HINAMATSURI: DOLL'S FESTIVAL vol.2 雛人形展＠旧竹林院その②

This is the second post about fantastic Hina dolls exhibited at Former Chikurin-in of Sakamoto, Shiga.

At the large Tatami room of this temple, there were various kinds and sizes of Hina dolls!

ひな人形展＠旧竹林院　第二弾です。一階の広間には大小様々の雛人形が展示されていました。

Click this↓↓
The first post: HINAMATSURI: DOLL'S FESTIVAL vol.1 雛人形展＠旧竹林院その１
こちらもどうぞ😌

Wow! So many Hina dolls!!

The emperor, empress, three court ladies and five Nogaku performers

A complete set of Hina dolls. Beautiful and grate!!

A complete set of Hina dolls were very beautiful and I was overcome with their gorgeous appearance😲 There are fifteen dolls (a couple with eleven court attendants) and the bride's household goods brought with her.
These days many Japanese people live in an apartment and in most cases there are no space to exhibit a set of Hina dolls like this. It occupies a large amount of space not only to exhibit but to keep😓(they should be put away after 3th, March and exhibited again at next March).

One of the three court ladies. The design of her kimono is Shippou and rabbit. 

Sadaijin (the left minister). The design of his kimono are Arisugawa-shika (deer).

The gratest feature of these Hina dolls is their clothes (kimonos). The patterns of the kimonos each doll wear are the same as that of various national treasures (textiles) kept in Shoso-in of Todai-ji, Nara: phoenix, rabbit, deer, turtle etc..


フル装備の雛人形はやはりすごい存在感でした😍豪華なことこの上なし。
今はマンション暮らしの方も多いですし、なかなかこのタイプをお持ちの方は少ないのでは。何せ、場所とりますからね～～～😅

この雛人形の特徴はなんといっても、各人形のお着物の柄を正倉院の宝物の裂地からとっていることでしょう！例えば、三人官女の唐衣は七宝に兎です。右大臣・左大臣は私の大好きな有栖川鹿紋でした😊

Misterious children dolls (left) and NAGASHI-BINA (right: floating Hina doll)

There are also Nagashi-bina (floating Hina doll): people pray for their health and float a couple of paper dolls on a river (sometimes, the sea). They believe evils and troubles are kept off with the floating dolls.


日本各地で見られる「流し雛」(右下２つ)も飾ってありました。流し雛は形代で、川や海に流すことで自分の厄を一緒に流すという信仰によるものだとか。無病息災を祈願するそうです。

最近は環境保護の観点から、最近は有志や自治体が回収するとかしないとか😅時代ですね～

Expressive faces of three dolls: angry, laughing and crying

こんなユニークなお顔の衛士３人がいました！一番左は怒り担当かと。
笑い担当と泣き担当の違いがイマイチわかりません（笑）

Tachi-bina (standing Hina dolls). Miniature furnitures are very elaborate! 

A young girl played with these dolls like Wakamurasaki of "Tale of Genji"📖, I guess.


初期の雛人形といわれている「立ち雛」も。『源氏物語』の若紫のように、所有者の娘さんがお人形遊びをしたのでしょうか😄

Small Hina dolls carved out of wood

マンション住まいの現代人に最適！？超コンパクトな木彫り雛人形。
ちゃんと１５人いるセットです👍

Momotose-bina (Hina dolls of 100 years old) 

Both emperor and empress of Momotose-bina have silver hair.
Originally, people display Hina dolls to express the wish for their daughters' good health and growth.  I heard,on the other hand, such a old couple is displayed with the wish for not only perfect health but a long life👴❤👵


百歳雛（ももとせびな）も飾ってありました～！白髪のお人形で、健康だけでなく長寿への願いも込められていると聞きます。「末永く、仲良く」という想いもあるのでしょうね！
 次回は二階に上がります～😄

Thank you for your reading!!
今日も読んでくださってありがとうございます。
Please don't use photos and pictures on my blog without permission !
写真や絵、文章の無断使用はご遠慮下さい。リンク歓迎です

HINAMATSURI: DOLL'S FESTIVAL vol.1 雛人形展＠旧竹林院①

Last Thursday I went to Former Chikurin-in at Sakamoto with my daughter, my friend and her daughter.
Now many kinds of Hina dolls are exhibited throughout Shiga. And in the area of Sakamoto we can see Hina dolls at three places: Former Chikurin-in, Kunin-yashiki and Saikyou-ji.


先の木曜日に娘と友人親子と一緒に近江は坂本の旧竹林院に行きました！今、滋賀中で新旧の雛人形を展示するイベントを開催しており、坂本では他に公人屋敷、西教寺で見られます🎎

A set of Hina dolls at Former Chikurin-in

Former Chikurin-in is typical of many historical buildings remained in Sakamoto, Otsu city. There are two tea-ceremony houses and an arbor designated the cultural assets of Otsu city.

