A Week in Japan

An example of indigo dyed cloth with madder

I have been in Japan for a week now and it seems like ages. The workshop is very busy and we are doing a lot of preparation for dyeing, learning fundamental techniques which will be very helpful. I am taking lots of notes which should be reread able for future reference.

One particular 'talk' we had was about basha cloth make for centuries from fibre from banana trees and asa cloth made from oak. Fujino means wisteria and fibre was made from that, around here. I have read about this before coming here.

One of the participants of the workshop contracted influenza on the plane over from Holland and we all have to wear masks - the whole group has a cold now and is sick in varying degrees, that seems common these days with plane travel.

Wearing masks

Yesterday, amidst other sewing and learning, we went to a Korean restaurant for lunch which was interesting and delicious.

This is not the Korean meal but is the sort of meal we have each night I think this was about the night of Day 4 or 5

Last night we finished the day sitting around a fire outside in the garden area near the vegetable garden.

This is looking out of the kitchen window towards the vegetable garden, and beyond is where we had the fire, and beyond that is the bamboo forest on a very steep hill.