22/3 - Little Edo

Thursday, after a nice breakfast we took our leave of Mrs Yamamoto and, under the guidance of sensei, headed to Shin Kagagoe. Kawagoe is at the end of the train line on which Iriso "sits" and is famous for a few reasons - its festivals, its Otera, and Ko (little) Edo. It was for thse last 2 reasons that sensei took us there.

Walking from sensei's house to the eki took some 20 minutes during which we passed a number of fields (found situated right between the houses) planted with green tea (for which the area is famous) and a couple of shrines and temples.

Ko Edo is a portion of Kawagoe in which a number of old Edo style buildings still exist and from which traditional style businesses like specialist food production, are conducted.

So after a kilometre or so walk from the eki we were in Ko Edo and enjoying both the interesting facades as well as the various fascinating products found inside. The kids particularly loved a loop street dedicated solely to Okashi (sweets or lollies) with lots of beautiful looking traditional sweets through to ones from sensei's childhood and even soft-serve.

For lunch we went to a little Tonkatsu (perhaps my most favourite simple food - pork with rice, shredded lettuce, and usually miso soup) shop. When I say little, I mean little, a kind of bar that seats 4 or 5 people behind which the owner/chef prepares food, and 3 low coffee tables, each of which seat 4 people max. So the 5 of us, plus one guy at the bar and the owner plus "waitress" took up the whole shop...and we did our usual "dance" of shoes and backpacks on/off in a narrow and confined space. The thing to understand is small is the norm for restaurants here, as well as specialist (i.e., specialising in 1 food type).

After lunch we walked across town to Kitain Otera - a very famous and powerful (then and I suspect now) buddhist temple. It has a connection with the Tokugawa shogunate, so its also a kind of museum also that contains historic items and even rooms. Also outside is a garden containing over 500 Rakan (statues of the buddha's disciples - each different) that are very famous. There is a legend that if you enter the garden at night and feel each of the statues you will find one warmer than the other. Mark it and return in the morning and you will find the deshi (buddha's disciple) that bears the most resemblance to you.

By then it was late afternoon so we road back with sensei, saying goodbye when he hopped off at Iriso. Again I was saddened at the shortness of the visit and my inability to communicate my deeper thoughts and feelings to Yamamoto-sensei who was not only a great instructor to me 11 years ago, but who had been so generous to us across the last 2 days. My greatest regret was that I was unable to train with him again (though I have all but forgotten all of the katas I once knew, and perhaps even some of the kihon-waza). Anyway, it has certainly rekindled my interest in karate and Renshinkan karate.

Not sufficient for a long day (sorry - sarcasm alert) we went over to Keiko's place for dinner and a delicious curry that Jun had cooked. Once again we had a long conversation, just like old friends, but with so much to catch up on. Again we left late, but this time took a cab home (though we only got us reasonably close despite having a nav system - Japanese house addresses are rather complex).