６月２９日（土曜日）２０１９ 
一昨日は朝から曇り空でお昼には雨が降りだしましたが、午後になって止んだのを幸いに、しばらく手入れが滞っている一圓屋敷の 日本庭園の様子が気になって草取り鎌を持って自転車で行ってみました。一圓屋敷とは登録有形文化財に指定された江戸時代の 庄屋屋敷で2008 年に彦根景観フォーラムに譲渡されましたが、老朽化を放置するのを止めたいと有志で合同会社を設立し、多賀さとの宿「一圓屋敷」として６月から宿泊事業を始めました。私もその一員として参加しています。https://www.ichienyashiki.jp/江戸後期に建てられた建築様式をそのまま残した宿として風情よく改修されましたが、広い敷地の庭まではなかなか手入れが行き届かず立派な池泉回遊式の庭園もすぐに雑草で見苦しくなってしまいます。部分的にしか除草作業は進みませんが雨の合間を縫って何とか少しでもと草取りをしていると、脇からピョンと跳ねるものがありました。見ると大きくも小さくもないトノサマガエル君。石の上でじっとしているので、カメラを 取りにいって戻ってくるとまだそこに。回り込んで写真を撮ったりしながら観察しているとお腹や口の下あたりを時々ぴくぴくさせながらも丸い目はずっと開きっぱなし。そばにいる私が見えているのかいないのか、知らん顔しています。何を見ているのかな、何を考えているのかなと不思議に思いながらカエル君と一緒にしばらくそこにいました。少しして、今度は土のついた今取ったばかりの草の上に飛び移りました。後で写真を見ると、カエル君の色が背景に合わせて変わっているのが分かります。池ではアメンボが数匹スイスイ泳いでいました。The day before yesterday it was cloudy in the morning and started raining around noon. However the rain stopped in the afternoon, so I went to ICHIEN YASHIKI to take care of the Japanese garden. ICHIEN YASHIKI was a village headman's house in Edo period which was certified as registered tangible cultural property and kept by Hikone Landscape Forum since 2008. Since it is getting harder and harder to maintain the old building, some members of the forum and local people made Limited Liability Company and converted the house to a lodging facility named "Taga Satonoyado ICHIEN YASHIKI" from this June and I am one of the members. https://www.ichienyashiki.jp/ The facility preserves the architectural style from Edo period and some part of the building was renovated for the lodging. The construction was done pretty well, however otherwise the building has remained the same. There is a splendid Japanese garden in the property but if you ignore the maintenance of the garden, it will soon be full of weeds. I went to ICHIEN YASHIKI to remove the weeds. When I was working in the garden, something jumped from my side. It was a leopard frog on a stone covered with green moss. I went to take my camera and came back to the same spot. The frog was still there. While I was taking photos from the side or front of the frog, he stayed still there keeping his eyes open. I was curious and watching him for a while. I wondered whether he noticed me or not and what he was thinking about. Then he jumped on the weed with soil which I had just removed. When I look back at the photos at home, I noticed that the color of the frog had changed depending on the background color. I also saw some Amenbo (water spider) on the surface of the pond.

