Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Thatched farmhouses

This will be my last post for a few days since I am leaving for Houston tomorrow morning for the International Quilt Festival where I will visit my quilts. Just two this year, one in the Town and Country exhibit and one in the Silent Auction. I 'll have picures on my return.

I'm still writing about my trip to Japan and hope I'm not boring you. These today are from our visit to Shirakawa-go, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of a village with traditional thatched roofs.





This gives you some idea of how thick the roofs are. They last about 40 years and then it takes over 200 men to work on dismantling and installing a new one. We saw a video of the process and it was fascinating. Needless to say it is a dying art.




It seems like the Japanese never miss an opportunity to make something beautiful and artistic. For lack of a better name, I'm calling this a storm sewer. Notice the lovely design on the grating. That is the symbol of this particular village. It would also be on the manhole covers.


There were charming little container gardens outside most of the doors to the homes and shops.


This was in another storm sewer. I love the scene with the snake made out of driftwood.


I thought that these elderly women sitting and making straw sandals were amazing. Note how the straw is wrapped tightly around her toes and how straight she is sitting! They looked very old. The sandals were selling for about $5 apiece.


3 comments:

Tomme said...

They use similar thatched roofs in South Africa. I thought they were amazing!

Vivien Zepf said...

Oh, the house are beautiful! Wish our drains were as pretty.

Anonymous said...

We called the sewers "benjos" when I lived in Japan. I am not sure I have spelled the work correctly.

Judith Glover