Short trip in Gunma Shima Onsen

    I went to a hot spring, called Shima onsen.
Shima onsen is located in country side.
My friend was with me. We didn't see many people there.
Shima onsen was surrounded by a great nature.
   I also attached the photo of udon. Udon is a Japanese stylish noodle.
Uson has not been known in the foreign countries yet.
   If you have not seen the hot spring in Japan, you can
check here.
 

Intermission

Hello.


I will make a short trip at Ikaho, which is famous for rich hot springs in my hometown.
I would like to take some photos.
I attach those photos here. Look forward to them!

Japanese traditional culture Otedama

On this article, I  introduce a Japanese traditional toy.
It's called "otedama"

  An old woman made these otedamas.
Beans or rice are put inside. You play juggling with these otedama.
  I seldom see children playing with these nowadays.
  Old people are trying to teach children how to do that
so the tradition will not disappear.
  I can't play well... I did not play with otedama.
  Maybe otedama is the toy for girls.
 
I  put this Gogatsu ningyou back to the attic.

Japanese traditional culture Syoubu yu 菖蒲湯 （しょうぶゆ）

May 5th is the Children's day.
Traditionally, we eat Kashiwa mochi at that day.
I could buy this Kashiwa mochi at a supermarket.

It is sticky stuff, but it's sweet. You can't eat the leaf.

And at the Children's day, we take a bath in shoubu.
Shoubu is translated, "a Japanese iris".
Here is the shoubu. I bought this at the supermarket near my house.

  It is said that we do this so the children grow up healthily.

But, this shoubu doesn't have any smell.

Japanese lifestyle How to spend Golden Week

We have been during the Golden Week now.
"Golden Week" is the long holidays that begin from the end of
April to the beginning of May. There are some national holidays
at that period.(29th in April, 3rd, 4th, 5th in May) Japanese people
call these holidays "Golden Week".
 If you have such holidays, what do you do?
I thought about how Japanese people spend holidays.
Japanese would spend hours for going shopping, making a short trip,
reading some books...
 A lot of Japanese people go to recreational spots.
 
 Shopping mall is one of the popular spots you spend hours in such
holidays.

 But my wife hate the crowd. So, I may need to spend hours in my house
for most of hours.

  I started to read a book "Kokoro(The heart)" by Natsume Souseki.
  Do you know the author Natsume Souseki?
  Natsume Souseki is one of the famous classical novelists
in Japan. He used to be printed on the 1000 yen bill.
I heard that his works have been getting popular in U.S.

  The  story of Kokoro is like this.
  There is a man whose age is around 40 years old. A university student got
to know with each other and called  him "Sensei (a teacher)".
The student had a sense of closeness to the man, Sensei.
The man has a beautiful wife. And he has spent hours with no occupation.
(So, he seemed to have a lot of properties.) He looked happy apparently.
But, the main character found something dark in Sensei's mind through
conversation. Actually, the man has the dark memory.
  He was concealing a past experience. He had a good friend.
  He betrayed his good friend, and got his friend's lover. After the incident,
the Sensei's friend killed himself.
  The man, Sensei has a big sense of guilty.
  The story is narrated like that setting.
 
  It is said that Soseki was worrying about the future in the Meiji period.
In that period, our lifestyle was changing from old stylish to the modernized,
and westernized ones. Probably, people's value has changed to materialistic.
  He is classical novelist over 100 years ago. But his works have been still
read among Japanese. If you have chance, please read his books.

 Well...
  I spend these holidays for writing a story. I'm struggling to do that..

Japanese lifestyle Gogatsu Ningyou 五月人形(ごがつにんぎょう)

  I haven't written articles recently.
  Today, I will write about the Gogatsu Ningyou.
May 5 is Children's day in Japan.
Some people adorn a doll, called Gogatsu Ningyou.
It is like this...

  The children's day is also the day for boys.
People celebrate the birth of boys in the hope of
the boy's good health.
 We haven't adorned this Gogatsu Ningyou for
long years. My father told me we haven't adorned this one
since I was a child.
  The reason why we adorned this doll in this year is that
I needed to introduce this on this blog.
I decided to focus on the traditional events in each season.

  This doll is wearing a warrior's helmet. How do you like it?

  And, I just almost finished making my picture book.
The name of the title is かえるくんのねがい(Kaeru-kun no Negai)
which means "The hope of Kaeru-kun"
 Kaeru means a"frog". Kun is the honorific title in Japanese.
 I want to keep my life creative! I don't feel get bored at my daily life.
In this story, violinist Kaeru-kun play the violin, hoping that
his dead friend Yagi-kun would listen to his performance.

Short trip in Gunma ~Kanra 2~

  I attach some photos I took in Kanra which is located south west of Gunma prefecture.
There was a water well. I don't know what the other countries's style like.
This is typical style of Japanese wa

After visiting area, I visited a temple, called Houshaku-ji temple.
This temple was famous for the Shidare Zakura. (Drooping cherry tree)

There is a legend on this big stone.
  It is said that  a very tall samurai (more than 2 meters) cut his stomach by himself on the
stone. As you may know, this is called "Seppuku (Harakiri)".

  My father was complaining about the entrance fee.
We needed to pay 200 yen (1.97 US dollars 1.42 Euro)just to see the Shidare Zakura. ^ ^;
My father said that he knew more greater cherry tree near my house.