Let’s see. What else. On the second day on Hachijo we went to another onsen (which we were told was actually the first established onsen on the island). At one point one of the members in our group fell off of the little bathing stool onto the ground and a few of the locals already lounging in the bath cackled at her, and us generally.
That sort of loud outburst of laughter at someone else’s misfortune is surprising in Japan. Most people are reserved in social situations and more or less ignore the goings-on of others. Perhaps this incident was a bit less surprising because we were out in the countryside…well basically on a small subtropical island out in the middle of nowhere. People are a bit more candid and less reserved. That’s one of the cool things about subtropical islands.
One of the oddest things about the Hachijo Islanders we met was they seem pride themselves with the legend of how (at least some of) the original inhabitants were inbred. As the story was told to us by our hosts, and a cab driver, and as we later read the legend in our hotel information booklet, it would appear there is a legend of the first person on Hachijo being a pregnant woman who was shipwrecked there. She eventually had a son. One thing led to another and they had kids, and so on, until it got to the point where the island was populated to some degree but every other generation or so was born with serious congenital defects.
When things got unbearably bad the men moved to another island or another part of the island (we didn’t quite understand that part of the story), and when the first ship of outsiders came what they found was an island full of women…and there was much rejoicing…until the other guys found out, and there was a bit of a rough patch, but then they eventually worked out their differences and of the people who are native to the Island, a great many are related in some way or another. With several large groupings of folks who share the same surname (they gave us examples of the different surnames around the island and would point out matching ones on signs).
Hachijo eventually became a penal colony and both political dissidents and various sorts of criminals (etc.) were banished there. Survival was grim business all the way around. People weren’t sent to the island and locked up. They were basically rowed out and dumped there. The locals talk about how hard it was and how much the *runin* or banished people struggled to survive, and also how they were welcomed by local villagers and integrated into the community.
This is an overly simplified retelling of it all, but we did touch upon the subject almost every day., so it’s something that sticks out in my head.
The other thing they mentioned was that many of the runin had their swords taken away from them. As the story goes, the took up bachi instead, and their Taiko playing was full of sorrow and anger but they played until their hearts were joyful.
One of the cool things is this particular style of Taiko is played by both men and women, and there’s a strong tradition of women playing. Some postulate it is because women on the island, especially the weavers of kihachijo silk, had a great deal of economic power and influence.
There are ways it is tied to local traditional folk music and other local cultural traditions, too, but it’s there’s a lot of improvisation and for the most part it is very simple and festive. This is drumming for fun and entertainment. Something that is done at gatherings and parties. In some ways it reminded me of how in Okinawa whenever folks get together at some point a sanshin comes out, and a *koten* set including a shime and larger drum often come out, and folks pull out their samba and everyone has a great time singing and dancing. THis is the kind of taiko you can play ’til you die…and of course there’s good cause to.
Survival is still grim business. There are no real natural resources (although there was a sulphur mine there about 120 years ago) and most everything has to be shipped in (240 miles) from Tokyo so cost of living is very high. Locals say the only real way to get by is to fish, have a garden and live modestly. For fun, they love to eat and drink and play Taiko.
The other meibutsu I know of that I haven’t mentioned yet are the flying fish (we didn’t see any), and I do want to say a little bit more about kihachijo – it’s a pale vegetal-dyed yellow woven silk that has the characteristic of the colors becoming deeper and more rich the more the cloth is worn and washed. It’s quite luxurious in a delicate, elegant sort of way.
At one point during the welcoming/farewell party, two of us got to wear a fine, lined kimono made of kihachijo. Estimated value: 100,000,000 yen. My life is so surreal.
Moving on to Tokyo. A few of us were wandering around near the station in Ueno trying to decide on a place to eat. We had passed a shabu shabu restaurant and considered it but had also decided to walk around some more. We eventually made our way back but were waffling because there was a yakiniku place in the same building and we’d just been handed coupons, so we were mulling things over when a young guy in a suit comes out of the shabu shabu place. Realizing quickly that we weren’t Japanese, he piped up with the fact that they had an English menu and that sort of settled it for us.
He brought us upstairs, sat down with us at our table, said his name was Tetsuya and he had been studying in Boston but had had to come home when his Father died. We didn’t add it all up but it turned out he was the owner of the restaurant.
He had given us the English menu which he had created before he’d gone off to school. They have an *all-you-can-eat-in-two-hours* option, but everyone at the table has to order it if you go that route, so we settled on the combination dinner which included sashimi. Oh. The other specialty is kishimen (wide flat noodles) instead of udon or mochi that comes along with the very finely marbled regular beef (or you can splurge and get the high-grade stuff) or seafood if you prefer seafood.
Shabu-Shabu Hachinoki. Very tasty. Plan to drop at least 4000 yen per person. their website is http://hachinoki.jp
Me. I’m off to grab a bite to eat and wishing it was shabushabu. It’ll probably be a burrito, though.