Musashi-gama, Hyogo, Japan.

These pots were made by Fukudenji Daiei Sensei at his Musashi-gama in Himeji Japan. The white markings were made by soaking fishing net in white slip and placing over the piece before firing. The second photograph was taken at an Ikenobo Ikebana exhibition in Kyoto showing how this pot was used by a Master of Ikebana. We never heard what happened but Fukudenji Sensei was, at the time (1982), building a kiln in Versailles, France, which was also to be called Musashi-gama.

Slab Building

When we were in Japan we saw no slab building techniques that were anything like those that I had developed. These salt herring pots that we saw at Aizu Hongo were the closest but were assembled using wooden formers to hold the sides together during the joining process. The slab bottle shapes we saw were press molded in two parts and then joined along the diagonal edges as was this lovely little bottle we bought in Mashiko.

These Torii pathways are wonderful to see and walk through. The top picture is at the main Inari Shrine shown in my last blog. It goes for hundreds of meters up the hill - each torii having been donated to the shrine. The second image was taken at Izushi which is a lovely small town in the Tottori Prefecture.

The Fox in Japan

In Japan the fox is revered as a mystical and mischievos animal. Many stories are told about the fox and many shrines are to be seen in all sorts of strange places. The top picture was taken just a few steps away from the hotel we were staying at in Aoyama, Tokyo. The other picture is of one of a pair of fox statues in front of the Inari Taisha Shrine at Inari City. A wonderful place to buy Inari Sushi, one of my favorites.

This poor Kingfisher slammed into the glass of one of my windows and was very poorly for about 20 minutes but slowly recovered and finally flew away. I hope it learned from the experience. The nest is of a New Zealand Fantail and I love the use it has made of lichen. Fantails are very small and active and so are very hard to photograph. One day I will get a good pictire to show.

Early Autumn is now the season in New Zealand. The other morning I was up early and caught this image of the dawn light coming through the trees. The photograph of the coloured grape leaves was taken at a friend's place last week. The leaves seem to be particularly colourful this year.

The top picture is of an old barn in Bristol, Vermont, which I photographed in 2010 and believe has now collapsed completely. I wonder how long ago it was built? The second picture is of a barn at Totara Flat on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. I am not sure but I think that our architect, John Scott, had this building in mind when he designed the bach we built just South of Hokitika in 1973.