Lake Yogo with deep snow.

Shiga and the Japan Sea Coast (especially Niigata Prefecture) got a heavy dump of snow during Feb. 2 and 3, 2012. Nagahama and Imazu (Takashima) in northern Shiga have gotten over 70 cm of snow. On Feb. 3, some 160 troops from the Ground Self-Defense Forces were dispatched to Imazu to help remove snow. The last time they dispatched military personnel for snow removal was 31 years ago in Jan. 1981.

On the morning of Feb. 3, people in central Nagahama, such as in Kurokabe Square, were busy shoveling snow. Maibara and Hikone also got a good amount of snow. Some 35 kindergartens and elementary and junior high schools in Nagahama and Maibara canceled classes on Feb. 3 due to hazardous roads. Meanwhile, 105 schools either delayed the start of classes or canceled afternoon classes.

Snowy and icy roads are also causing car accidents. During Feb. 2-3, about 300 accidents occurred mainly due to road slippage. Twenty-two people were injured. Higashi-Omi, Hikone, and Omi-Hachiman saw the most car accidents with 76, 63, and 50 accidents respectively.

People are also getting injured while shoveling snow off their rooftops or falling into roadside gutters hidden by the snow. Some agricultural greenhouses also collapsed under the snow, even as south as Kora town.

The snowfall’s peak is passing, but shinkansen trains are being delayed between Nagoya and Kyoto on Feb. 4.

Take extra precautions when traveling to or in Shiga. Be very careful when walking on icy surfaces. Beware of cars that cannot stop due to road slippage. And don’t forget about the Hong Kong flu that’s going around. A very high number of cases have been reported in neighboring Gifu, so take precautions especially for the kids and elderly. Stay safe this winter.

Taga Taisha on New Year's Day.

The Shiga Prefectural Police Department has estimated that 1.31 million people will pray at shrines and temples in Shiga during the first three days of 2012. This is more than New Year’s in 2011. Going to pray at a shrine or temple during New Year’s is called hatsumode (初詣).

Shiga’s most popular shrines during New Year’s and the estimated number of worshippers during the first three days of the 2012 have been announced as follows:

1. Taga Taisha Shrine (多賀大社) in Taga, next to Hikone, 470,000 worshippers
2. Nagahama Hachimangu Shrine (長浜八幡宮) in Nagahama, 150,000 worshippers
3. Omi Jingu Shrine (近江神宮) in Otsu, 140,000 worshippers
4. Tarobo Shrine (太郎坊宮) in Higashi-Omi, 120,000 worshippers
5. Hiyoshi Taisha Shrine (日吉大社) in western Otsu, 100,000 worshippers

As usual, Taga Taisha will see the lion’s share of worshippers. No doubt, the shrine’s auspicious name is a major draw. “Taga” means many felicitations. Perfect for new year’s prayers.

And on New Year’s Eve, Buddhist temples will be ringing in the new year at around midnight. At Hikone Castle, there is the Time-Keeping Bell or Jiho-sho (時報鐘) which the public can ring from 11:30 pm. The bell is on the way to the tenshu castle tower. The castle gate will be open from 11 pm.

Held on May 4 near Notogawa Station, the Iba-no-saka-kudashi Matsuri Festival is said to be one of the most unusual festivals. Young men carry (or drag) three heavy portable shrines down a steep mountain riddled with rough spots. I stayed near the bottom or finish line and declined to go up any further because I was too heavy with camera equipment and the slope was too steep. Here’s the video:

Photos: http://photoguide.jp/pix/thumbnails.php?album=829

Another festival I saw was at Namura Shrine in Ryuo on May 5, 2011. The Sekku Matsuri is a prayer for the healthy growth of children and rich harvest. The highlight is the yabusame horseback archery.

Photos: http://photoguide.jp/pix/thumbnails.php?album=461

New design of Yokaichi giant kite announced on July 10, 2010 at Yokaichi Odaki Kaikan, Higashi-Omi. Photo by Yokaichi Odako Kaikan.

Every three years, the giant kite flown at Higashi-Omi’s annual Yokaichi Odako (Giant Kite) Matsuri festival in May is replaced with a new one. And this year in 2010 is when they are building a new giant kite to replace the old one which saw its third and last flight in May 2010.

The retired giant kite was installed in the Yokaichi Giant Kite Museum (Yokaichi Odako Kaikan 八日市大凧会館) on July 4, 2010. Meanwhile, the new giant kite is now under construction for about a month from July 10 to Aug. 13, 2010 at the annex behind the museum. The great thing is that anyone can come in and help build the giant kite. No prior training nor experience required. Just go there and someone will tell you what to do. It could be twirling paper strips, pasting paper, or maybe even painting. Or you can just go and watch them work. The work progresses quickly.

