Mountain Life - 4/2

Apologies for the delay and out of order blogs of the past 4 days - wifi not available.
Today, rain swept away, we awoke to a beautiful, sunny morning for our trip up into the mountain towns of Shirakawago and Gokayama, about an hour's drive from Kanazawa. Our goal, to learn more about the samari warrior culture of old that lived in this once isolated part of the country, before the modern world and sophistocated tunnel system existed. On the bus as we traveled Kana made sure we knew how to make our oragami samari warrior hats!
At the Gassho'zukuri folklore park we learned how to pound rice into rice cakes, which we sampled along with red beans and tea. Shoes off as we entered the buildings with their tatami mat floors. This community is known for its wooden houses with steep thickly thatched straw roofs (similar to the stave houses of Norway). In Gokayama we visited the "house" of a "samari warrior" for more tea (kettle heated over an open fire in a pit in the middle of the room) shoes off again, while the warrior, in costume, danced for us. Lunch nearby was a delicious 7 dish array of Japanese style vegetables, soup, rice, served at a small
family run restaurant.
This afternoon, at a workshop, we learned how to make the famous Washi paper. Lots of delightful temptations in the gift shop.