Saturday 2 September 2017

【21st October 2017, Nara】Tour to Meet Local Producers: Natural Clothe Dying & Medicinal Plant Hunting

12:20:00 event

In the historical record, Akino, today’s Uda city in Nara, was the renowned village to harvest medicinal herbs. It is reported that Empress Suiko visited to hunt herbs (AD611), which was recorded in Nihon-shoki (the oldest chronicles of Japan) . The streets have some facilities associated with medicine and herbs, including Morino Kyuyakuen (medicinal herb garden) and Kusuri-no-Yakata (the museum of medicine).

In this tour, we will viisit producers of natural indigo dying and medicinal plants, learning traditional knowledge of livelihoods which had been handed down from generations to generations. Please note that we will walk around 2 hours to look for medicinal plants in the mountain.

Date: October 21st 2017 10:00-17:00

Schedule:
10:00-12:00　Kasama Aizome Indigo Atelier
13:00-14:00　Medicinal Plant Lunch
14:00-17:00　Hunting Wild Medicial Herb & Making 2-3 kinds of Mountainous Herbal Liquor

Participation fee: 3500 JPY
including: Guiding(English translation available), Medicinal Plant Liquor, Medicinal Plant Lunch from Ryori Ryokan Imazakaya

Destinations: Kasama Aizome (Indigo Dying), Ouda Matsuyama District and mountains nearby

Meeting point: Kasama Aizome (620 Murou Shimokasama, Uda city, Nara prefecture) at 10:00 am or JR Haibara station at 9:20 am

Number of Participants: 10 persons at maximum

Local Navigators：

Mr. Masaya Fujimoto
He is a medicinal plant guide in Uda city, introducing medicinal plant culture. His knowledge of traditional medicine is fascinating, and we will definitely have a fun from his story telling.

Ms. Kayo Inoue
5th generation of Kasama Indigo dying. She learnt traditional dying from her husband's father. The aitsubo, base of indigo has been huded down for 150 years, which is very rare thing in Japan.

About Kasama Aizome
http://voicecream.jp/try/kasama_aizome/
http://voicecream.jp/en/try/kasama_aizome/ (ENGLISH)

Tour Coordinator & Licensed English Guide Interpreter.
Satoyama Library Chisato Maeda
She studied agro-ecology for her masters degree in the Netherlands, and travelled around small villages in India, Bhutan and Japan to learn traditional knowledge of food culture and ethnobotany. She organizes off-the-beaten village tours and experience programs related to food culture and sustainable rural livelihoods.