Tomorrow is the jotoshiki. At 7:30 am, 13 workers will arrive, we’ll toast the house and the work at 8 am and then it begins. It’s a big push to get everything done all in a single day. If all goes to plan, by 4 pm, we should have the fully framed house up. And then we celebrate.
Sasaki-san, Yoshida-san, and I put the omamori into the foundations today. This is the little box we received from the priest when we did the jichinsai ground breaking ceremony in September. Tomorrow we’ll add another omamori into the rafters for protection from ground to sky.
After our cementing activity, I was putzing around getting stuff organised when the Kawasaki’s daughter and her husband arrived to cut the grass in the area by the cherry trees. This timing was no accident; I know the family wants the property to look nice for the big day. They brought us a bottle of sake for the party.
The elder Kawasakis arrived a bit later and we all spent some time wandering around admiring drainage, telling stories, and marvelling at the changes. It was nice to connect with them all before the house goes up.
We won’t be able to see this view of the trees and distant ridge again, or of the gabion looking in from the driveway. I tried to appreciate the vistas as fully as possible before I left for the day. I know I will miss the wide open space, but I am excited for the house, too.
