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While we were away in Okinawa, Midori-san and Mizue-san suggested that we might want to attend an art show when we returned to Kansai. It was an oshie (raised-cloth art) show being given in Midori-san's hometown, Ashiya. I'd seen pictures of such art before, but we'd never seen the actual thing. And it would be a good chance to see Midori-san again, and to meet Midori's mother. |
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But it turned out that Midori-san and her mother weren't able to meet us that Saturday as planned, so it was just Mizue-san, Christeen(-san), and me. Some of the pieces were large and elaborate. We spoke with one of the artists who said her piece took her over a year to make. Everything in the pictures is made of cloth. The clothing on the people is especially impressive to me, because the fabric is draped naturally, like real clothes, and the figures become three-dimentional. |
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My favorite piece showed two women trying to pick some persimmons from a tree branch hanging over a fence. One of the women was giving a boost to the other. It had all the beauty of the art form, plus action, and humor. (It's really too bad you can't see it because of the glare.) |
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The piece seen here behind Christeen was probably the largest one we saw that day. There are 20-some dancing figures, each one exquisite. |
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The show was being given by a group of artists who study under Konishi Shouho (everybody calls her "Connie"). Connie kindly posed with us in her family's corner of the show. The umbrella with the pheonix is Connie's work. I am blocking your view of Connie's mother's work in the middle. And the hibiscus piece on the left was done by Connie's son. Connie was so gracious. Not only did she chat with us, and pose with us, she even gave us a copy of the book she wrote on how to do oshie! |
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Mizue-san and me posing with Connie's umbrella. |
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After visiting the art show, we went to lunch at a classy restaurant on the top floor of a nearby Daimaru department store. Mizue-san treated us again. She called the lunch we were served bentou (like a picnic box lunch) but it was a very fancy picnic! (This photo was stolen from Mizue-san's website.) |
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There were more than 20 different tastes, all delicious. The three of us left no food behind. |
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After lunch, it was karaoke time. Doesn't Mizue-san cut a smart figure when she sings? She puts a lot of feeling into the songs, and her posture and gestures are part of the performance! Christeen took this photo, one of my favorites. |
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If you've never been to a karaoke box (I had not, before April) the lyrics are on a TV screen while the music plays. Sort of like "follow the bouncing ball" in the old days. (English-language songs have the lyrics in English of course.) I took this photo because I liked the song and I wanted to try to look up these lyrics later. |
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This photo is a bit blurry, but so are my memories of some of this, so it seems appropriate. |
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Megumi-san joined us at the karaoke box on Saturday. She and Midori-san are friends from college days, so it was too bad that Midori-san couldn't be there. Megumi-san took several good photos with her cell phone. Here's Mizue-san performing. |
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Here's Megumi-san's shot of me singing. |
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And here are Mizue-san and me doing a duet together. |
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Lyrics, for me. Later. |
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Saturday was fun, but we had started early and we'd sung until almost 4:30pm. Megumi-chan had to leave before that; she's a busy woman! So Mizue-san and Christeen & I went our separate ways, agreeing to meet again the next day for more karaoke. |
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On Sunday, we met for karaoke after lunch. We were joined by Fumi-chan and, a little later, by Mr. and Mrs. Onaka. Mr. Onaka is a childhood school friend of Mizue's. |
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Here's everyone politely listening while I sang. |
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Mizue-san poses for me. |
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Mr. Onaka, waiting to cross in front of the lyrics screen while Mizue-san was singing. |
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Mr. Onaka came and sat by me for a while (we are "old buddies" from Mizue-san's BBS), and presented me with a tanka poem he wrote on fancy card-stock for the occasion. (You can see it on the Gift pages.) And he asked me to write a little something for him on a piece of the same card stock. And we posed for the cameras. |
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Mr. Onaka and Mizue-san sang a few songs together that day. |
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Fumi-chan and I posed for Christeen while Mizue-san and Mr. Onaka sang. |
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Fumi-chan gives stirring renditions of old school fight songs, and she knows lots of great enka songs, too. |
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After karaoke we went to an izakaya that specializes in sashimi. Here is the master of the shop. He had so many kinds of (very fresh) seafood. Some was still alive. Much of it was too exotic for Christeen and me, but even with our being picky, we still got quite full on some very good sashimi and sushi. And guess who walked us to this izakaya from his place? It was the master of Fujiwara-ya, the izakaya where we had eaten two weeks before. Mizue-san had asked him to recommend a sashimi place for us. |
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Mizue-san and Fumi-chan used to work together, and are great friends. We thank them both, and the Onaka's too, for a fun Sunday. |
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The sous-chef and our waiter at the izakaya. He really ran the place while the "master" kept slicing seafood. Quite a few other customers came in for quick sashimi meals while we were in there. The atmosphere was casual and convivial, like Fujiwara-ya. |