Welcome to Arimatsu
I came to Nagoya to see the solo live show of Otoko Buranko (I couldn't get tickets for the Tokyo performance).
Stories about Otoko Buranko I wrote in the past ↓
Although I booked the Shinkansen to arrive around noon, I was still cutting it close from my house to Tokyo Station as usual.
Why do I never learn and keep choosing Tokyo instead of Shin-Yokohama as my departure station...
Through a desperate walk, I managed to catch the Chuo Line train that would get me there in time for my transfer, arriving 7 minutes before departure.
I made it!
I thought, but...
The first day of summer vacation and the first day of a three-day weekend overlapped, making the Tokyo Station concourse extremely crowded.
I thought I wouldn't make it after coming all this way.
I wove through the crowd, determined not to get my suitcase run over, and finally reached the Tokaido Shinkansen entrance.
At times like this, I'm glad I use an IC card, which rarely beeps at the gate unless the balance is low.
I boarded 2 minutes before departure, and off to Nagoya I went.
On the Shinkansen, I thought about what to eat and where to go in Nagoya.
I have until about 4 PM, so...
Should I go to the aquarium?
But I went in the spring...
Should I tour the Nagoya station buildings?
It's cool, but I could do that anytime.
While looking at a Nagoya tourism site, I found the perfect spot: Arimatsu.
It sounds old just from the name!
It's a Japan Heritage site and they sell shibori (tie-dye) hand towels, so this is the place.
After arriving at Nagoya Station, I walked through the station toward the Meitetsu line.
Memories from four months ago came flooding back.
Come to think of it, there was a miso katsu place with a line in one of the station buildings! I want to have lunch there!
Thinking I knew what I was doing by saying 'Arimatsu Station is on the Meitetsu line' was a huge mistake.
Nagoya's private railways are a difficult puzzle.
Where is it headed, where does it connect, what is the station name?
If you can't read the station name, you can't even ask for directions...
Bound for Toyoake.
Wait, is it 'Homei'? 'Toyoaki'? (It was 'Toyoake').
Because the kanji are simple, it's even more confusing.
After letting a few trains pass, the one bound for Toyoake arrived, and my journey through Nagoya began.
Since I was already on it, I decided to have lunch in Arimatsu.
I wanted to eat miso katsu, though...
After arriving in Arimatsu, I decided to stop searching online and just use the paper pamphlets at the station.
And so, I arrived in Arimatsu.
For lunch, I went into an udon shop. While the other customers were eating cold udon, I wanted to eat miso-nikomi udon since I was in Nagoya, so I ate it while drenched in sweat.
After that, I went into a nearby dyeing shop. I was drawn to the beauty of the three colors and the design, and after agonizing over it for a while, I bought a mame-shibori towel.
It was a collaboration product with them.
The atmosphere from when it flourished as part of the Tokaido road still remains.
It was fun to look at, but it was just so hot...
Desperate to cool down, I entered a shop that had lovely dyed goods, and then I wanted a cold drink, so I had some cold tea.
As I walked past the station, the road continued for a while. When I was resting on a bench placed at the back entrance of a house, a guide inside invited me in.
That person was a tourism volunteer who taught me about the origins of Arimatsu.
When the Tokaido road was first built,
it seems this area was very, very dangerous.
There were only pine forests, and people would attack travelers passing through.
Unfortunately, because it was a valley, they couldn't grow crops or rice.
If that's the case, people won't live there.
If you get people to live there, security should improve.
So, they recruited settlers.
Eight people from the Bungo region started living here, and when they saw the cloth they were wearing (it's unclear if they were), they thought, 'This is good!'
That was the shibori, and
they started making 13-meter bolts of cloth by trial and error.
They showed the cloth to passersby and did business.
and had them advertise in Edo.
There were over 100 shibori patterns, but less than half remain today.
There were as many techniques as there were people, but it seems they couldn't pass them all down.
You can't pass things on without that passion.
Even if I've seen them before, I'm surprised by how they're made.
Rather than stretching it with a press, it's carefully stretched with steam.
This Hiroshige painting has now become this kind of scenery
It seems that the state of Arimatsu also appeared in 'Tokaidochu Hizakurige'
I wonder what the story about Yaji-san and Kita-san buying Arimatsu shibori as a souvenir would be equivalent to today
Souvenirs have become mostly food, haven't they?
Perhaps that just means the technique has spread to many different places
Since I only know a tiny bit, I will walk around searching for the techniques of the places I visit from now on!
By the way, the Arimatsu noren in the top image was apparently created at the time of the Expo 2005 Aichi
The noren sways in the wind, creating a sense of coolness
After this, I went to the Imakita Gas Hall and watched the Dansei Buranko solo performance 'Daen!'
Although it was my first time seeing them outside of the Kanto region, I felt like I was able to focus on the performance
I felt that the title and flyer were more connected to the work than ever before (maybe it's just my imagination!)
It made me want to eat white rice cooked in a mess tin
And after this, I went to Toyohashi
Because this performance was in Nagoya, I contacted a friend who used to live in Nagoya and we reunited for the first time in 10 years
Since they live in Toyohashi now, I got off the train in Toyohashi for the first time
Somehow, regional live performances are a great force that helps facilitate reunions
#Travel
#Travelogue
#Nagoya
#Arimatsu
#ArimatsuShibori
#Daen!