A step back in time

oHIGANBANA

         With the blooming of the oHIGANBANA 彼岸花 (honorable equinox flower) the season has turned and the sweltering Japanese summer is blessedly behind us. It's autumn again and one gets the urge to get off the mats, move around and do a bit of local traveling. So it came to pass that a friend of ours was having an art exhibition at a gallery in the first town I lived in when I came to Japan in 1980—Kurashiki 倉敷. 
 
         It was purely by chance that I got dropped in Kurashiki to fend for myself (I didn't know a word of Japanese and couldn't read the signs) by my company representative in a beautiful town that time seemed to have forgotten, not to mention that the allied bombs of World War II had ignored as well. 

typical KURA with its black
and white tiles - upper right

         The core of the town is a canal surrounded by buildings that look unchanged since the Meiji Restoration (1868) period. The canal was a river port used to send rice and other goods down to the Seto Inland Sea. And many of the wooden buildings were storehouses and granaries (kura 倉) used for storing goods before shipping. 

K gallery - little white square in center of photo
(note the black and white tiles on right)

         Today, the old merchant quarter along the weeping willow lined canal area known as the Bikan Chiku, with its distinctive white-walled, black-tiled warehouses is a popular tourist destination in Japan. I lived in Kurashiki from 1980 to 1988. It's only around 15 miles from our present home and we like to take a sentimental journey there from time to time to visit the old haunts. And, this time, to drop in on our friend's art exhibition at K gallery in a small alley off the canal. 

 our Mitsubishi i

 
         So, yesterday, we hopped into the Mitsubishi i and struggled along for over an hour in ghastly traffic on this 3-day holiday weekend. The return trip was even ghastlier, but I wont dwell on the dark side and just show a few photos of my first home in Japan.

Bikan Chiku - weeping willow lined canal
Meiji period river port of Kurashiki

boat landing - canal rides for tourists in period boats

stone bridge over the canal with a typical KURA in background

traditional  RYOKAN  (Japanese Inn) on the canal

Ueda's coffee house - my old TAMARIBA (hangout) since 1980

Mrs. Ueda my old Mama-san - now 78 or so and still going strong

iced coffee - my favorite

iced tea - her favorite

Buddhist temple precinct on mountain behind our old house

our house in Kurashiki from 1982 - 1988
photo taken from temple mount