Onomichi Townscape

Bye Onomichi for a while. Bye bye to the kitschy mock samurai castle. See you next time.

Abandoned in Onomichi

Seika Ryo (Holy Flower Dormitory): an abandoned dormitory for nurses

Onomichi is a small seaside town in southeast Hiroshima. Yasujiro Ozu shoot ending scenes of Tokyo Story in Onomichi. I want to introduce this fascinating, quaint town with a web of narrow, steep, winding paths to you. I've been this town countless times, and each time I find new aspects that I didn't see from the previous visit.

This is the 4th of Onomichi series.* I've been explaining how charming Onomichi is, but today I'll tackle some of the challenges modern Onomichi is facing.      

Onomichi does have lots of abandoned houses. Like any other mid to small sized towns in Japan, the increasing senior population is a big challenge of the town.The hilly residential landscape is very charming for visitors but for the aging population, the terrain could be a huge barrier to conduct their everyday life.

*For the past series, see: The Landscape of Yasujiro Ozu, Onomichi Landscape: Local Belifes, and Onomichi Landscape: Commercial Space

Vending machine, Mukaishima Island

Onomichi Landscape: Commercial Space

Plumber shop

Onomichi is a small seaside town in southeast Hiroshima. Yasujiro Ozu shoot ending scenes of Tokyo Story in Onomichi. I want to introduce this fascinating, quaint town with a web of narrow, steep, winding paths to you. I've been this town countless times, and each time I find new aspects that I didn't see from the previous visit.

Interested? Please take a look at my post: The Landscape of Yasujiro Ozu.

Today, I'll show you some commercial spaces in Onomichi. All those photos evokes nostalgic sense to Japanese folks even he/ she didn't grow up in the mid 20th century. While the space represents our shared sense of the past, this is not a Potemkin facade like some amusement parks!

 Toy store display window

Onomichi Landscape: Local Beliefs

Do you recognize the archaic smile this Ksitigarbha fellow has?

Onomichi is a small seaside town in southeast Hiroshima. Yasujiro Ozu shoot ending scenes of Tokyo Story in Onomichi. I want to introduce this fascinating, quaint town with a web of narrow, steep, winding paths to you.  I've been this town countless times, and each time I find new aspects that I didn't see from the previous visit.

Interested? Please take a look at my post: The Landscape of Yasujiro Ozu.

Today, I'll show you some of the local beliefs welded into the everyday community landscape. I'm no expert in cultural anthropology, so I'm just gonna introduce them from an aspect of an ordinary Japanese person.

 A cat deity in a community Shinto alter

The Landscape of Yasujiro Ozu: Onomichi, Hiroshima

Just for a week, I went back to my home in Hiroshima. It's been for five years? since last time I went back. Well, I don't like an airplane trip. Wish I could afford a business class or something. Twelve hours in a sardine tine is asking too much for me. What could I do if I wanna get out and breath some outside air? No, obviously.

Enough gripe. I know, I know.

Onomichi cats are slim and have big eyes and ears!

Judi Chamberlin's Political Button Collection -- A Story of a Shrink Resistant Woman

No, anger is not "nice," but it's real, it comes from the gut, and not to be angry at being shit upon is being dead -- which is exactly what shrinks and their kind want us all to become...

But anger is exhausting, and being put down for our anger is destructive. What we need is to be able to turn to one another for strength, for support, and for understanding.

-- From Judi Chamberlain's correspondence, July 19, 1975

Judi Chamberlin at Conference on Human Rights and Psychiatric oppression
Toronto, 1982

You might ask, who's "Judy Chamberlain?" No, you got it wrong, she's Judi. Chamberlin, without an "a." Judi Chamberlain in Somerville removed her name from a phone book because she'd been mistaken over and over again as other Somerville woman named Judi Chamberlin, I mean our Judi.

So why did she collect such quirky pin badges? Shrink resistant, stop shock, what do they mean? Ok, let me tell about her life story.

Shrink Resistant

Sunset that screens, reveals —

A Rose for Emily Project

Sunset that screens, reveals —
Enhancing what we see
By menaces of Amethyst
And Moats of Mystery.

Those little items are gifts to Emily Dickinson's final resting place. What are messages hidden in those objects? What story do you imagine?

Got an inspiration? You are welcome to leave your observation, imagination, and/ or random thoughts through the comment section. There is no right or wrong in interpenetrating those objects.

Photos taken July 5, 2013

Poem cited from: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Sunset_that_screens,_reveals_%E2%80%94

A Letter is a joy of Earth —

A Rose for Emily Project

A Letter is a joy of Earth —
It is denied the Gods —

Those little items are dedicated to Emily Dickinson's grave. What are messages hidden in those objects? What story do you imagine?

