autumn festival

This photo also was taken at my house neigbouring place. This week in Matsuyama the so-called autum festivals are to be held across the city.
But why do you think are they held around this season? I think you will guess the answer correctly.・・・・・・ Yes, that's right. It is related to the rice cropping. Being able to crop the rice and get a good harvest of it have long been a critical thing for people in Japan. Rice farming has been a mainstay in Japan's agriculture, which has been a major, most important industry for a long time in its history.
People have had a custom to pay their respects at a shrine located in their community, of course , with a newly harvested rice.

This custom has led to the mikoshi, which is a portable shrine. In the mikoshi, the spirit of a deity of a shrine temporarily reposes. And the mikoshi is carried on the shoulders of people wearing happi coats.

The photo was about shimenawa. The shimenawa is originally a rice -straw rope, but today the most of it is made of plastic. And it is decorated with strips of cut and folded white paper. It is a kind of purification. It is considered to ba a barrier agaist evil spirits. So, the place enclosed by this rope and strips of paper is a purified place. And a portable shrine will pass through these areas on people's shoulders with the voice of "wasshoi,wasshoi."

rice farming

This photo was taken at the place near my house.There is a small paddy field. Around late June rice seedlings were planted there.Since then about about three minths have passed. By the middle of October,I think, rice will have been cropped.The timing of rice planting and its cropping varies from place to place. There are many paddy fields around here where rice cropping has already been finished.

Anyway, what I want to say here is, what is called, the benifit of nature.In other words, the blessing from God to us.

From the time humans planted rice seedlings to the time they crop the rice, there is almost no heavy works done by humans except for the irrigation of water. There is not any one.If the sun shines with water properly irrigated, after about three and a half months from rice planting, humans, we, Japanese people, can get a good harvest of rice.

In my thought, there is no word but the blessing from God to us in explaining about this situation.

耳の鍛え方

listening 能力は一番私の弱いところです。数年前には悩みでした。劣等感を持っていました。最近は、少なくとも、劣等感からは解放されてきました。しかし、今でも強いとは思えません。
これを鍛えるための方法論として、私は、家に居る時にも英語に触れ事の出来る環境を作っています。つまり、ＣＡＴＶの契約をしていまして、その中で２４時間、ＣＮＮを見て聞くことが出来るようにしています。この環境を作って６年は経っているのです。で、言えることは、漫然と聞いていても、いけないということです。何か、作業をしなければ、うまく力がつかないというような気がしてます。そこで、私が、いまtry しているのは、画板を用意します。そして、ＣＮＮを聞きながら、自分の耳が捕まえた言葉を書く。chilling message......any situation......a couple days ago......very upset.....a daily basis......

書いている間は、耳は休んでいてもちろんいいわけです。これをしていると、音の微妙なところも聞き取れてくるように思います。耳で捕まえられる範囲が広がるというような感じ。音が詰まったような感じとか、弱いところが、うまく耳に入らないわけですが、そこが、わかってくるように、少なくとも、私の気持ちでは、思っています。わからないところがあると思う前に、わかるところがあると思い、そこの能力を安定化させれば、微妙なところのほうに神経が向いていくのではないでしょうか。……これはしかし、まだ実験中の事ではあります。

能力が安定していないので、ある人の英語はfollow 出来るが、ある人の英語はほとんどfillow できずちんぷんかんぷんみたいなところもあります。

今私がほぼ確信的に信じていることは、これを続ければ、私の耳はよくなるのではないかということです。

しゃべりかたも変化するでしょう。

頻出の言葉としては、absolutely, actually, the latest, (the past) 24 hours, over here, take a look at, in terms of, as well(as), right hereなどが耳に残っています。　as well as が多いのは意外な事に思える。latest はニュースの報道ですから当然かも知れません。here は調子を整えるのに使うのでしょうかね。