No more Noh

Monday I visited Kita-Kamakura, home of the world's oldest seated bronze Buddha. However, I didn't go visit the Buddha, I saw him the last time I was there. (I do recommend a visit - the monastery is very pretty and, as they say in France, très zen.) This time I visited two temples. I don't remember the first's name, but here are some pretty/cute pictures I took on the grounds.

Bamboo forest from first temple.



















Cave burial grounds.











Winter's coming soon, gotta keep the deities warm, happy, and modest.















The second temple we visited is the area's largest temple, Engaku-ji (click on link to see temple pics and get more info on temple's history). The temple grounds were very pretty and nice to visit as it had been raining the whole previous week and what better way to celebrate good weather than a temple visit? Again, I didn't take any pictures of the temple itself, mainly because I didn't think about it at the time. The last time I lived in Japan, I think I got "templed-out" (akin to the "cathedraled/churched-out" phenomenon that occurs in Europe, a condition I also suffer from). So, this time I just took pictures of other stuff around the grounds. We also took a macha tea break. Macha is the powdered type of green tea. It was served with these little bird-shaped sweets. Oishikata!


For some post-temple, pre-noh refreshments, we ate nagashi somen. Somen is a noodle dish, usually eaten cold. Nagashi somen is somen that is served down a stream of water in a bamboo shoot. It's hard to explain, so hopefully the pictures will give you a better idea. You basically use your chopsticks to catch the noodles as they pass by, then dip the noodles into your personal cup of dipping sauce. I think some of the other gaijin (foreigners) had a little trouble with the catching part, but once you're adept with the chopsticks, it's not too bad - definitely not a beginner's chopsticks meal.

Finally, the main reason for our trip to Kita-Kamakura, we went to see a noh performance. The best way to describe noh is kind of like opera, but in slow motion. Because the language is a very old form of Japanese and the performers saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand doooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiings veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery slooooooooooooooolyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, it's difficult even for Japanese people to understand. So, you can imagine how, um, "interesting" this was for us gaijin. I fell asleep maybe 20 times before the intermission. I felt like a totally un-sophisticated, not-art-appreciating sort... until the second act, after I'd had some coffee and a snack and was therefore more awake and attentive, when I noticed that there were a lot of Japanese people also nodding off. So, I guess noh just isn't for everyone.

The title of this post should now make a lot more sense.

p.s. I also passed another Japanese milestone at this noh performance, actually two, in a way: 1) I used a Japanese style toilet for the first time; 2) Not only was it a Japanese toilet, it was a Japanese-style port-a-potty! I'm so talented.