The giant kite is about the size of 100 tatami mats. Three years ago, I went there a few times to help build the kite. It was very interesting. See photos here.

One thing you have to understand about the giant kite’s design is that it expresses a certain theme using a combination of word play with an illustrated pair of animals and one or two kanji characters. The design theme for the new kite in 2010 is “Healthy mind and body” (心身 健やか).

The upper half of the design has a pair of dragons. The kanji for dragon is 辰 (tatsu). There are two of them, so it is 辰辰. This tatsu kanji can also be pronounced as shin. So the kanji pair is pronounced as “shin-shin” which is the intended word play for the kanji characters 心身 (meaning mind and body) also pronounced “shin-shin.”

The bottom half of the design is dominated by the kanji 健 for sukoyaka (健やか) which means “healthy.” And so the design means “Healthy mind and body” (心身 健やか). The large kanji is always painted in bright orange. For this kite design, a professional kanji calligrapher was hired to write the 健 kanji for the kite. Incidentally, 2012 will be the year of the dragon when this kite will still be flying.

The design was based on two winning design entries by two eleven-year-old kids who won the design competition. Every three years, the public is invited to submit designs for the new giant kite. For 2010, the design theme was “health” (kenko 健康).

On July 10, 2010, the Yokaichi Odako Preservation Committee announced the winning designs and the final design. This is what they do if there is no single outstanding design entry. They pick the best designs from multiple winners and base the final design on them. This also happened the last time three years ago. The design winner(s) receives only recognition and no prize.

Volunteers work on the Yokaichi giant kite in 2007.

The Yokaichi Giant Kite Museum (Yokaichi Odako Kaikan 八日市大凧会館) is within walking distance from Yokaichi Station on the Ohmi Railways (map here). Also see the progression of the new giant kite’s construction at the Yokaichi Odako Kaikan blog here.

The clay sculpture has been dated as from the early Jomon Period, about 13,000 years ago. It was found in the Aidani-kumahara ruins (相谷熊原遺跡) in Higashi-Omi’s Eigenji area near the Echigawa River. They found it in a pillar hole.

The clay figure will be on public display as follows:

Info in Japanese:
http://www.shiga-bunkazai.jp/event/kokuchi/aidani.html

Chokotto bus at Yokaichi Station

Those cute little buses you see outside Yokaichi Station and elsewhere in the city, called Chokotto bus, have started collecting used cooking oil from September 1, 2009. Bring an old PET bottle (label detached) of your used cooking oil and give it to the bus driver. In return, you will receive a 100-yen ticket which can be used for your next ride on the bus. One ride costs 200 yen for adults, so it’s a 50% discount.

The collected oil will be converted to biodiesel fuel (called BDF in Japan) which the buses use as fuel. BDF has very clean emissions in its exhaust which may smell like tempura. You can actually breathe in the BDF exhaust from the vehicle’s exhaust pipe without any health risk.

At about 1:45 pm, they flew the big kite for over 3 min. The longest flight I’ve ever seen. Everyone was happy and relieved. It was a new giant kite, and its maiden flight. But they flew it only once. After that, most people went home. 

They also roped off most of the area so we could only see the kite from behind. It’s very difficult now to take good pictures of this kite.

As you may know, the Yokaichi giant kite is replaced with a new one every three years. This year is when they will make a new giant kite. 

During this past weekend on July 7-8, they announced the new kite design and started making the new giant kite. I missed this event three years ago, so I was determined to see it this time. 

I attended the kite design announcement on Sat., and also participated on the first day on Sun. when they started to make the giant kite. Now I can say that I helped to make the giant kite which will fly from next May. 
http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/shiga/20070709/CK2007070902030697.html 

I helped with the Paper Joining 紙継ぎ operation. About 400 sheets of washi paper from Mino (Gifu) were pasted together to make a giant sheet of paper equivalent to 100 tatami mats. I took pictures of course. 
http://photoguide.jp/pix/thumbnails.php?album=586 

The Giant Kite Preservation Society 八日市大凧保存会 makes the kite with the help from the public. Anybody can go to the Yokaichi Giant Kite Museum Annex 八日市大凧会館別館 and help make the kite. All the kite-making steps can be easily done by anyone. 

