Patchie and the Giant Peach…

Well. more of a traffic cone than a peach. But still very big…

We had fun

Myself, Patchie and Megumi. Just before I took patchie off to the airport.

Bubble Man II – Soda Planet

My life is richer knowing that Bubble Man II is out there, keeping the Soda Planet safe from harm.

Buddhas on the road

Today, Megumi took us out to temple #4, in Yokoze. It’s known for the many, many statues of the buddha, and kannon (quan-yin), large and small, filling its grounds.

Patchie!

Apologies for the lack of posts. Patchie is here 🙂

A week of Chichibu and the festival, then off to Kyoto we went. A small hiccup in the form of being told our rail passes were invalid when we tried to use them – we immediately contacted our travel agent, who contacted the issuer, who pointed out the fine print saying they must be used within 3 months of issue… the result being that we paid for shinkansen tickets to Kyoto, and will get the price of the passes refunded when we get back to Aus. Travel agent was very embarrassed.

Here are a few choice bits of Kyoto.

First up is the Bruce Pee “Ill Store” (Extra Dope Wear Select Store)

Sadly the khaki-camo, puffer-jacketed, baggy-panted, cornrow-dreaded shop attendant was incapable of standing still, so he is a bit blurry. Just extrapolate from the shopfront and you should be ok though.

We discovered that they put some very strange stuff in the air in bike tyres here. either that or it was something in the water we were drinking…

Someone with great senses of drama and humour designed the signage that is stuck onto the smoker’s butt-bins in designated smoking areas.

Theres a whole set of these – more to follow in another post.

Back to Tokyo after 3 nights, for a couple of nights staying with friends in Tokyo. Here’s a “Where’s Wally” image for you. Patchie on the famous Shibuya crossing…

Some Japanese pink…

We walked from Ebisu, where we were staying, to Harajuku and back, on a rainy Saturday. Yoyogi Park, normally teeming with Japanese and tourists having fun outdoors was completely empty. The rain also knocked a lot of the already ready-to-drop leaves from trees. The yellow in this photo is ginko leaves…

The crazy fashion kids were a bit subdued by the weather in Harajuku, but we did visit a few of the more interesting shops. Favourites was the Punk shop, where despite the Sex Pistols playing on the shop speakers, it was a far cry from tradtional English punk – not a splotch of vomit to be seen, and any rips and creases placed with zen-garden precision. Very amusing.

No photos allowed however. I did manage to sneak off a shot in a crazy costume shop though.

Autumn in Kyoto, Part 1

After visiting Tom, I headed for Kyoto. This time of year it’s especially beautiful – the colours are just luminous…

The first morning, I visited a place called Nanzen-ji, in the east, and followed a trail up behind the temple way up into the mountains. Right on the top was a wonderful, dense forest of tall, slender trees – cypress or cedar, maybe. I couldn’t resist pulling out the flute and playing for a while.

Partway up the trail, I came across this. Its a waterfall shower, for brave monks who wish to get closer to nature…

It looked like it would be quite refreshing. The kind of refreshing where you feel so alive you can only stand it for a split second before involuntarily leaping around yelling, flapping your arms and gasping for breath… 🙂

Later, I trekked out to one of my favourite places in all of Japan – Koto-in. I’d timed my trip perfectly and the garden was stunning.

Beishu Mei Shakuhachi

Weekend before last, I went and stayed with Tom Deaver, at his place up in the mountains above Matsukawa, in Nagano. He had been out visiting friends, so he picked me up from a train station half way there, and I got to enjoy a great scenic drive up(down?) the river valley and then up to his place.

Autumn was in full swing, and the colours were great – there had been a strong wind through a day or so before, and the less-travelled roads up near his place were literally carpeted yellow.

Tom is a Shakuhachi maker, and my 2.4 flute was made by him – obtained on my last visit, a year ago. This is his workshop:

A wonderful, comfortable place, up high in the barn attached to his house. during the day, it looks out, more or less onto the view in the previous photo. Tom told me that over in that mass of green somewhere is a temple, and at a certain time of the day, the light reflected off the temple’s roof shines directly in the window.

In the evening, Tom left me up there to play, and try any flute I liked, finished or not – a wonderful experience to play so many flutes back to back. Very quickly I found a 1.8 flute that seemed to really stand out for me – I found it easy to get a good strong sound, while still having a lovely woody, airy natural voice. It was by far the flute I most enjoyed playing – much more like my 2.4 in character than my current 1.8.

