のうぎょうたいけん

こんにちは、みなさん！

きょうは、３月ののうぎょうたいけんについてはなしたいとおもいます。

のうぎょうって、「farming」で、たいけんは「experience」ということです。

こののうぎょうたいけんは、ひろしまのちかくにありました。

So in my spring holiday, I spent a week on a farm in the mountains of Hiroshima prefecture. I got to stay in a proper traditional Japanese house, which I'm really excited to show you all! I had been worried that there wouldn't be much to do on the farm in March, because it was still pretty cold up in the mountains (on one day it snowed!) but I ended up exhausted every day.

The reason I wanted to participate in this is because as a student in a city, I hadn't had the chance to explore the Japanese countryside. So many people live crammed together in cities here, and it was interesting to see a bit more of a relaxed way of life. It was also very remote (40 minutes by car from the nearest train station!).

じゃあ、はじめには、このしゃしんをみせたいです。ここは、わたしたちがとまったいえでした。

 You can't actually farm in a lot of Japan because the mountains are so steep. So a lot of people will build their houses right next to the hills like this, and that leaves a lot more space for farmland in the valleys.

This is the the hall. Can you see the sliding doors connecting to the rooms?

In traditional houses there is always a corner of the main room called the とこのま。It is mostlt used to display a wall hanging and flowers (in the ikebana flower arranging style). This one had a scroll painting of a tiger!

There were also calligraphy artworks on the walls of the rooms. It's angled downwards so that you can see it when you're sitting down or from your futon.

 Because this trip was near the beginning of March, there weren't a lot of vegetables to harvest or anything. Mostly we were clearing land so that it would be fertile and ready for new crops later in the year. On one day, that involved making a big bamboo fire!

Did you know that bamboo pops when it burns? It sounds like a gunshot, I was terrified the first time it happened.

The farmer took us out one day to eat at an おこのみやきrestaurant. Because we were near Hiroshima this is Hiroshima-style, where all of the ingredients are layered up on a hot plate. The base is pancake-like, then you have fried noodles with cabbage, bacon, a fried egg, and top it with seaweed and fish flakes. For the Osaka style you just mix everything up together.

どうおもいますか？こんなたいけんしたことがありますか？
イギリスと日本ののうぎょうはどうやってちがうか、しっていますか？

よんでくれてありがとうございます。





はなみ

こんにちは、みなさん！いまはさくらのときですから、はなみについてかきたいとおもいます。

「はなみ」っていうのはなんですか？

「はな」はflowerといういみで、「み」は「みる」の「み」です。

There are a lot (and I mean a LOT) of people in Kyoto right now for Hanami. The cherry blossoms start flowering about now and will stay pretty for about a week or two. I heard that this is one of the busiest times for tourism in Kyoto, because there are so many places where you can see beautiful cherry trees.

これはさくらです。

 

Recently, I went to a Hanami event organised by my university. We went sightseeing in Arashiyama (which is where I also went to see the pretty autumn leaves, Arashiyama is good at any time of year!) and then we had a picnic under the cherry trees.

きょうとでは、きものをきて、かんこうすることができます。These women looked very graceful with the cherry blossoms.

 

みんなはしゃしんをとっています。Now my facebook is full of pictures of cherry blossoms!

これはあらしやまのゆうめいなはしです。むこうがわにはさくらがみえますか？

There was a bit of a festival atmosphere by the river, with lots of places to buy ice cream or the Japanese sweet mochi (pounded sweet rice).  This one is vanilla and matcha (green tea) flavour. Can you imagine being able to sit outside eating ice cream right now in the UK?! 日本では、いまがとてもいいてんきです。

This is the picnic. We spread out groundsheets in this cherry tree orchard and everyone stayed for hours, eating and drinking and admiring the cherry blossoms.

One of my friends made an especially cute bento (lunch box) for the picnic.

ロンドンにもきれいなさくらがありますか？できたら、ぜひいってみてください！

よんでくれてありがとうございます。