The Megalithic Far East

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Littlestone L
Littlestone Mar 25, 2006 13:45:29
Replying to gorseddphungus

Thanks GP.

I know the little sake cups well, and remember them with some embarrassment. As I'm sure you know, the sake cups used in a Shinto wedding ceremony are white and generally left unglazed. At my own Shinto wedding, nearly forty years ago, I took the obligatory sip of sake during the ceremony only to find the cup had stuck to my lower lip! Perhaps the gods were trying to tell me something ;-)

Yes, Asuka is one of my favourite places; I first went there on a warm autumn day in 1966 (before the Takamatsu Zuka <i>kofun</i> had been discovered). I can remember coming down from the surrounding hills and looking out onto thatched cottages and trees with bright orange persimmons hanging from their branches. So much has change since then - it becomes more and more difficult to find the 'old' Japan and everything that went with it...

G gorseddphungus
gorseddphungus Mar 25, 2006 14:46:36
Replying to Littlestone

Heh, heh. Great story regarding the cup. I am glad we have that point in common; years later after your wedding and during my own, my lips did not get stuck, but I broke the sliding door during the wedding meal as I came back into the room from the loo. After a few seconds of embarrassing silence in the room, I was relieved to hear the laughter coming from the guests. The host was up in arms about it of course but, hey, after all, doors and windows in Japan are made of wood and paper.

I'll have to get back to those Asuka trips in the future, it's some time now and I remember some really good impressions. It is true about Japan changing in the last decades, but I am always amazed at how much 'ancientness' still remains once one's off the beaten trail. And the same for nature - I always tell the people who go there for the first time that, though the Kansai-Kanto corridor (what the West knows about the country, and where I would include Kyoto-Nara-Asuka) is entirely overpopulated, 90% of Japan is still more wooded and mountainous than any other country in Europe I know barring Switzerland. And kohuns and other stone paraphernalia can still be found everywhere.

Still, I am sure the fact that your own kin is following your steps (Japanese-wise), makes you quite delighted and proud at this moment.

XXX
GP