There was another flute there that I also liked – a 1.8 that was ‘nobe’ – translates as ‘total’ – meaning it was a single piece of bamboo – not in two pieces with a centre joint like most shakuhachi.

The next morning, Tom told me about wanting to take closeup pictures of some of the detail in the bamboo and joints of the flutes, and so I took a bunch of flutes outside and took some for him…

the next two shots are not flutes, but the root-ball of the bamboo that is cut off the end when the bamboo is being prepared.

Normally something that would be chucked out, Tom has polished a few of them up – a deceptively large amount of work – and they are just wonderful things to pick up, hold and look at.

After lunch, it was time to go – I had plans to be in Kyoto, though in that present reality I would much rather have just stayed there. Maybe next visit… I really enjoyed the time spent there with him. Cheers, Tom.

Sunrise Dreaming

Sunset, Moonrise, Sunrise

This is where I watch the sunset from, most days. When I first arrived, this field was full of tall grass and other plants, well over my head. At the end of summer, a local farmer comes out in his tractor and mows it. by the end of next summer, it will be over my head again. Its a lovely spot, and there is a regular bunch of people who always seem to be around just on sunset. I think we all belong to Sunset Club.

I’ve been neglecting the blog a little – not for lack of things to write and photos to show, but the opposite. So much stuff the weight of it is overwhelming. So I took a bit of a break.

Tomorrow I’m teaching a bunch of high school kids some basic shakuhachi along with one of Kakizakai’s other students. Saturday and Im off into the mountains of Nagano to see Tom Deaver again, the flutemaker who made my long flute. From there on to Kyoto, to really soak up some Autumn colour and revisit a few favourite places. 🙂

The photo below is actually sunrise, very near my house one misty morning last week. More to come soon. I promise…

12k/line tour – Ryoudenji Temple

What can I say, really. Ive been wanting to see Richard Chartier and Taylor Deupree play live for a very long time. Both number amongst the few artists whose new works I buy unheard.

And Ryouden-ji! what a wonderful venue for such music. From what I gathered talking to Richard, the son of the resident monk is a music lover, and the monk himself seems to wholeheartedly support his son’s efforts to bring musical events to the temple. All up a pretty rare combination.

It was quite a hike from Chichibu – three trains, then bike. The event was supposed to start at 4, but I got there very early – about 2pm.

They were still setting up, so I headed up behind the temple to do some flute practice. It was lovely to hear the playful sound checks – It sunk in then that this was to be a pretty special gig. Someone was playing lovely patterns on a vibraphone, and I played along quietly on the shakuhachi for a while.

I finally met Richard Chartier, who ive talked to on email, and we chatted for ages. His music has always been a source of inspiration and an object of contemplation – quiet and subtle, even when at times confronting and intense. I made him a piece of jewellery a while back, and in return, he gave me a bunch of CDs of his (at the time) unreleased work. He’s as lovely and as interesting in person as his music suggests.

His set was great – all the lights out – and the incidental sounds of the night – crickets, people talking, a PA announcement echoing through the streets – all blended in beautifully. When he started to play, the crowd was scattered, and lots of people were in the courtyard talking. by the time he finished, it was dead silent, and everyone was rapt.

Richard also introduced me to Taylor Deupree, another long time favourite artist, who I was surprised to find knew my name from all the email ive sent buying CD’s from 12k and Line. He said it was always nice to put faces to the names and email address of the people that buy his work over time.

Also a very warm and relaxed guy, we chatted on and off during the night. He performed with Tetsuro Yasunaga, from Minamo, and together they made a gorgeous piece from sounds fed into their systems live through a mic. bells, some kind of squeezebox, thumb piano, harmonica, all blended together and reworked into something a lot more than just a collection of sounds.

The temple setting really seemed to bring something special out of all the artists. A much more appropriate venue for this kind of music and listening than a pitch-black painted smoky club with sticky floors and nowhere to sit.

For me, the big surprise of the evening were “Trico!” (pronounced Toh-Ree-Coh) – A duo of guy on double bass, and a woman who played accordion, toy piano, harmonium and also sang. Their whimsical warmth and brilliant musicianship gently knocked me off my feet. Very deeply moved.

Things wound up, and people slowly wandered off. I chatted to Richard and Taylor, thanked everyone for their performances, and then headed off on the bike to find a local park to camp in 🙂

Camping, suburban Tokyo style. I got up early next morning, and played on the trains for a while. Morning peak hour with my bike in its bike bag was interesting. but I got home, still on a huge high from the event that has continued on since.

And, riding back from where I camped near the temple, to the train station, i also found what is now my favourite manhole cover so far…