Double rainbows

Updates from autumn in Kamikatsu

Hello reader, thanks for being here! I’m Kana and this is Tending Gardens, which you can read about here. If you like it and want more like it in your inbox, consider subscribing. 

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Hi friends,

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post. There are so many big and little things to share. Exciting big thing: it’s (loosely) my first anniversary since moving to Kamikatsu. But I think I’ll focus on a couple of small joys this week and reflect on my one-year next week.

The most recent small joy, only a couple of hours ago, was witnessing a double rainbow. I’m not particularly one for believing in “signs”, so I won’t read more into this sighting, but I can’t help but feel grateful to be in the right place at the right time.

Someone recently said to me, “I hardly ever look up [at the sky]”. I was shocked. I’ve probably always had a natural gaze that’s set above the horizon—since I was young I’ve been pulled by the expansiveness of the sky, whether it’s fluffy or wispy clouds during the day or a blanket of stars that illuminate the dark, I always find myself looking up.

Whenever I catch a glimpse of the moon, I always whisper to the moon (or as if to myself), “hi moon”, like a companion I’m relieved to see come home.

The constant gaze upwards could also explain my clumsy feet always tripping and bumping into things. Bruises have been a small sacrifice for feeling so intimately close to all the wonders and beauties above. Have you ever been so fixated on the sky that you almost forget your feet are planted on the earth? Or have you laid down on the grass staring at the sky and you feel as if your almost drifting with the clouds?

I think of Stephen Hawkin, who wrote, ‘Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.’

So maybe seeing fleeting moments of beauty in the sky is less of a sign or an omen and more of a reminder to stop, pause, wonder, reflect, and be present.

Updates from Kamikatsu

The last time I shared a post, the rice stalks were still uncut and green and I said that the harvesting season was just around the corner. Well, folks, rice has been harvested, dried, sorted, and eaten!

After the rice is cut (some by hand and others by machine), the rice is bundled with the hemp string and set aside on bamboo racks to dry for up to two weeks. Some machines are capable of instantaneous drying, so this form of hanging the rice stalks are decreasing from rural landscapes.

This week I was able to help with threshing, which is the process of separating the dried stalks of rice from the seeds or grains (with the machine pictured below).

Today I also joined the “New Rice Fair” event at the local (and the only) bar in Kamikatsu, Bar IRORI. Only for a select couple of days this month, the bar is serving new rice over a wood-fired kamado (traditional Japanese stovetop) for lunch.

It was such a simple, but hearty Japanese meal—including some of my favourites like grilled fish and tsukemono (Japanese pickles 漬物). I love rice!!! From the fields to the bowl, it was such a complete ending to the rice harvesting season. I am so grateful to be a part of this community. Seriously, I love rice.

I went from helping two local grandpa’s on the rice fields, to helping two local grandma’s the next day for mochi (rice cake) making. I say grandpa’s and grandma’s, but don’t be fooled by their age. The elderly I met this week all certainly have a zealousness for life.

Fumi-chan, the grandma who is holding the kine or the mighty wooden mochi hammer (below), told me that if she could have one wish it would be for more physical strength. Although anyone who can pound rice into a cake and make mochi 6 days a week, definitely doesn’t realize their own power. I admire both their joy.

I can’t wait to enjoy autumn for the second time in Japan. I’m looking forward to the bounty of harvest foods. There is so much to look forward to as the season unfolds.

I am excited to dive deeper soon with my swirling thoughts about living in Kamikatsu, Japan for one year. It’s hard not to reflect on the myriad of new and varied experiences to the fascinating encounters with new people and other places. I also can’t help but think about what’s next.

I draw on Mari Andrew’s insightful writing, where she writes up some alternative questions instead of “what’s next”:

Some questions to ask instead of “What’s next for me” might be:

1. What makes me feel alive?

2. Who in my life is nourishing to be around?

3. How do I behave when nobody’s watching?

4. Are my actions in alignment with what’s important to me?

5. What am I wondering about?

I will ponder these questions this week ahead and I hope you will join me!

Have a beautiful week ahead.

Take care,
Kana

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I’d love for you to think of me as your penpal—sharing a note from a tiny village in Japan. With Tending Gardens, I want to bring you a small joy in the form of a newsletter. If you like it and want more like it in your inbox, consider subscribing.