This Sunday (December 1st) local conservation group, People Together for Mt. Ogura (PTO) will be holding a hiking and rubbish clearance event on Mount Ogura in Kyoto's Sagano district. This from their website: In the vicinity of Mt. Ogura’s northern flank, especially at Rokucho Pass, we are working to remove large quantities of illegally dumped rubbish that has built up over … [Read more...]
Conserv’Session: Documentary Screening of “SEED – The Untold Story” at Kyoto University
Thanks to Zsofia Budai of the Conserv'Session group for the following message. On June 23rd, we will screen the documentary “SEED – The Untold Story” (2016, 94 min), at Kyoto University, in English with a presentation and discussion in Japanese in English. Film synopsis: Few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds. Worshipped and treasured since the dawn … [Read more...]
Mount Ogura Rubbish Clearance – A Call for Volunteers
From Stephen Gill of conservation group People Together for Mt. Ogura (PTO): 5月18日（日曜日）：不法投棄撤去作業 18 May (Sun) Rubbish clearance 今回は、保津川や清滝川を見下ろすところに不法投棄されたゴミを片付けます。ボランティアのご参加、よろしくお願いいたします。 We need volunteers to help clear rubbish from oak forest along Rokucho Pass (Ogurayama), Kyoto. The Pass overlooks both Hozu and Kiyotaki … [Read more...]
ECHOES: Painting & Poetry Exhibition at KICH – February 25 ~ March 2
ECHOES is an upcoming poetry and art exhibition organized by the Hailstone Haiku Circle, and featuring the conservation efforts of PTO (People Together for Mt. Ogura). Click on the flyer below for details! H a i g a c o l l a b o r a t i o n Hailstone Haiku Circle is an international group founded in 2000 by Stephen Gill and centred on Kyoto. Its main activity is to … [Read more...]
A Trip to Inuyama
Here are some pictures from Inuyama in Aichi prefecture, which we visited last month. By clicking on the spherical images, you can explore a fully immersive 360 degree view. Inuyama Castle is supposed to be the oldest castle in Japan: the original fort was built in 1440, and the current structure was completed in 1537. However as you can see from the scaffolding in the … [Read more...]
Kawai Kanjiro’s House
This is the house of Kawai Kanjiro, a legendary potter and a key figure in the mingei or Japanese folk art movement. His beautiful wooden townhouse has been preserved as a memorial run by his family. The building itself and the garden are wonderful, but you can also see here many of his works: ceramics, sculptures, and woodcarvings. His kilns are preserved at the back of the … [Read more...]
A Trip into the Past at Meiji Mura
In 2011 McKinsey & Company commisioned 80 writers and thinkers to contribute to an anthology rather grandly titled Reimagining Japan: The Quest for a Future that Works. I bought my own copy after browsing through it at Kansai Aiport and reading Alex Kerr's piece "Japan after People". His contribution was a wry form of dystopian projection that took various current trends, … [Read more...]
Nov. 23 (Sat.) Autumn Recreation Hike & Maple Planting on Mt. Ogura, Kyoto
This Saturday PTO (People Together for Mount Ogura) & the Hailstone Haiku Circle will have a joint hiking/recreational event on Mt Ogura. Here are the details from Stephen Gill: … [Read more...]
Ten Year Plan to Reafforest Kyoto’s Mount Ogura Goes Ahead
Good news today! The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) has thrown its weight behind a plan to restore the natural beauty of Kyoto's Ogurayama. The ten-year reafforestation project aims to undo the damage wrought by human neglect and the recent of blight of diseases that are killing off much of the native oaks and pines. Mount Ogura has been famed since Heian times as the … [Read more...]
PEOPLE TOGETHER FOR MT. OGURA WORKDAY SCHEDULE 2012
Last weekend I joined PTO for their first rubbish clearance of 2012. The weather was changeable to say the least and I got well dirty, but the results did us proud. We had a good turn out on this occasion with people from China, Indonesia, Canada, New Zealand, a fair few Brits and the local J-crew. I was also pleasantly surprised to see both Mike Chan and Masyhur Hilmy … [Read more...]
Pine felling on Mount Ogura
Once again last Saturday I joined P.T.O. (People Together for Mt. Ogura) for another day of pine cutting on the summit of Mount Ogura. Above you can see a misty view of the Hozu river gorge. To the right of the view in the foreground is a pine tree that is completely brown. It has unfortunately succumbed to the pine disease that is killing so many trees not only on Mount Ogura … [Read more...]
October on Mount Ogura
On Saturday my colleague Chris Carver and I joined PTO for another day of conservation work on Mount Ogura. After a solid day of rain the day before I had fully expected Saturday's work to be cancelled, but the rain held off in the morning and the planned day of work went ahead. It was very humid up on those forested slopes, but we were fortunate with the weather as the next … [Read more...]
Hiking Along the Old Hozu River Towpath
Last Saturday I joined Stephen Gill and Okiharu Maeda of the conservation group P.T.O. for a hike along the Hozu River. The hike wasn't purely for the pleasure of getting out into the fresh country air though, Maeda-san and Mr. Gill were making a detailed report, with photographs of the exact location of trees on Mount Ogura that have been affected by a deadly oak disease. Even … [Read more...]
Music in a Bamboo Grove
Earlier today, I joined the conservation group P.T.O.'s activities in Arashiyama. We spent the morning preparing bamboo switches that will be used to repair the fences along the bamboo groves this autumn. These fences are important because they keep the wild boar out and prevent them from eating up all the new bamboo shoots in the spring. After we had finished our work we were … [Read more...]
