Here we are, a new blog post and a new blog layout. While I loved the previous design that I had, it felt almost too polished, if that makes sense? I wanted to go back to blogging a little more informally. My blog isn't only about my knit shop, it's about the seasons of life, my exploration in photography, and memories that I want to keep. So here we are, a cleaner blog design. It may not be as chronological as other blogs, but I post somewhat infrequently as it is. Therefore, it is the topic of the post that you want to read that will cause you to click, not what was most recent.
While in Kawaguchiko, a town in Fuji Five Lakes, we decided to visit a sake brewery. There was a brewery within walking distance of our ryokan called Ide, and I wish that we could get their sake in the states - it was so delicious! We asked our ryokan guest services staff if they could call and add our names to the tour that day, being that we didn't speak enough Japanese for that kind of conversation. They kindly called, and they even drove us over to the sake brewery, even though we could have walked, just to make sure that we didn't get lost.
We arrived at the sake brewery and there was a Japanese family also on the tour. The woman that co-owns the sake brewery with her husband let us know that she would do her best to translate every thing she told them, and apologized for her limited English. She was incredibly modest because her English was amazing. She told us that the sake brewery has been in her husband's family for 31 generations, and they started as makers of soy sauce. At some point, they started making sake with the spring water from Mt. Fuji and have been doing it ever since.
After the tour, the sake brewer's wife led us to her garden. She showed us her 300 year old garden, with trees that were 350 years old. She even had a tea house within the garden, that was brought from Kyoto. The floor of the tea house was made with round slices of bark from a tree that fell down in her garden. The tea house had a large open window that overlooked the garden, a truly serene setting. Gesturing to the window on the wall, she said, "like a picture."
After viewing the garden, we went into the sake shop to taste some of the sake. Each bottle was so delicious, and also affordable. We bought a bottle to bring back with us to the ryokan that night. We sipped some before dinner, while soaking in the hot springs. It was a perfect day.
The sake brewer's wife leads a life that seems incredibly magical. This is truly a place that I want to revisit. After the tour, we walked back to the ryokan, taking the long way, admiring the fall leaves and the serene cemetery. Every where we turned, Kawaguchiko was, as the sake brewer's wife said, "like a picture."
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