17th October 2005
It was a Monday morning and I went to Omihachiman (where I used
to work). It took about an hour from my house in Kyoto. I met my ex-student (older but wonderful woman and very un-Japanese-like!) at 11am and she drove us to Mount
Hachiman. We took the cable car to
the top of the mountain and there we had fantastic views of Lake
Biwa and the surrounding
countryside - breathtaking. It was a little hazy, but fine weather and we could
see red autumn leaves beginning to put in an appearance. There were so many
berries on the bushes and trees, and birds were singing in the canopy of branches
above us. A very old and historical temple was perched at the summit (so
many steps to climb though!) where the Lord of Omihachiman had prayed. You
could tell it was old as the wood was fading and had turned an ash colour, but
inside the wood had turned a reddy-copper colour that looked magnificent. The
gold lanterns inside have hung there for over 100 years, and the Buddha was
made in the 1700s. It was so peaceful and we were the only people there.
As we descended we could see a stream of cars coming into the shrine complex at the bottom of the mountain. Upon alighting from the cable car we found, to our great astonishment, that a film crew had turned up! They were filming a samurai TV drama and all the actors were dressed in Edo period costumes. The men were wearing wigs with topknots on! It looked fabulous. We observed for a while, and we even saw 2 actors row an old-fashioned boat down the river! How wonderful! We entered the shrine and Sadako prayed and clapped her hands. We both put a coin in the donation box.
At that point we were feeling hungry, so she suggested a beef restaurant. I was very happy with that suggestion, so off we went. It was a lovely restaurant with a deep bay window looking out onto a picture perfect countryside scene - old houses, a river and fields as far as the eye could see. We had a set menu which was very reasonable but also delicious - potato soup, steak and roast potatoes with bread rolls and a coffee. Just what we needed to then go on with the tour!
Sadako wanted to show me a side of Omihachiman I had never seen before. When I worked there I only saw around the station, and that was very dirty, ugly and unappealing! Of course, on my days off I hadn't wanted to go to Omi as it was far away and reminded me of going to work (plus you really need a car!).
Sadako took me to an area near the river, and we walked along, with Mount Hachiman looming above us, and to the other side were old stone walls and ancient wooden houses with their sliding doors. The owners of Japanese houses never have large gardens so it was pleasing to see flower tubs and pots outside each one. There were red, yellow, purple, pink and orange flowers blooming everywhere adding so much colour to the natural beauty of the houses themselves. Sadako told me that the owners of the houses were not living there and they were extremely expensive to maintain. The owners live in Tokyo - the head chiefs of department store chains own them!! All this beauty in what I thought was ugly little old far-off Omihachiman. What a treasure trove of historical artifacts, furniture and buildings.
She took me to a museum/art gallery that showed what people had made in olden times when their house collapsed or was destroyed by earthquakes or typhoons. They had actually used the walls and wood from their houses to make musical instruments and vases, tables and mirror frames. Unbelievable! The wood was so beautiful, all different colours and different designs depending on where it had come from. The other amazing thing was that the art gallery was actually closed (being a Monday) but the art director was outside trying to have his sign fixed, and because I was there he let us in, and he refused to let us pay the entrance fee! How kind!! I thanked him profusely, and he then gave me a translation of the exhibition in English. Sadako was surprised and we gave them some cookies that we had with us (my gift to Sadako and her gift to me!), and we all sat outside munching away and talking.
We drove back to the shrine as Sadako said there was a really good
cafe which had the most wonderful cakes! Up to that point she hadn't
let me pay for anything so I told her we'd only go in if she let me
treat her. She agreed so in we went! She was right! We both had a
creamy sponge cake with sumptuous grapes that were so big and juicy
that I almost got into a mess! I had a cappuccino, and Sadako had an
iced tea. We were under a slanting roof in the open air and spread out
before us was an English garden. There was a lawn with small stone
rabbits in the centre, and all around were startling pink flowers,
purple rhododendrons, rosebushes, maroon-tipped leaves, and hundreds of
plants I don't know the name of! A fountain was off to the left of us,
and to the right was a long white pole, with cascades of white looking
blossoms hanging from a great height all the way down to the ground.
The waitress told us that they're actually glass flowers and in the
sunlight they glitter and form rainbows over the garden!! How amazing!! Unfortunately it was almost 5pm so the sun was going down and was well
hidden from us by many clouds so we couldn't see the marvellous
reflections, but I hope I get back to see it someday.
It
was a wonderful day, and I brought home leaflets and brochures from the
places we'd been (even the restaurant) to cut up and put in my journal
of my time in Japan. I'm glad I got to
appreciate Omihachiman at last.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omihachiman
