４年間我慢しました。４年間ですよ。今に思うと、よく我慢しましたなと自分で思います。

何の話?

亀清旅館の「千歳」と「末広」の２つの客室の庭のことです。

「Ｂｅｆｏｒｅ」の写真を見ると、笑っちゃう。馬鹿でかいコンクリートのブロック塀に狭い、さびしい庭。季節感は全然なかった。

夏に私がそのブロック塀を壊して、光と風が通れる木の塀を作りました。そして、先週は庭師の岡田さんがその２つの庭を作りました。

岡田さんの庭のコンセプトの説明：

『信州の光と風を感じる果樹の庭』です。

「末広」は長野を代表する果物「リンゴ（紅玉）」を植えた『リン
ゴの庭』。
「千歳」は千曲市の春には無くてはならない「アンズ（大実）」を
植えた『アンズの庭』。

どちらも、この部屋を訪れたお客様が、窓を開けて風と光を感じ、
お部屋と庭の両方を楽しんでもらえると嬉しいな。
庭が明るくなれば、お部屋も明るくなり、空気も軽く、爽やかにな
ります。
庭の植物の成長と一緒に、毎年違った風景がお客様を迎えてくれます。

お庭の成長を楽しみにしてください。

Four years. I put up with them for four stinking, long years.

Put up with what, you say? With the sorry excuses of gardens for 2 of our guest rooms, Chitose and Suehiro. Looking back, I don't know how I did it. The "Before" pictures are soooo pitiful. Ugly tall concrete block walls and a couple of scraggly plants.

All of that has changed now. Over the past months, I demolished the concrete walls and built a wooden fence that lets in light and air. Then last week, our gardener, Okada-san, built two new gardens. The difference is like night and day.

The concept for the gardens is a Nagano Fruit Orchard. In Chitose's garden, he planted a heritage variety apricot tree, in honor of the nearby Mori "Apricot Village". In Suehiro, he planted an apple tree in honor of the many area apple orchards. And not just any apple tree, but kogyoku variety, a heritage type renowned for its tartness.

More pictures available at Okada-san's website:
詳しい説明と写真は岡田さんのＨＰをご覧ください。

千歳「杏」 Chitose's "Anzu" Garden

末広「紅玉」Suehiro's "Kogyoku" Garden

東京の英字タウン誌、メトロポリスから問合せがあって、亀清旅館はウィンタースペシャルに広告を出す事になりました。東京に住んでいる英語圏の皆がこの寒い冬に亀清の温泉に暖まりに来るように、尚且つ、スノーモンキー（地獄谷の野猿公園）や信州のスキー場（白馬、野沢、志賀高原）に近い事もＰＲしたいと。その為に書いた文章は下記です。

Tokyo free weekly magazine Metropolis contacted us about their upcoming Winter Special. We worked out an arrangement for them to feature Kamesei, in hopes of getting English speakers living in Tokyo to come this winter to warm themselves in Kamesei's onsen. Also, we're letting them know that we are central to a lot of Nagano's winter wonderlands: Hakuba, Nozawa, Shiga Kogen, and of course the snow monkeys.

Here is the text we prepared for the magazine:

Experience the heart and soul of Japan this winter and make Kamesei Ryokan your base for exploring Nagano. Our traditional Japanese inn features a soothing onsen hot spring bath. Enjoy the gentle heat of our wood stove and the warm wood construction of our lobby. Kamesei Ryokan features gardens throughout and spacious 10 tatami mat guest rooms where you can relax while lounging in a yukata robe.

Both main onsen baths have outdoor baths as well, hand-built by our proprietor. One is wood, made from yellow cedar. The other is a garden bath made of river stones, and is open to the winter sky allowing you to bathe in the starlight as you soak in the onsen water.

Gourmet Kaiseki-style dinners featuring local and seasonal ingredients as well as full Ryokan Breakfasts are available and are highly recommended in order to truly appreciate the ryokan experience. (Vegetarian meals available upon request.)

Our town of Togura-Kamiyamada Onsen is unique because it is an onsen town -- feel free to use our wooden geta sandals and walk around in your yukata. Browse the many local shops, soak your feet in the footbath, or wander down by the Chikuma River. Or hike up to the mountain castle on the hill behind our town, or rent a bicycle and ride along the Chikuma River. For dinners out, our guests enjoy a wide variety of restaurants.

Kamesei is located central to the best of Nagano: Jigokudani’s snow monkeys, spiritual Togakushi Mountain, magnificent Matsumoto Castle and the Japanese Alps are all popular day trips. We are also a little over an hour by car from Nagano’s top ski areas – Hakuba, Nozawa and Shiga Kogen. Make an onsen stop-over on your way to or from or between skiing.

Helpful itinerary planning for Nagano is gladly provided by our proprietor. Tyler is an American who would be happy to share insight into his adopted home here in the Japanese countryside. Night View tours, 5am Zazen Meditation, Thursday Night Lion Dance practices are just some of the complimentary "excursions" offered to our guests.

メトロポリスのＨＰはこちらClick here for Metropolis' website.

今週に庭作りで手伝いに来てくれた田中さんが東京の方で生け花もやっているようで、この素敵なのを作ってくれました。最初に作ってくれるって聞いたら、隅に小さなポットにちょっとした生け花を創造しました。見たら、こんなに素晴らしいのだった。
きっと、今週末のお客様が喜ぶでしょう。露天風呂に入りながら、田中さんの生け花を楽しんでいて・・・
田中さん、有難うございました!

This week, we have been hosting Tanaka-san while she's helping out building a couple of our gardens. Tanaka-san mentioned she does ikebana flower arrangement in Tokyo, and offered to make one to go with our yellow cedar outdoor bath. I had imagined a simple little arrangement in a small pot to go in a corner, and was surprised to see this magnificent creation! Our guests this weekend should be delighted to be able to enjoy this beautiful ikebana while soaking in the yellow cedar outdoor bath.
Tanaka-san, Thank You!

亀清の今年の改善目標は非常に大きい一歩を進んでいます。我が庭師、岡田さんが今週をかけて、「千歳」と「末広」の二つの客室の庭を造ってくれています。「庭付きの部屋」で売っているけど、これじゃ庭といえない!と言われたきかけで、この二部屋は庭を通じて「紅玉」と「杏」に変更・進化・改善します。庭がもう時期出来上がるのでまた写真を載せます。お楽しみに。

Kamesei's 2009 Improvement Plan is taking a huge step forward this week. Our gardener, Okada-san, is making the gardens for 2 of our guest rooms. The rooms' names, "Chitose" (a thousand years) and "Suehiro" (expansive future) mean everything ... and nothing. They could (and are) be names in ryokans anywhere from Hokkaido to Okinawa, let alone Nagano. Meanwhile, we've been promoting these rooms as having private gardens, yet small, neglected patches of greenery barely qualified as gardens. So with the garden makeover, we are changing these rooms to "Kogyoku" (a local heritage variety of apple) and "Anzu" (in honor of nearby Mori's "Apricot Village").

I will post pictures of the finalized gardens shortly, so stay tuned!

信州戸倉上山田温泉の亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for the website of Kamesei Ryokan in Nagano.