Yesterday's cloud meant no second visit to the Zen garden - but other activities were just as enjoyable. And I'm having to change my plans for the beginning of next week too.
I'd originally thought I'd get some trains and do a little dash west across to Takamatsu on the Inland sea. My romantic dream was to take ferries across to two islands, Naoshima and Teshima - which are filled with art installations. Teshima particularly captured my imagination as it is home to a perforated dome that covers a floor of hygroscopic concrete - the way the water is repelled and moves and creates patterns is apparently something very worth seeing.
I'd imagined crystalline cobalt skies with clouds of perfect shape as I viewed this wonder. No such luck. In this, the typhoon season, the two days scheduled for my visit are due to bring heavy rain and high winds; not good for bobbing about on ferries - even if they run at all. Apparently the trains shut down at any hint of inclement weather...and it wouldn't do to be stranded on the wrong side of Japan.....
Thank heavens for the flexibility of Booking.com.....where reservations can be rescinded without repercussions! AND for the joy of walking wifi...my little bit of kit hired at Narita airport which allows for connectivity by email. English phones don't work here.
So, at this moment I'm planning to spend the nights of 12th and 13th in Tokyo too.....
I wandered up the road to the museum - everything labelled in Japanese but nice to look at (!) and caught a live rendition of the famous Gifu festival dancing - odori - by a couple of charming ladies who were entertaining a senior citizens tour group ( and very appreciative they were too)
Anyway, instead of drawing, Lou had organised another arty activity for me. We visited a delightful lady at the Takara Gallery who spoke excellent English (after living in NZ) and we could discuss the subtleties of linguistics; " Americans don't say they are ' keen on things'" she said incredulously.
We'd come to make tenugui; long strips of cotton that traditionally Gujo people use in various ways - to wash themselves, wipe down tables, dry dishes....But they're not ordinary bits of cloth- they're decorated with screen printed patterns. What I didn't know, as a bit of a screenprinter myself, is that Gujo was the birthplace of the art in Japan.
Inevitably, the process was simplified - we had ready-made screens to use but could choose the way we combined pattern, ink colour and cloth colour. She had a 'vocabulary' of Autumn designs- the fish available now; the flowers in season etc....and as a final flourish we could add our personalised kanji character as a signature.
It was all very soothing - and the music in the background was Jamie Cullum ; " I looked at the cloud this morning and thought we needed English music," she said!
Proud of our artistic achievements, Lou and I went off for a little light shopping - mainly gifts for others of course - but I can't help loving the fact that most hemlines here don't need a foot lopping off them! We sat and drank a mini bottle of milk outside the museum; Gujo milk is famed. And lovely it is too - simultaneously creamy and light.
The Japanese diet is famously healthy - that is if you don't eat too much! Lou has been giving me a culinary tour; we've tried okonomiyaki - delicious savoury pancake topped with bonito flakes and garnished with pickled ginger and the rather untraditional ice cream sandwich - yep, literally ice cream between a hot 'English muffin'....And yesterday evening we had sashimi, tofu, fried chicken and shrimp tempura starter followed by ayu rice; ayu is the famed local fish. It has an ' interesting' texture - a little granular. Anyway, after all those starters we were running out of steam and our kind serving lady took pity on us and made up a take home bag.....It was an excellent breakfast. Later today, I was introduced to kakigori - a mound of shaved ice covered with, in my case, mango puree and chunks and condensed milk. Louise's had green tea and red bean paste (far more grown up!)
We ate all this in a delightful tea room overlooking a traditional garden - with background music ranging from All You Need Is Love to Fool on a Hill.
And, today I managed a pencil drawing from my window and I did get back to paint the Zen garden in the sun.
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