I took the train into Tokyo one day recently and the first place I visited was Meiji Jingu Shrine.
After the emperor’s death in 1912, the shrine was built in 1920 to commemorate the virtues of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. The shrine's buildings were destroyed during World War II but rebuilt after a public fundraising effort. Over 100,000 trees were donated from all over Japan and planted by volunteers to create the 170 acre forest surrounding the shrine.
It was very hot the day I was there but there are plenty of shady walkways.
I’m really excited about this new project. Toki, who blogs at私がめがねをかけるとき, and I have agreed to each stitch a kogin piece. (She blogs in Japanese, but there is a translation button on the top left under the title, if you don’t read Japanese.)
We are working on patterns from this book, which is available from Amazon. Since this is a Japanese stitching technique, Toki suggested we use the Japanese theme of the Four Seasons. She chose four patterns from this book and chose main and supporting colors for us. Each of the patterns have two variations to choose from and we will also each decide on our own threads. The finished project will be a wall hanging.
I am stitching from stash and not buying new materials in an attempt to downsize what I have. This piece of green kogin fabric is the right size for a set of wooden dowels I have, so that’s perfect. I will use a mixture of kogin threads and sashiko threads and have all the colors I need, so that is also good. I basted the fabric to divide the fabric sections for the four seasons and the top and bottom dowels. I have begun the Spring section with a variegated green sashiko thread from Olympus, and plan to have more to show next week. If you have this book, the chart for the spring design is C1 on page 92.
Christmas Treasures afghan progress
I completed three more squares, leaving two more plus the fringing to completely finish the afghan.
I am really liking my new stitch group project. This week I added the summertime Mt. Fuji and am now couching down some thread/string stuff to be some wispy clouds. This is the Shizuoka view of Mt. Fuji, showing the Hoei Crater on the right, in case you are wondering.
In Kawabe Town, Gifu Prefecture, a 53 year old woman was arrested for throwing raw eggs at her neighbor's house on two days. According to police, Yoshiko Kakamu is accused of harassing her neighbor by throwing multiple raw eggs at the neighbor's house on two different days in July.
Ms. Kakamu denied the allegations, but police have surveillance camera footage showing her throwing the eggs from a window in her house. (Japanese houses are close together in many places). The neighbor claims Kakamu has been throwing eggs regularly since December 2019. Kakamu was arrested on the same charges three years ago, but continued to commit similar acts since then.
The two women have been neighbors for 20 years.
I can't help but read the crime page of the Japan Today news. How does this stuff make national news? How is it that Ms. Kakamu continues to throw eggs at her neighbor for almost 5 years? What kind of punishment did she get when she was arrested three years ago? Curious minds want to know.
Did you ever have some kind of feud with a neighbor? How did it end?
I took a day trip to Enoshima, taking the train to Ofuna, then changing to the Shonan Monorail to Enoshima Station.
There is a 400 meter bridge to get from the mainland to the island.
I went on a weekday in September, so there were no big crowds as I imagine there are in August.
Immediately upon arrival to the island, is a shopping/restaurant street.
There are a number of shrine buildings throughout the island, known together as Enoshima Shrine. They are dedicated to Benten, the goddess of good fortune, wealth, music, and knowledge. Benten is believed to have created Enoshima before subduing a five headed dragon that was terrorizing the area.
There are a lot of stairs, but there is a one day ticket available for 1100 yen which includes escalators going up in the main area of the island (not the cave side of the island or going down), and entrance to the Samuel Cocking Garden, the Sea Candle, and the two caves. Yes, I did buy the ticket.
Samuel Cocking was a British trader who purchased a big part of Enoshima in the late 19th century and built a botanical garden there.
The Sea Candle is a 60 meter tall observation tower which was built on the former site of Samuel Cocking's home and also serves as a light house. The 360 degree views from the top are gorgeous.
This is the bridge to the island.
The caves are back in this part of the island.
After coming down from the Sea Candle, I continued on to the caves. There are many steps up and down.
The Iwaya Caves are two fairly small touristy caves. The first cave contains some Buddhist statues and the second is dedicated to the legendary dragon that used to terrorize the area. The inside of the caves is flat and easy to walk through.
The first cave is a little dim, but still has lights. Each person is given a little candle as part of the feeling of the cave, but not really needed.
In the second cave, there is an area where there are flashing lights and roars of the dragon when you clap your hands.
After crossing back over the bridge, I ate dinner at a seafood restaurant.
After dinner, I went back to the monorail, then the train and went home. It was a great day!
