Another Kitchen?

When Nobuko and Koji lived in America, and Amiko was about Livia’s age, they visited Williamsburg in Virginia. They went into many beautiful houses, and finally Amiko said, with a sigh, “another kitchen.”

Nobuko told me this story yesterday as we were visiting the folk village in Hida-no-sato. The village included traditional homes that had been moved there from various other locations. They were lovely wooden structures with steeply pitched thatched roofs. The thatch was more than a foot thick! In various locations around the village, artisans made traditional crafts, including sandals woven from straw and lacquerware. There was also an excellent explanation of silk-making (sericulture), showing all the specialized tools used in that process.

After Nobuko told us the story of Amiko’s trip to Williamsburg, Tor couldn’t help himself. As we toured the next building, he said: “Another kitchen.”