Harvesting Rice and the Egawa Family Manor

Hello hello! I know, I'm so behind on posting about events that happen here in Japan. I've just been kept so busy that I don't have time to post! D: To give you an idea of the business I have been preoccupied with, please take a look at my Japanese practice!

To the right is the (incomplete) list of words I had to study for my Japanese II class...which is the drama class. Every class we have a quiz on the new words that popped up in the episode we watched the previous week. It's quite a hassle. And to the left is the kanji (character) practice I have been doing. x_x;

Put that on top of socialization and we have lots of business. xD; (I'm not really making my point, am I?) But here I am.....about to post about my experience last Saturday, when we went to Nirayama, a farming town about 15 minutes by train from Mishima, to help harvest rice and sweet potatoes. I can't say it was fun, but it wasn't awful. I certainly wouldn't want to do it ever day of my life though, hah.

So basically this is the process by which rice gets harvested:

First you harvest the rice....the old fashioned way (with a scythe and your hands). Later they brought out a harvesting machine. But this is what we did. Then you put the stalks into piles of four, criss-crossed.

Then you take the piles and tie them up, either with string or straw, and then put them in piles. We learned how to do it was straw...it's actually kind of hard. The aforementioned harvesting machine also tied the stalks for us. Very handy.

Then you hang them up on large bamboo poles, grain side down, like such so that they can dry out and the rice grains can easily be removed.

Then you cover them, I guess so they don't get too burnt out by the sun. Or maybe as protection from bugs. I'm not too sure. lol. And you tie the cover down with ropes or strings so they don't fly away.

And then you sprinkle flower seeds in the soil! To keep it fresh for next season. =D

After that, we got to join all the small children and their parents who helped to harvest the rice (and the sweet potatoes but I have no pics of that--basically it's just digging in the dirt until you find one) to a delicious home-made vegetable soup and some roasted eggplant.

We were also allowed to take some sweet potatoes and eggplants and even goya (the green vegetable in the back) home with us as thanks for coming. It was nice. The sweet potato was really yummy, but unfortunately, my eggplant went bad before I could eat it. :( I did not take a goya because I hate goya. xD;

After that, even though most of us were pretty tired from harvesting rice, we decided to head off to a famous historical manor in the town, which was owned by the Egawa family, which has existed since the 12th century. The manor itself was built at the end of the 12th century, so it's quite old and treasured as a historical landmark in Japan.

(Left) The gate of the house.












The front of the house. It's designed crooked from the gate so that intruders would have the illusion that they were shooting arrows from the gate into the house, when instead they were shooting towards to the side.

Right: Ancient well from which quality water was taken to make quality sake, some of the best in Japan.













Monument Honoring the 36th Patriarch, who not only brought various war technologies to Japan, but also was the first make bread in Japan as well.

Below: Old bullet holes. I'm not sure what battles they're from, but I thought they were cool to still have bullets in them from more than 150 years ago.















A tree growing in the courtyard that happens to be three in one: oak, maple, and cherry blossom. Supposedly the three trees grew from birds dropping seeds in it's crevices, and they sprouted there.

Below: A rice storage facility.

The ancient urn used to bake the first Japanese bread.

THE CANNON that Commodore Perry brought to Japan with him in the 19th century when he came knocking on Japan's door. Well, the center in refurbished, but the wheels are original. Apparently he was so relieved when Japan agreed to open up to the West that he just left it there with them.

This was a tree used as the center pillar of the building. Instead of cutting it down and using it's trunk as a pillar, the house was built around the tree, which continued living on for a long time as the central pillar of the house. Since it lived on, it's now revered as a Shinto god.

The roof of the house is very high; it's built so high, in fact, that it can accommodate three stories. This was an unusual design for Japanese places at the time. Additionally, it's built without using any nails, because they were considered damaging to the wood. Therefore, the building is very flexible and can move with the wind and the environment.


Tatami study room where many famous politicians of earlier times studied war tactics and other such things.










Inner garden, viewable only from the inside of the house.












Finally we went to the spot where Yoritomo Minamoto defeated the Taira clan, ending the Heian period and beginning the Kamakura period and the era of Shogunates and Samurai. It's quite a monumental place, especially considering that the Japanese history class I took last semester was centered around this even in history. Very cool. We all took a picture around the statues of Yoritomo and his wife for the memories. :)




So yeah! Good times. I'm going to be now....got a nine o'clock class tomorrow morning. Toodles!