Street – Japan 3:5

Last November I went on a Textile Tour of Japan with Arena Travel and fell in love with the country, its people and culture. I started to share my trip with you all and then my computer crashed, for good. It took a while for me to get back to normal.  Life bowls along and somehow Japan got left behind, so here we are again with a post full of wonderful memories. (I have put links to previous posts about Japan at the end).

This photo (taken from the coach) is entered in this week’s  Photo Challenge.

The prompt is ‘STREET‘; the Japanese for street is ‘Dori’ as seen on the signpost.

Ronovan’s haiku prompts this week are: CHANGE and MIND

~

do you mind if we 

change direction and go South

to catch the sunshine

~

In previous posts about the trip I described the tie-dying workshop and wandering around the town of Arimatsu whilst our pieces were drying. We were all (there were 13 of us on the trip) delighted with them when we returned to pick them up

and had an opportunity to see fabric being prepared for dying in the tiny shop.

Then we set off to visit to a Shibori museum, where more intricate work was being demonstrated 

and was on display

 

With plenty of opportunities to shop.

Not that I did, but it was fun to look.

Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.

I hope to post more about Japan soon – I have so enjoyed looking through the photos again. Hope you enjoyed the visit.

Here are links to previous posts about my trip to Japan.

Day Three: 4     Narumi

Day Three: 3     Arimatsu

Day Three: 2     tie dye

Day Three: 1     to Nagoya

Day Two: 9        streets around the temple

Day Two: 8       Asakusa Kannon Temple

Day Two: 7       Boro

Day Two: 6       doors and windows

Day Two: 5       a hare in high heels

Day Two: 4       craft centre

Day Two:3              shopping

Japan Day Two: 2 child ceremonies

Japan Day Two:1  bonsai

First Evening in Japan

Advertisement

Work

beauty created

under pressure and time

by earth and by man

*

skills honed from a lifetime’s work

more precious than diamonds and pearls

~

Ronovan set us the prompt words of DIAMONDS and PEARLS this week for his haiku challenge.

To marry this challenge with our Photo Prompt of WORK  was a huge challenge and has taken me a while to get there. Go to Cathy’s Post to see more entries and leave a link to your ‘WORK’ photo.

I found it difficult to convey what I wanted to in the 5/7/5 haiku, a few more syllables were needed and so I have written a tanka this week. It does not perfectly fit the ‘rules’ but …

The sentiment is that beauty created by human endeavour and skill is more precious to me than diamonds.

The photo was taken in Mr. Hiroshi Murase’s shop in Arimatsu where we did our tie-dying workshop on my trip to Japan last November. They are preparing the cloth for dying by tying it in intricate patterns.

~

Miss E (8) saw me struggling with this challenge and wanted to write a poem using Ron’s prompt words – she wrote:

diamonds and pearls

diamonds and pearls

how lovely they can be

~

diamonds and pearls

diamonds and pearls

they form in the sea

~

diamonds and pearls

diamonds and pearls

they form under the ground

~

diamonds and pearls

diamonds and pearls

all waiting to be found

~

this is my poem I hope you like it

                                                                                       

   ~~~~~~~~

Next Week’s Photo Prompt is

LAYER

 

Japan 3:4 Narumi, patterns everywhere

LOOKING UP …….

No idea what this sign says but by now my eye was tuned into shapes and design and everything looked interesting and inspirational for design

LOOKING DOWN….

It was on Day 3 that I really began to notice the drain covers

I was falling in love with Japan .. and every detail

seemed to have a beauty, to be interesting…

crazy patchwork came to mind……

layouts for abstract design in collage or painting

even the air conditioning vents were….

fascinating …….. all great for doodles, and textile designs ………..

Mad tourist!

I know I’m not alone in taking pictures of the strangest things, but maybe I was going it bit far with these!

Have you taken any strange photos recently?

You can see links to my other posts about my Textile Tour of Japan in this post.

Japan 3:3 Arimatsu

Continuing with the Textile Tour…..

Whilst our tie dye was drying we had time to wander around the very quiet streets in the bright sunshine

Click on any photo to see a larger version.

I was particularly intrigued by the Rain Chains used instead of drainpipes, which were not pipes at all, but delicate water sculptures of metal tulip shapes. And what about this little chap guarding the house…. a pug with horns.

Japan Day 3:2 Arimatsu Tie Dying

….and so to Arimatsu and Mr. Hiroshi Murase’s Tie Dying workshop.

Sitting at our desks Mr Murase gave us a little talk about the history of Shibori, with Yuka translating for us. Shibori is a type of tie-dying that this area of Japan is particularly famous for.

Our little kits were laid out for us and we were shown how to fold the strip of cotton fabric

making a triangular concertina

before placing it between the two boards.

Mr. Murase checked each one to see it was accurately folded

before we added the elastic bands.

Then we walked a few doors down the street to his shop …

where the dye baths were set up in the doorway.

We were given a demonstration of how to dip the corners or edges of our triangle into the dye baths to create different patterns.

Blue on the left, red on the right.

There was a chart to show the different patterns possible.

We then rinsed the fabric twice in buckets of water before hanging the cotton out to dry.

Whilst they were drying we had a chance to wander round the village……….