Recent activities

Well, part of why I haven't posted is that we stay so busy here that it is tough to download all of the photos!  But now my camera is so full that I have to dump it and so I have new pictures of our recent activities. :)

As many of you know, Sid lived in Gifu about 20 years ago and taught English there for a year. So, we made a pilgrimage to his old stomping ground to see Gifu City.  At one time, Gifu was the center of fashion in Japan.  Long before that, it was a capital of sorts and the saying was that if you wanted to control Japan you had to control Gifu.  In recent years, though, Gifu has taken a little bit of a hit economically and many of the fashion houses have closed along with the stores and shops. In general, the Japanese are not reproducing at high enough rates to keep the population up, but you really notice this more in Gifu than in Tokyo.  Also, I don't recall seeing very many westerners in Gifu even though it was Ukai season.

Gifu:

 

Japanese Manholes often tell the story of the place. In Tokyo they feature a flower that is the symbol of the emperor. In Gifu, they feature cormorants like this one because of the Ukai fishing. Ukai fishing is where the guys on boats have fire to lure the fish to the surface of the river and then they use cormorants (birds) to catch the fish.

 

The boys on the way to Gifu Castle.  This is the river where the Ukai fishing takes place.

 

A nice old man and his dog waving up to us. We were very popular in Gifu as there are so few westerners. Everyone who knew any English at all wanted to practice on us!  This old man just waved. :)

 

I believe that Graham is dressed as a woman here and Sam as the warrior who fought to claim Japan and headquartered himself in Gifu.

 

Near Gifu Castle (on top of one of the mountains that surround Gifu City) is something called Squirrel Park where you can pay a nominal fee and be given some food to attract the squirrels so that you can pet them.

 

Gifu Castle. Ruined and rebuilt several times, this is the latest incarnation of Gifu Castle. It is beautiful, especially at night when it is lit up and looks like a white fairy castle on top of the mountain.  We ate at a wonderful little restaurant on top of the mountain looking down on the river and the city.  Sid had one of his favorites, a Gifu specialty that is unavailable in Tokyo, miso katsu.  Katsu is fried pork cutlet. Miso is the type of sauce used in virtually everything in Gifu.

 

The boys climb the rocks while we shout at them to get down so they don't tumble off the mountain.

 

In Gifu we completed our tour of the Daibutsu.  We had seen the  ones at Kamakura and Kyoto. This one was very peaceful and quiet. We were all tired and could have taken a nap in the cool shed housing the Buddha.

 

For Ukai fishing you can go out on little boats to watch the fisherman. The fishing takes place at night, so you can take supper or a snack with you out on the river.  This is just before we got on our boat.

 

The boats for viewing Ukai head out.

 

Ukai fisherman Sid.

 

Ukai boatman Sam.

 

Thwarted Ukai fisherman Graham.

 

A viewing boat with the boatmen in view. They use poles to move the boats around--much like you might see in some places along the Mississippi River. This particular river, though, is quite shallow. Some special people were actually carried from the shore to the boats by the boatmen who waded in the shallow water to get them and deposit them.

 

A good view of the boatmen.

 

Another good view of a boatman.

 

When is this thing gonna start?

 

Soon.

 

It's hard to see but here is one of the fishing boats.  You can see the fire used to lure the fish and if you look carefully at the bottom center of the picture you can see some of cormorant floating on the water waiting to fish.

 

Sparks from the fire.

 

The strings leading down into the water are attached to the cormorant which are below the surface scooping up fish.