Clicked En Route

Apart from the people and the home-
cooked food, this is why I love the country: the views. Sky unadult-
erated by arrogant high-rises or the fog of lifestyle excesses. It reminds me of the small town in Germany where I lived for a year, though in my picture you can't see the roads and power lines (no city in Japan is free of those). Thankfully, though, unlike other cities, in Matsumoto you can bike far enough away to get past that unsightliness and enjoy the natural color display.


Here's a traditional Buddhist family grave. It has the two black pillars with individual names, two small black boxes for incense and water offerings with a small white box for flower arrangements in between (very small, brown flowers), and a tiny statue of a Buddha on the right.


OK, OK, a tourist shot. However, Matsumoto-jou is gorgeous enough that I don't feel bad coming off my high horse of snobbery. Though originally built to face gunpowder weapons, it never saw battle and is still beautifully preserved. Another reason it is well-preserved and -designed lies in the Japanese utilization of castles: they weren't houses, even for the nobility, but armored forts serving as pure displays of prestige in peacetime.


On the other hand, this gassho-
zukuri farm house at an open-air museum was well-used as a communal residence & storage facility. These type of buildings are quite famous both in world architecture and this area, but what really struck me when I visited them is the smell: fires are kept burning in them every night so that the lumber is kept in close-to-original condition.


I could fill this whole post with nature pictures, but they really don't need commentary (which says something about my writing vs. God's creation). However, I will add that water is fundamental to the Japanese conception of nature, which can be seen even in Zen gardens; rock "flows" often stand in for streams. Even in such places, though, a small trickling ornament is usually added for that critical sound effect.


Here's a very atmos-
pheric Shinto shrine in Takayama, with two guardian stone dogs right and left of the torii or bird gate. One dog is making an "aah" sound and the other a "nnn" sound with its mouth, the reason being that these are the A and Z of the phonetic alphabets and represent an attempt to protect against all calamities.


This small statue was just too cool. I'm not in the West anymore...and it is possible for men to look manly in a robe.

Check out the traditional geta [wooden thonged footwear, which combine a flat sole with 1-3" high platforms] which are still worn by apprentices to the sumo and geisha professions as well as by those who prefer the dress of older days.




Finally, a picture to show off my recessed left toe--the badge of my mutant status--but I have no idea why standing on small plastic pegs is thought to be good for your feet.