Heian Shrine Garden and The Ninja House

An active weekend had two highlights – a visit to Heian Shrine and its famous Japanese Garden, and a trip to Nojo Jinya, the mysterious Ninja House!

I met Sarah on Saturday at the massive 30m (とり) just south of Heian Shrine. Built just over 100 years ago, this Shrine doesn’t compete with most of Kyoto’s old buildings vis a vis age. However, it’s massively popular. Arriving late, we had time to see a Japanese wedding party being photographed, the bride resplendent in white, before heading into the adjacent garden. 花見 season, during which 桜 are in full bloom, is drawing to a close; now the cherry trees are increasingly adorned in Summer green. A last chance to savour the sakura was appreciated, as I haven’t been about that much during hanami season this year (なぜ　寒かったですよ!)

日 曜日 took me across town to Nijo St, where Mrs Yamada brought myself, Colleen, Lliam and Jane sama to see Nijo Jinya. Known to many as The Ninja House, this 24-room building housed the Daimyo – the feudal lord – in pre-modern times. The daimyo’s vassals were required to visit him as part of the feudal agreement. This at times made him very unpopular among those he controlled – and control them the Daimyo did (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimyo). The house itself is a warren of secret passageways, sliding doorways, concealed panels and deceptive stairways. It is a physical composite of the architectural conventions of the time (incorporating, for example, a Noh Stage, a tea-room, reception rooms and so on) matched with the practicality of protecting the Daimyo from unruly vassals or their associated bent on assassination. Sadly, photography was　completely だめ, but that didn’t stop us from getting trigger happy outside. 山田先生 got down to some serious Ninja style!

Mount Hiei

On Saturday 22nd I took the opportunity to visit Mount Hiei, Kyoto's highest mountain. The guide books had good things to say about Enryakuji Temple, once home to a powerful Buddhist sect. So influential were these monks that, according to Judith Clancy, they were ordered destroyed by the Imperial Court. Myself and Ronan ascended the mountain via cable-car and ropeway, and walked through the misty forests, passing hushed graveyards and catching fleeting glances of the surrounding hills through the fog as we went.　アメリカのSarahさんと会いましたーよかった！一緒にHiei山のお寺やもりを見ました。彼女は日本についてビデオを作りますーがんばってSarah様！！

Back Online

Well folks, I will try to get back to normal after an amazing trip down to the Philippines. I started in Cebu, well south of Manila and over the course of a ten day trip saw the best of Cebu island. I completed an open-water PADI dive course, visited some impressive waterfalls, relaxed on the beach and played basketball and soccer with the locals. I'll unfold the events via the blog here in the next wee while but for now, 写真を楽しんでください！明日日本語であっぷデートをします！

Marathon Weekend

It was indeed a bit of a handful, these past two days. I'll have to try and remember it in reverse.

Sunday ended with a marathon music session at Field Studios, the ever-present Anime and myself working to get the CD finished. I am having problems with one tune which is bulky and needs to be finished properly. Trying to avoid studio perfectionism without compromising the quality of the album overall.
On Sunday afternoon I went watching the Sumo with a bunch of good friends in Saiin, west Kyoto city. Amie and Steve made delicious pizza (bringing B. Mc Auliffe's 'Rathmines Pizza Nights' to mind). That event was followed by a keyboard jam back at the house with Dave Rodwin on bass. The Sunday morning was the Kyoto City Half Marathon, which I ran in 91 minutes. 10 faster than last year, but it was tougher going as I had trained less. The never-say-die Valerie and Mike Yoshida also ran - what a trio! Sandwiched in between all that was the Kyoto St Patrick's Day parade. Now I never seen a dog in a St Paddy's Day outfit till I came to Japan, but that, as they say, is true internationalisation!
I can't remember what I did on Saturday...ah yes, there was the Oxfam Pub Quiz at Zac Baran Jazz Studio, in which we held the lead till I disappeared down to my friend's gig just before the music round....all that was preceded by an impromptu jam at my friend Hiro's wedding, on a GLASS PIANO. More pictures soon folks, I'm out of time here...ST　PATRICK'S DAY　PARADE　はすごいたのしかった。そのあと、PUBで、あいるらんどのギネスビルを飲みましたーおいしかった！

Looks like Milk...

Looks like milk, doesn’t it? Thirsty shopper beware, when buying milk in Japan, make sure it’s actually milk, not 北海度のヨグルト！Not very nice inside in the cup with the Lyons tea.

Well, this weekend was spent in 天おじ、大阪市 where we played a football tournament. All proceeds went to Habitat For Humanity, a チャリテイ helping to build homes in The フィリピン、among other places. Good luck to the lads, Warry and Jim, heading out there! The footy was awesome and our team, Osaka Irish, made it to the final. On the way we memorably trounced Murphy’s B (5-1) and Osaka A (3-0) before succumbing on penalties to Murphy’s A. The following lined out for the Irish: Chris “Carras” Carrington, Luca Kouno, Dai, Matteo, gifted defender Paul Spencer and Man of the Tournament Yuki in goal.