６月２３日（日曜日）２０１９ 
プロのクラシック・サクソフォン・アンサンブル「ミ・ベモル」(音楽監督：前田昌弘氏）http://www.mi-bemol.com/ の演奏会を栗東芸術文化会館さきらに聴きにいってきました。このアンサンブルの存在を知ったのは、去年カフェのお客様としてお見えになった女性二人が店内にあったマリンバの布谷史人さんの公演チラシを見て「私達もクラシックサクソフォンをするんですよ」とおっしゃったのがきっかけで、サクソフォンはジャズやブラスバンドでしか知らなかった私はクラシックと聞いて驚き、お名前と連絡先を教えていただいたのが始まりです。Youtubeで演奏を聴いてそのレベルの高さにびっくりし、お客様だった亀井友恵さん（バリトン・サックス）、山本恵さん（ソプラノ・サックス）のファンになりました。今回、生で演奏を聴かせていただいたのは初めてです。６種類のサクソフォンで２４人の皆さん一人一人が巧みな技量で音を織りなし曲を創りあげて、まるでオーケストラのような広がりと深み、そして繊細な演奏でした。素晴らしいサクソフォンアンサンブル「ミ・ベモル」。メンバーの皆さんに心から拍手を送ります。I went to the concert of Mi-Bemol Saxophone Ensemble (Artist Director: Masahiro Maeda )
http://www.mi-bemol.com/ at Ritto Art And Culture Center Sachira. It's a professional classic saxophone ensemble. I know of this ensemble from customers who came to my cafe last year. They were two women who saw a flier for Marimbist Fumito Nunoya's performance at Taga Asahiya and one of the women said that they were professional classical saxophone players. I was surprised because to my knowledge saxophone is played in jazz or brass band and I had no idea of the existence of aprofessional classical saxophone ensemble. One of them left me their names and her email address as well as the name of the ensemble. I listened to their music on youtube and admired their high level of music and I became a big fan of the two women, Ms. Tomoe Kamei (Baritone Saxophone) and Megumi Yamamoto (Soprano Saxophone). Today was the first time for me to listen to their music live. They have six kinds of saxophones (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Bass and Tubax), and each one of the 24 members creates beautiful music with their high level of technique. Their music was really large scale like an orchestra and the sound was deep and sensitive. Bravo Mi-Bemol! I will send my applause to all of the members!

６月２２日（土曜日）２０１９ 
今朝早く彦根のN.Kさんが犬上川での釣りの帰りに釣りたての鮎をお持ちくださいました。N.Kさんは二日前も 鮎をお持ちくださったばかりで、ご主人が入院中のご近所のおば様にお裾分けをして美味しくいただきました。 今朝もアイスボックスにはたくさんの鮎が見えました。小鮎にしてはちょっと大きいかなと思われる大きさでしたが 今日はカフェのお客様にお裾分けし、残りを私の夕食に。夕方は、イベントの時はいつもお出で下さる彦根のK.Kさんがお立ち寄り 下さり、畑で作りましたとおっしゃって採れたての立派なインゲンをお土産に下さいました。鮎もインゲンも地元の初夏の食材です。 夕食は、上級野菜ソムリエの立花尚子さんに教えていただいたナスのピリ辛焼き浸しに新鮮なインゲンを入れて一品。 鮎は天ぷらにしました。内蔵を取っておいたので苦みもなく骨も柔らかく大根おろしで美味しくいただきました。Mr. N.K who lives in Hikone brought a lot of Ayu (sweetfish) after fishing in Inukami-river early this morning. He had just brought me Ayu two days ago and I shared them with a lady nearby whose husband is in the hospital now. This morning I also saw a lot of ayu in his icebox. The size of the fish is bit large even though it is called "Ko-ayu (small sweetfish)". Today I shared them with a guest at the cafe and I took the remainder for my dinner. In the late afternoon, Mr. K.K who kindly comes to every event at my cafe from Hikone stopped by my cafe and gave me fresh green beans saying that he grew them in his vegetable garden. Both ayu and green beans are local foods in early summer. For my dinner, I prepared a spicy eggplant dish which I learned to cook from Naoko Tachibana who is a Senior Vegetable Sommelier and I added the fresh green beans there. As for ayu, I fried them. Since I cooked them after taking out the organs from each of them, they were so soft and tasty without bitterness. I ate them with grated daikon (Japanese radish).

６月２１日（金曜日）２０１９ 
６月の花といえば何といっても紫陽花です。我が家の紫陽花は地味ながらも今年も座敷と蔵に登場しました。それから２日ほど前にご近所に届け物があって伺ったら玄関に美しい花が挿してあったので思わず「わあ、きれい！」と言ったら家に咲いている紫陽花よとおっしゃって、おば様が庭の枝を３本ほど切らせて下さいました。同じガクアジサイでもIさんのは明るく華やかなお花です。紫陽花の花言葉は「無常」「移り気」「高慢」「辛抱強い」などおしゃれな漢字にしては意外な言葉が連なっていました。今年は梅雨入りがあるのかないのか分からないようなお天気ですが、季節感いっぱいの紫陽花を眺めながら６月も早、中旬を過ぎた日々を過ごしています。Speaking of the flower of June, Ajisai (hydrangea) represents it. I arranged the flowers of hydrangea from my backyard in the guest room and warehouse this year, too. About two days ago, when I visited a house nearby, I noticed beautiful pinkish flowers in the entrance, and I praised them. The lady who owned the house said to me that it is also hydrangea and they were from her garden. She took me to her yard and let me cut a couple of the branches. Those two are both lacecap hydrangea, but hers are more bright and flowery. Hydrangea symbolizes frigidity and heartlessness despite the beautiful Chinese characters of the flower. This year, I don't know exactly whether we have rainy season or not, but still I am spending my days during this latter half of the month looking at the flowers of hydrangea which symbolizes rainy season.

