“サトリの森” ～ Forever

Satolela papa, Satori, Leila & I enjoyed our annual summer trip from July 22nd through July 28. In Japan, it is said that the weather is going to be sunny for a week after the rainy season is over. It was over on July 19 this year. Yes, it was right! The weather was perfect during our trip. It was cool at the camp site where we always stayed, but some places we visited at the time were really hot. Hot! Hot! On the second day at the camp site, we visited a ranch. It was our second time to visit there. That's called "Kiso-uma no sato" , which means "The Home of the horses of Kiso" . Japanese "Kiso" horses are pastured. Kiso horses are originated from Kiso area in Japan. They have become rare in Japan. The horses used to be considered a part of family for Kiso people. But few people need them for their daily lives anymore. They have dark mane, just like Japanese hair. In fact, we wanted to do blue berries picking . But as yo

2. Visiting We took Papa Gordon and Mama Susan a several places in Kyoto. I left house a bit later and I caught them up in Kyoto around noon. So before I arrived, they visited Kinkaku-ji ( literally Temple of the Golden Pavilion ) and Ryoan-temple . 　 as reference We were supposed to meet somewhere near Nijo Castle. But Satolela papa & his parents couldn't catch a taxi, because Ryoan-ji is located in a suburb area of Kyoto, so it seemed to be sometimes difficult to find a taxi. So I got a taxi to pick them up. After lunch, we went to Nijo Castle . Satolela papa worked hard to answer the questions which his parents asked. I think that it was good timing for them to visit us in Japan. Because Satolela papa has lived in Japan more than ten years, so he understands Japan very well now and also can speak Japanese well. So I didn't need to barge in, which was good. I really enjoyed myself as w

In Japan, we had a long rainy season this year. So during our trip, unfortunately we sometimes had lots of rain. When Satolela papa came back home from abroad, his body condition was not perfect. We were supposed to set off for our holiday three days later after he came back, though. We were not sure whether we could go or not. So I couldn't finish packing until the last moment, which I don't like. Because I always pack ahead. So I had almost given up going on camping. But luckily he recovered, and we could set off to visit my uncle and aunt, and our friend at the campsite in Takayama-city after leaving one day late. My uncle and aunt were glad that Richard became well, and we visited them with Satori and Leila. Leila who was on the alert for them before became relax with each visit. My uncle is nearly blind and is unable to walk from diabetes. But when he started talking about a famous Sumo wrestler, 'Futaba-yama' who was active around 1920-1930, he s

My second cousin, Kuninobu, and I were the planners of the annual family meeting this year. Last year somebody at the party mentioned that it would be nice to visit somewhere nice places where is associated with our ancestors. When we trace back our ancestry, they came from Yamanashi-Prefecture as I mentioned before . One day trip is sometimes a bit hard for old people, so I didn't expect a large number of people to join this tour. But though it was raining on that day, 29 people participated. To begin with , we visited our ancestors family temple, 'Erinji'. We were led to the main room and greeted the highest monk of the temple. Not anybody can get into this room. It looked gorgeous and was peacefully quiet. After we left the room, we visited the graves of our ancestors, Takeda Shingen and Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu. To get there, we went through the special corridor. It's called 'Uguisu (Japanese bush warbler) rooka (corridor) ' Because when you wa