Friday Finish - Hardanger

This piece was an EGA group correspondence course, called Options in Hardanger, by Dale Sokolow. I finished the stitching when I was still in the US, so it has waited a long time to be finished into something. I finished the More Options in Hardanger in 2012 and made it into a hanging piece.

For this one, I decided to make it into something that could hang on a tension rod. I cut the excess off three sides and folded the fourth side.  If I ever find a box that I can fit this in the top, I can easily trim the top off of this. (The top photo is the real color).

Dust If You Must

Dust if you must...
 
Dust if you must,
but it might be better,
to paint a picture or write a letter,
to bake a cake or plant a seed,
to ponder the gap between want and need,
Dust if you must,
but there's not much time,
with rivers to swim and mountains to climb,
music to hear and books to read,
friends to cherish and life to lead,
Dust if you must,
but the world's out there,
with sun in your eyes, and wind in your hair,
a flutter of snow, a shower of rain,
this day will NOT come around again,
Dust if you must,
but bear in mind,
old age will come and it mightn't be kind,
and when you go, and go you must,
YOU, yourself, will make more dust! 

Rose Milligan

Credit to Trundling Through Life blog

Work in Progress Wednesday

Beady Fob progress - lots of progress this week: second layer of stitches and chain stitches for joining the two sides. Next step - beads.

Linda Driskell hardanger - I pulled this project out this week and worked on it, after not even looking at it for years.

A new cross stitch project

Dead Man Indicted for Murder

This is a strange one. Osaka Prefectural Police have indicted a 26 year old man for killing his wife and two daughters at their apartment before committing suicide in Suita City, Osaka Prefecture, in June. The man is already dead, and is being charged with murder! 

A jogger found the body of  Kyohei Akiyama, under a pedestrian bridge about one kilometer from the family’s apartment. Police were called and Mr. Akiyama was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 26 year old wife and two daughters, aged two and one, were found stabbed to death in their apartment by police, when they visited the address on the man/husband’s drivers license. A note saying “I’m sorry” was found in the living room of the apartment. According to police, the man had quit his job and was in a mentally unstable condition.

It seems that in Japan, it is not uncommon for a deceased person to be charged with a crime. The reason is to officially document that the case is closed. Does this happen in any other country?

Dakeiji/Sagara Castle Connection/Pine Tree - Fujieda

Sagara Castle site is located in another place in Fujieda City. The palatial residence was later relocated to this temple. 

This is the history from the JCastle website:

Sagarajō was built starting in 1767 by Tanuma Okitsugu. Sagarajō was originally the site of a Sengoku period fort (now called Sagarakojō) built by Takeda Katsuyori, and from 1586 it was refashioned as Sagara-goten by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who used it as a base for falconry. In the Edo period it was reconstituted as Sagara-jin'ya, which Tanuma Okitsugu took over in 1758. Sagarajō finally returned to castle status in 1767 when Tanuma's income increased dramatically. Tanuma had became a castle lord only after a long and successful career in Edo serving under the Shogunate. Tanuma was known for being impossible to bribe and he was consistently promoted by Tokugawa Ieharu, the tenth Tokugawa shōgun. Sagarajō, however, was completed only by 1780. It featured a three-tier tenshu (donjon), which is interesting because by that time it was not common for new tenshu to be constructed. Tokugawa Ieharu died in 1786, and, unfortunately for Tanuma, the new boss was not keen on him, reducing his holdings considerably. Tanuma Okitsugu retired and was succeeded by his grandson, Tanuma Okiaki, who was soon transferred to another domain in 1787. Thereupon Sagarajō, which had lasted for twenty years but had only been completed for seven, was decomissioned and thoroughly dismantled. Parts of the castle were recycled elsewhere, most notably the shoin (drawing room) of the goten (palace) which was relocated to the temple Daikeiji and still survives, at least in part, to this day. It is said also that some ishigaki (stone wall) remains along the bank of the Hagami River from the time of the castle.

This was my first view of the temple grounds as I approached it. I immediately saw Kuon no Matsu, a 700 year old, 25 meter high pine tree, planted by holy priest Nichiren, founder of the important Nichiren school of Buddhism.

The wood carvings on the buildings here are quite beautiful.

This is the palace residence moved from Sagara Castle.

I was the only person visiting this beautiful temple site when I was there.

Karigane Festival 2025

Going to this fire festival every year in October has become a tradition with my friends and I. It’s scary, but fascinating. One year, we participated as fire throwers, but once was enough. Since then, we’ve been happy to just watch. 

This is how it works - there are three straw baskets on high poles. Fire throwers wearing long pants, long sleeves, gloves, helmets, and goggles, throw wood blocks that are on fire and tied with a rope as high as they can, trying to get them in the basket. The baskets catch fire and eventually the poles fall down. There are safety people with hoses ready for when the fire gets out of hand.

The festival ends with fireworks.

Maybe this is only in Japan.