O-haka Mairi or Visiting the Family Grave

Today we made a visit to spouse's family grave.  My father-in-law (FIL) is a younger son, so he "started" his own grave site.  When mother-in-law (MIL) died a few years ago, the grave "stones" were purchased and arranged, along with the Buddhist altar in his home.  My husband, surprisingly enough, is quite careful with observing the visitation periods.  During Higan, around the spring and autumn equinoxes, as well as O-bon (the time when the spirits of the departed return) in August, we always make a visit to the grave site.

The paternal branch of the family has plots at a temple quite close by.  This temple is just up the road from the Shinto shrine where our children were presented at birth and for ceremonies as they've been growing up.  Observing rituals for both, Buddhism and Shintoism, is rather the norm.

The intense heat of this summer, which FINALLY broke today, has left the foliage a bit limp and withered looking.  However, the willows in front of the temple always seem peaceful and cool to me.  The temple grounds are surrounded by homes and another temple, but it feels a step removed from the everyday world. Spouse and son went ahead to the grave site, ducking under the very low entrance to the right. 


Once inside, it resembles a maze!  There really aren't sidewalks, so one must weave around all the grave stones to get to their family's spot.  Truly, there are even dead-ends, so you have to walk back, and weave around to get to where you're going.  There is a very hushed air; everyone quietly tends their family site, and speaks in hushed voices.

The first order of business is preparations to wash the grave stones.  Buckets and water scoops are handily kept near the entrance.  Son is doing the honors, and he has fresh Shungiku in the bag that will be placed on the stones.  As he fills the bucket, the scent from lit incense drifts along in the slight breeze. 

We walk towards the back corner, and there is MIL's resting spot.  The greenery is a little faded, but someone, probably FIL or my sister-in-law, visited quite recently.  If they were more than a day or so old, they would be completely brown!  MIL didn't drink alcohol, so instead of the frequently seen open can of beer or sake, a can of a popular sports drink (that the in-laws drink frequently!) has been left for her.

 On closer inspection, it appears we weren't the only visitors!  If you look closely, a frog has stopped for a rest in the greenery.  Son's perplexed comment, "Hmm...I didn't think Ba-chan (grandma) liked frogs..."  Not sure about that one, but even if her spirit is lingering nearby, I don't think she'll begrudge the little frog it's nap in her greenery!

                                                                             The next step is  washing the stones and replacing the greenery.  A handy little plastic container with scrub brushes, etc is tucked on the far side, to make it easy to do.  The first time son did this, he had to be lifted up to get pour water over the top!  MIL would love to see how much he's grown!

 Once the tidying up is done, it's time to light incense sticks.  There were some difficulties getting the sticks lit...nearly had to trundle off to find some other visitors in hopes of them having a lighter, but the Zippo pulled through in the end.  This is usually a two-person job for some reason!  Today, we'll blame it on the refreshing breeze, and occasional drops of rain!






The incense sticks are then placed on the altar.  Family members stand one at a time in front of it,  clap their hands, then stay in a moment of silence, to pay their respects, etc.  Perhaps some offer prayers; I take a moment to remember MIL and talk to her about the grandchildren she adored. 

Once everyone is finished, we pick up the bucket and the old greenery tidily bundled up in a bag, and weave our way back to the entrance, and back to the busy everyday world that barely intrudes on the temple grounds.

Autumnal Equinox

That's today, and here, it is a national holiday.  With the sporadic rain deluges and thunderstorms that started last evening, son's baseball practice has also been canceled, so we're enjoying a lazy morning.  My agenda for the day is a little translation, a make-up lesson, and a visit to the international library and Starbuck's for a coffee...the last may have end up being canceled as well!!

This morning, spouse said, out of the blue, that we should do "O-haka Mairi," or pay a visit to his family's grave site.  I checked to make sure of the days for paying the visit for Higan, and found some more interesting information about it, and an English reference, too at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higan .

Wikipedia says, "Higan (彼岸) is a Buddhist holiday celebrated in Japan during both the Spring and Autumnal Equinox. It is observed by nearly every Buddhist sect in Japan. The tradition extends from mild weather that occurs during the time of equinoxes, though the origin of the holiday dates from Emperor Shomu in the 8th century.^[1] People who normally worked in the fields had more leisure time to evaluate their own practices, and to make a renewed effort to follow Buddhism. Today, special services are usually observed in Japanese Buddhist temples, and Japanese temples abroad, based on the particular Buddhist tradition or sect."

I've always enjoyed the holidays for spring and autumn equinoxes, though wondered WHY they were national holidays.  Nice to learn a new thing today!

Has it been so long?

Wow...summer was here, steaming hot, and now is almost gone!  Despite being online daily, I didn't blog...what to say?  Complain about the heat?  Boring.  Whine about the broken a/c?  Depressing and boring! Though broken appliances seem to be a theme of 2010!  Microwave, living room air conditioner, and washing machine all died over the past 6 months.  The last two we've had for 16+ years, and most of my friends say every year after 10 is a bonus.  I've only replaced the washing machine (this weekend, in fact!).  It's been a challenge re-learning non-microwave cooking!  That DOES not mean I used only microwavable foods, but it is challenging to get an entire meal ready at the same time with only two burners on the stove!

Beyond cooking, I've been spending much of my free time (and time when I should be doing housework!) reading.  That is much more entertaining than TV!  Goodreads is my favorite site for my reading addiction now.  I'm pleased to see my favorite pastime being picked up by my child as well.  My son's junior high has a "set-aside" reading time every morning, and for books, not manga, etc., and I'm finding him exploring new worlds in books more often.  Now, just need to find a way to get him more excited about studying, too!

Speaking of which, it's time to go study with my students! 

