Koyasan and Kyoto

Last week, for the long weekend I went to Koyasan in Wakayama Prefecture. Koyasan is a home to an active community of Buddhist monks who study and practice Esoteric Buddhism. It was founded twelve centuries ago by Kobo Daishi on the top of Mount Koya which is surrounded by eight other mountains, symbolizing a lotus flower.  It is a very peaceful and serene place.

It is difficult to get to Koyasan so I decided to stay overnight. I stayed in Eokin Temple which was build 1200 years ago. Above is a picture of the garden that my room lead off to. The temple was very beautiful and the monks were so friendly and interesting to talk to.  

There are many shrines and temples to walk around. My favorite was this Tori-gate shrine (below), it was quite dilapidated but I think that added character and it led to a beautiful cedar forest.

After dinner on my first day, I walked through the cemetery which is the final resting place for many famous Japanese Lords, Lady's, Monks, Priest and poets. It was very eerie but spiritual. The cemetery is set among an ancient ceder forest and the trees are hundreds of years old which creates a mystical feeling.

The next day I attended a fire ceremony at Eokin Temple, it was a very unique experience.

After breakfast in my room, which was a delicious vegetarian feast with tofu I went to see the other Temples. I walked through the cemetery again to the Mausoleum of Kobo Daishi which is the most sacred place in Koyasan because this is where his body is enshrined. I couldn't take picture there but it was a very beautiful temple. Below shows the Buddha statues at the entrance, people throw water from the river on the statues to pray for the dead.

I viewed a lot of the other temples but couldn't take many pictures.

The next day I went to Kyoto to see the Maple leaves at Tofuku-ji Temple. The weather was perfect and the colours of the leaves were breathtaking. This was the first time I'd gone to Kyoto for Maple viewing and it was worth it.

Daidogei World Cup

Sorry I haven't been able to post in a few weeks. However, I would like to tell you about the Daidogei World Cup in Shizuoka city. It is an event held in Shizuoka every year to promote performance art and street performers. There are many crazy things happening over the four days that the event is held. I attended only one day but I got to see a lot.

This first act I watched was this French couple who were doing acrobatics on roller-skates. It actually made me nervous watching them because I thought she would fall, but it all went well. They were probably one of my favourite acts.

Then I watched this guy in the crazy costume walk on a tight rope while doing tricks. His partner also did tricks lots of hula hoops and one giant hoop but unfortunately there is a problem uploading her video.

The last event I watched was these two brothers who I enjoyed a lot. They were very playful with the audience and had a lot of charisma. Most of their tricks were balancing one another and acrobatics, but they also had a storyline to their act. They played the rolls of bank robbers who'd fallen out after their robbery. Apparently they won last year.

Congratulations to Speech Contest Contestants

Last weekend was the second round of the Shizuoka English Speech Contest. As you will know from my earlier post, Kanako Aoyama got through to this round. She has been working tirelessly on improving her intonation and pronunciation. However, she didn't go through to the next round. I was very sad for her but extremely proud of her and her speech, 'Life after Mental Illness'. It was a difficult and personal subject but she presented it brilliantly. Working with her for the past few months has been delightful and I hope that by practicing for the contest her confidence in using English has increased. 

All the students speeches were interesting and well spoken. The competition was very high and I believe that the scores were all extremely close. Congratulations goes to Keiko Yamashita from Hamamatsu Kita whose speech, 'Why can't we talk face-to-face?', was excellently presented. Good luck in Tokyo. 

Lending a hand in Miyagi-ken

 Last weekend I went with a volunteer group to Tohoku with Habitat for Humanity Japan. My friend organised the trip and we left early afternoon on Friday. We stayed in Tagajo at the Habitat house which was donated to them for volunteers. Usually Habitat builds houses in less developed countries but since the Tsunami last year they have been helping restore houses and help people in the Tohoku area.

 On the first morning we passed by the docks and I was delighted to see these amazing boats that were used to celebrate the summer festival this August.

On our first day we went to Watanabe-san's house, which we were surprised find was right beside the sea. There was only a small lane between his house and shore but the his house was mostly intact. The top floor is perfect but the bottom floor needs to be completely gutted and everything replaced, walls, floors, electrical etc. Our job was to clear everything but to leave the wooden structure of the house, so we started on the walls. 

