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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bountiful Onion Harvest

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In “Pleasant Little Village in Uji” last month, I showed photos from the edge of a small remote village in Uji City (Kyoto Prefecture, Japan) of maybe a dozen houses scattered about. Today's photos are from the other edge of the village...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Country Lane
bordered with firewood

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/6400 sec, f/2, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Roadside Weeds

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Considering the similar shots in “Exquisite Beauty Growing Like a Weed by the Side of the Road” and “Scenes From Rural Japan: Mountain Village in Uji City” (both from a trip the week prior to the one that produced today's photos), I'm probably overdoing these a bit, but I like them and it's my blog, so here we are.

I came back later with the Voigtländer 125mm to visit the group of purple flowers...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos

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One of the most interesting places for me was a house that almost looked like it was abandoned, but it still showed some signs of use, so it's probably owned by someone who visits only every so often for farming and to look after the place...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — ¹/1600 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Old House

At the right you can see a red mailbox, but it's not the house's mailbox, but a public box for the village for sending letters out....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/2000 sec, f/2, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Public Mail Box

(The Japanese post office does not pick up mail during home delivery, so to send a letter, you must visit the post office or drop it off in one of the many public mail boxes sprinkled about.)

I'm at a loss to explain why there's a urinal immediately under it.

The part of the house facing the mailbox was a covered area with the main entrance and a bunch of other stuff, such as the bench with onions seen in the first photo. Among other items in that general vicinity....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mailbox
this one is for the house itself

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Piled Chaff
not far from the onions

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Old Washing Machine

This'll bring back memories (at least if you lived in Japan long enough ago). I wonder whether they still make this kind. The larger compartment on the left is where the clothes would be washed, and when done, you'd move the whole sopping mess to the smaller compartment on the right (a small centrifuge) to get most of the water out before hanging to dry. It was more convenient than washing on a rock at a river, but only by a slim margin.

The side of the house was also interesting...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/2000 sec, f/2, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Side of the House
facing the road

I believe that the wooden shutter in the center of the photo opens up, to turn into a sun shade for a little window from which one can sell things (likely produce). I'd also guess that it predates vehicular traffic; the road ends 15 yards further down, which itself is off of another road that dead ends. But 100 years ago, a footpath to Otsu City may well have gone through this area.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Edge of the Wall
mud, twine, and bamboo

I can't imagine how a mud wall can stand up to the elements decade after decade after decade, but they do. Mostly.

More details of this kind of construction (though likely much more modern) can be seen in “Old House of Bamboo and Mud” from several years ago.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/800 sec, f/4, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dirt Wall

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Taking a Breather
Katsunori Shimada and Paul Barr take a break from the action

Strolling around a bit more, I came across a tree whose leaves thought it was fall... they were brilliantly orange-red...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/3200 sec, f/2, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Prepared for Winter

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/5000 sec, f/2, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Katsunori Shimada
and a roadside flower

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/1600 sec, f/4, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Caution Mirror
on the edge of a road-side storage building

Curvy roads often have large circular fisheye mirrors to help see traffic around a bend — you can see the back of one near the car in the “Taking a Breather” photo above, and in this old post as well — but sometimes people put little ones near their own driveway to help them pull out. It's difficult to imagine that this remote dead-end area could have enough traffic to justify the need, but apparently it did because the bent thing above used to be the backing for a private road-side mirror. I wonder what caused it to get bent like that. Maybe a delivery truck backed into it?

Continued here...