In the garden of about 3,300㎡ made good use of natural geographical feature, clean water of Omiya-river is streaming, fresh green trees and beautiful moss is producing a tasteful atmosphere.

Otsu city 

From the entrance ticket of Former Chikurin-in



旧竹林院は延暦寺の里坊（僧の隠居先）のひとつで、現在は大津市の所有。自然の地形を利用した３３００㎡ の庭園では（チョコチョコ歩きのベビー連れ＆草履ではかなりきつい😂）ルートに沿って木々や青々とした苔を楽しむことができます。八王子山を借景とし大宮川をめぐらせた見事なつくりは本当に素敵でした！！

The garden of Former Chikurin-in and my daughter

My daughter liked this set of Hina dolls!! 😍 So cute!

入ってすぐの左の雛人形が娘のお気に入りでした。コロンとして、かわいい！

Odairi-sama and Ohina-sama (an emperor and an empress). Pottery?

右には年代物の親王雛。布ではなく焼き物のようにも見えました。
左下の串刺しの子ども達にいったいどんな由来があるのか気になりますが、係員さんに尋ねても名前すら不明とのこと💦

Tenjin-bina 天神雛

For the first time I knew and met Tenjin-bina! I think it is very rare.

Usually Hina dolls are displayed with Japanese cherry blossom and Citrus tachibana. But in this case red and white ume blossoms are there with him.

If you get interested in Tenjin, please also read this! He appears in some old Japanese poems.


こちらで生まれて初めて「天神雛」なるものに遭遇！ お一人で、しかも縁のある紅梅、白梅が配されています！

天神様にご興味がおありでしたら、こちらもどうぞ。


Time is up today😢 To be continued...please look forward to the next post!

今日はここまで。
次回も旧竹林院の素敵なひな人形の数々をご紹介予定です😃おたのしみに

Next post: HINAMATSURI: DOLL'S FESTIVAL vol.2 雛人形展＠旧竹林院②

Thank you for your reading!!

今日も読んでくださってありがとうございます。

Please don't use photos and pictures on my blog without permission !

写真や絵、文章の無断使用はご遠慮下さい。リンク歓迎です

MONSTER RADISH becomes medicine against coughing 滋賀のお化け大根で民間療法！

Yesterday I found a monster Japanese radish at Hyakuchan (a shop dealing with fresh vegetables of Shiga, located at Maruyachou shopping center). It was so big that a salesclerk was surprised too😂

滋賀の取れたて野菜を並べている丸屋町商店街の百ちゃんでお化け大根を見つけました。あまりに大きくて店番のおじさんもビックリ（笑） 

A monster radish on my big baby buggy 重すぎてベビーカーに

My eighteen-month-old child. Woww..too heavy to hold! 

It's total length was about 27 inches, and it was five inches across (maximum)! It's so heavy that I used my baby buggy to carry it back😅 

全長７０センチ、最大直径１３センチ。余りに重すぎてベビーカーに乗せて帰りました（汗）1歳半のチビさんとの比較。うう、重っ（笑）

Last year. At six months old. 生後半年の時のチビ。

Also last year I found a very big Japanese radish😁 昨年もどデカ大根を、見つけていました。

This year I made a remedy against coughing and a sore throat by using the monster radish because my son has been coughing since the new year😷  

The recipe of Hachimitsu-daikon🍯

1. Dice a Japanese radish into the cubes

2. Put honey on them

3. Keep them for about a few hours

4. Exclude the cubes from the juice because they make it bitter

5. Drink it. The cubes are also eatable (I love them😁)

6. Keep it in a refrigerator and finish eating in a few days

Just after putting honey on the dice of a Japanese radish

After an hour. 

The mixture of honey and the juice of a Japanese radish is full of nutrition. An enzyme of a Japanese radish reduces throat hurts. Honey has an antibacterial effect. Once I heard this remedy has been used since the Edo period.

今年はこのお化け大根で、年始から咳の止まらない息子のためにハチミツ大根を作ることにしました。咳と喉の痛みに効くそうです。

ハチミツ大根の作り方🍯
１．大根をさいの目切りにする

２．深めの容器に切った大根を入れてハチミツをかけて浸す

３．２～３時間放置→大根からけっこうな水分が出る
４．大根を取り出す（液が苦くなるので）
５．液を飲む。大根もおいしくいただけますよ！！
６．液は２～３日のうちに飲みきるのがおすすめ

大根のある酵素に消炎作用があるそうです。また、ハチミツには抗菌作用がありますね！（マヌカハニーで有名？）なんと、ハチミツ大根の歴史は江戸時代まで遡るそうです。

夜間の咳がひどい時は寝る少し前に飲めば効果があるようですが、虫歯が心配でまだ試せていません😅

大根葉とジャコと小エビの甘辛煮. You must eat this with rice!

