Me and the mando
In this blog I want to share something else then the ‘usual’ Koi business I normally show on this website. Koi is my literally my life at the moment, but even a Koi Kichi like me cannot appreciate the Koi when I don’t focus on other things as well. So next to the daily work, I am following Japanese lesson two or three times a week in the evening. Next to that I have played volleyball with the local youth, including Sakamaki (Dainichi staff) and Mitsugu Tanaka (Maruju Koi Farm), but now I am very busy with something else. Since the beginning of July I am helping with constructing a ‘mando’. A mando is a kind of construction for celebrating Ojiya Matsuri (a festival in the city Ojiya). I can’t give a better explanation about it, but just watch the pictures in this blog.
The 19th, 20th and 21st of August Ojiya will celebrate its annual festival. On the 20th and 21st there will be a parade with all the mando’s of the area. I am helping the people of the Higashi-yama (meaning: East mountain) with making the mando. I have got to know them during my time at Marudo, because the youngest son of Marudo (Shigenori), his employees Tomohiro and Devin Swanson (from America) where part of the Higashi-yama team. Marudo’s previous house was in the area where we are making the mando. There are also other ‘koi’-people working on it, like Ryu Mano (son of Izumiya) and Teruyuki Marusaka (Marusaka Koi Farm), but most of them do other work. There is a cattle farmer, welder, mechanic, nurse; a lot of different things. Very enjoyable to get to know these ‘locals’ and help them with their mando. In the mean time I have a good time and lift up my Japanese a little bit.
Here’s a picture of a small part of the mando-construction-team, but they are the main persons working on it. And they do it almost everyday since the beginning of July! By the way, the thing we are making is a figure out of a Japanese anime (cartoon), called Nikko.
The main guys of the Higashi-yama team!