Things worth seeing
I find it strange that Sei Shonagon doesn’t have a list for favorite foods in her Pillow Book. Certainly food is a compelling topic. But for her, ink or paper or the color of one’s dress is more noteworthy. She does list “Things worth seeing”.
Certainly the food in Japan would fit. The sweets, bento boxes and kaiseki meals are all visually amazing besides being incredibly delicious. I haven’t stopped longing for Kyoto Udon.
I will add Japanese food to my own list of “Things worth traveling for” or “Things about Japan that one longs for”.
Here are slides of some of the great food I had in Japan when I was last there. I notice that I use the word “best” over and over again when describing the photos. Every meal was the best. Every place we went was the best. Over and over again.
Japan 2011: Tsukubai
The tsukubai in my garden
Tsukubai, stone water basins, are an important element in the gardens leading to a Tea house. In Japan we saw them in most every garden. They are used to rinse ones hands before entering the tea house.
What’s interesting to me are the shapes and design of each basin. Also of note is the way they are settled in the landscape. I have a Tsukubai in my garden and I’m studying how to plant around the basin and where to place the various stones.
Many of the Tsukubai in these pictures have moss growing on them, which is very picturesque, but for tea you would have a very clean basin.
