Temarikai Blair H. Journal of Summer Japan Visit 2006

Blair's Trip to Temari Museum/Japan Temari Association, July 2006

       A long-time member of Talk Temari, Blair H, is a gifted-education teacher in Alabama. Blair has shared her experiences with including Temari in her curriculum in school (grades 3-5) as well as her Fullbright trip to Japan. Summer of 2006 found her again returning to Japan, this time as the chairperson of the Mobile-Ichihara Sister City exchange program. Blair, another chaperone and some lucky high-school students had a most memorable trip. Each person shared two host families while they were there, and each had one free day with each family to enjoy what they wished. Blair's request was to visit the Temari Museum (a return trip for her), in Tokyo. Blair's host family "dad" had called ahead to be sure that day would be appropriate for them to visit, and as it turned out, that set up an appointment with Ozaki-Sensei for tea! You can read Blair's full journal of her trip here, and Blair shares her Temari Museum visit with TemariKai:

        Today was the day! Our 2nd free day, and our last full day in Japan. Wataru-san was taking me to the Temari Museum today. Takako-san had called the museum early yesterday to inquire if Ozaki-Sensei would be at the Museum today, as I truly wanted to meet her. While we were out yesterday evening, Ozaki-san called the house to say she would be there and looked forward to meeting me. She also shared that the Japan Temari Association level exams certificates had just been mailed out less than 24 hours ago. I was almost able to receive my Honka/Beginner certificate from Sensei herself. That’s ok – I was about to make my 2nd trip to the Temari Museum, so life is still good!
        Takako-san dropped Wataru-san, Raiki and me at the subway station. The Japanese subways are immaculate and well-run on lines that are comprehensive in covering Tokyo and surrounding areas. It takes a small amount of time to understand the system and, even if you don’t speak Japanese, you can find your way from one end of the city to the other. One of my proudest moments during my 2002 trip to Japan was making it from my hotel in Shinjuku to Shinjuku station to Tokyo Station (one of the biggest) then make my way to the other end of Tokyo Station to catch a train to Ichihara so that I could visit our sister school for the first time. THEN I successfully made my way back to my hotel. So, I was pleased that I would be able to travel the subways on this trip too. We ended up catching 4 trains to make to Kami Noge station, closest to the Temari Museum.
        We arrived close to 11:30 and were met at the door by Ozaki-san. A very petite lady, she was gracious in her ways as she welcomed us and invited us to be comfortable. As a special guest, I was allowed to take pictures everywhere in the displays when normally, pictures are not allowed past the entry foyer. In the hallway, there were older Temari done by Ozaki-san and her mother (Ozaki-Sensei I). In the back are display cases of Temari that Ozaki-san said are changed on a weekly basis. In the center of the room is a beautiful black table with drawers on all sides. I could just see that they were full of Temari being stored, as they wait their turn to be displayed. The displays were tremendous. I did try to take pictures of as many as possible – some singles and others in groups. I loved the Blowfish and the Japanese Chin dog Temari. I saw one from a book Ozaki-san had published, that there had been some questions on among us in the US about how to stitch. The lines were done in an arc. She told me the arc was done with the help of pins. I tried to ask about how one can be inspired with original ideas for Temari, but I am afraid that Wataru-san, who was doing such a good job translating, didn’t quite have a grasp of Temari terminology to make my question clear. No matter, we moved on to speaking about marking balls, her favorite thread to work with (Perle Cotton #5), how long she has been making Temari (40 years), and so much more. Ozaki-san and I exchanged gifts. I had brought a gift from Ginny, and an album of photos of my students and other young people (my niece, Brendan, Elsbeth and Izzy) making Temari. Ozaki-san gave me a teenie she had made, and a picture book of her work, her mother’s and their students' that celebrated 30 years of publishing about Temari. We sat together to enjoy green tea, but I couldn’t contain myself too long before I was up taking pictures again. Raiki, though, was getting a bit antsy so we wrapped up and moved to the entry foyer where I could pick up some souvenirs. I purchased two Temari and some metallic thread. It was so hard to decide which ones to take home. As we left, Ozaki-san knelt on the floor and helped to get Raiki’s shoes back on his feet. It was a great visit and a highlight of this trip, to be sure.