Summer Drinks

I got busy in the kitchen today with one of my favorite summer rituals.  Though we won't be enjoying this year's batch for a little while, the next batch of Ume Shu (plum wine??) is underway.  I always think I should make a batch of ume-boshi (pickled Japanese plums) but end up stopping after making Ume Shu.  A chilled glass of it with soda water is a real treat to top off a muggy summer day.

 Our version is roughly 1 kg of ume, 1.8 liters of brandy for fruit wine, and roughly 500 g of crystal sugar.  This year, after reading the package on the brandy box, I decided to try a batch of Lemon Shu (3 lemons, 1.8 liters of the brandy, and about 200 g of crystal sugar).  Hoping that turns into a tart but sweet tasting drink! It needs to sit a few weeks, so will let you know later how it turned out!

These are "ume" or Japanese plums.  Whether they are actually plums or apricots is actually a small matter of debate, however, rinse these, dry them off, remove any stem bits that are left and poke a few holes in them for maximum flavor.  Then, pop them into the jar.

The other two ingredients are crystal sugar (like rocks of sugar) and brandy.  This type of brandy is for the fruit liquors/wines, and there are recipes for fruit including apples, strawberries and biwa (kumquats?).  An alternative to brandy is "White liquor" but we didn't like the flavor of that as well.

Here are the "finished" products; lemon on the left and ume on the right.  I usually let my ume-shu "sit" for about half a year (enjoying last year's now!) and then remove the shriveled up ume, and enjoy a few sips from then, too! I did double the recipe this year.... The lemon-shu recipe calls for leaving the lemon and lemon peel for at least two weeks...we'll give it a taste test then! 

Kampai!

Tai-iku-sai AKA Jr. High Sports Festival

Better late than never!  Son's junior high had their sports festival at the end of May.  His school is the largest in our prefecture, and the approximately 900 kids had a busy, fun day of it.  The requisite speeches were made in the opening ceremony.  The two students who made speeches did a very nice job! 

Following the speeches, it was time for warm-up exercises.  No radio-taiso (gymnastics) like in elementary school, but stretching to a popular song.

Then, the competition began.  Separated by gender and grade, the different classes competed against each other, with the "main" event being the relay.  Son's class didn't do so well overall, but I was happy to see one event he was in before I had to run off to work. 

The guys rolled out two tires, put them on a stick, ran to and around a cone at the end of the field, then back to their starting area.  Sounds easy enough, but is actually more difficult than one would expect!

Their next school-wide event will be culture festival in September.  Fun!

Tis the season...rainy season!

No official announcement yet, but looking at the weather forecast, it looks like we're in for drizzles and downpours for the next few weeks.  So, this drizzly Sunday, we paid a visit to the prefectural library.  The location is lovely...but the book search was a little disappointing. 

Supermarkets provide special "umbrella bags" on days like today (long plastic bags that will hold one dripping umbrella), but public buildings usually have umbrella stands.  When I first arrived in Japan, I was told to be careful or my bicycle or umbrella might be snatched...while lost wallets were often returned with ALL contents--including cash!--intact.  Having lost first bicycle on my first trip to the grocery store (it had a broken bicycle lock), at least part of the advice seemed quite likely to be true.  So, umbrella stands with locks are quite common.  Nifty, huh!

Though many people do just stick their umbrellas in, and trust they will still be there later.

Having stashed the umbrellas, we strolled into the library.  I went through the English books on the shelves (took maybe 20 minutes...)  I picked up one interesting collection by a local writer and friend that I haven't read yet (The Broken Bridge/Suzanne Kamata) and have wanted to,  and a couple of others, but not much in my favorite genre (paranormal).  Then I searched the database for more English books in my favorite genres.  On my list of 15 authors to still find, I found three...A. Christie (book I want @ the Osaka Pref. Library), R. Heinlein (@ Tokyo Library) and The Time Traveler's Wife (Hokkaido Library)...the staff will put in my requests and we'll see if I can get ahold of them for a bit.  Next weekend, I'll head to the local international association's library and hopefully have more luck getting some others that I want to read.  I haven't been to the library in awhile to search for books for me (Children's library is a visit a month...but just related to picture books for lessons) and it's still disappointing, but no surprise.  Amazon won't be losing me as a regular customer anytime soon!

 Well, after a rather frustrating search at the library (and sore eyes from their PC monitors), son and I decided to call it a day.  Feeling a bit thirsty, we stopped at one of the rows of vending machines on the way to the parking lot.  We opted for mineral water (me) and an orange soda (son) though he was tempted by the ice cream...a little chilly for it today though.  The v.m.'s are everywhere, and quite convenient, but also a bit of an eyesore dotting the landscape.

 Lined up are half of a coca-cola vending machine, an ice-cream v.m., a Poccari Sweat v.m. (sports drink), and two more that carried mostly tea and coffee.  Way at the end, you can see an orange postal box...just after the row of garbage cans for the v.m. bottles and cans.

MIA? Nawww

What a whirlwind of activity the past couple of weeks have been!  Teaching is busy as always, and now I've got a lovely stack of mid-terms to grade!  There has been a school sports festival (more later!), baseball play-offs (our team went to the third round) and all the regular everyday stuff.  We've also acquired two fish, and are moving into the rainy season (and it seems the outside miniature wild life is increasing at an exponential rate!) 

All of these are signs that it's June.  Agenda for the week is to stock up on mold-killer, as well as repellents for those outside pesks that won't stay outside (a full aisle is devoted to items to get rid of slugs, flies, ants, mosquitoes, mukade (centipedes), cockroaches and more, so just have to choose which ones!!)  On a more pleasant note, this is also the time to make ume-shu (plum "wine") and enjoy the gorgeously blossoming hydrangeas!  More on those later!!