Foundations.
The house is starting to take shape.Obviously I am unable to see for myself and have to rely on Kenichi to document it all with photographs.He says he is keeping a record but keeps forgetting to bring the camera to the hospital when he visits!
Next Wednesday,the wooden frame or skeleton of the house and the roof will be complete, and yes,the roof goes up fast when houses are built in Japan.The completion of the roof is an important part of the house building process,and here in the countryside it is celebrated with a simple ceremony known as “mune-age” when the house owners(traditionally men only,thank god) climb to the roof with the carpenters who are building the house.There,a handwritten wooden plaque with the name of the family and date,is placed in the roof and nailed to the rafters where it will stay as a record of the occasion.There are some offerings made at the same time and the men drink a toast of sake.Below,neighbours,friends,relatives and people passing who see the colourful flags attached to the roof annnouncing the mune-age,will congregate.After the toast on the roof,the man of the house will make a s
hort speech to officially announce the family’s intention to settle here and ask for support and protection.Finally comes the part that everyone is waiting for；the throwing of the mochi.Mochi,or cakes of pounded rice,are traditionally eaten at times of celebration.For Mune-age,the family will prepare(buy nowadays) fresh mochi.The mochi,sealed in small plastic bags,are thrown down to the people waiting below,who scramble to get as many as they can.Inside some of the mochi,it is also traditional to place a coin,the highest valued coin being 500 yen,hence it can become quite a frenzy below!Recently,it is popular to throw down bags of sweets,some containing coins,for the children present.After the mochi have been distributed,the crowd disperses,and the house-owners provide a meal for the carpenters to show appreciation for their work.
Mune-age is a dying tradition even in rural Japan.It costs money and many people are not willing to part with money or have no time,so forgo this tradition.We were initially in two minds if to have the ceremony so soon after the death of Hi-baa,but it is such an important part of the house building process in our eyes,that we decided to do it.The date was choisen with care and is a “lucky day”and next Wednesday,September the seventh at around five-thirty in the evening,is the mune-age for our house.From earlyin the morning,the flags will be flying to tell of the event.All the mochi have been ordered and Kenichi and the girls will prepare the bags of sweets for the children,tomorrow.Bento meals have also been ordered for our team of carpenters.I am hoping to get permission to leave the hospital for a couple of hours to attend,but wont know until the day if I can go.So watch th
is space and hopefully next week I will be able to report,in person,how our mune-age went.And more importantly,how are mune-age went without a hitch,but with our track record,I suppore we should be ready for anything!
＊Attached is a photo taken by Kenichi with his phone this afternoon,of the girls in the kitchen!
Let’s hope the luck holds for you! Love the kitchen! How EXCITING – can’t wait til we see more pictures! x
I am amazed how quickly the building works have progressed and wonder whether the house might be finished by the time I am with you.
I do hope you could be present at the ceremony , M.S. Much love, Mum XXXX
It looks huge- and so do your girls!! Well, your girl and mine. What is Meg doing with Annie in Amakusa!
We didn’t do this. I refused to do the prayer thing beforehand, but wanted to do this, or at least the secular part, but they wouldn’t let me.
Hope you are well enough to visit.
Great about the house but let’s get to the best part of the post….your girls! They are GORGEOUS!
The girls are beautiful, Marianne. So sorry to hear about your health. Hope your recovery is going well. Very exciting about the house. I think they call ‘mune-age’ ‘tatemae’ up here. I went to a few twenty years ago but they are few and far between now.
I’m glad you took all those photos. you look at it a long time from now I’m just remember these days with love .