The Land of Tanuki (Part 1)
You know you're headed off to a distant land when the final train in the journey is a single car, it's even better when it has a picture of the thing that represents the area that your headed off to.... TANUKI.... Ok, lets start form the beginning, a long time ago when Christen was still living in the valley she took it as her responsibility to make sure I had a correct understanding of Japanese culture despite Mikiko's objections. And it went something like;
- Tan Tan Tanuki no kintama wa, Kaze mo nai no ni, Bura bura
- (English) - Tan-tan-tanuki's testicles, there isn't any wind but still go swing swing
 From the moment you get off the little single car train you know these people are all about Tanuki. In front of the train station they have a monster Santa-nuki. |
Then, you as you start heading into town you realize this might be a little more serious than expected. it's actually a war and these tanuki are massing at the border, ready for battle.
Priests, Females to entertain the troops and even local baseball team members
The kilns where they are firing all the ceramics, this area is very well known for their work. Lots of the bowls you find in at the stores in Kyoto are actually made here, you can get great deals (like half the price) on the same style and makers.
The kilns are lined up on very steep hill so that when they fire the first one at the bottom it takes less fuel to fire the upper ones.