NISHIYAMA RYOKAN

thank you for seeing nishiyama ryokan blog we will have Lobby events Oct 2011. Oct 1th and Oct 10th 19:00 to 20:00 japanese culture events (japanese culligraphy and tea celemony and easy japanese language etc) in  nishiyama ryokan lobby at free. we look foraward to seeing you nishiyama ryokan

thank you for seeing our blog. we will have Lobby event Sep 2011. Sep 11th 2011(sunday) 19:00 to 20:00 japanese culture events in nishiyama ryokan Lobby at free. we look forward to seeing you. nishiyama ryokan

Every year at the end of June, many shrines hold an ancient Japanese purification rite called ''Nagoshi no Harae''. There is a small shrine very close from our Ryokan. They held this ceremony on that day, so we took some guests to see it. In this ceremony people atone for their sins in the first half of the year and then pray for their health by walking through a tall Chinowa wreath (made of a kind of rush called chigaya). We hope they had a good experience of Japanese culture.

The rainy season has started in Japan. It was sticky today. Everything seems to be damp:( We can enjoy to see some seasonal animals and plants. This is the picture of it. Yes, it is hydrangeas. They need lots of water to grow up. Sometimes, we see a picture that was drawn with snails like below. Snails like damp place, in short, this picture make us to imagine the rainy season. However, it is hard to see them in the same time. Because there is a toxin in hydrangea's leaves. It harms them. Moreover, snails stick on the concrete to get calcium from them. I just heard from TV show though...

konnichiha. We are students from Shugakuin Junior High School. My name is Tanaka yu and Tomiyasu kouta. We are here for the challenge experience program of our school. Us students go and experience many different kind of work in Kyoto city. We are helping NISHIYAMA RYOKAN from last week Wednesday until next Tuesday. Cleaning guest room is very hard. But we are enjoying work at NISHIYAMA RYOKAN !!

The days are getting longer,yet it is a little bit cold for spring. I went to a park near from my house on my day off. The park is well known for its blooming azaleas in May. This flower smells sweet. It is said that azaleas are used to make some kinds of food. The rainy season is coming soon. I will take a picture of hydrangea next month.

I had a good opportunity to see around an old factory in Mibu area in Kyoto. Mibu was famous for the textile dyeing industry in the past. But it became a residential area and nowadays only few factories are in operation. I visited one of them. The building was established the 1800s but it looked not older than I imagined. The owner said that it used to be a police station. The 2nd floor was their office. I could feel the history when I saw this steep stairs. They still make products by hand. It surely takes long time but it has their own particular character. Look at the roofing tile below. It looks like fish's scales. It was so hard to tile a roof like this at that time. Only three buildings have this roof in Kyoto. Amazing, is it?