Chapter 53: CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

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CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

"Can I take my washi paper now?" I asked the guide.

He nodded. "And since you left it here overnight, it should be nice and dry and strong by now. Let me take it off the drying rack for you."

As he handed it to me, "Do either you or one of your friends practice shodo Japanese calligraphy writing with a brush?"

"Well, I know I sure don't. But maybe one of my friends might. Why?"

"Because if your friend does, have him or her write a kanji character on it. Then you can frame it and put it on your wall to show off your washi skills and your friend's shodo skills."

"Hey, that's a great idea! I just hope I can get it all the way home without wrinkling or ripping it."

"Well little buddy, feels good to be putting along without all that luggage strapped on you, doesn't it? And it's a hell of a lot easier for me to steer us, too."

Be-beep!

We were heading for Gokayama. But not so much to see that smaller version of a gassho-zukuri village as to simply drive my cub without all that weight slowing us up. We were easily able to putt along at fifty on the straighter stretches.

Once in Gokayama, I dutifully went to the far fewer gassho-zukuri houses there. Again they didn't impress me anywhere near as much as the ones in Shirakawa. And this time I noticed only one or two had a "Minshuku" sign hanging from it. But then, this time I had come here only to enjoy putting freely with my cub and seeing the mountain scenery along the way. So it was nowhere near as disappointing as the last time.

When I got back to the minshuku in Shirakawa, I didn't see any car parked in front of it.

"Don't you have any other guests staying with you tonight?" I asked Okusan in the genkan.

"No, David-san. Tonight it will be just you, me and Dannasan."

As we entered the main room, I noticed the cauldron above the irori wasn't bubbling away with something delicious smelling in it. "Are we going to be having something different for dinner tonight?"

"Yes, David-san. With only the three of us and you having been here for two nights already, I thought you might enjoy eating what we usually eat when we don't have any guests staying with us. Is that alright?"

"That's fine with me. To tell you the truth, I'm kind of interested in eating what you and Dannasan eat when you're by yourselves,."

"The ofuro is ready. Are you going to take yours now?"

"You warmed up the ofuro just for me? I mean, that uses quite a bit of firewood, doesn't it?"

"Ha, you forget the Dannasan and I take ours there, too. And we use propane gas to heat it with, not firewood. Outside the kitchen we have five of the largest cylinders of it strapped to the outside walls of the house. And we'll be having many more delivered to us before the heavy snows begin and enough to last us the whole winter."

"Well in that case, yes, I will take my ofuro now!"

Relaxed after soaking in the ofuro for a nice long time, I again studied my guidebook for Kanazawa and the Noto Peninsula until the Okusan called me out to dinner. "We're having sukiyaki tonight."

"Great! I love sukiyaki. And unlike rice, I love to eat it with a raw egg, too. Just like you do."

"Oh? I didn't think you would. In that case I'll go get another egg from the kitchen."

"Where do you get the meat for it?" I asked the Dannasan who was already sitting on his zabuton cushion by the irori.

"We get it from Takayama. We know a great butcher's shop there. We buy all our meat and poultry from him in large quantities."

"But how do you keep it from spoiling?"

"We've got a really big freezer in the kitchen just for that. And a backup generator in case the snows in winter cut off the electricity."

"Does that happen often?"

"Often enough to make it a necessary to have a backup generator."

"But what if you run out of fuel for the generator?"

"Hah, that's the one thing the winters here are good for. Because then we've got our own natural freezer right outside the house!"

And we both laughed.

"Okusan, this sukiyaki is really good. Particularly with a raw egg to dip it in. This is beef, isn't it?"

"Yes it's wagyu. And I'm glad you like it, David-san," the Okusan replied.

Then the Dannasan said, "But you know what the best part for me is when we're eating alone?"

"What?"

The Dannasan grinned, "I don't have to spend all that God awful time out in the forest collecting all those vegetables and trying to net all those fish from the river!"

And all three of us laughed.

Before slipping into my futon, I spent a really long time studying my road maps and guidebook for Kanazawa again in preparation for tomorrow.

Submitted: August 26, 2024

Romance romance japan gaijin travel-in-japan japan-1970s

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B Douglas Slack

Great that there were no visitors that night.

One of my finest memories of Japan was being invited home by our housekeeper and having dinner as they would. We had tempura shrimp and other vegetables as well as a beef dish the name of which I cannot for the life of me remember.We sat up until the 11PM show was over, then left. Wonderful night.

Thu, September 12th, 2024 12:14am