６月１３日（木曜日）２０１９ 
一昨日は多賀町共栄会による視察研修で岡山県倉敷市の美観地区の見学があったので朝からカフェを閉めて新幹線で岡山に出かけました。街の歴史や風情を守るために丁寧に作られた街並を先ずは人力車で元気な車夫の説明を聞きながら回る事になりました。人力車に乗るのは気恥ずかしさもあって抵抗がありましたが、結果的に街全体を見るのにはとてもよかったと思います。車上から美しい街並の写真を撮ろうとしたら何とバッテリー切れ。情けないことこの上無し。隣に乗ったY.Sさんの写真を後でいただくことにしたので、受け取ったらここに載せます。美味しい昼食を皆でいただいた後は自由行動だったので倉敷中央病院に設置されている鍛 フォージワークスの石倉兄弟制作のベンチを一人で見に行きました。屋内に造られた蓮池の周りに石倉さんたちが造った鉄のしっとりと素敵なデザインのベンチが確かに置かれていました。ただ、そばにあるカフェが出しているのか丸いテーブルと白木の背の椅子がベンチの数よりも多く出ていて、蓮池や落ち着いたベンチとは色彩的にもバランス的にも邪魔していると思いました。ヘムスロイド祭りの時に見せていただいた病院内に設置されたばかりの池とベンチの写真があまりに美しかったのでその後の無神経な場所の使い方に正直残念な思いでした。The day before yesterday, I went to Okayama with the members of Taga town shop association to visit Kurashiki Bikan Area. It is a beautifully preserved historical district in Kurashiki city of Okayama prefecture. When we arrived at the entrance of the area, the organizer of the group gave a tour of the area by Jin-rikisha (man-powered vehicle) for us in pairs. I was hesitant to get on it because I felt embarrassed, but eventually it was good opportunity to have an overview of the whole area and I enjoyed the tour. I wanted to take photos of the area, but I noticed that my camera was out of battery. I was so disappointed with myself. I asked Ms. Y.S to get some photos for the blog so when I receive them later on I will put them here. We had a very good lunch with the group and after that it was free time, so I went to Kurashiki Central Hospital to see iron works by Ishikura brothers of Tan Forge Works. Inside the hospital building, there was a man-made lotus pond and around it there were iron benches made by Ishikura brothers. The benches were so nice and elegant. I was glad to see them. However there were other tables and chairs which were probably placed by the cafe located in the corner of the area and they did not match the lotus pond and iron benches. When I first saw the photo of the scene at Ishikura's studio which appeared to have been taken just after they had set it up, I was so impressed because it was so beautiful and I thought that it was not in Japan. Now I was bit disappointed by the scene because the beauty was ruined by many other things.

６月８日（土曜日）２０１９
あさひや始まって以来、１００名を越える大勢のお客様をお迎えしての大倉正之助氏と一噌幸弘氏の迫力ある演奏会から 一週間が経ちました。演奏者の気迫に圧倒されながらも観客との間にある種、和みある空気が創りだされたひととき でした。そして、その余韻が未だそこかしこに残っています。昨日からお天気が曇り空になって時折激しい雨が降りだしています。 滋賀は梅雨入りしたのでしょうか。雨に濡れた庭石に露草がよく似合っています。It has been a week since the powerful performanance of Mr. Shonosuke Okura and Mr. Yukihiro Isso which had the biggest audience (over 100 people) since we started the cafe. Our audience was overwhelmed by their playing which was full of spirit. At the same time, it was a wonderful warm moment created by both players and audience. I still feel the afterglow of the great performance. Since yesterday the weather became cloudy and occasionally there is heavy rain. I wonder if we have entered into rainy season in Shiga. Asiatic dayflowers (we call it as Tsuyu-kusa (lit. Dew-grass)) in the garden match well with the wet stones.

