今、「松風」から「紬」に改造している客室のベランダーのテーブルを完成しました。紬のコンセプトを生かして、お蚕さんの棚をグラス・トップと木のテーブルの間に挟んだという作品です。棚は昔にお蚕を育っていた親戚から頂いて、テーブルは自分で作って、グラス・トップは中古品屋さんで買ったコーヒーテーブルを分解して取り付けた。「紬」と言うコンセプトにぴったし。

先日はあるおじさんに「生き残る為に亀清旅館が何かのオンリーワンを出さなきゃ」と言う「アドバイス」を頂きました。悪いけど、私のやっている事の殆ど全てがオンリーワンです。このお蚕の棚のテーブルこそ、オンリーワンです。まあ、お客さんがこの個性に喜んで頂けるかどうかはポイントですね。お客さんの反応を見るのは楽しみにしています。

I am remaking one of our guestrooms from "Matsukaze" (which means 'pine' and 'wind', and could just as well be a guestroom name from an inn in Hokkaido or Okinawa as well as Nagano) to "Tsumugi". The Tsumugi concept refers to the local silk production and weaving tradition. As part of the remake, I built this table incorporating a bamboo and straw tray that had been used to grow silk worms. One of our relatives that used to grow silk worms gave me the tray, and I made the table base myself, and used the glass top off of a coffee table I bought at a used goods store. Voila! A new table perfect for the "Tsumugi" theme.

Recently, I was given the "advice" by an older gentleman that in order to survive, Kamesei Ryokan has to do something "one-of-a-kind". I beg your pardon, but practically everything I do is "one-of-a-kind", including this new table. It's a matter of if the guests appreciate this uniqueness or not. Only time will tell!

先日に書いた様に、今年の亀清の目標は３つの客室の簡単の改造。その第一歩は「松風」を「紬」に作り直します。知り合いからお蚕さんを育つ為の棚は沢山を頂きました。部屋の窓からはコンクリートの壁ぐらいしか見えないのでその棚を壁に貼り、見た目や感覚をもうちょっとやわらかくする。これからは他にもお蚕や紬のテーマで庭やインテリアを改造していきます。

この間、長野県立歴史館に行ったら、この辺のシルク関係の歴史を学びました。シルクの輸出によって信州は割りと早い内に国際的だった。そのルーツも取り入れて、この「紬」という部屋でお客さんが長野の伝統と歴史と触れ合えれるように作っていきたい。

As previously mentioned, my goal this year here at Kamesei is to do a minor remodel on 3 guest rooms. First up is changing "Matsukaze" to "Tsumugi". To be honest, the name matsukaze (literally, "pine tree, wind") has no meaning to me. Tsumugi, on the other hand, refers to weaving. Our local specialty of silk weaving is "Ueda Tsumugi". Many of the old farmhouses around here have second floors for raising silk worms. In fact, a buddy of mine bought such a house, and gave me several of the bamboo lattice-like sheets used for raising the "okaiko" silk worms.

For part of the room remodel, I am using those sheets to cover up the concrete wall seen from the guestroom. I have several other silk-related ideas for the room, so that guests will be able to get a sense for Nagano's silk producing culture, here in our new "Tsumugi" room.

４つの客室に地上デジタル放送対応テレビを新しく入れました。亀清旅館はやっと２１世紀に入ったって感じです。TVはせっかく新しくなったから良い台を探しました。そしたら、館内でこの昔のタンスを見つけました。TVは一歩進んで、タンスは一歩下げたの様。私は個人的にこの雰囲気が好きですが、「それはあなたが外人だから。日本人はその古いタンスがぼろぼろにしか見えない」と言われてしまいました。どうですかな？味があるのではないですか？

We upgraded 4 of our guest rooms with new digital-enabled flat screen TV's. It feels like Kamesei has at last entered the 21st Century. Since we got the new TV's, I wanted to get a nice stand for them. I looked around the inn, and found these old "tansu" chests. It's like we took a step forward with the new TV's, and a step back with the tansu. I think the combination is cool, but was told "That's because you're a foreigner. We Japanese think that kind of old tansu is just junk." Hmm. I think it has lots of character.

お客様のお布団を引きに行ったら、このおばさんたち３人は花札で盛り上がっていました。なんとなく、このゲームやら、おばさんたちの年やら、以前の時代を感じました。

When I went into one of the guestrooms tonight to flip the futons, the three little old ladies were caught up in a game of "hanafuda". It's a traditional game that doesn't get played much these days. Perhaps more when these ladies were little girls. It seemed like such a precious scene, I just had to take their picture.

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.

海外からお越しになるお客さんに日本の温泉旅館文化に触れ合えるようにおもてなしのサービスをしています。時々、そのお客さんがお返しに自分達の国の文化と触れ合えるお土産を下さる。ちょっとした集まりになってきましたので薪ストーブのところで飾るようにしました。オーストラリアからの定番のコアラ、オランダからの定番の木靴、タズメニアからの手作りピンバッジ、そしておニューのテックさすテキサス州からのループタイ。ちょっとした国際交流ギャラリーになって、楽しい！

When we get guests from overseas, we try our best to provide a traditional Japanese onsen & ryokan experience for them. In return, sometimes they give us a souvenir, a little traditional something from their home countries. We've started a little collection of the gifts we have received: a cuddly Australian koala bear, a pair of clogs from Holland, some homemade buttons from Tasmania, a bolo tie from Texas... We've got a fun little international gallery going!