The leaf and stalk of a Japanese radish is also eatable. I recommend you to shallow-fry it's leaf and stalk with small prawns and dried young sardines (Chirimen-jako). This time I used lake prawns caught at Lake Biwa (maybe, sujiebi: Palaemon paucidens).

Using sesame oil to fry them makes the flavor better! The taste is mainly based on soy sauce, sugar and Japanese rice wine (sake).

Rich in calcium!!


大根葉は捨てるともったいない！ちりめんじゃことエビ（今回はエビ豆でおなじみ、琵琶湖の淡水エビの佃煮）と一緒に炒め合わせ、醤油、砂糖、酒を入れてふたをして甘辛煮。ごま油で炒めるのがおすすめです。

カルシウムが豊富な一品です😁


Thank you for your reading!!
今日も読んでくださってありがとうございます。
Please don't use photos and pictures on my blog without permission !
写真や絵、文章の無断使用はご遠慮下さい。リンク歓迎です。

千鳥饅頭うまし！Chidori-manjuu: a representative confectionery of an old-established sweets shop, Chidoriya.

Last Saturday my father gave me Chidori-manjuu. It is very famous and popular as a confectionery made in Fukuoka of the Kyushu district, which is located in the west of the main island of Japan.

Chidori-manjuu 千鳥饅頭

Tell the truth, because I have eaten this delicious wagashi many times since childhood, I had till today thought that it is a representative sweet of my birth place (not Kyushu)😂

The maker, Chidoriya is a long-established wagashi shop: it is started in 1630 (the Edo period). They say that Portuguese people came to Kyushu by ship about 400 years ago and that it was the first time Japanese people met European sweets. 


幼い頃から何度となく口にした千鳥饅頭。ずっと関西のお菓子だと思っていましたが、このたび九州の銘菓であることが判明（笑）そういえば、九州は南蛮船がやってきて異国の文化やらお菓子やらを伝えたところ。千鳥屋さんは、その九州で実に400年近く商いを続けておられる訳ですね😲わお！


Two birds printed on the packag of Chidori-manjuu are ''Chidori". Chidori means a migratory bird and this word has been used when composing Japanese poems since long ago.

They say Tenjin came here 
He reflected himself on the clear stream
Now migratory birds fly in flocks right overhead

It is very difficult to translate Waka (one of Japanese poems, which is consisting of a 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic structure) in English😓 So I wrote only the meaning of this poem using Chidori:
水鏡 せると伝ふる天神の みあしのあとに 千鳥群れ飛ぶ　

Near Ponto-cho 先斗町近く。

Chidori　千鳥模様の提灯

Before I found a pattern of Chidori in Kyoto, printed on the paper lantern (Chouchin). Chidori is loved as a propitious symbol of luck and goal achievement.



千鳥饅頭にはその名の通り、千鳥が包装紙に描かれています。この千鳥、日本では古くから和歌に読まれたり和柄のひとつとして人気があったりと馴染みのもの。なんですが、実は私は千鳥ってなんなのかよく知りませんでした😅

このたび子どもの国語辞典で調べて、日本で春や秋に見られる渡り鳥の総称だと判明。ほへ～（笑）厳密にいうとチドリ科の鳥の総称ってことなのかしら。

怨霊として（？）有名な平安時代の官僚、菅原道真をしのんで詠んだ短歌に、この千鳥が出てきます。このお方、今は天神様として祀られています。

水鏡 せると伝ふる天神の みあしのあとに 千鳥群れ飛ぶ　

川の水面にそのお姿を映したと伝わる天神さまの通られた跡に
今は渡り鳥が群れ飛んでいるよ

高校生の知識で訳しています💧間違いがあれば教えて下さい、恥ずかしいので😂

先日、京都の先斗町近くのお料理屋さんで千鳥柄の提灯を見つけて思わず撮影。千鳥って、勝運や目標達成の縁起物なんですね！！初めて知りました。


Now let's return to Chidori-manjuu😋 This sweet was devised, based on a sponge cake and a small round cookie. The ingredients are simple: flour, sugar, eggs, honey, starch syrup and navy bean.

Marked with a hot iron of Chidori

A cut section of Chidori-manjuu

The white an (bean paste) is moist, not mushy. It's sweetness is good. The confectionery dough is a bit moist and soft. I want to eat it any number of times!😄 With Matcha!🍵

The prologue was too long.haha..