In other news I recently enjoyed a 週末休み with the Kansai Outdoors Club in Hakodateyama, Shiga Prefecture. We went スキing for the weekend. 土曜日 was clear skies and good (although melting) ゆき、けどう日はよくなかったー大雨が降っていました！そしてたくさんの写真を撮りました、mostly of the area around the minshuku, the guesthouse where we stayed. Enjoy the photos!

I’ve been made AJET (Association of Japanese Exchange Teachers) Block 6 Rep for 2006/7 – an elected position. More about that job in a bit, le Cunamh De.

My new CD is out in shortly, featuring 11 tracks, a bunch of originals and some excellent covers! MADE IN JAPAN, BABY - recorded, engineered and mixed at Field Studios, awesome cover design by the lethal combo of Mr T. and the perennial ‘Pattokun’, Pat Shields of Newry. More on that in a while. Paddy’s Day is creeping up, and I got a gig at a famous Irish Pub on Oike Dori! Might be the first person to play a cover of ‘Beverley Hills Cop’ as part of a Paddy’s Day set, but that is true internationalisation! Running the Kyoto Half Marathon on Sunday, butterflies in the stomach, but should be OK. Go 2, Raptor!

Going with the Flow

Well, flowing nicely these days, despite a cold. Last night I went to a music lesson at Field Studio, Kyoto. The talented multi-instrumentalist Suzaki san gave a talk about Irish music -in Japanese. A few facts I learned include: in Japanese, 'the groove' (the 'feel' of a song) is called のり　－nori. That's the same word that describes the seaweed used to wrap sushi!
Last Friday was せつぶん - a kind of New Year's celebration in which devils are tempted out of people's houses by throwing beans! おには外、ふくは内！We ate foot-long sushi while facing 喃々東 - south south east, this year's special direction. Highlights of the weekend include climbing Mount 大文字、Kyoto's famous mountain, in blizzard conditions with Dubliner and fellow JET Ronan, attending some Fushimi High School students' concert in Umeda, Osaka, and watching the anime 千と千尋 for the first time. This week it's ととろ (same director)、ミンポーの女 (a film about the Japanese Yakuza, I think) and more!

In a Sporting Spirit

Well, today I played my first rugby game of 2006 for the Wings Osaka Club. We lost about 45-21. Hockeyed, you might say...I socred a try from second centre, but it was a small consolation. The opposition today was strong, young and fit and although we fought hard we were overwhelmed. I was a bit annoyed because I didn't remember the rules I set myself: when tackling plant the feet, and tackle the opponent's inside shoulder. They got past us on numerous occasions because none of us were willing or capable of making efficient textbook tackles. Well, back to the drawing board...in my defence let me say that the supply of ball today was not ideal, with our no.s 10 and 11 hamming it up a number of times. That's always frustrating for an outside centre. Well, しょうがないね。。。ところで、we had a get-together near Kyobashi station after the game which was awesome. We also stopped into a　noodle restaurant (うどん屋) on the way home, and the evening ended with me taking the train back to Kyoto, cycling home in the snow, and, finally, fixing my neighbour's toilet. Yes, it's all about internationalisation here...

Holy God it's the middle of January! The snow has left us but it's still colder than all hell. Sitting in this evening, half-watching a ドラマ (drama) about....firemen! Ceart go leor, like! School's fine for the time being. Well, the Ma was about for the New Year and it was awesome. We visited Hiroshima, Miyajima World Heritage Site, Kyoto and Osaka. She fecked off to Nara herself for the day as well! We are both big tanuki fans - it's a Japanese raccoon dog that's real, but mythical and lives in Japan! Gave a プレセンティシオン today about Irish architecture at my high school, which went down well. It was a buzz telling Japanese kids about crannogs, bee hive cells, the nascent sun coming through the roof box at Newgrange on a winter solstice morning...
my school just recently won the All-Japan High School rugby tournament - fair play! きをつけて、Brian O'Driscoll!

White Christmas

Well, we're getting a white Christmas here in Kyoto - some serious snow fell between Dec 20th and today, Christmas Eve. メリークリスマス！Other news...it's bitterly cold, I played my last concert of 2005 at The Field Pub, and started working on a CD. Hope to finish it by Jan 2006.

JLPT tomorrow

Ah cr*p, have a big Japanese exam tomorrow. Would rather be reading Flann O'Brien and drinking tea. Anyway, I want to try and upload a picture today, so here goes. Ah, the lovely Fushimi Inari. きれい、ね。。

Timahooley Time(s)

Welcome to the Timahooley Times, the online Airurando-ni-tsuite blog. I hope to share some ideas and photos on the web from here.