The old Tokaido road and some well deserved downtime.

[Dreamwidth ate my first attempt at this post, so we're going to try again.)

Hinode Ryokan served my traditional Japanese breakfast promptly at 7:30 as ordered. The lady brought a fresh pot of green tea, then a tray of lovely things: salmon, rice, julienned carrot and lotus root (I think), vinegared shirasu (tiny whitebait fish), a dollop of creamy potato salad, two pieces of tamago (a sweet, thinly rolled omelette), pickled cucumber, daikon and ginger, a green salad with ham and tomato in sesame dressing, and a dark miso soup with tofu and green onion. I did the best I could, but could not finish the rice. 

My host presented me with a complimentary pen of the pre-printed business sort on check out. I ended up taking a later train because the early one was not covered by my JR Pass, and why blow money you don't have to. So, it was after eleven by the time I got to Nagoya, begged a cigarette vendor for 100y coins for the luggage locker, stowed my crap and hopped a local train down to Arimatsu.

If you have a nodding acquaintance with Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo period, you've heard of Hiroshige's '53 Stations of the Tokaido Road.' Well, Arimatsu was one of the little post towns during that period. The Tokaido was a major road linking Edo (now Tokyo) and the then capital, Kyoto. The stations were shogunate and provincially administered checkpoints through which travelers (mostly on foot) had to pass, and "rest stops" furnishing food, drink and lodging sprang up around them. Arimatsu, a bit south of Nagoya proper was on the Tokaido and was one of those places. It became well known for its brightly died shibori cloth in the early 17th century, and a portion of the townscape has been preserved. Basically it's one long street running parallel to the train tracks with buildings dating from the 17th and 18th century, some of which are local craftspeople selling shibori clothing and other items. Even the cigarette shop on the corner had shibori pieces for sale.

I found the Shibori museum, which consists of a ground floor shop and the exhibit itself on the second floor. For 300 yen you get a video about how shibori is done, how many specialized artisans are involved, pattern designers, shibori artists - each type of fabric manipulation, be it stitched, clamped, folded or any combination thereof may be the only thing done by one artist, but that artist will be a master of that style. Then the dyers and the people who take out all the threads, and the people who steam and set the final fabric. There's also great display of shibori tools, and gorgeous examples of how many patterns can be made by this process. The real treat for me, however, was the little old lady sitting just outside the display area, deftly wrapping thread around tiny dots of pre-marked cotton fabric. Between her almost nonexistent English and my mangled Japanglish, we were still able to communicate and she was more than happy to slow down and show me how her style of shibori was done.

The good news is that I did not break the bank on shopping. When all the clothing items are practically guaranteed to be too small, you go for a nice silk shibori tote bag and a cotton tenugui that will look just great as a scarf.

Arimatsu being nearly 30 minutes from downtown Nagoya, I got back later than expected and realized that with the castle closing at 4;30, there just wasn't going to be enough time to do it. So I got my stuff out of the train station locker, fired up Google Maps, and struggled to find my hostel because there were enough tall buildings in the neighborhood the GPS couldn't keep my with my phone's live position. I think I backtracked at least twice.

LeoStar Hostel is no Kyoto Hana. It's too slick and modern. I was greeted by two young women who probably would be at home fending off invaders with naginata, given a laminated room card with a floor map, what times check in and check out are, when things are open, what amenites were where, and I evidently cannot be trusted to put my own shoes away, because they were whisked onto a shelf matching my room number and I was issued slippers that would fit Shaquille O'Neill. I was also admonished not to eat or drink in my room because there's a too brightly lit cafe area in the lobby with relentlessly cheerful Jpop videos on a little too loudly. There is also, Buddha enlighten us, a throwing star corner (currently holding several bicycles when I passed just now).

My room locks with a combination pad, which means I have to take my glasses and the slip I wrote the combo on every time I go out. It's tiny and bare, with just enough room to walk in, dump bags in the corner and flop on a bed. The coat tree in the other corner a mere six feet away comes with one wooden hanger and a flashlight, because I'm three floors up in a country which has earthquakes. So, zero charm, but it's clean sheets and hot water and what the front desk warriors don't know about the bottle of water in my backpack won't kill anyone.

I have now written all this twice because Dreamwidth ate the first version. I did head out in search of food and found a loud, brightly lit,cheerful place about two blocks away with cheap, delicious seafood. I ordered an unfiltered sake, local crab with miso simmered in its own shell on a grill right in front of me at the bar, and a rice bowl with assorted sashimi and fresh wasabi.

Photos are up at https://www.flickr.com/photos/70104978@N00/albums/72157711532580023

On to Hakone tomorrow. It's supposed to be gorgeous there, but rain is predicted. Hopefully it won't be a washout. I want to see Mount Fuji!

Early train leaves Nagoya at 7:29 and gets me there a bit after 10.