閑話休題。千鳥饅頭はカステラと丸ボウロをもとに考案されたそうです。確かに皮がしっとりだけどボウロぽい？

白あんは上品な甘さで、原材料も至ってシンプル。飽きの来ない味です。お抹茶を飲みたくなってきます。誰か～🍵！！『ご自服で』😂

本題のお菓子以外についての説明がやたら長くなってしまいました（笑）まあ、要は説明不要。文句なしにおいしいということです。


Thank you for your reading.
今日も読んでくださってありがとうございます。
Please don't use photos and pictures on my blog without permission !
写真や絵、文章の無断使用はご遠慮下さい。リンク歓迎です。




  

  

Nanakusa-gayu. Interesting japanese food in New Year. 簡単！七草粥キットで無病息災！！

Hi!
On the 7th of January, Japanese people would eat Nana-kusa gayu (七草粥), that is, the rice porridge including seven ingredients (vegetables and wild plants in my recipe). This custom spread and fixed in Edo period.

People eat it and pray for state of perfect health over the year.

They are 
Seri, Nazuna, Gogyo, Hakobera, Hotoke-no-za, Suzuna and Suzusiro.
⚠ The different period and place have resulted in variation of the ingredients. 
What I introduce is just an example. 

<< Nana-kusa >>

Seri (セリ　Oenanthe javanica)

Seri has an unique smell (refreshing feeling).

Nazuna (ナズナ　Capsella bursa-pastoris)

Gogyo (ゴギョウ　Gnaphalium affine)

Hakobera (ハコベラ　Stellaria media)

In fact Hakobera (or Hakobe) means the plants which belong to Stellaria. 

Now it should be called コハコベ (Ko-hakobe) in Japan.

Hotoke-no-za (ホトケノザ　Lapsana apogonoides)

ホトケノザ is another name of コオニタビラコ (Ko-oni-tabirako). 

Suzuna (スズナ　Brassica rapa L.) &

Suzushiro (スズシロ　Raphanus sativus L.)

Suzuna is called a turnip in English. Suzushiro is Japanese radish.

In the past all they were very familiar to Japanese people. The children used to learn the names by heart.
But, these days many people have lost the opportunity to learn which is which, and cannot identify. Of course, neither can I. I guess one reason is decrease of farms and fields, their important habitat.

But don't worry!! Now Nana-kusa are sold at supermarkets!! 😆

Various kinds of instant Nanakusa-gayu

If you want to enjoy this custom more easily, you can buy freeze-dried Nana-kusa, already cut small. So all you have to do is preparing rice porridge and mixing them.

Freeze-dried Nana-kusa (convenience food)

I found more convenient one. This includes not only Nana-kusa but also rice porridge!!  Wow...Fantastic...😂 It is suitable for busy morning!

Boil-in-the-bag rice porridge and freeze-dried Nana-kusa

Packaged Nana-kusa

Hey! Why the amount of Hakobera  is so different from that of the others!?😂

Because of various matters I could not make it before dinner. I will try tomorrow morning!
I'm sorry not to show the photo of just made Nanakusa-gayu😓

(updated 2019/01/09)

I made Nanakusa-gayu!

⚠If you are interested in Japanese food, enjoy my Facebook page.

⚠Please don't use photos and pictures on my blog without permission !!!

Thank you for your reading !!!

Happy New Year ! Let's enjoy Hatsu-moude ! 梅の着物に獅子の帯で初詣！！

Happy New Year !🎍
How about your New-Year holidays?

Today I went to the local Shinto shrine and prayed over my family members' safety and good health.
This event is usually called Hatsu-moude (the first visit to a shrine and praying in New Year) in Japan.

Of course I wore kimono, Japanese traditional clothes.
That is because I love it ! Particularly, as casual clothes.

So I'm happy to share useful information to enjoy kimonos more easily and deeply. 

日本語記載の投稿もあります♪日々の着物姿をアップしていこうと考えています。

🌸Today's Kimono and Obi🍁

Front

Back

I strongly recommend you to wear a winter coat, kimono coat or at least kimono cardigan.
I trembled with cold during taking photos.

Obi: Nagoya obi. The pattern of Karajishi (Chinese lion)
Kimono: Komon (Awase). The pattern of ume blossoms and Tatewaku

(left) Two Chinese lions, a bridge and a mountain range. Not painted. It is a textile.
So cool😍  I heard it was made by my grandmother about 60 years ago.
 In the past almost all women can make their kimono (obi, too) by themselves at
home, buying rolls of cloth.  
           
(right) Ume blossoms are printed in line.The pattern of this flower is said to be suitable for New year in Japan.
The pattern of Tatewaku is printed all over this kimono (white wavy lines).
Maybe many horizontal lines mean Kasumi (the condition that we cannot see clearly because of fog or mist. 

Now I am preparing a glossary of  the traditional patterns of Kimono and Obi, like Tatewaku (mentioned above).

Please wait and don't miss it !! 😁

Another time I will write how to make a Tsukuri obi (instant Nagoya obi).

If you have this type of obi, you can fasten obi more easily and quickly.
Thank you for your reading !

💡If you get interested in this page, please access my Facebook page !

⚠Please don't use photos and pictures on my blog without permisson !!!