Zazen, Soba and Kitakata 1st Junior High

Today was another full day. However, these days are quickly coming to an end. When I was here four years ago we went to a temple to do Zazen at the temple and the priest was old then.



The priest is still there, but four years older. He said he was the 45th priest to be at this temple. As we sat in the lotus position meditating, the Zen master would walk up and down the aisles. If we were not sitting up straight he would use his stick to align us straight. If we were falling asleep he would whack us across the back. Luckily no one fell asleep.





It is hard to imagine this group making no sounds for 30 minutes or so.

 

Our guides today were Kaoru (she used to have Noriko’s job), Dr. Shida, the retired dentist, and Kim, not pictured.


After our meditation session, as we were walking to our next destination we came upon a place to soak your feet. The 70 in the sign above means 70 degrees Celsius  or 158 degrees Fahrenheit. Only Sensei, Alyssa and Miki were brave enough to dip their feet, if only for a few seconds.



We then went down the road to a soba shop. Soba are buckwheat noodles. The ingredients were 1 kilo of buckwheat flour, 400 cc’s of hot water and 100 cc’s of cold water. I have a video of the soba maker doing his stuff, but it is too large to upload tonight. I will upload the video when I return home.

After making the soba we ate them for lunch with some tempura that was made while we made the soba.



After lunch we went to Kitakata 1st Junior High. Here Rachel is presenting a gift to the principal, Takanashi Kouichi. We split into two groups. One made some tempura sweets and then made origami with a class. The second group learned how to paint Japanese characters. After the period was over,the groups switched.





While the students cleaned the school, Mr. Takanashi took us on a tour of the school. He said that he will come to Oregon on August 21, 2017 when there will be a total solar eclipse in Salem, OR that moves across the US towards Florida.

One note, Todd is like a Rock Star. All of the girls swoon over him. If he waves or smiles their way, the girls scream. In one of the classes of about 40 students, all of the girls were surrounding Todd.



At the end of the tour, the Cheer Club had some Japanese Cheers to see us on our way.

Another great day in Kitakata. But wait, tonight was the farewell Party.