Japan - Day 6, Part 2: Family Graves & Geibikei

My dad had instructed his brother to take us to the family graves to pay our respects to my ancestors.  We went to the grave area for the Komagi villagers - 6 families.

We drove along paths like this through the woods and past rice fields to reach the graves.

We parked here at this peaceful lily pond.

This is the Chiba-kei Haka (Chiba family grave site).

There were 5 Chiba families in the village.  This "Up" signifies our family.

This lists all the individuals that are buried or enshrined here.  Reading right to left, the first line is a description.  Each line following lists each the date, each person's name and how old they were.  Grandpa Hisashi is 3rd to last, Grandmother Susumu is 2nd to last, and Dad's cousin Yoshihisa from the Komagi farm is last.  The space in between is for his parents who are still living.  This follows the patriarchal line generally listing only the oldest son and his wife for several generations.  There is a daughter listed who died at 24 who would be included because she didn't marry and died probably of a flu.  Hisashi's brother Takeo also died at age 22 from a snake bite and is included here.  Grandmother Susumu was given a boy's name to be strong.

To read each line, the top is the new name given by a monk after the person dies, the middle of the line is the year, month and day of death, then the person's name while living, and finally the age they were when they died.

Modernly people are cremated after they die, but anciently the bodies were buried deep under the ground.

This is a flower vase decorated with the family crest.

A neighboring Chiba family Haka, not our line.

Little tiny forrest frog.

Another neighboring Chiba family, not our line.

There are old grave stones.  They would have been lined up according to where the people where buried, but in modern times these were gathered together at the family Haka.

This is the lush setting for these village Haka.

 Next Shinobu told us it was too late to visit more family, but that he was going to take us to Geibikei.  With his limited English and my limited Japanese we could not figure out what he was taking us to, but it ended up being a treat.

He took us to the local natural tourist attraction called Geibikei.  It's a canyon through the rock mountain carved by the river.  It's lush and beautiful.

During the drive it started raining.  Pouring.  When we got to the ticket office of Geibikei Shinobu went in to buy tickets while Blake and I watched the workers drain water out of the tourist boats.

 Here is the launch point for the tourist boats.

 I think because of the rain, our tour boat was small and intimate.

Look at that color on the dragonfly!

We sat at the front of the boat.  The guide pushed the boat along with a long pole.  The water was flowing but not rapidly and the riverbank was shallow and flat.  The mist from the recent rain added to the serenity.

Another dragonfly - all black this time.

There were various attraction points along the route.  Some were cliff faces, others were caves like this one.

Mid-way through the ride the boat pulled up to a riverbank and we saw the next few points on foot.  Our guide spoke enough English to give us explanations.

The water was so clear it was easy to fish swimming along side the boat.  This is the kind of fish my dad and Shinobu would catch for fun during visits to the Komagi farm.  My dad says Grandmother Susumu preferred to eat these fresh water fish rather than fish from the sea.  They would clean the fish and grill the fish whole over charcoal and eat it with soy sauce.  He was surprised at how delicious it was.

The orange rock face was supposed to look like a nose.

Here our guide pointed out a small hole in the rock face that supposedly grants wishes.  One can buy lucky engraved stones for extra luck, but our guide pointed out that there are lots along the riverbank from people dropping them or the river washing them up.  We found some rocks, made wishes, and tried to make the hole.  We all missed, even Shinobu who was a baseball pitcher in high school.  Blake yelled out something like, "I wish for a million dollars!" and threw his rock - straight in the hole!  Everyone burst out laughing.  

I've only seen coy fish in circulated ponds. It was neat to see them in a free flowing river.

Near the end of the river boat ride, we were in a quiet spot clouded in mist and our guide sang a local folk song.  In the stillness her voice echoed along side the subtle splash of the oar pushing the boat along.  It was a beautiful and calming tour.  Shinobu was so nice to take us.

I think it was nightfall by the time we returned to his home.  I got to meet Shinobu's wife, my aunt Akemi.  When I lived in Japan as a baby they were not married yet.  Aunt Akemi took the vegetables that the Komagi family had sent us home with and started making dinner for us.  I helped as best as I could in the kitchen while Blake and Shinobu watched some Olypics on TV.

I also got to meet one of my cousins for the first time.  Konomi is their 3rd child and only daughter.  Her two older brothers were working in Tokyo or at college.  Here I really wished to be able to speak better to get to know my cousin.  My cousin!  Shinobu, Akemi and Konomi all speak a little English but it's still hard to make up for 30 years with only a few words to use.  We did find out that Konomi studies hard at school and that she really enjoys being in choir.  Her choir had even won some awards in the region.  How interesting it was to me.  My 3 siblings and I all enjoyed being in choirs through school, but I thought this had only come through my mother's side of the family.  Apparently it's a common interest with my cousin, too.

I love this accidental shot because you can see Akemi & Konomi's natural smiles as they laugh at the camera hand-off between Blake & Shinobu

It's amazing how quickly Aunt Akemi whipped up this delicious dinner for us.  Chicken, veggies, and ten-don (tempura style veggies over rice).  It was all delicious.

This trip was enlightening about my dad, too.  My dad doesn't have many things in his home, but he does have a fish tank that he takes care of and that my kids love to look at when they visit.  His brother keeps a couple fish tanks, too.  Their father, my grandfather, apparently had more than 20 fish tanks also.  With their lives so far away and so different in so many ways, there were still little things like this that seemed evidence of their brotherly connection.