At the end of last month, my mother-in-law (hereinafter mother) passed away and her husband, father-in-law (hereinafter father), passed away just ten days later.
They were both under medical care, father at a nursing home and mother at a hospital, and I was thinking easy to take my daughter in this coming spring break to visit them, but I had no idea they would pass away so quickly. I couldn’t do anything before they died.
I love winter which partly forces me to turn inwards.
The ice shows layered as the soft light hits and the seeds sleep therein.
I want to try weaving this design.
The source of creativity is everywhere in the nature that surrounds me and a new year has started for me to explore it.
Wishing everyone a happy 2019.
The colored leaves have fallen and a cold winter is approaching day by day here at Mt. Yatsugatake.
On the other hand, it makes me feel warm to see my cats covered with fluffy fur, curled up their bodies and sleeping comfortably in my house.
The time has come to gather up the ripened dark-blue berries of “Kusagi” (Harlequin glorybower) for this year.
A workshop, designed for children to make a map of plants for dyeing in the woods, will be held a week later.
I went into the rainy woods alone for the inspection.
In the misty trees, I could not feel the end.
I visited Mashiko-machi Tochigi Prefecture with my family for the first time in a while.
The purpose was to enjoy the Hijisai (Festival) but above all, to see a piece of work of my friend, Masaya Hashimoto, which was displayed at Yamamoto Hachimangu shrine.
I think Kyoto is really good.
Is it because of its beautiful townscape with a charm of ancient city, the historic shrines and temples, and delicious restaurants/cafes?
Surely, those are the reasons too, but there is Nishijin.
Although decreased in number, there are still shops, studios and the skilled craftsmen gathering at Nishijin, which are to do with dyeing and weaving.
It would be reassuring to have somewhere close to you where you can visit and have a talk at any time when you are stuck and worried, looking for something, or have something in mind that you wish to try.
Her name is “Ito Fujii”
She is our third cat to become our family.
I am enduring fierce heat since there seems little benefit from a cold region at the foot of a mountain this summer.
I have been working without an air conditioner ever since I moved to the foot of Yatsugatake, but it is quite tough.
The shelled seeds gathered from Ai (Japanese Indigo) that was planted in my field last year.
If you put them in between your palms and give them a rub, you would see the seeds appear that resemble black sesame.
If every person has something called a “desire”, I have a desire to preserve the colour of plants and to surround myself with them.
Sweet flowers, lovely berries, swaying grass in the wind and lush tree leaves. I want to keep them as they are at this moment.
All this time, the desire has driven me to dye threads with plants and weaving them into a form of cloth.