The hozonkai people are also very friendly and glad to answer questions about the kite. It will take about a month to finish the kite. They have a schedule too: 
http://www.gaido.jp/machikado/machikado.php?ID=1732 

I plan to go back again a few more times. It will be interesting to see how we draw and paint the design on the kite paper. If you are an art student or like to fly kites, I highly recommend this. 

http://mytown.asahi.com/shiga/news.php?k_id=26000000707030002

Yokaichi Giant kite stuck in bamboo forest.

On May 27, 2007, I went to see the annual Yokaichi Odako Matsuri or Giant Kite Festival.

Slightly past noon, they launched the first flight of the giant kite. What we were all waiting for. It was a pretty windy day, so the kite immediately went straight up and very high. What should have been a long and high flight ended 50 seconds later in a totally unexpected and spectacular head-first crash into a bamboo grove.

It took about 3 hours for them to finally recover the kite, after cutting down some bamboo trees, disassembling the kite and rolling it up. The kite was badly damaged, but repaired in June, taking about 20 days, for display at the Giant Kite Museum.

Photos here: Yokaichi Giant Kite Festival 2007 

This is the second “accident” at this kite festival in 3 years. In 2005, the giant kite snapped in half in the sky and crashed to the ground hitting a few spectators. The bamboo used in the frame was reported to be “too green” and thus weaker. It is also the second time in history that the kite has crashed into a bamboo grove.

Too bad for the people who arrived at the festival after the kite crash. They did not see the giant kite at all.

I have a Lake Biwa Rowing Song photo exhibition at Yokaichi Public Library (2nd floor gallery) until May 20. 

I will be at the gallery on Sat. the 12th from lunch time until maybe 2 pm or so. If you have time to visit, please come! 

There will be a CD player playing my CD. The gallery is also like a coffee shop where you can sit down and drink coffee and talk.

http://photoguide.jp/pix/thumbnails.php?album=472 
http://photoguide.jp/pix/thumbnails.php?album=109 

I got off at Gokasho Station on Ohmi Railways. It is an easy walk to the first Omi merchant home called Fujii Hikoshiro residence 藤井 彦四郎邸. Then I walked to the Omi Merchant Museum 近江商人博物館, then to the cluster of three Omi merchant homes 近江商人屋敷. 

It was very easy to find everything because there are clear signs on the roads from the train station. Maps are also available at all the museums and homes. Very good tourist information and signs. 

For the Omi merchants, the most famous saying is the “Sanpo-yoshi” 三方よし (売り手よし、買い手よし、世間よしの)principle. I think it’s a universal principle and I always followed it long before I found out about Omi shonin. (Hmm, maybe I was an Omi shonin during a previous life.) 

I’m still thinking about the best English translation for this Sanpo-yoshi. Something like “Good for me, good for you, and good for all.” 

I’ll let you know if and when I think of a good translation. 

At the end of the day, I also went to the Iki-iki-kan 生き活き館 tourist info office. There is also a souvenir shop where you can buy many goodies made in Gokasho. I spoke with a kind old lady there who told me about growing vegetables and making cookies and senbei. Well, I bought hakusai cabbage, goma cookies and senbei. Very good! From there, I took a bus to Notogawa Station. 

If you don’t have a car, it might be better to start touring Gokasho by taking a bus at Notogawa Station and starting at Iki-iki-kan since the tourist info office is there. Gokasho Station has a map in front of the station, but no tourist info office.

Imagine that your friends from overseas will visit you in Higashi-Omi. How would you explain or introduce your city in English? The city hall’s Web site has some English pages introducing Higashi-Omi. The English is good quality so you can give them this URL: 
http://www.city.higashiomi.shiga.jp/outside/English/ 

However, they still don’t have any English info about sightseeing and festivals in Higashi-Omi. (In Japanese only.) And I tried to search for information about sights in HigashiOmi explained in English and it seems only my Web page comes up. 
http://photoguide.jp/txt/Higashiomi%2C_Shiga 

However, it’s still not finished. I’m still working on it. If you want to help me list up the sights of your city in English, I would welcome your input very much. I have only seen the kite festival, Notogawa waterwheel, and Eigenji. I know there are many more sights in HigashiOmi. JR Notogawa Station is probably Shiga’s nicest train station (shaped like a waterwheel on both sides). 

Changing the subject, I also found photo albums of HigashiOmi’s sister city exchange with Marquette this past summer. Looks like they had fun. Maybe you know someone in the pictures:

http://www.carlwozniak.com/Higashiomi/index.htm 

However, I see that the city hall is spelling it “Higashiomi” as one word, which I think is the worse way to spell it. Some people might pronounce it as Higashio-mi or Higa-shiomi” instead. It should be like Omi-Hachiman with two words to make the pronunciation easier to recognize.