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
bordered with firewood
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
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...
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....
(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
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
not far from the onions
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
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
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 — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
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 — 1/5000 sec, f/2, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
and a roadside flower
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/1600 sec, f/4, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
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?
Hi
The flower may be a red campion which is actually pink in colour. I am sure the maple is one chosen for its red leaves. The Japanese are prodigious propagators of maples and are always on the lookout for sports and witches brooms from which to create a new variety.
Shindeshojo is one year round red Japanese Maple that springs to mind and there are many others. If you look down the stem you will see a graft union if it is a Shindeshojo as they are nearly always grown on the bog standard plain green but extremely tough Japanese Maple Acer Palmatum.
Regards
Derek
I like the pattern that you captured in the stacked wood [http://regex.info/i/JF7_083631_2560x1600.jpg] Regards, Tom in SF
Tks for sharing the images of the property, very interesting time warp.
Top loader washing machines are still very popular in Hong Kong where I live, although slighlty more sophisticated (just) than the sample you photographed.
Great photo blogg, nice balance of photos/information.
Tks,
Chris
Top-loading washers are still popular in Japan… I bought a new one last week …. but it doesn’t have a separate centrifuge, and does have all the modern stuff such that we just dump clothes and detergent in, and press “go”. —Jeffrey
Unbelievably twin tubs are still produced today and available through Amazon.
Chris