Rokuharamitsuji temple

My husband and I went to Rokuharamitsuji temple in Kyoto. It was established by Kuya Syonin (a kind of Buddhist monk) and it had a strong connection with the Heike family. In the temple’s golden age, it had extensive grounds and there were about 5200 houses of the Heike Sect. But now only the main hall remains.
We entered the Treasure Museum. There are many wooden statues of important cultural value there from the Heian period to the Kamakura period and we can see them at close range.
A member of staff said “Please look carefully, Enmadaio’s eyes are blue.”
We saw the eyes and certainly they were blue. I was surprised and I wondered why.
Further more the man said “Kuya statue and Taira no Kiyomori statue were taken to Germany by submarine for Hitler. I saw a photo of Hitler looking at Kiyomori statue.”
We were very surprised. I thought that even with all the power that Hitler had he wouldn’t be able to receive such important Japanese treasures. I couldn’t believe it.
I searched for “Hitler Kiyomori statue” on the internet and I found a topic about a Japanese old art exhibition which was held in 1939 from February 27th to March 31st in Berlin. I thought the man’s story was about this event and I became convinced about the story. I knew Hitler had a strong interest in the old art of Japan.

Kashiko Island

On July 21st, my husband and I went to Kashiko Island in Mie. 2016 G7 Summit is been held in Kashiko Island but this was irrelevant to my trip, we went there because my husband has stockholder complimentary tickets of the Kinki Nippon Railway and Kashiko Island is the last station on the line. We also visited Kashiko Island last year.
This time we stayed at the inn on one of the outer islands. When I called the inn, a small boat came to pick us up. The inn was very small and it had only 6 rooms but it was clean and had a good atmosphere. Unfortunately the day was cloudy so we couldn’t see the beautiful sunset. Why did we to stay chose there? When I checked Jalan.net comments the inn had a perfect score for its cuisine evaluation but the number of comments was a total of 20. My expectations of the cuisine were good considering the price but I thought next time I want to eat luxury cuisine. We are planning to visit Kashiko Island on September 1st. Then I want to stay at Shimakanko Hotel and I want to eat luxury French cuisine: Ise shrimp, abalone and Matsuzaka beef. Shimakanko Hotel is scheduled for the 2016 G7 Summit’s venue.
When we were going home I heard the island’s population is only 3 people: a man, the man’s wife and his mother. There was a hotel next to the inn but it was closed for business. I felt a strange feeling on hearing that.


迎えの船で宿へ


石山荘


ロビーの様子


廊下


階段


夕食







夜景

Shima hot springs

On June 21st my husband and I went to Shima hot springs in Gunma. We stayed at Shima Tamura which has a 500-year history from the Muromachi period. The thatched roof of the entrance was built in 1834 and there are two rooms of the period one of which is a “Jyodannoma” for high rank people stayed. Another of which is a “Nakanoma” for squire stayed.
Shima Tamura has six types of hot spring spots and I took a bath in 5 spots. But one was mixed bathing so I didn’t take a bath. The cooking was authentic Kaiseki cuisine. We enjoyed the food and the relaxation time.
If you ask me where the best hot springs in Gunma is, I recommend Shima hot springs because Shima hot springs has a long history and there are many unique inns. Here you can find the goodness of the old blending perfectly with the new.
Recently, Sekizenkan, a Japanese inn at Shima hot springs, is in the limelight as the stage of the animated movie “Chihiro”.
I want to stay at Shimakan which has a room where Osamu Dazai stayed and where his novel, “Kaze no Tayori” was set.




「千と千尋の神隠し」に出てくる「油屋」に似ている積善館（モデル地ではないそうです）


クラシックな雰囲気ですね


テルマエロマエにも出てきそうな大正ロマネスク様式のお風呂


四万川ダム　曇っていたので残念ながらコバルトブルーの水面は見られませんでした

cut the grass

Recently, my husband and I cut the grass in our rice paddies and fields every Saturday or Sunday. I use a mower which has plastic blades and my husband uses a mower which has a steel blade. When I used the machine for the first time, I thought this is easy to use. I’m not bad at cutting the grass with a plastic bladed mower but grass the goes on forever.

