Red Snow

 

 

For you,
I went out to the fields
to pick the first spring greens-
all the while on my sleeves
a light snow falling.
- Emperor Kōkō 光孝天皇 Kōkō-tennō (830 – August 26, 887) the 58th Emperor of Japan. From The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu 小倉百人一首.

In Nepal red is an auspicious colour. It is a the colour of life and vibrancy. Brides wear red when they get married and not the white like in the western tradition where it symbolises purity. We put red tika on our foreheads as a blessing. And women wear red during Teej festival rejoicing the joy of life. Yes, red is definitely my colour of choice.

In Japan I have seen red being used in a different way than I am used to. More sparingly and with that typical finesse that is so natural in Japanese culture. A bench with red blanket set in a sea of green. Red bridges over babbling brooks are more common, but I do not know why they are coloured so. Or a red mat under the zen-black of a tea ceremony set. I could go on and on. Nuanced use of red creates a dramatic effect. One is drawn not so much to the red per se but to the totality of the scene. That splash of red serves to focus the visual sensation of the looker but actually accentuates the scene.

I went into a dark forest of green and found splashes of red. Perhaps that is the light snow falling on me. I am thankful for that red snow.

Images: At Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo 椿山荘 (May 2013)

Bridging the Stones

  

 

You would be forgiven if you thought that Kurume 久留米市 ,a small city in Kyushu, had nothing going for it. Till about a year ago, I had not even heard about it though, unwittingly, over the years I had been using its most famous product.

Recently I got an opportunity to visit Kurume. For such a small place its list of achievements is impressive indeed. Indigo dyed cloth called Kurume Kasuri, invented by a young girl named Inoue Den, is famous throughout Japan. As is ramen noodles and pork soup of Kurume.

Bridgestone tyre company was founded in Kurume. Over the years I had been using tyres from this company without any knowledge of where and how the company had been established.  The first Japanese American millionaire, George Shima, was born in Kurume. At one time he accounted for 85% of California's potato crop and was called the Potato King. Singer and actress Seiko Matsuda and TV personality Rena Tanaka are also from Kurume. And these are just a few....there are others.

Not bad for a small city of 300,000 people!

My visit was really short and in this short time I was taken by my friend to see ruins of Kurume castle of the Arima clan. There one can still see the walls built with massive stones and can get an idea of how extensive it must have been. Inside, only Sasayama Shrine remains. 

In between we managed to squeeze time for tea and ramen and a visit to the most friendly antique shop. At the end of the day, products made of Kurume Kasuri was in my bag too.

What makes Kurume tick? The university set in its midst? Or the working culture? Can do attitude? Its friendly people? I am not sure but I am pretty sure that it will continue to produce some fine people and products.


Images: 

Top: Stained glass window at Kurume station

Second from top: Tea and sweets at a tea room in Kurume

Third from top: A traditional Japanese Torii 鳥居 at the Kurume castle leading to the shrine. 

(The gate is symbolic of the transition from the profane to the sacred in a Shinto shrine)

Bottom: Looking down from the castle rampart.

May 2013

Tea Space-time

 

 

 間 is an interesting character in Japanese. Till writing this blogpost I thought it only meant a door or an entrance. Apparently it can also be used in conjunction with space, time, interval, pause, leisure, room, apartment amongst other words!

So when I was invited for a rendezvous over tea at Chacha-No-Ma 茶茶の間  I thought the meaning of the name of the tea room was a "Gateway to Tea", though I was confused why there were two characters for tea in the name, 茶茶.  

Chacha-No-Ma was a really pleasant experience and the company made it more pleasurable. The tea brewing master of the house, Kitagawa san 北川さん, was very much on top of the game and gave a skillful performance with the brew. One can produce the best tea in the world but if the brewing is incorrect then all the effort of the people in making that tea is really wasted: from the time the tea plant was in the nursery, to planting and taking care of the bush through the years and the efforts of the girls plucking the teas and the tea master and the helpers making that tea. Not to speak of the logistics.

For me, most serendipitous thing was when I asked him which teas he liked, he replied, without much hesitation, that he really liked teas from Jun Chiyabari.That was music to my ears!

After he found out that I was from Jun Chiyabari, he brewed various other interesting and delicious Japanese teas including Goishi-cha 碁石茶 or the so called Japanese style Pu-erh tea from Shikoku. And also a most delicious infusion of green tea with lavender, mint and other ingredients which I shall keep secret. But, as can be seen from the images, there is no secret that I also enjoyed the matcha ice cream. 

Perhaps the true meaning of Chacha-No-Ma 茶茶の間 is "The Wormhole to Tea Space-time continuum". And the double chacha 茶茶 in the name? Perhaps, like many things in astrophysics, we are destined never understand that either!

Images:

At the tea room, Chacha-No-Ma 茶茶の間 in Omotesando, Tokyo with Kitagawa san (May 2013)

http://www.chachanoma.com/

Ebony & Ivory

 

Ebony and ivory,
Live together in perfect harmony,
Side by side on my piano keyboard,
Oh, Lord, why don't we?

Lyrics: Paul McCartney 

Sung by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder.

Released March 1982

In Shizuoka 静岡県 I came across some really fascinating tea bushes. In a large field there were hundreds of different tea cultivars. Within that, one small section had some tea bushes with really dark leaves and another section had white / creamish / yellow leaves. In a sea of green it was easy to make out the cream coloured leaves from a distance. Just a few metres away was this patch with really dark leaves which was equally if not more impressive.

Surely they were different cultivars and both were really interesting for me. Unfortunately due to language difficulty I could not ask which variety these two were. Due to confidentiality issues I cannot reveal the exact location where these two grow in perfect harmony.

 

Just a small thank you to all those who made it possible for me to see Ebony and Ivory.

Images: Two different tea cultivars in Shizuoka, Japan. (May 2013)

 

Himalayan Evergreen 2012

 

Listening to the wind, to the rain,
the day of Qingming fleeing,
I try to write, like an earlier poet,
an ode to buried petals....

-Wu Wenying (ca. 1212 - ca. 1272) Wu was a poet during the Song dynasty.

Yesterday I tried Himalayan Evergreen from Jun Chiyabari. This particular one was from the 2012 spring harvest. Himalayan Evergreen is a tea that is really popular and well liked by customers all over the world. Even in a country like Japan where you get the best green teas, this tea is well liked.

The liquor was very light and very delicate. In the mouth it was almost sweet with no vegetal taste that is so common in green teas. The after taste left a lingering grape flavour which reminded me of a very special green tea that I had had near Mariko in Shizuoka in 2012.

Image: Himalayan Evergreen 2012 (April 2013)

Beitou 北投區, Taiwan

 

 

Now , the pavilion deserted,

there is no trace of her,

only the swallows twittering about bygones.

- Xin Qiji (28 May 1140–1207)

Xin was a Chinese poet, military leader, and statesman during the Song dynasty.

Beitou 北投區 is the famous hot springs district of Taipei. While it is always nice to spend a night or two at one of the hot spring hotels, the thing that really caught my eye was this aesthetically pleasing turn of the century red brick and wooden planks building. 

Beitou Hot Spring Museum was originally built as a public bathing house exactly 100 years ago in 1913 during the Japanese era in Taiwan. As a result it is a wonderful fusion of European and Japanese styles.

The ground floor is in European style complete with red bricks exterior and stained glass windows. The first floor is Japanese and has this big hall with tatami mats. Parts of the exterior of the first floor are covered in wooden planks.

I wonder if one of the stained glass is a depiction of Fuji-san 富士山. Or is that just my imagination?

Images: Exterior and interior of Beitou Hot Spring Museum. (January 2013)