Ise Shrine & 25th Maneki-neko Festival – 2/2
On September 29th, from 9:29 in the morning, it will be the day when 929 Kicchou Shofuku Bells (auspicious good luck charm bell) that received purification by t...
Ise Shrine & 25th Maneki-neko Festival – 1/2
On September 28th (Saturday) and 29th (Sunday), I visited the Maneki-Neko Festival (Beckoning Cat and Lucky Cat Festival) held in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, wher...
Short trip to Oku-Noto, Ishikawa: Heike family descendants & Jizo
This autumn, my wife and daughter made a trip around Oku-noto, Ishikawa Prefecture. Until a few decades ago, Oku-Noto was a remote and somewhat mysterious area ...
On a sunny Autumn day – 1
On a sunny Autumn day, I made an impromptu visit to Gotokuji (豪徳寺) which is said to be the Birthplace of Manekineko (beckoning cat). During the Edo era, there w...
On a sunny Autumn day – 2
While I stared out the window on the train, I was quietly pondering that I never had time to visit Gotokuji even though I’ve been blessed by the Manekineko more...
Tenugui, a Japanese towel
The main character in the Soseki Natsume’s novel Botchan took a red western style tenugui whenever he went to a hot spring, which is why he was called aka...