day 313 - bamboo. Just a pole...

Just a pole. So many possibilities...

Around here you'll find a bamboo pole in many back sheds supporting the drying annual crop of onions.

"We Didn't Start the Fire."

The hostess at our stay in a Gassho Zukuri ('praying hands' grass house) in Ainokura Valley gets the evening fire going in the irori (traditional fireplace.)

Punting pole.

Canal, Kurashiki.

Drying racks for kelp.

San-in coast.

These streamers-on-poles are called haraigushi. The streamers or shide are the same zigzag paper streamers you see on Shinto shrines. When attached to the stick (kushi), they become rallying 'flags' for religious festivals and even prods to protect mikoshi (portable shrines) in yatai fighting festivals.

The guy on the pole both propels the boat and protects it from rocks on the Hozugawa (Hozu River.)

day 96 - goodbye, Ainokura

After a very restful night's sleep (tucked cozily into our futon with a charcoal ember in a container and cutely wrapped in kids' quilting), we awoke to fog which deteriorated to a steady drizzle. But the valley looked even better shrouded in mist so both cameras worked overtime again... I think my favourite is the one below of the house trying to impersonate a tree, which itself is mimicking the mountain beyond.

As we had to say goodbye to Noriko she showed us up into the two roof levels, the beams and ropes encrusted with soot and creosote of the ages (also acting as insect-repellent and rope-strengthener!) As they always have, the people of the village use the space for drying clothes and storage - although we didn't see any evidence of silkworms.

Noriko and her husband and kids have lived in this gassho-zukuri for 27 years, but she told us the house is 260 years old!