The Beautiful City of Uki

Just when I think it can't get any better it does! Today was overwhelming for me both spiritually and artistically! After stopping by a local bakery to pick up our lunches for the day, we started our day at Misumi West Port, a beautiful area in Uki beside the ocean surrounded by mountains. The weather was just perfect and as we stepped off our bus we could feel the sun on our face. It was about 80 degrees today with a slight breeze ever so often. We left the port for a visit in a neighboring area where we participated in a ceremony at a temple. As I stood there video taping the ceremony by the temple priest, I stopped to think about all of the people who had stood there before me, feeling spiritually blessed by what they were experiencing. The architecture of the temple was beautiful and very intricate. The time there was brief, but long enough that I felt a sense of comfort by what we had all participated in. After leaving there we traveled to another small area in Uki where we visited a Buddhist shrine. Although the priest did not perform a special ceremony for us, he did speak to us about the religion of Buddhism and discussed the different aspects of the shrine. Once we left, we had our lunch on the bus as we drove into Uki City for an afternoon of pottery and a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Kenturo, a local potter and his father have a beautiful studio where they display many of their pieces, both in porcelain and stoneware. We all created tea bowls and I even had time to make my own sake cup. The time there was a great close to my day. As we drove back to the hotel I took in all of the sights of the local landscape which is filled with beautiful cosmos flowers, fields of rice that is being harvested and wide, open blue skies! Oka, our tour guide took us all into town this evening for dinner at her favorite noodle house. We rode the cable car into the city and also visited the local supermarket.

Tomorrow is a big day, our first visit to an elementary school. I will be giving the official speech to administrators and teachers on behalf of our group during our afternoon meeting. We will be spending the whole day at the school, starting very early with waiting for the students to arrive in the morning. I am so excited!

Until next time...