Takayama exploration

Day 7 - Takayama exploration

Takayama

Friday, 4 July 2014

The Rickshaw Inn does the best breakfast of our holiday so far! I can't remember how much it was but the price must have been Ok for me to have booked it. I was worried that it would be Japanese style but it was a very pleasant continental breakfast. Salad, boiled eggs, cheese, bread, jam, yoghurt and coffee (apple juice for Michael). We wanted to get to the I site down the road for the free English walking tour at 9.00am. We got there just before 9.00 to find the site closed with a sign that they don"t open until 10.00. Then on their walking sign it was written that bookings were essential. We were in the process of getting a little grumpy at the lady from the other I site when a lady turned up, asked us if we had a booking, disappeared inside ..came outside again ready to be our guide. It was just us!

So off we went..next door to the temple. She explained the shrine outside the temple and the Sorubobo and the Jizi status. Here are some web extracts I have found.

The original sarubobo, or faceless dolls, were red and said to resemble a monkey. Hence, in this prefecture, the meaning of ‘saru’ in Japanese is monkey and ‘bobo’ is either doll or baby. It does differ in other regions, quite considerably but I’ll leave that up to you to check.

The sarubobo are an amulet to bring good luck to the receiver. They are faceless dolls, and there is considerable discussion as to why this is so.

Traditionally it is believed that they were all red and faceless, so that the face of whomever you were thinking about could be attached to the faceless doll.

- See more at: http://www.contentedtraveller.com/the-sarubobo-or-faceless-dolls-of-japan/#sthash.GJNCLLJh.dpuf

One of the things you’ll commonly come across in Japan are little statues, usually dressed in a red bib, called Ojizo-sama. They tend to be small and can be usually found along roadsides, around temples, and in cemeteries. So what do they mean? The ojizosama statues are one of the most popular Japanese divinities and are seen as the guardian of children (note their baby-like faces), particularly of children who died before their parents. What tourists usually find amusing are the red bibs that are commonly seen hanging on the statues. This practice is said to have begun when grieving parents put their child’s bib on the statue in hopes it would protect the child in the other world. Sometimes they even put toys and cartoon figurines around ojizosama, who are also said to be protecting children from illness.

The Japanese believe that all living and non-living things have a life and soul. That’s why they often dress up ojizosama statues in hats or some other type of clothing to protect them from cold weather. Ojizosama are also believed to protect firefighters and travellers. Thus, these statues can be even seen along lone roads. Particularly in Kyoto, there are something over 5000 of ojizosama statues.

We had seen one of these Jizu statues on our walk in Kiso so it was good to know about it. The shrine was Shinto (all shrines are Shinto Akene said) and the temple was Buddhist. It seems that the temples are mainly for funerals where the shrines are more for everyday and happy things. It is almost a combination of ancestor worship and animism.

The temple had a tree that was I think 1600 years old. Older than all the buildings in the temple as they all seemed if have been destroyed by fire and then rebuilt. In my photos I show a Jisu in the tree. The tree because of it's old roots reminds them of old women's breasts and women come to pray there for good breast milk. When we were at the main building of the temple Michael recognised the Japanese numbers 1,2 and 3. Akene was very impressed. She explained that they drawers Michael was looking at were 'fortunes'. You may your money, take a straw which tells you your number. You take a fortune from a drawer and then you read your fortune and tie it to a tree. In this case it was a man made 'tree'

We then wandered down one of the side streets and Akene pointed out good shops as we walked. In this street (which we had walked down the night before) there were a few statues. One was a cat who is welcome you in to the shops. I think if her left hand is up it signals a sale. The others were if firefighters who were carrying pick axes. The way to fight a fire in the old days (and quite likely today too) is to pull the building down to create a fire break. We often hear stories of fire because most of the old buildings we see are built out of wood. We also stopped by a neighbourhood shrine where Akene explained how people come to the shrine and what they do and how they buy their 'wishes'.

We went to one of the morning markets. In this market everything has to be from a farmerans handmade. The produce looked amazing and Akane explained goods to us as we asked . We then wandered through the old merchant houses. We went into one shop. The shops weren't very wide (because you were taxed depending on how wide your home was) but they are very deep. You have the shop, then the fireplace (where the family lived). In this one you go past the fireplace to a cafe which looked out to the interior garden. Then there is the storehouse which is one of the reasons the garden is there - to protect in case of fire. The storehouse has thick mud walls.

We also went into a miso shop and tried their miso. Miso is made differently in every area. The Takayama miso is a combination of dark and light. Finally we walked to a Sake brewery. You can tell it is a sake brewery from the big cedar ball outside. When it is green the sake has just been brewed and when it is brown the sake is ready (I think that is how it works anyway!). There used to be over 50 breweries in Tanakawa but now only 7. It is very good sake there because the rice is so good due to the temperatures (hot during the day and cool at night) and the quality of the water. We saw how sake is made and had a sake tasting. It was great! And that was the end of our free tour. It was pretty darn good!

We had a lunch of Hida beef donburi and headed to the train station to catch the bus to the Hida folk village. The is a village where many of the old houses of the area have been moved to to preserve the heritage. In particular we wanted to see the Gasso style houses that they have in Shirakawa-Go as it didn't seem that we were going to make it there. We had a pleasant few hours exploring this village and playing with the old fashion toys (tops and stilts). It is definitely worth while.

Back to the Inn to dry some more washing, enjoy some wine and read a good book. The. We decided we were ready for some western food so headed for a French style place down the road. Funnily...the menu was in French and Japanese but no French or English translation of the Plat du Jour and nome of the staff spoke French ( and very little English). Service was slow but food was good. I had steak frites...it was NZ or Aussie steak (!!) as the local beef started at 4000yen!

	Sarubobo at the shrine [Map]		Photo 1 [Map]
	Photo 2 [Map]		Photo 3 [Map]
	Photo 4 [Map]		Photo 5 [Map]
	Photo 6 [Map]		Photo 7 [Map]
	Photo 8 [Map]		Photo 9 [Map]
	Photo 10 [Map]		Photo 11 [Map]
	Photo 12 [Map]		Photo 13 [Map]
	Photo 14 [Map]		Photo 15 [Map]
	Photo 16 [Map]		Photo 17 [Map]
	Photo 18 [Map]		Photo 19 [Map]
	Photo 20 [Map]

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