Our ryokan in Furukawa was exquisite. Our room was typical Japanese style. It was a wonderful 2 night stay. Both nights we had banquet dinners. Unlike our earlier banquets where many dishes were presented at the same time, at these banquets each course was presented separtely. They were WONDERFUL!! Here is the entire group ready to chow down.
Marico and Toshie having their Japanese breakfast.
During our stay in Furukawa we were expertly taken care of by the staff.
<--- Our room
Some views of the ryokan and the surroundings.
After breakfast, we went on our morning excursion. We were off to Kawai forvpaper making and tie dying. First it was a lesson in Japanese paper making. We had a wonderful instructor who showed us how the bark was taken from the mulberry tree, pounded, soaked and turned into a with the addition of some starchy subsatance. The slurry has to be stirred to separate and even out the distribution of the fibers. Then a screen tray is dipped into the slurry to gather the fibers for the paper.
Our master and instructor.
Granny is ready to make paper.
Click on the picture to see the master stirring the pot.
I'm not going to be left out.
Im getting my paper ready.
After paper making, it was on to tie dying.
Granny and I display our finished works.
After a morning of paper making and tie dying, it was time for lunch. Marico and Toshie took us to a house that a friend was restoring. The house is large and will be very beautiful when it is completed. A few rooms are about done but the majority of the house still needs lots of work. A visit to a sake brewery was scheduled for the afternoon but was postponed until the following morning.
As can be seen in the pictures on the right and left as well as the garden above, there is still a lot of work to be done. The picture on the right shows the electrical system that is being installed.
It's morning so it must be time for a visit to the sake brewery. Not too much happens at the brewery at this time of the year. I think we are visiting during the fermentation period. I was told that the difference in grades of sake depends on the grade of rice and the part of the rice that is used. What we saw were metal vats, where the sake is fermenting; cases of sake bottles; an old oak barrel that was once used of fermenting the sake; and some bottling machinery.
Our next stop is Kanazawa where we visit the Kenroku park. The park is so beautiful and there were so many photo ops, that I am going to put them on a separate page.
