The last week on Hokkaido day by day: Sunday

Good-bye for now Akan!
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.

We went to Akanko today. Sean’s folks had a tapestry made by Nishida-san, a woman we’ve all fallen in love with and our mission today was to pick up the completed work. We also, were there to say good-bye to Nishida-san, her husband and the sleepy lakeside village known as Akanko. The drive there was pretty uneventful. It’s been really chilly here in Obihiro for the last week so we were adequately bundled, as it’s always at least 5 degrees colder in Akan. As we approached we could see blue sky stretching out beyond the volcanoes and over the village. A sign that this was going to be a great day as we’ve been there many times but today is only the second time we’ve had sunny weather. Keenan slept for the whole ride including our stop at the Ryugetsu cake factory to pick up sweets for the Nishida’s and us. He was very genki when we got out of the car, which was a relief, and we loaded him into the stroller and headed for the Nishida’s.

We headed towards their shop to the sound of hacking and pounding on wood. When we got closer we realized there were 6 or 8 big logs in the middle of the cobble street and many of the Ainu carvers were removing the bark hence the weird sounds. We noticed Nuburi Toko, one of the elder master carvers was overlooking the work of the younger generations and he barely spoke a word. He just nodded or shook his head or moved his hands this way and that and the younger men corrected their course. We ran into the Nishida-san and he told us the logs came from Canada. They bought them to carve and erect in the middle of the main street. They’re going to rework the main road to include the poles and even a stream. Everyone from the community took part in the design and planning and the arrival of the massive Douglas fir logs from Canada’s West Coast was the first physical sign of the change to come. The sketched out plans looked really lovely and we were both instantly sad that we won’t be around to see the work finished. Somehow though we both felt very proud that good ‘ol BC Douglas fir were chosen to be the centrepiece of their new community project. The Nishida’s promised to email us photos when it’s all finished.

So we went into the shop and Mrs. Nishida was there. She had indeed finished the tapestry. It is absolutely beautiful. Speed did not affect the quality of her work. Words can’t really describe it and I know Tom and Pat will be both impressed and moved to tears when they see it. We thanked her very much and gave her the sweets and a card with silver embossing of a Bill Reid carving. We had a great long chat and just enjoyed each other’s company. We asked if she had any other embroidered pieces or tapestries and she didn’t. She had one that was unfinished on the wall but that was it. She then got out her catalogue and asked us what we wanted. Sean and I went thru the catalogue and decided we wanted both a tapestry and then one piece that was purely embroidery. Nishida-san showed us her patterns and we decided on the elements we liked and then I picked out some fabric and it was done! She’s going to custom make us two tapestries and send them to us in time. I was so very pleased. She really is a master at her craft and she’s always so busy. I couldn’t believe she took this on for us. Right about then it really started to get emotional for me. It was very exciting to be able to discuss what I liked and pick out how I wanted the designs laid out and then we were pretty much done and it was time to say good-bye. We went into the back of the shop so I could pay for Tom and Pat’s tapestry and she turned around and went back to the front of the store. She came back with the unfinished piece that was on the wall and gave it to me as a present with instructions that I was to learn the stitches and finish it myself. What? I couldn’t believe my ears! First of all I just learned how to knit and I’ve been doing it for 7 months and I’m not terribly good at it. I haven’t done embroidery in years and I’ve never done freehand. I was stunned to think she thought I could even make a halfway decent attempt at finishing something she started. Then some tears came and we hugged. The store got busy, I paid for Tom and Pat’s piece, and we went to the front of the store and finally said our good-byes. Then more tears came, this time from both Nishida-san and myself. So we had a big nice long hug while all these customers milled around us. Then she spent a few minutes giving Keenan smooches and we went on our way. I cried and cried as we walked away. I felt sick and sad and full of unhappiness about leaving Japan and our great friends.

We spent the rest of the day shopping taking in the beauty of the place. I passed up the opportunity to buy a particular item in Biratori and I scoured Akan for one for Tom and myself but to no avail. The good news is our persistent hunting led us to two places we had never been before. In one shop we met a very cool young man named Kengo. He went to high in Australia and he had amazing English. He showed us around his family shop, gallery and workspace. He told us about David Suzuki and Bill Reid coming to visit on two separate occasions. He seemed pretty impressed by us Canadians! He gave Sean a small amulet he carved out of deer horn. Just like that. 20 minutes of conversation and blamo “I’d like to give you this present”. We said our thank-yous and good-byes and headed off up the street. The carvers were back at the logs after their lunch break and then had a truck mounted with a crane moving them into position. The master carver raised an arm and the others were put into motion. Another gesture and the log was repositioned. They had a large pickaxe type tool they used to move the log a few inches at a time. Every time it came to bear the weight of the log it forced sap from the outer layers and it made the air smelled of that loamy fir smell. It was a bit of a mind bender standing in Akan a week before we were to leave Hokkaido and have the aroma of our beloved BC rain forests wafting around us.

I ran back to the Nishida’s to buy a storybook for Keenan I had forgotten to purchase earlier. We looked into one more shop took our last look into the village and were off. It was very emotional leaving that place. But we’ll be back again.

On the way home we stopped just outside of Ashoro and drove up the hillside so we could have a view of the lake. We ate our chocolate and then headed home. We finished off our day with heaps of packing, and 2 episodes of Lost. We couldn’t have asked for a better last Sunday living on Hokkaido.