Smalls SAL - March 2023

Thank You, Mary (at Mary's Thread) for hosting this link up. If you also want to join, check out this page on Mary's blog to find out how. 

This month, I finished the Lizzie Kate freebie called Hello Spring.  The chart can be found here.

Tsuruga Yama Museum

This museum is next to the Tsuruga Municipal Museum.

Information from the museum website :

Tsuruga Yama Museum for the conservation of Yama and telling the authenticity of Yama
It opened in 1997, May.

Tsuruga Yama Museum is a museum for the exhibition and conservation of great floats Yama which are used at Kehi Jingu shrine Festival. There are exhibited Yama of Tsuruga in the main building and documents and crafts related to the port town of Tsuruga in the building’s annex -former the Main Office Building of Owda Bank-. 

“ Yama “ means floats that move around the town on special occasions, displaying massive models of humans and animals. The Yama in the Tsuruga Festival is designated as a “Japan Heritage” by the Agency of Cultural Affairs. People participate in the Float festivals wishing for peace for their communities and protection against misfortune.

Yama Festival in Tsuruga has a long history and represents the prosperity of Tsuruga, local people have succeeded it to next-generation with great fervor. It could be argued that the Yama have been in Tsuruga by around the 1500s; Oda Nobunaga possibly has seen the festival in 1575. During WW II, a bomb attacked the city of Tsuruga and burned out a large number of Yama in 1945, July; the festival could not be carried out for some decade after WW II.

 Association for Conservation of Yama in Tsuruga has met since 1979 by needs for a revival of Yama, and three Yamas which have avoided bomb attack were restored completely. In 1994 other three Yamas were also reconstructed: a total of six restored Yamas were perfected as before burning.

Thus Tsuruga Yama Museum was opened for conservation and exhibition Yama: now six Yama are conservated in the backyard of the museum, and three of them are exhibited on the first floor.　

There is a combination ticket for both this and the Municipal Museum for 500 yen or each museum for 300 yen. I opted for the combo ticket.

Some of the items in the first room are hands on. Visitors are invited to try on these costumes.

Other things are not allowed to be touched.

The next room with the Yama Floats is two stories high. You can view them from the both the first and the second floors.

This is a really interesting display! After leaving this museum, I walked to my hotel, which was next to the train station.

Work in Progress Wednesday

Another Jeannette Douglas freebie - chart found here.

Progress on the Betsy Morgan piece

New Start - - Hello Spring - a Lizzie Kate freebie, chart found here.

New Start - Snowman ornament, stitched on "Bucilla Brass Stitchable".

Tsuruga Municipal Museum

Information from the Tsuruga Municipal Museum website: 

The building of the Tsuruga Municipal Museum was formerly the second main office of the Owada Bank, which was established by Owada Shoshichi in 1927. It used to be the center of politics and economy in Tsuruga.

The construction of the bank’s main office started in 1925 and was completed in 1927. It is a three-floor building and has a basement. The building was constructed using bricks and concrete with a steel frame.

After World War II, the Owada Bank was merged with other local banks, and in 1977, its building was donated to the municipal corporation of Tsuruga.The museum started as the Tsuruga Folklore Archives Center in 1978. However, the interior and the structure had started to decay at that time.

The project for the building’s restoration started in 2004. The aim was to restore the structure to the original condition of Owada Bank. In 2015, the project was completed and building reopened as Tsuruga Municipal Museum. In 2017, this building was designated as an Important Cultural Property by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs.

There are three floors of museum exhibits, but photos were not allowed in many areas.

This is the famous elevator.

Japan has a mixture of ancient and modern historical sites.

Monday Morning Star Count

This week, I made a combination pin cushion/needle book from some  Japanese fabric hexagons. A little button holds the tiny needle book closed.

Top

Bottom

Open

I like it but I might make a second one with cotton fabric. The Japanese fabric is pretty but doesn't have enough body.

Kehi Jingu Shrine

Kehi Jingu Shrine, said to have been built in the year 702, is the chief guardian shrine of the old Hokuriku-do region.  It is dedicated to seven Shinto deities.  The eleven meter tall torii gate is registered as an Important Cultural Property and is one of Japan's three greatest wooden torii gates, with Nara's Kasuga-taisha Shrine and Hiroshima's Itsukushima Shrine.

The ground was wet and the sky dark, but it wasn't raining while I was at the shrine.

This isn't a Christmas tree. The pole and ropes protect the tree limbs from heavy winter snow.