May 30, 2007

• sodegaura … ten years passed

  I remember when they asked me to write a letter introducing myself. I told them who I am, what I was doing in their country and how it has been so far. I remember telling them that I hated fermented beans and they moment they saw me they corrected my spelling … natto they said, with emphasis on the extra ‘t’.

  I had my first traditional tea ceremony inside a hundred year old tea house. It felt weird being cramped in such a  small place that hardly fit the 7 people that was in that room. They were nice, they brought in a widow who speaks my language 3 or 4 cups later we went inside the main house. It was a huge traditional house, I was told that their ancestors were proud samurai.

  We proceeded to the dining area where they served … my favorite dish .. shiro miso with tonkatsu. After dinner we watched the movie “Ikiru” by Akira Kurosawa, one of his better movies. I almost fell asleep during the movie, I ended up waking up because I can hear the old people chuckling, saying that I must be tired because I’ve been closing my eyes while watching.

  After the movie I took a bath and got ready to sleep. went to the room they prepared for me, I can barely see the outline of a samurai outfit at the corner of the room. I wanted to try it on but I was so tired that I just went to bed . I was woken 6 hrs later by the old man and took me to his garden.

  we got to his farm after roughly 45 minutes of brisk walking, He tried so hard to communicate with me in english and I tried to respond using my tarzan-esque japanese. When we got to the farm it was a no brainer, there is no such thing as a language barrier when it comes to describing the beauty of nature and the patience that comes along with it when you are waiting for something to grow. I understood what he was trying to say and he saw that I understood.

  I forgot his name, he is probably almost a hundred years old now but I do remember that one summer weekend ten years ago when a brown stranger visited Sodegaura Shi in Chiba Ken.

  • 4:25 pm
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