６月２日（日曜日）２０１９ 
大倉正之助氏（大鼓）、一噌幸弘氏（笛）による「神秘の世界、能　優美なる調べ」の演奏会が昨日１００人を越えるお客様を迎えて「多賀あさひや」にて行なわれました。両先生方には前日に多賀入りしていただき、当日午前に多賀大社への参拝も済ませ、当地の空気を感じていただいた中での演奏会でした。蔵から静かに鼓と笛の音が聞こえてくるという始まりで、間もなく二人の奏者が座敷の赤い毛氈の上にお立ちになりました。実は椅子を用意しておいたのですが、後ろのお客様が見えないでしょうとおっしゃって９０分間立っての演奏となりました。大鼓と笛を立って演奏することがどれほど大変なことか想像できるのですが先生がたの躊躇のない判断にまず驚かされました。神聖な三番叟が始まり、大鼓と笛の気迫に満ちた演奏に観客の皆が圧倒され息をこらして聴き入りその姿に見入りました。一番終った後、大倉先生がマイクを手になさいましたが息が切れていて、その熱気と集中度がどれほどであったかよく分かりました。一方、笛の 一噌先生の能管の空気を切るような鋭さにも圧倒されました。この緊迫感が演奏が終るとすっと解れ、大倉先生のお話と一噌先生の冗談まじりの愉快なお話に演奏者と観客の距離がグッと近づくのが分かりました。一噌先生は和洋を問わず様々な笛を信じられないほど巧みな技量で演奏して下さり、皆「えっ？うっそでしょ！」という感じで唖然としてしまいました。お能をよく知る方は、普段はシテを中心に見てしまうが、今回のように大鼓と笛の調べで能が表現されるのを耳から聴いて、舞台のシテの舞が目の前に広がって素晴らしい感動を受けたと印象を話してくださいました。能という日本の伝統芸能の中にいて、その神髄をあくまでも大切に更に深めつつ、同時に鼓の可能性に向かって果敢に挑戦していく。これはどれほど力の要る事かと思います。滋賀県の小さな古民家から流れ漏れていく大倉先生の大鼓と一噌先生の笛の調べ。この波動は力強くそして確かに目指す方向に向かうと信じます。A concert event " Mysterious World, Noh. Graceful Music by Shonosuke Okura and Yukihiro Isso" was held at Taga Asahiya on June 1st with an audience of 103 people. Performers came to Taga one day before the performance and they visited Taga Taisha in the morning of June 1st. It seemed that they were perfectly ready to have their performance in Taga. As the introduction, audience only heard the sound of Fue (Japanese flute) and Kotsuzumi (small hand drum) and it was from Kura (warehouse : dark right room of the cafe). Then two performers appeared on the red carpet in front of the audience. They both played instruments while standing. Actually I prepared chairs for them but they didn't use them because the audience could not see them if they sat on chairs. I could easily imagine how hard it must be to play their instruments without sitting but they both kept standing and played for about 100 min. I was surprised at their decision to do so. The program started with Sanbaso (the third Okina in Sanbaso Play). It was so powerful and overwhelming. When they ended their playing and Mr. Okura took the microphone, he was out of breath and couldn't speak easily. We all knew how much energy and concentration he put in to his playing. We were also overwhelmed by Mr. Isso 's flute whose sound was so sharp like cutting air. However, once they finished playing, the tension was relieved and Mr. Okura explained about instruments. Mr. Isso demonstrated his various kinds of flutes with incredible technique. We enjoyed their talk and were able to relax. One of my friends who is a specialist of noh theatre said to me that usually she mainly looks at the dancer on the stage, but this time she could concentrate on listening to the sound of the instrument, then in her mind the dancer danced more clearly. She was so impressed by Mr. Okura's big hand drum. Mr. Okura was born in the head family of Noh drums. He keeps the spirit of noh and at the same time he is expanding the possibilities of noh drum. I guess it is so hard for him to do so in such a traditional and conservative world as noh. The sounds of Mr. Okura's big hand drum and Mr. Isso's flute flew out from my small Japanese house and I believe the sound waves must certainly be headed for where they wish. 


 All photos below were taken by HORITA CAMERA.