Got an inspiration? You are welcome to leave your observation, imagination, and/ or random thoughts through the comment section. There is no right or wrong in interpenetrating those objects.

Photos taken June 22, 2013

Poem cited from: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Letter_is_a_joy_of_Earth_%E2%80%94 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Emily_Dickinson_poems

ps: what happened? The fence's gone. Is it permanent?

 June 2013

May 2013 

Quabbin Park Cemetery, Ware

More than a thousand structures were dismantled — homes, barns, churches, schools, stores. Workers painstakingly removed 7,613 graves and re-interred the dead in a new cemetery.*

Before the completion of the Quabbin Reservoir in 1938, towns of Dana, Greenwich, Prescott, and Enfiled as well as the numerous villages and communities prepared for the day their memories would sunken into the bottom of the reservoir.  More than seventy-five thousand graves in those communities were dug up and relocated to the Quabbin Park Cemetery in Ware.
 

You might be interested in my past post about the abandoned town of Dana: The Vaughn House, Dana

Locate Quabbin Park Cemetery: Map

*Mass Moments: Quabbin Reservoir: http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=182

Railroad Bridge over the Connecticut, Hadley - Northampton

About a month ago, I introduced an abandoned Boston & Maine Railroad bridge over the Deerfield. Today, I'll introduce you another disused Boston & Maine Railroad bridge over the Connecticut.

The railroad was built in 1887. Used as a passenger and freight line, the Central Massachusetts Division connected the Connecticut Valley region with Boston. The passenger service ceased in 1932, and the freight service ended in 1979.

She rose to His Requirement

A Rose for Emily Project 

732

She rose to His Requirement—dropt
The Playthings of Her Life
To take the honorable Work
Of Woman, and of Wife—

If ought She missed in Her new Day,
Of Amplitude, or Awe—
Or first Prospective—Or the Gold
In using, wear away,

It lay unmentioned—as the Sea
Develop Pearl, and Weed,
But only to Himself—be known
The Fathoms they abide—

Those little items are dedicated to Emily Dickinson's grave. What are messages hidden in those objects? What story do you imagine?

Got an inspiration? You are welcome to leave your observation, imagination, and/ or random thoughts through the comment section. There is no right or wrong in interpenetrating those objects.

Photos taken June 6, 2013

Poem cited from: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/she-rose-to-his-requirement/

"Heaven" has different Signs—to me

This is a part of "A Rose for Emily" Project.

575

"Heaven" has different Signs—to me—

Sometimes, I think that Noon

Is but a symbol of the Place—

And when again, at Dawn,

A mighty look runs round the World

And settles in the Hills—

An Awe if it should be like that

Upon the Ignorance steals—

The Orchard, when the Sun is on—

The Triumph of the Birds

When they together Victory make—

Some Carnivals of Clouds—

The Rapture of a finished Day—

Returning to the West—

All these—remind us of the place

That Men call "paradise"—

Itself be fairer—we suppose—

But how Ourself, shall be

Adorned, for a Superior Grace—

Not yet, our eyes can see—

Those little items are dedicated to Emily Dickinson's grave. What are messages hidden in those objects? What story do you imagine?

Got an inspiration? You are welcome to leave your observation, imagination, and/ or random thoughts through the comment section. There is no right or wrong in interpenetrating those objects.

Photos taken May 26, 2013

Poem cited from PoemHunter.com: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/heaven-has-different-signs-mdash-to-me/

A Rose for Emily

This is a humble opening post of "A Rose for Emily Project."

I live close to a poetess Emily Dickinson's final resting place in Amherst, Massachusetts. After observing how little offerings to Emily rotate day by day, decoding messages hidden in those little traces became my daily routine. Why do people leave those specific objects to signal their presence to Emily?

That's how her grave looks like!

No matter how random those objects appear to be, I find joy in imagining hidden stories or just savor its surrealistic quirkiness.

Are you curious what those offerings look like? Visit my blog post: Emily Dickinson's Grave, Amherst.

Are you ready to dive in? Here you are: "Heaven" has different Signs—to me.

Oh, where did I get the title "A Rose for Emily"?

 

Location of Emily Dickinson's Grave: Google Map

Urban obscurities

Montreal, Northampton, and Greenfield

Emily Dickinson's Grave, Amherst

A death-blow is a life blow to some 

Who, till they died, did not alive become;

Who, had they lived, had died, but when

They died, vitality begun. --816, Emily Dickinson

I live a stone throw away from the final resting place of a reclusive poetess Emily Dickinson. I just stumbled across her grave while I was strolling a graveyard like a wandering teenage boy. If you look around, history and wonder are within your reach, waiting for a dialogue between you and the unexpected delight.

Railroad Bridge over the Deerfield, Deerfield-Greenfield

Disused Boston and Maine railroad bridge over the Deerfield River

Google Map