Odara station to Kyoto and a swordsmith

Thursday 6 April
We sadly left our lovely ryokan and took the coach to Odawara train station about 40 minutes away. There were some cherry blossoms on the hills, though not yet in full bloom. The surprise frost a week ago set them all back for a few days, so Sakura celebrations will have to wait.
We spent some time on the station platform having fun trying to photo and video the bullet trains flying by. They are quite beautiful with their pointed snouts.

We boarded our own bullet train to Kyoto doing photo reviews during the two hour ride, then had lunch at the trains station there, a curry, for some variation.
Back on a bus we headed out to Tenri where we had an appointment with a swordsmith at work. The bus had to park a few streets away as the roads were narrow in this little village, so his wife met us to walk us to his furnace/studio.

 It takes them about six months to make a finished sword as they spend many days melting the 5 kilos of iron ore and banging it flat, so watching him was not a start-to-finish affair. It made us realize how physical the work is, enduring high heat, but was not particularly interesting to watch after the first few minutes. He did not wear gloves and the safety goggles just perched on his head. He did tell us he put on his best outfit for our visit and normally works in overalls.

iron ore

 firing over high heat

We were invited into his home to see a finished sword. He does not make the handle himself, so sources that out, as well as the polishing of the steel. They cost about six thousand dollars, but when you think of the months spent making one....

It started to rain and was a dreary drive to Kashihara where we spent the night, doing another photo review followed by a western dinner together, with lovely steak au poivre.
No unpacking to do as it was a short stay, and our suitcases had been sent on the Osaka, so we were limited to overnight bags, with an early departure at 7am tomorrow for one last shot at cherry blossoms in Yoshino.

Mount Fuji, sulphur mining and Itchiku Kubota kimonos

Tuesday April 4

After a lovely breakfast in this superb inn, discarding my night yukata ( we were provided with two each) and back to western clothing, we drove to the Owakudani  valley by coach. Everywhere we looked we saw steam coming out of the mountains. (The Japanese consider the hot springs to come from hell)

The smell of sulphur was prominent with yellow streams and pools visible. We stopped to visit a sulphur mine where they do sulphur extraction for the Hakone area. Men wearing gas masks were working in clouds of steam with  Mt Fuji in the background. I was amused by a 2cv car in the parking lot with Louis Vuitton hubcaps. 

We took the Ropeway cable car 40 minutes down to the Togendai station by lake Ashi where the bus met us. 

From there it was an hour and a half to the Kawaguchiko area where we visited the Fugaku ice cave donning hard hats and having to crawl through a narrow area. This cave was disappointing despite the fact that the snow meltoff from Mt Fuji and the volcanic action of mountains above the cave create the perfect conditions for a constant freezing temperature that creates ice stalagmites inside the small cave as well as a natural refrigerator for the man made bricks of ice.

From there we drove to a western style lunch again with a view of Mt Fuji nearby. We came by a Japanese McDonalds.

 This is an area known for wasabi growing so at a rest stop, Tomo, our guide, bought us wasabi Kit Kats to taste.

Our next stop was the Itchiko Kubata museum. Mr Kubata fell in love with an ancient style of kimono painting that fell into disuse in the 16th century. He spent many years trying to replicate it but was interrupted by confinement in Siberia during WWII. After he survived Siberia he went back to trying to develop this tsujigahana method of painting and dyeing kimonos. It took him over 15 years to perfect. We were not allowed to take photos so you would have to google his work. 

The kimonos were breathtakingly beautiful with three dimensional textures thanks to his tie-dyeing techniques and then basting the bumps to create mountain ranges etc. The bottom edges of the kimonos were multiple layers of a thick silk rope hem in gorgeous colours. The museum was in beautiful zen like settings with gorgeous old wooden gates at the entrance.

 It was very inspirational and lovely. Sadly mr. Kubota died in1903 so there will be no more priceless kimonos like this, some made specially for characters in Noh performances. 

www.itchiku-museum.com

Heading back to Gora we stopped off at the Hakone open air museum assembled by the Fuji corporation and now an art endowment. There were sculptures by Henry Moore and others in the lovely grounds surrounded by the Hakone mountains.

 One hall was dedicated to the works of Picasso including some interesting gemmails.

 My favourite exhibit  consisted of the cast bronze panels by Giacomo Munzu made for the Vatican and part of the "death door".

http://stpetersbasilica.info/Interior/DoorofDeath/DoorofDeath.htm

There was also a Japanese sculptor who had two interesting works in the garden, "wind" and "reflection".

The inn was just up the road, so a quick change into yukatas later, we were enjoying Japanese style living for the evening: hot outdoor spring bath, drinks with a view of the gardens and another delicious dinner en groupe.

I had asked for futons on the floor but they myst gave forgotten so we settled down on the platform beds with softly lit up headboard to work on our photo's for tomorrow's presentation. Despite the hard work it is invaluable to hear everybody's feedback and see their vision. It never ceases to amaze me that we can all stand at exact same spot taking same shot and end up with vastly different images. Say you are looking at a geisha, one will take only eyes, the other only feet or hands. Yet another focuses on close up of kimono and the arty one takes a reflection with fuzzy outlines. Fascinating ideas and executions.