Shonan Destinations: Kokonotsuido
Among the rice paddies and vegetable fields just out of reach of nearby Ofuna lies a loose cluster of artistic--in the widest sense--endeavors. There is a pottery studio, a country homemade soba restaurant, a rustic tea ceremony cottage, and a hilltop art gallery. They make a wonderful weekend destination.
The Suenosato pottery studio has a beautiful showroom of practical and decorative work, most of stunning originality and prices to match. We are gradually transferring the contents piece by piece to our own home as wallets allow.
The hilltop Yamanoue Art Gallery has regular exhibitions of high-end porcelain, prints, sculpture and other traditional work by local artists. We sometimes climb the steep hill to see them, and recently seriously considered buying a print of karasu-uri night blooming flowers for 60,000 yen, but didn't.
Food and drink offer more affordable high art. The Kokonotsuido soba restaurant, set in a quiet bamboo grove serves homemade noodles of rustic simplicity in an impeccable setting. At the Chaseki Uan tea house, you are ushered into a small tatami room overlooking a garden. The master serves you a confection, followed by a frothy bowl of green matcha, with optional instructions on how to properly drink it (with a slurp at the end). It's a tea ceremony without having to kneel or participate in the ritual. Total immersion in Japanese culture for 1000 yen.
These oases of calm and taste can all be visited on foot in one day. The pottery studio and tea cottage are close by each other, up behind the radon spa building next to Josenji temple. To get to them, go to Ofuna Station and take a bus bound for Totsuka Bus Center; after about 8 minutes, get off at Dookutsu-mae bus stop. The restaurant is perhaps 10 minutes walk away, and the art gallery another 30 minutes further on. Maps and information at www.kokonotuido.com
--Julian
The Suenosato pottery studio has a beautiful showroom of practical and decorative work, most of stunning originality and prices to match. We are gradually transferring the contents piece by piece to our own home as wallets allow.
The hilltop Yamanoue Art Gallery has regular exhibitions of high-end porcelain, prints, sculpture and other traditional work by local artists. We sometimes climb the steep hill to see them, and recently seriously considered buying a print of karasu-uri night blooming flowers for 60,000 yen, but didn't.
Food and drink offer more affordable high art. The Kokonotsuido soba restaurant, set in a quiet bamboo grove serves homemade noodles of rustic simplicity in an impeccable setting. At the Chaseki Uan tea house, you are ushered into a small tatami room overlooking a garden. The master serves you a confection, followed by a frothy bowl of green matcha, with optional instructions on how to properly drink it (with a slurp at the end). It's a tea ceremony without having to kneel or participate in the ritual. Total immersion in Japanese culture for 1000 yen.
These oases of calm and taste can all be visited on foot in one day. The pottery studio and tea cottage are close by each other, up behind the radon spa building next to Josenji temple. To get to them, go to Ofuna Station and take a bus bound for Totsuka Bus Center; after about 8 minutes, get off at Dookutsu-mae bus stop. The restaurant is perhaps 10 minutes walk away, and the art gallery another 30 minutes further on. Maps and information at www.kokonotuido.com
--Julian
