Happy New Year!
Adan is also starting work today.
We look forward to working with you again this year.
Thank you to everyone who sent us New Year's cards.
We are very sorry to receive so many New Year's cards from our customers. Thank you very much.
Now, the first part of this year's wandering diary is Izumo and Matsue, where I spent New Year's Eve.
I usually spend New Year's Eve overseas with a backpack on my shoulder, but this year I could not get a ticket to Yemen, which was my main goal, so I changed my mind and went to Japan. This year, however, I could not get a ticket to Yemen, which was my main destination, so I decided to go to Japan.
It was an unplanned trip, driving out from Tokyo and looking for lodging locally. The San'in region this year had heavy snowfall during the year-end and New Year holidays, and I was surprised at the wildness of the weather on the Sea of Japan in winter.
Unfortunately, we could not see the sunrise on New Year's morning and greeted the day in the deep white snow. We had a New Year's breakfast at a long-established inn in Tamatsukuri Onsen, where the oldest jewelry in Japan, the katadama, was made since ancient times, and then headed for Izumo-taisha Shrine!
A crowd of people on the approach to the shrine. It was snowing on and off on New Year's Day.
Izumo-taisha Shrine is famous for its huge shimenawa rope. I have longed to see this thick rope since I was a small child.
Once a year, in October of the lunar calendar, as many as 8 million gods are said to gather from all over Japan at Izumo-taisha Shrine.
Outside of Izumo, October is called the month of "Kami(no)," but in Izumo, it is called the month of "Kami(being).
What the gathered gods do at Izumo Taisha is to discuss various decisions for the year at once.
One of the most important decisions is the "betrothal". They are going to decide which man and woman will become husband and wife, all in the past month. I think they are as busy as the Social Insurance Agency during the pension problem.
This is the hotel where the gathered gods will stay, the "Jukusha". Of course, it is a suite because it is for the gods! But it is surprisingly simple. Is it a business hotel?
Snow-covered Taisha shrine.
The shrine is quite large, and in the Heian period (794-1185), it was the tallest structure in Japan at 48 meters.
For the past five years, Izumo-taisha Shrine has been undergoing a major transition that takes place once every 60 years. Okuninushi no Mikoto, the deity enshrined at the shrine, is also moving to a temporary shrine for the next five years until the shrine is renovated. Therefore, there is no one in the main shrine.
After paying a visit to the shrine for the first time, I went to Izumo soba (buckwheat noodles) restaurant with a cold body.
Izumo soba served with light broth made from gori (flying fish).
You can choose from 3 to 5 tiers, but I went with 5 without hesitation.
It was not New Year's Eve, but New Year's Eve soba, and it was delicious.
As for the San'in region's delicacies, I enjoyed the "tai meshi" (sea bream rice) favored by Lord Fumai, which I had the next day in Matsue.
Pour a generous amount of dashi broth over this dish and serve it chazuke-style.
He was a gourmet, but what did he mean by "tasteless"? I was embarrassed when my family pointed out to me after I returned home that "mai" is not "aji" but "mai".
*If you would like to know more about Lord Fumai,Here (wiki) for more information.
And speaking of the Sea of Japan, the king of winter delicacies. Matsuba Crab!
I'm sorry, it's all food.
It was a winter trip to the Sanin region, where the weather changed every 10 minutes and the sun rarely showed its face, but it was a good year-end and New Year's holiday full of a spiritual mood, as if there were some kind of god or ghost hanging around.
The return trip was as "far" from San'in as the trip to Libya in Africa the year before last, due in part to the terrible traffic jam.
So, I wish you all the best for this coming year. I wish you all a wonderful year!
Felice Anno Nuovo!
