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| 鶴の湯 | Tsurunoyu: Gentlemen | |||
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15 January 2002 I went into the baths at 5pm or so. Spent a long time in the large outdoor bath, the most mesmerizing to watch. Possibly waiting for women, just to see. But a pile of men came. And with them I spoke - they were primarily サラリーマン salarimen from 秋田 Akita, from 東北 Tohoku. One spoke English well; we spoke of his children and my work. With all of them, I spoke of living in the jisui, I joked about eating a bowl of rice a day, and maybe some ドンキホテ donkihote uni. I dream of 鍋 nabe, I said. One of them said well your dream is true now. I didn't get what they were saying; I chalked it up to language troubles.So I climbed out at the same time as them, having been in so long that my hands were clenched into claws. I went to buy my nightly rice from the hotel, and the innkeeper at the desk gave me a covered bowl of 鍋 nabe - a give from 糸井-さん Itoi-san, she said. I said I want to give thanks. She observed where they were having dinner, in a large room in a long hallway. Ten of them sat, three women and seven men, kneeling before trays of fantastic looking food. They invited me to come sit with them and eat!
  Left Side | Right Side (can you spot a polite Japan no-no? I'm sharing the soles of my feet with the photographer)
I was served much sake, and some beer. I drank in earnest, determined to join these folks in their moment, and having watched some Japanese drink before, watched without participating. Often my drink was served by the 25 year old ひであき Hidaki, who was charged with kneeling around the room providing libation. Upon exiting the baths together, he asked me, What is your favourite idiom? (idiom, proverb = 諺 - ことわざ - kotowaza) So we shared - I thought for a long time, and finally came up with "It's nice to get up in the morning, It's nicer to lie in bed" - from my Grandfather. Which is ironic, because neither Grampa nor I could spend much time in bed awake before getting restless with something to do around the house. But it's an English idiom, and it can be sung. Hidaki shared, "like old dog, new tricks" he said - わかいうちにまなべwakai uchini manabe. We went to the front desk and wrote these down for each other; then as I entered the dinner room later I saw one of them holding this piece of paper where I had written my grandfather's phrase.
After a deliciously long time, people made a signal that we were leaving. We were leaving? I stayed until the end, when Hidaka pointed out the door: 行きましょう "ikimashou" - let's go. I said, おやすみなさい oyasumi, because I thought this was the end of our time together; in fact we were retiring to a room between two bedrooms; a small sitting room (ie, a floor) with a firepit in the center. There we ate okashi (snacks), kiwi fruit and the orange colored fruit with large seeds in the center that Mimi Ito served me that I've forgotten the name of, little bits of meat; snacks to go with more piles of sake. And Itoi-san I sat next to, it was his 誕生日 birthday! So we sang a sort of stilted but enthusiastic "Happy Birthday" in English to him. The English speaking man pointed out that this man that I enjoyed talking to was considered a "truth speaking man" - "truth comes from him." There was some storytelling by the man who seemed (by his gray hair, not disposition) to be the oldest man in the group; I didn't follow much, though I appreciated his effluvient demeanor. He made 判子 hankos, Japanese name stamps, I was lead to believe. The most まじめ majime man, a teacher who lives near Iwata, he invited me to live with him this month, since I want to learn old Japanese culture. The others urged me to do it; why not? But I said I would stay at Tsurunoyu until the end of the month, and then I would like to see him. Now I write a book I said. (I did end up visiting Itoi again and learning some old Japanese culture in Yokote.)
morning lovlies in the pool The next morning I was hungover and feeling inclined to lay in bed, nursing a sorry stomach. But I figured the Japanese must consider these baths a hangover cure. On the path on my way to the baths, I ran into the English speaking gent leaving for work; he bid me "auf weiderzein." In the pool was Itoi-san and a gentleman who said he was the president of a home construction company (who isn't most of these photos). We discussed some of the various animals that might be likely to visit these hotsprings along with us (deer? bears? monkeys?). Also, they related that hanko-man had been at the baths at 4am, and he had seen two pretty young ladies (美人). They were as chatty with me in the morning as they were the night before; I was glad to see that my party behaviour was not an impardonable affront. After watching so many Japanese people throw up on the subway platforms in Tokyo, I'm inclined to believe that drinking too much is widely forgiven here. Still no more pleasant - I hope I wiped that toilet down enough. Maybe Hidaki covered for me. Very nice people these were! At one point I had the urge to sing some songs, I suppressed them. I wonder if I should have? I'll save them for next time; the construction president says he's been here upwards of thirty times, for "business meetings." A teacher, a propane gas salesman, a construction company president, a consultant, a hanko maker - I don't know how they knew each other, why they were there together, and who these three women were. I asked more than once! I didn't get the answer. Maybe the answer was Itoi-san's birthday. Happy birthday!
鶴の湯 Tsurunoyu | 秋田 Akita | Japan | trip | life
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