Shimane Photo Essay

7/28/2019 Shimane Photo Essay

1/13

My Shimane Photo Essay

By Tori Baney


2/13

The day after we arrived, my host mother, host brother, and youngest host sister took me on a walknear their house. About five minutes from the house was the elementary school and kindergartenthat my host siblings go to. In this picture, you can see the bridge that I crossed everyday to get tothe place we met everyday before heading off to a school together.

The feel of Daito was so different than Tokyo, and reminded me of the rural area where I go tocollege. However, the mountains and landscape, as well as the people gave the area its ownatmosphere.


3/13

(Daito

Shougakkou) was the

first elementary school

we visited. I was

amazed by the

childrens eagerness

and energy. After the

class, they all asked for

our autographs, whichended up happening

at all the schools we

visited. It was hard for

me to be outgoing in

front of the kids at first,but it became easier

as we visited more

schools.


4/13

The smallest school we visited had only 16 students, but I felt that we had the mostintimate experience for that reason. The amount of preparation and attentiveness theygave us was really touching. They even had a goodbye ceremony for us and each of thestudents and faculty wrote individualized notes to us as well as gave us a picture of uswith the students. Everyone at the school was so excited for us to come, even thefaculty, and it made the experience that much more rewarding and memorable.


5/13

The mochi-making

event was my first

time making mochi

traditionally as well

as the first time I

could see lots of

people from the

community come

together. Entire

families and various

generations came

together as they

have for years, and I

really felt a sense ofcommunity. The

mochi was delicious

too of course!


6/13

Of course, we not only taught the children, but played with them as well. I wasnever much an active child but playing with the children in Unnan-shi taughtme how to play and run around again. I had to re-learn how to jump-rope(which I apparently had done wrong all along), and learned new ball games(which was difficult considering excited Japanese children were trying toexplain the rules to me). But I really enjoyed myself, even if I was exhausted by

the end of the day.


7/13

Getting to the

point where we

could play and

freely

communicate

with the children

didnt take as

long as I

expected. I

learned how thechildrens ages

changed how

they perceived

the world and

language, andthis helped me

interact with

them.


8/13

A few times during our stay, I was able to observe a kagura dance, which is aShinto theatrical dance that is especially famous in Shimane.In the opening ceremony, the local middle schools kagura club performed forus. We were also able to see a story-telling kagura at a local performance. Iwas able to learn various interesting things about Shinto during our stay, andsee ceremonial dances that one would normally only see on TV.


9/13

My host family

and I went on a

boat tour around

the river-moat

that surrounds

Matsue Castle.

Ive never been on

a river tour likethis one, the boat

even had a

kotatsu! I was able

to learn aboutMatsues history

and see the castle

district of the city.


10/13

We had the opportunity

to learn how to make

soba from scratch. We

took turns kneading the

dough, cutting it into

noodles, washing and

boiling the noodles,

then adding the brothand whatever toppings

we wanted! I kept mine

simple. Ive never made

any kind of noodles

from scratch, so I had

no idea it took so much

work!


11/13

I also was able to learn a bit about life in a Buddhist temple and how to

meditate. Even though we only meditated for 20 minutes, it was very difficult.

It wasnt so much as that the physical position was uncomfortable, as much as

clearing my mind. I was surprised that the head monk would smack the people

who were meditating on the shoulder if they appeared to be falling asleep!


12/13

After we learnedabout the Shinto mythof the god Susano-osaving a young

woman and her familyfrom the eight-headed snake Yamata-no-orochi, we visitedJapans first Shrine,Suga Jinja. We were

able to take part in aShinto ceremony,drink sacred sake, andlearn about Shintotradition and thehistory of the shrine. I

have learned muchmore about Shimanesimportance inJapanese history,especially spiritual-wise.


13/13

On our last day, before the ending ceremony, we planted a cherry blossom

tree to mark our year of home-stay students. I wonder if our tree will be

ready to put out blossoms this year. I saw a tree planted some years

before, and although not much bigger than ours, it was already starting to

bloom. I hope our own tree will be like that soon!

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