baby spinach@ $1.37/ herring fillets (tinned only) @$3.50/ tofu @$2.64

Total for the same 4 items puchased at a Japanese grocery store (pictured): $4.20

Walmart Total: $8.01

Dairy (cheese, cream, butter in particular) tends to be a bit more expensive in Japan. I purchased a liter (33 fluid ounces)of low-fat milk yesterday for 100￥. Walmart sells 64 oz. for $1.47. 

Fruit (domestic), also, tends to be higher: 1 apple, 100- 200￥

Walmart: $1. 10

1 pear: 100- 250￥

Walmart: $.69

(That said, Japanese fruit is worth every yen of extra cost.) 

So no, you don't have to subsist on a diet of bananas and bean sprouts.    

Antlions for a Change

Today's edition of the popular Vox Populi column in the Asahi Shinbun features a 15-year old student who has researched antlions and their larvae since she was in primary school.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13274882

COVIDiaries Japan

Tokyo continues to break records for infections, with yesterday's tally at 143, the second straight day above 100, and over 200 nationwide.

The prime minister is expected to announce a state of emergency by Wednesday. Just what that will entail remains to be seen. Legally, authorities are unable to enforce restrictions on movement.

The central government has announced it will offer direct cash payments of 300,000 yen to those whose annual income is 3 million yen or less (approx. 27,000 USD).

COVIDiaries Japan

Tokyo is reporting another record number of confirmations, 78, a day after posting a significant drop.

Elected officias and medical associations are asking the Abe administration to invoke the recently enacted law granting the prime minister declaration of emergency powers, but the government has yet to do so.

The law does not permit the government to enforce measures to limit movement, however, so it remains to be seen how effective the declaration would be to halt the spread of the virus.

COVIDiaries Japan

March 29th saw Tokyo continue its week-long streak of record-breaking confirmations for a single municipality: yesterday's figure of 68 was up from 16 on the 23rd.

Beloved entertainer Shimura Ken (70) is among those who have succumbed to the disease.

The Abe administration is moving to prohibit foreigners entering from China, Korea, and the US.

The full cost of a PCR exam in Japan is either 140 or 180 USD, depending on the ability of the testing facility to analyze the sample. Those enrolled in the national health scheme would normally expect to pay from 10-30% of the total. However, as of March 6 testing is free for those covered by national insurance.      

COVIDiaries Japan: Tokyo Sees Jump

For the third day running, Tokyo has led Japan in new cases of coronavirus, with over 40 confirmed in the capital today, March 25. This is up from 16 on the 23rd and 17 on the 24th. If you are in Tokyo or have seen photos of crowded parks and other public spaces there (and elsewhere in Japan), the news will come as no surprise. Complacency typifies the attitude of many in the country.    

COVIDiaries Japan: A Different Kind of Story

Thirteen- year- old Takimoto Hime, of Yamanashi Prefecture, decided she needed to do something a month ago when she began seeing long lines of customers outside of drug stores hoping to snag a packet or two of masks, then in extremely short supply. In late February she began making masks with cotton and elastic, working as many as 5 hours/ day. On March 17th she visited the prefectural office, where she presented officials with the 612 masks she had made by hand. The cost: 80,000￥, all of it money she had saved over the years from traditional New Year's otoshidama from family and relatives.

https://mainichi.jp/articles/20200318/k00/00m/040/037000c

COVIDiaries Japan: Back to School

Japanese schools prepare for the start of the new school year in April even as countries such as France announce schools will remain closed until after summer. Indeed, some students in Japan have already returned to their school for extracurricular acivities. The Ministry of Education yesterday released coronavirus-prevention guidelines for schools which included instructions to students and teachers to wear a mask when speaking and to open windows periodically to ventilate classrooms.

COVIDiaries Japan

Several key announcements yesterday by the office of Tokyo governor Koike.

1) Postponement of the Olympics was in the cards (US broadcaster NBC is now saying the Games will be postponed.)

2) A lockdown for the nation's capital in three weeks was a possibility

3) Late in the evening, Tokyo reported 16 new coronavirus cases, the largest one-day tally to date for a single location in Japan.

