Torii Gate on the way to ARI farm shop

Torii Gate on the way to ARI farm shop

Monday, June 7, 2010

ARI Rice Planting Day & Celebration

We planted the smaller rice patties by hand. In some, we were wading barefoot in 6-8 inches of mud. Joyce is working in a team to transplant rice seedlings in rows in a naturally planted patty. The ARI team finished a majority of the transplanting in one day.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Utsunomiya Visit

Last Saturday we left ARI and entered Japan on our own. We took the train to Utsunomiya and mastered the bus system. The local information booth was a great help, and once again, we experienced the kindness of the Japanese people. Concentrating on gathering correct change for our bus stop, we left the backpack on the bus! After the bus drove away, we stood on the sidewalk checking the map. Suddenly, a woman came running toward us pointing to a backpack in her hand. She had noticed it on the seat and told the driver to stop the bus so she could deliver it to us!

This 88-foot Heiwa Kannon statue was hand carved from soft volcanic stone in the Oya Stone Village. It is a WW II memorial to those who died and to peace. We climbed up to elbow height for a look around.

Oya Cave & Oyaji Temple

At nearby Oyaji Temple, set at the entrance to Oya Cave, we saw the mystical 9th century Senjyu Kannon Bosatsu carved into the stone. This Buddha image has hands clasped in prayer, but many more arms radiate from the body. It is quite sobering to gaze at this 1200-year-old carving! A series of nine additional Buddha images are carved in relief on the cave walls. They are the oldest Buddhist reliefs in Japan.

In the prefectural museum, we were excited to see a Hamada pottery collection. Hamada, Shoji is a National Treasure in Japan, and we imagine our master potter friend Gerry Williams must have met him at some point. Hamada believes in the functionality of pots, as Gerry does. We saw some lovely glazes and designs.

Futarayama Shrine


At Futaarayama Shrine, several young couples arrived with babies and were escorted into the shrine, even though a sign read no admittance. We guessed that the babies were being brought for a blessing.

Of course, we had to eat gyoza in the city where these steamed or fried dumplings are famous. We ordered, or tried to order, pork dumplings at a little gyoza shop. An Indian man offered to help us. We discovered he had visited ARI four times! The gyoza tasted wonderful and we ordered more!

Post & Beam building


Bob went to a construction site on 5/20 to observe a post & beam project that was using 100 year old cedar trees. The work was a little risky, but the building will be very sturdy.