Living & Working in Ishikawa, Japan
Thanksgiving Farm Festival: あえのこと (ae no koto)
From Hot-Ishikawa
December 5, 2009
Yanagida Botanical Garden 柳田植物公園 (Yanagida Shokubutsu-koen), Noto-cho 能登町
The Noto is home to many strange and interesting festivals. This one is a festival giving thanks to the harvest gods for this year’s crops. Each farming family in the area does its own rituals, but you can come watch this one, which will be performed in the botanical gardens for the public. Because the gods are blind, the person performing the ritual leads them to the bath for bathing, then leads them to a tatami room for a rest and a fest prepared especially for them. The gods stay with the family until the “Sending Off Festival” （田の神送り）on February 9.
Links: Hot-Ishikawa (Japanese)
Wajima City Website (Japanese)
Short video here.
Leah Zoller is a first-year CIR in Anamizu and wonders if the gods like chocolate-chip cookies.
Access:
石川県鳳珠郡能登町字上町ロ１−１
Ishikawa-ken, Housu-gun, Noto-cho ji, Kanmachi-guchi 1-1
Near the intersection of the 57 and the 6.
Parking available on site.
Cafe at the Glass Museum
The Notojima Glass Museum is a great place to visit on a rainy day. The building itself is a visual treat in and of itself, and the glass work in the exhibits and the permanent collection is fascinating. The museum has a section on the history of glassmaking in Europe, which includes some beautiful pieces from Venice and Germany. There are pieces from Qing Dynasty China. Collection B houses pieces by modern artists from around the world. Since this is in the Noto, you may be surprised to learn that this permanent collection houses a Chagall, a Picasso, and, not one, but two pieces by Dali.
The other galleries are rotating exhibits. I went during the exhibit on Art Nouveau and Art Deco glass art. The current exhibit, which will run from 31 October 2009 to 15 March 2010 is 色彩のパレード (Parade of Colors), which will feature colorful glass pieces from around the world. The next exhibit, which will run from 20 March to 14 June 2010, will be ガラスのかたまり (Masses of Glass).
Aside from the titles of the works and the names of the artists, the museum’s displays are in Japanese. If you don’t read Japanese, it’ll take you about 30 minutes to look at all the pieces. If you do read Japanese (and you like to read the information about the pieces and exhibits), give yourself about 2 hours. Be sure to check out the pieces outside on the hill!
The museum is about a ten-minute drive from the Notojima Aquarium, so you could visit that while there. Also, Notojima is about a 40 minute-drive (or a 30 minute bus ride and short train trip) from Nanao, which has a Uniqlo and a Book-off, in addition to other shopping.
Leah Zoller is a first-year CIR in Anamizu and can’t get enough of Art Noveau.
Click the link for information!
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