COVIDiaries Japan: Tokyo Lockdown Possible

Tokyo governor Koike Yuriko announced today that her administration would closely monitor the spread of the novel coronavirus in the Japanese capital during the next three weeks (from 23 March) and that a lockdown of the city would be considered if conditions warranted.

COVIDiaries Japan: Restrictions on Arrrivals from the US

The Abe administration has announced that from 26 March until the end of April, all those arriving from the US will be asked to self-quarantine at home or a tourist accomodation for 14 days and to refrain from using public transport, including taxis, for the duration. The Ministry of Health requests that those to whom this applies make necessary arrangements prior to arrival. The US is the latest addition to a list that includes China, Korea, Iran, Egypt, the Schengen countries and 10 others in Europe.    

COVIDiaries Japan: Danger of Business as Usual

Niigata Prefecture announced its 26th and 27th confirmed cases on March 21. No. 26, a company employee in his 30s, traveled to Fukuoka and Tokyo (by train) on business from 10-12 March, thereafter returning to his home in Nagaoka, Niigata. The man left again on the 15th, visiting Tokyo (by train) for the day on business. Despite experiencing chills and joint pain, the man traveled to Tokyo (by train) again the following day, returning to Nagaoka on the 17th. He visited a medical clinic that day, where he recorded a fever of 38C. From the following day he stayed home from work. On the 19th, coughing and experiencing diarrhea, he visited another clinic, where he tested negative for the flu.   On the 20th the man visited the city's only hospital capable of administering the PCR exam. The following day a positive result for COVID-19 was announced.

COVIDiaries Japan

Official statistics from the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare show that an average of 1,190 PCR tests have been administered daily during March. Daily testing capacity currently stands at 7,500.

To date, 20,228 individuals have been tested, 1086 confirmed, with 40 deaths.

These figures do not include those from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

The governor of Tokyo has announced that postponing the Olympics is under consideration after a conference call with the IOC, with a final announcement expected in the next four weeks.  

The Gratitude of the Goose

Once upon a time an old man lived on the shores of Lake Jyusan on the Tsugaru Peninsula of Aomori.

One winter's night the man heard a knocking at his door. Opening it, he beheld a young girl standing in the blowing snow, covered in white from head to foot.

"Oh, my. What are you doing out on a night like this? Do come in."

He stirred up the fire and bade his guest warm herself by the hearth. Looking at the girl more closely, he noticed that one of her feet was bleeding.

"Is your foot hurt?" he inquired.

"Yes, I stepped on a hunter's trap by accident."

"That's rotten luck. Would you like to stay here until it's better?"

"Oh, yes. Thank you ever so much," she replied.

"Look here, dinner's ready. Let's eat."

The old man served the girl a bowl of piping hot fish soup, which she quickly devoured. Then, curling up by the fire, she was soon asleep.

Later that evening, thinking to cover her with a futon for added warmth, the man discovered his visitor was not a young girl but a goose. "So that's how it was. Injured, she became separated from the other geese, and before coming here she changed into a human girl", ran the old man's thoughts. Smiling with this knowledge, he applied a healing salve to his guest's injured foot.

The snowy weather continued, but at last, a day of clear skies dawning, the goose-girl bowed deeply to the old man and said, "For many a day you have treated me with great kindness. Thanks to you, my foot has healed. As I am now able to resume my journey, I will soon be leaving you."

"Is that so? You're going?" 

The girl was saddened to perceive how deeply affected the man was by her announcement.

"I've kept a secret from you all this time. The truth is, I'm a goose."

"Ahh. But you see, I knew that," the man replied.

"You did? I'll never forget your kindness."

With that, the girl became a goose again and rose into the sky. After thrice circling above the old man's house, the goose, now a mere speck in the sky, flew northwards. 

Then it was spring, then summer, then fall, and the time of year geese begin appearing in the region of Lake Jyusan. When the old man beheld the first geese on their southward journey, he was reminded of his visitor earlier that year. 

One day the man noticed a goose veer from its traveling companions and head in his direction. When the goose was overhead, something fell from its bill to the ground. Retrieving the item, the man found it to be a small packet containing some gold dust and a letter. Unfolding the latter the man read, "Thank you, Grandpa, for your many kindnesses. Take care of yourself."

 

With a tear in his eye, the old man watched the goose until it passed from sight.

"You, too," he said.

　

Lake Jyusan, Aomori