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Haza, September 14th 2013

It is not yet decided when we will start to harvest the rice, one of the main jobs this autumn. Today we started to cut bamboo to build the “haza”,a construction on which the cut rice will be dried before threshing.

Altogether we have about 4 acres of ricefields, which will be harvested and threshed in 3 stages. As the autumn is also the taiphoon season in Japan, the excact timing of the harvest is determined by the weather conditions. The branches of the bamboo will be burnded in a big campfire which we usually have once a month after sesshin (also depending on the weather of course).

Antaiji on a sunny day, September 13th 2013

With 15 residents, it is possible to do many different jobs at the same time. Today’s samu was divided into 6 groups: Yudai’s hatake (vegetable field), Eko’s tanbo (rice field), Steffi’s herb garden, Jisui’s Zen garden, Tsukan who did shissui (carpenter) work, and a group that builds a new stone wall for a new rice field.

Picking Megumi and Hikaru up at the Ike-ga-naru bus stop, September 12th 2013

Bringing the kids to the school in the morning and picking them up again in the afternoon is also part of my job.

Work in the Zen garden and in the vegetable garden behind the main hall, September 12th 2013

Today is a regular (nyojo) day. Shoko from Germany, who designed the garden behind the mainhall, and Jisui from Singapore plant new stuff, while harvesting is done in the vegetable field close by. The net that covers the vegetable field was donated by fishers in Hmasaka and serves to protect the summer vegetables from crows.

Snake eating a lizard at Antaiji、September 11th 2013

Filmed by Ellie from Australia. This is the mating season of snakes, they can be seen everywhere:

Tenzo makes breakfast on a free day, September 11th 2013

The schedule at Antaiji does not depend on the week day, but rather the day of the month. From the 1st to 5th each month was sesshin, when we sat all day long. On the 6th was a free day. After that, the schedule changes depending on a five day cycle: The first three days, 7th to 9th, are regular “nyojo” days where we sat zazen in the mornign and evening for two hours each, and do agicultural work during the day time. the fourtth day in the cycle (10th) was a obe day sesshin, and after that, there is a free day again. That means that we have free days on the 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, 26th and last day of each month. there are sesshins from the 1st to 5th, and then again on the 10th, 15th, 20th and 25th. The other days are the days where we do samu during the day.
Normally, breakfast would be at 6am, but today, as it is a free day, the camera observes the cooks during meal preparation at uarter past 6.

Werner Penzel and Ayako Mogi from Nomadomura visit Antaiji, September 10th 2013

Today was a one-day sesshin. After the tea meeting at the end of the sesshin, Werner and Ayako arrived from Awajishima, an island in the south of Hyogo prefecture. Werner explains about their film project that will start in November.
http://www.nomadomura.net/nomadomura/index.html

Work in the rice field, September 9th 2013

For the first time this month the sun has come out. We continue to raise the rice plants that fell over during sesshin.

Dharma talk in Kinosaki-Onsen, September 8th 2013

Raining since the early morning. Today’s samu was chopping would, making tomato puree and raising the fallen rice plants. I went to Kinosaki-Onsen, a hot spring town about one and a half hours away. The car had a puncture on the way, but I was just in time to participate in a small tea ceremony before the talk. Was invited to enter the hot spring after the talk, but had to leave eraly to do shopping for the monastery.

Antaiji forest group meets to discuss tree cutting, September 7th 2013

Group leader Eko, Tsukan from Oregon and Yudai, a rikshaw driver from Asakusa meet with Muho to discuss a government sponsored project that involves felling trees around Antaiji. Gusho, a Japanese monk who is laso part of the so called “Antaiji forest group”, was tenzo in the kitchen on this day.

During the next three years, we will cut dead pine trees, fell cedar and cypress trees (to be used in the kitchen and boiler stoves, as well as in the wood stove for heating during the winter) as well as the bamboo groves that keep extending around Antaiji.