自分と妻が亀清旅館を跡継ぎで来てから色々とじっくりと見ているし、お客様の声を良く聞いています。最初のころは「温泉に入りながら、星の光も浴びたい」と言う声があって、内風呂しかなかった亀清に２年前に「１００年風呂」と言う露天風呂を造った。そして、去年は今度、女風呂の外にヒバの露天風呂も造りました。
これでお客様のお風呂の満足度をかなりアップ出来ました。
今度は客室に注意を払う。それぞれの部屋名は「松風」や「末広」や「千歳」など、沖縄でも北海道でも長野でも、つまり日本のどこであってもおかしくない名前とスタイルです。今年は３つの客室を「ここ」のテーマで簡単な改造をする計画を立てています。進展がある度にまた書きますので宜しくお願いします。
Ever since my wife and I have moved back to start helping out here at Kamesei Ryokan, we have been taking in the over-all feel of the inn and have been thinking about the improvements we want to make. We've also been listening to the comments and opinions of our guests.
One such improvement was based on our own preferences as well as our guests' desires to bath in the starlight while soaking in the onsen: two years ago I built the 100-Year Bath outdoor bath. Then last year we made a cedar bath outside the ladies bath, so now both indoor baths have an outdoor one as well.
This year, we decided to turn our attention to the guestrooms. Our rooms have names like "Matsukaze" (pine tree wind), "Suehiro" (eternity - wide), and "Chitose" (1000 years). These are all fortuitous names, but they just as well be names from Okinawa or Hokkaido, not just Nagano. We are planning on doing a small remodel on 3 of the rooms in local, Nagano-only themes. As we progress, I'll write more here on the blog.

先日はまたクッキーを焼きました。知り合いから信州産の胡桃を頂きましたので今回はクッキーに入れました。本来なら、小麦粉の一部の変わりにそば粉を入れたいけど、最近は戸隠へそば粉を買いに行っていない。そば粉は入った方が重みが出ます。
シアトルの味のお茶菓子に信州の食材：いいコンビネーション！

I baked cookies again the other day, and this time I used some Nagano-grown walnuts that a friend had given me. Normally I also like substituting some of the flour with soba flour. But I haven't been to Togakushi lately to buy soba flour. Adding it to the recipe gives the cookies a fuller flavor.
Mom's recipe cookies with local Nagano ingredients -- what a great combination!

普段は露天風呂が浴場の外にあるけれど、亀清のメインのお風呂の場合は、浴場の外に２階からの非常階段が邪魔しています。従って、露天風呂を造った時に仕方がなく、脱衣室の方から行けるようにしました。「若旦那の手造り露天風呂はこっち-->」って看板を立てたにかかわらず、「あっ、露天風呂があったの？」と後で言われた事が多かったです。「せっかく作ったのに」と悔しくて自分で思っちゃって・・・。
と言うことで、改善！今度、こんなに大きい看板を作ってみました。ちょうどいい板があって、ステインを塗って、黒いペンキで書きました。これでお客様の皆様に亀清の「１００年風呂」露天風呂も楽しんでいただけるでしょう。

Most open air "rotenburo" baths are located directly outside the inside baths. However, when I built the one outside Kamesei's main inside bath, I had to put the entrance off the clothes-changing room since the emergency stairs blocked the access from the main bath. I put a little sign up to show the guests the location, but apparently it's too small. There have been numerous times when guests have said, "What? There was an outdoor bath?" I'm sure the guests were disappointed they missed it, but it was frustrating for me, too, considering all the work that went in to making that bath.
Anyways, I went ahead and made a new and improved sign for the bath. I had just the perfect piece of wood for it, stained it, and painted the wording. Now hopefully all of our guests will be able to enjoy Kamesei's "100 Year Bath" outdoor bath!

戸倉上山田温泉は楽しい買い物が出来るお店は沢山あり、気持ち良い足湯もあり、女性が喜べる温泉街です。尚且つ、母の日には私共若旦那達がお母さん達にコサージュを作ると言う習慣があります。今年は私と有田屋さんの若旦那でずくを出して、手作りでお母さんのお客様の為に綺麗なコサージュを造りました。ちょっとした事ですが、私たち若旦那の気持ちで、この戸倉上山田温泉にお母さん達が大歓迎だとのことです。

Togura Kamiyamada Onsen has pleasant parks to stroll, fun little shops for shopping, and a relaxing foot bath -- so many things for women to enjoy. For the past few years, myself and some of the other innkeepers have started a tradition of making corsages for mothers on Mother's Day. Arita-ya's young innkeeper and I took time out of our busy schedules to make these carnation corsages for our guests that are mothers. It's just a small sign of how our onsen town likes to welcome ladies.

有田屋さんのHPはこちらClick here for Arita-ya's website.

亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for Kamesei's website.

亀清の庭師の岡田さんは庭に対して良いセオリーがあります。２年前に「百年風呂」の露天風呂の庭を造ってくれて、去年は離れ風の部屋への廊下に２箇所で坪庭を造りました。そこの植物は専門家が見れば喜ばれるけれど、素人でも見て喜べるように造りました。（ちなみに、岡田さんの親切な教えによって勉強になっているけれども、まだまだ日本の庭の素人です。）今の注目の植物の写真です。

Kamesei's gardener, Okada-san, has a great theory to his garden building. Two years ago he built the garden around our "100 Year Bath" outdoor bath, and last year he made two "tsubo" pocket gardens along the passageway to the "hanare" detached rooms. The gardens have plants that specialists like him can appreciate, but also that regular people can enjoy, too. Here are some of the plants that are strutting their stuff in our gardens right now.

岡田さんのHPはこちらClick here for Okada-san's website.