Winter Break Trip: Christmas

Christmas, Rose and I decided, should be kept busy. We didn`t want lots of down-time during which to think about how we could be at home with our families, surrounded by delicious food and loads of presents.

I did start off the morning with a quick call home; everyone was in the midst of Aunt Beth`s Christmas Eve bash, which sounded much more lively than in recent years past. The phone got passed around, and then I was off to catch a train to an indigo dying museum and factory just outside of town.

I love the dark blue of indigo. It`s the color of Tokushima`s mountains at sunset or just afterwards (and Tsushima`s, too). It`s also very calming and rejuvenates my spirit.

The indigo museum had many indigo-dyed artifacts, including old kimono. My favorite display was this hanging artwork, though, of variously-dyed shades of indigo. The translucent fabric seemed so light and airy, and it hung over the main room of the first floor (I`m on the second floor in the picture).





After wandering through various exhibitions on the process of dying indigo-- from planting indigo seeds to harvesting the leaves and mixing them with lye and other natural chemicals to reach a certain state of decomposition-- it was time to try it myself.

I dyed a bunch of handkerchiefs for omiyage (gifts for people who I`m indebted to). In order to create a few tie-die like designs, I tied a new handkerchief with knots in specific places. Then it was time to dunk them in the vat-o-indigo dye.





... for some reason, I really liked the smell of the dye. It wasn`t altogether a pleasant smell... properly speaking, it could only be described as the smell of decaying indigo leaves. So think along the lines of compost. It was rich, though, and very earthy. Later on, some of the dye would seep into one of my plastic gloves, so I got to carry the scent around with me for awhile.


After dunking the handkerchief for 1 minute, it was time to haul it out, squeeze out all the excess liquid, and expose it to the air, which was magical. At first the handkerchief would look dark green, but on exposure to the air it slowly turned blue. I had to open the handkerchief as much as possible (except for the knots I tied earlier) to maximize exposure to the air. After 1 minute of being out of the tub, the handkerchief went back in for 1 minute. Since I was going for the really dark indigo (see earlier picture with hanging fabric to compare different shades), my handkerchiefs got dunked a total of 5 times. Fewer times would create a lighter color.




...after dunking five times and rinsing the excess dye off, I ironed the handkerchiefs dry.



..the beautiful collection!...

There was also an old samurai-style house on the grounds of the indigo-dying factory. What most impressed me where the really steep and numerous staircases: no less then 3. I thought it would`ve been a really cool house to play hide-and-go-seek tag in. Unlike old American houses, there weren`t any squeaky boards-- thank you tatami mats-- so it was hard to tell where someone else was in the house. While the house wasn`t very big, I lost Rose a few times in our wanderings and had a hard time finding her. Because the 3 staircases are in close proximity to each other (but leading into different upstairs and downstairs passages), sounds echoed in strange ways and it was difficult to tell where a voice was actually coming from. Here`s one of the staircases with beautiful patterned windows.

Outside of the gift shop were these three strange characters. Dressed up in indigo-dyed cloth, I thought they were adorable.

We rushed through the gift shop-- some lovely items, including a woven picture of mountains in various indigo shades that I bought as a Christmas present to myself-- and headed back to the city for the Awa Odori kaikan, a building with a museum and live performances of the Awa Odori (dance) performed in Tokushima city during Obon in August.

There weren't many other people about-- it was pretty cold and windy in addition to being Christmas and a normal working day-- but the special Awa Odori troupe associated with the touristy building still put on a grand performance. In the picture below, the woman are standing in front with the long roof-like woven grass hats, and the men are in the back.

.. after a few demonstrations, it was audience-participation time! Hatless, I gave it my best shot. First, work on the feet. Basically two mini-steps with one foot, then two on the other. The first step angles in and the second angles out.

After the footwork is down, it's time to put your hands up in the air....

...and wave 'em around like you just don't care! I should really try this at an enkai (work-related drinking party) sometime. At some point, the woman in front of me started moving and we ended up mambo-line-like grooving Tokushima-Festival-of-the-Dead style. Pretty amazing thing to do on Christmas, I think.

...whilst all of this was going on (and I was trying to master the more intricate hand-movements... there was a proper way of doing it, with the right hand moving at the same time as the right foot, which made me feel off-balance), the main male leader of the troup, who had earlier expounded upon the dance's evolution through history, swung a lei around my neck. I knew this wasn't a good sign... but at least I wasn't the only lasso-ed participant.

I was worried that we'd been chosen as the "Worst Dancers" -- such a thing was mentioned in my guidebook as something that happens during the actual festival-- but the lei was actually a compliment to mark the good dancers. After we were hauled aside, the rest of the participants were allowed to sit down. The "Best Dancer" (i.e. not me) introduced herself, joked with the male leader, and then ceremoniously received a fancy purple flag.

...and then, moment of horror, it was my turn at the microphone. I've had plenty of practice introducing myself but usually have some warning and a speech to fall back upon. It was scary and kind of exciting to be completely unprepared. Thankfully I understood most of what I was asked and could answer mainly in monosyllables.

...and then I received a certificate of participation and a cool Awa Odori headband thing. Cute old man.

The last part of the Awa Odori Kaikan experience was going from the roof up a cable car to an outlook of the city. Unfortunately it was starting to rain, so Rose and I didn't spend much time up there. We did get a few quick scenic shots, though.

...this is a little fuzzy but catches some of the 'beautiful Tokushima mountains' I was writing about earlier. The fading sunlight was just gorgeous; I love shades of grey, and with the clouds and various receeding mountains and pink of sunset... just beautiful.

The city meets the mountains but does not take them over.

Our last Christmas event before getting some Kansai-style okonomiyaki (none of the Tsushima restaurants in my area have it, and I'd been craving some) for dinner.... was slightly unexpected. It was the infamous "Santas on a Boat" that I'd been hoping to see. I saw them-- a giant boat full of 8-10 santas speeding down the river, rock music blaring, swerving from riverbank to riverbank and chucking bundles of presents to the hoards of children, parents, and marauding teens who were sprinting along the sides of the river trying to keep up with the boat. It's a fantastic sight sure to get your blood pumping and your feet moving; you can't watch the hoard run past and not want to follow the epic Santas-on-a-Boat. And so, of course, I ran.

Here they are. Fairly innoculous at first glance...

...but then they dance...

...and toss presents. This picture isn't the greatest, but night shots are difficult. There is a giant crowd of people over there fighting over the presents.

And thus ended my second Christmas spent in Tokushima, Japan.