 The work wasn't too difficult and it was fun to get to bash in walls with a big hammer and crowbars. This is us on a break and we amused ourselves by playing on the swing Watanabe-san build for his granddaughter.

 This is our team on day one with Watanabe-san in the middle and the Habitat co-coordinator, Kosuke-san, on the right.

 By the end of the day we had made good progress and the wall were gutted in the dining room and kitchen. 

Watanabe-san checking out our work

 There was a huge pile of shells at the side of his house and we couldn't figure out what they were used for. We asked Watanabe-san and he said that he was an oyster farmer and he gave us an explanation into oyster farming. It was really interesting, they place lots of baby oysters into each shell and they are linked together between two ropes, then  put in the sea and the babies grow. Sounds simple but I'm betting it's not!

 The dock is broken due to the Tsunami so the oyster farmers have to park their boats further out and take a small boat to shore.

 We got to meet Watanabe-sans' wife, daughter and granddaughter who arrived as we left. His little granddaughter was so shy but very cute.

 This is still a lot of water inland which looks like lakes but its salt water. The ground has sunk so the water lies in these huge pools.

 The next day more volunteers arrived so we were split into two groups. My group with to Miyato Island to help move furniture at Mamo-sans house. Even though her house is near the sea it's a little higher than other so the Tsunami didn't do too much damage. However, the earthquake did and her house is sinking so they are lifting her house and fixing the foundations.

 When we arrived we found that the carpenters had moved most of the furniture so all we had to do was clear and sort the rubbish outside the house. 

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 Afterwards we walked around the area and found the beach which is about 3mins walk from her house. This is our group on day two and our co-ordinator is Hana-san, front right.

 Above is Kazuki and Kotaro pretending to be Harry Potter with driftwood. They were great guys and it was fun to work with them. There were lots of wildflowers in bloom and I noticed this little guy in one of them, below.

 The people who lived in this area are in temporary housing as nearly all the houses were washed away. The temporary houses are very small and not really appropriate for long term use, however it's estimated to be between 5-10 years before everyone will be out of temporary housing. I didn't take any picture of them because they are people homes and it felt invasive but they look like work huts you would usually see on building sites.The government determine where people can build their new homes but it takes along time to see decisions being made.

  In Mamo-sans area no new houses are allowed to be built only those still standing can be repaired. However there are workshops and warehouses being built by the government for the fishermen.(above and below) Mano-san is very happy to see this are now the area is busy around her house again.

 Afterwards we went to clean the beach near Watanabe-sans house. It was a very beautiful beach and apparently the area had been a holiday resort area with hotels and restaurants.

 I tried to get this wheel out of the sand but wasn't strong enough but Kotaro and his many muscles got it out.

 Habitat painted these shipping containers so that they would look more pleasant for people visiting the area. People in the area are hoping that they can rebuild the tourist industry again as it was their main source of income. One man uses his container to store the equipment he needs to take tourists out to the islands around the coast.

 In the afternoon we headed back to Watanabe-sans house to help the other group.

 By the end of the day we had finished nearly all the walls and made a start on the floors but it will be a few more days work before Habitat finishes the work for him.

 Watanabe-sans house is situated in a beautiful place but being so close to the sea he doesn't know if he will be granted government clearance to live there again. We asked him why he wanted to move back when so many are leaving and so few of his neighbors are left. (Only six families are trying to move back to his area) He says, he was born here and his ancestors were born here and he wants his grandchildren to continue living here. Its understandable and I hope he can move back home.

 Our whole group on day two with Watanabe-san and his wife.

 The next morning before we started our long journey home we went to Matsushima as its is ranked as one of the three best view in Japan. The bay is dotted with lots of little island and it is very beautiful.

 Afterwards we walked the path and entrance to Zuiganji Temple but didn't have time to enter. The shrines and stature around the temple were pretty and it was very peaceful.

 Leaving the peacefulness of the temple garden and a few hours later the hectic, stressful network of Tokyo's roads. If anyone understands this map without a satnav they are a genius, thank god for our satnav who we lovingly named Jo-Jo. The Tokyo Skytree view was very welcoming though!

 Seven tired but happy volunteers arriving home, four Shizuoka ALT's and three Yamanashi ALT's. It was a great experience and very rewarding, I really hope i will be able to volunteer again soon. I would also like to visit Tohoku as a tourist, possibly next spring.