Koyasan

On May 10th, I went to Koyasan with the Tour Club. We met at 8:30 at Kyoto station. First, we went to Tanbabashi on the Kintetsu line, and then we changed on to the Keihan line at Yodoyabashi. We transferred on to the Midosuji subway line and arrived at Nanba at about 10:30 so we couldn’t ride the 10:24 Nankai express to Koyasan. The next express departure time was at 11:02 so we ate lunch on a bench at the station. We hadn’t known that we had to ride the 10:24 express.
First, we went to Okunoin, which is the place where we believe Kobo Daishi still lives and meditaties. There are several hundreds of thousands of memorial stones and graves of various people, friend and foe alike from every era. For example, Shingen Takeda, Kenshin Uesugi, Nobunaga Oda and Mitsuhide Akechi and so on. Recently, there are many company memorial stones which have unique designs: rockets, coffee cups etc. In Okunoin, there are many big cedars and there is a distinctive atmosphere. We didn’t have time to explore slowly, so I was disappointed.

Fujinomori shrine

On May 5th I went to Fujinomori shrine with the Tour Club. The shrine is famous for Kake-uma Shinji, a Shinto Event involving acrobatic performances on horse-back.
I have seen it on the TV news but actually seeing it live was wonderful and the horses were very beautiful.
There were 7 types of acrobatic horse riding performance but many of them failed. The announcer said that the horses were borrowed from the horse racing association the riders had almost no rehearsal In fact, it looked like the horses were nervous. But I was satisfied because horses were beautiful and I realized that acrobatic performances on horse-back were very difficult.
The announcer sounded irritated which was worrisome.
This event has continued since the Edo period but it has had various problems: lack of participants, money and accidents.
The horse is a very nervous animal. Furthermore, for this event there is a special Japanese style of saddle that the horses are not used to, the riders are not accustomed to the horses and there is a crowd. The announcer repeated the announcement “please do not use a flash” but there was a person who used a flash during the performance. I thought it’s no wonder that the announcer is nervous.

omnipotent healthy juice

Recently I drink omnipotent healthy juice every morning. It’s made from carrots, apple, komatsuna, banana, bittern, vitamin C, citric acid, linseed oil, sesame and oligosaccharide. I found the recipe when I was looking for a way to cure headaches. I often have a headache when I have too much sleep. One day I read an article which  said “Headaches are healed with citric acid.” So I searched for citric acid and I found omnipotent healthy juice.

It is said that the juice has a good effect on the diet, improves of allergies and resolves constipation etc. There are three reasons for this:

1 The juice replaces scarce vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

2 It is good for healthy intestinal bacteria.

3 It helps the autonomic nervous system to work correctly.

If you want to have effects please only drink this juice at breakfast. Recently I don’t have a headache but I don’t know whether this is because of my diet. I started drinking the juice about two weeks ago.  

Shimonita

On March 17^th, my husband and I went to Shimonita in Gunma prefecture. Shimonita has been certified as a geopark, which is a nature park where the history of the land and its relationship with the people is known from the terrain and geology.

First I was interested in Shimonita, I knew that the best Median tectonic line in Kanto can be seen there and it’s near my parents’ house. I serched for Shimonita on the internet and I found Shimonita has many traces of volcanic activity and crustal movement.

In particular I was interested in Nenashiyama which is a mountain made from two strata where the old stratum is riding on top of the new stratum. Unfortunately we don’t know how those mountains were created. If it is discovered, we will understand the secret of the Japanese archipelago’s creation. Knowing this I can feel an ancient wonder in Shimonita. But if you only look at this scenery without any of this knowledge all you can see is the scenery.

 

Imajo 365 ski resorts

About two weeks ago I went skiing at Imajo 365 ski resorts in Fukui Prefecture. That day the weather was nice but the day before was rainy so the snow slopes were rough. I rented skis. They were carving skis and it was the first time that I used carving skis. I expected the carving skis to be easy to use because I had heard carving skis turned easily but I didn’t think there was so much difference.
I was wearing a woolen hat, mirror type goggles and ski face mask. When I was near the lifts a primary school child looked back at me and the same thing happened twice more. I noticed the reason when I took photos of myself. My appearance was like a cartoon character.
I ate lunch at a restaurant. There were three old men at the table next to mine and I could hear their voices. I found out that one of the men was 84 years old. I had been surprised when I heard that an 85 year old man could play table tennis but this time I was more surprised and I became happy.

loquat leaf tea

Recently I have drunk loquat leaf tea because I knew it had a lot of health benefits.

The loquat leaf seems to be known as a cure for all kinds of diseases from time immemorial. I didn’t know that so I researched loquat health benefits on the internet.

I found that not only the loquat fruit but also the seed and leaf have a lot of health benefits.

There is a loquat tree in the garden of my father-in-law’s home so I will make loquat liqueur and loquat tea. The loquat liqueur is made from loquat seed and it is very simple to make but the health benefits are greater than loquat leaf.