Minami Boso As Our Classroom
For the past 28 years I’ve been very fortunate to have the Minami Boso area as a classroom for my students. It was in the spring of 1978 that we first started bringing students and adults from the international community in Tokyo/Yokohama to Minami Boso on bicycle trips. For many of the participants, these trips gave a look at a Japan they had not experienced before. Cycling on the narrow paths between fields of rice in Sunomiya, on the bicycle paths along Heisaura beach, surrounded by fields of beautiful poppies and nanohana in Chikura, and everywhere by gently swaying bamboo whose leaves whispered to the riders as they rolled by.
Little has changed in the intervening years. We still bring students and adults to the Minami Boso area, The fields of rice, the bicycle paths and flowers and the bamboo that we ride through are still very often the first exposure to the countryside of Japan for many of our guests. The children and their parents return to the city more relaxed and with greater appreciation and understanding of the country they are living in.
For the past seven summers, we have introduced the Minami Boso peninsula to elementary and junior high students through our residential summer program, Nanbo Discovery Camp. Our campers, coming from countries around the world including Japan, discover wonderful things about nature, about Japan and about themselves. There are many ways to make use of the natural environment in this area as we introduce the culture of Japan to our student/campers.
Cycling is a wonderful way to get a closer look at the land. But we are fortunate here in Tateyama and in Minami Boso to have many opportunities to “discover” new and wonderful things about nature, life in Japan and the important relationship between the two. One way is through the art and the crafts of the area.
Bamboo is fascinating to both children and adults. They stand beneath and watch as it sways gently in the breeze. They learn that it is not a tree but a type of grass. The idea that bamboo comes out of the ground as thick around as it will ever be is very unusual when compared with a more familiar type of tree. With help, they also learn how important bamboo is in the culture of Japan and how it is used in everyday life. The children ask countless questions. Through their questions they remind us that often we take for granted the things closest and dearest to us. We often lose sight of the beauty of our surroundings because it is so familiar to us. Visitors to Japan understand that bamboo is distinctly Asian and don’t take it for granted. It’s one of the many very “Japanese” things that they come here to admire. It’s one of the many wonderful things about living in Minami Boso.
Uchiwa or Japanese fans are an example. The Minami Boso area is famous throughout Japan for the beautiful fans made of bamboo and traditional handmade paper made from the kozo or paper mulberry tree. Our guests and campers have been fortunate over the years to be able to actually make fans and at the same time learn more about the culture of the area.
Almost eight years ago, I was introduced to a local uchiwa artist and teacher. I had been told that Ms. Mitsue Ota conducted workshops for people interested in the local Boso uchiwa. The participants would actually make a fan from bamboo and paper and they would learn about fan-making in Japan and why the Boso Uchiwa are unique. Since 1999, Ota-sensei, a wonderful teacher, has given at least five workshops for our campers and our visitors from the United States. These workshops have taken place both at Awa Museum and at the Biwa Center.
The students work with the bamboo, carefully spreading the thin pieces of wood into the correct shape. They use glue and a roller to attach the paper and the bamboo together. After a little over an hour, each workshop participant has created a beautiful fan made from bamboo and washi paper. They have learned about the art of “fan-making” in the best possible way - through creating. This process of creating brings us closer to the people and to the land - closer to nature which is so intertwined in the culture of Japan.
Some of the students speak Japanese, many do not. How does the workshop progress? Through patience, understanding, and cooperation each participant listens carefully as Ota-sensei explains and demonstrates. Art is an international means of communication that crosses through the barriers created by language. This is evident in the smiles on the faces of the children and the adults. There is the feeling of pride in having created a piece of art that has function and in doing so, making connections to the culture, land and people of Japan. We are fortunate to have such a resource in the Minami Boso area,
The parents of our fan-making campers are always impressed that elementary students are able to do such exacting work. They understand the value and the lessons learned from such an activity. If given the opportunity, many said they would like to participate in the fan making workshop themselves, both non-Japanese and Japanese alike. The adults from abroad who have attended the workshops saw the connections to the land and people quickly and gained valuable insight into the culture of Japan. They left Japan with a greater understanding because of the experience.
There are wonderful possibilities and opportunities in the Minami Boso area for visitors from abroad and for Japanese people living in the cities to learn more about the culture and the people of this land. Uchiwa/fan-making is one small example. As a teacher of elementary and middle school children for 30 years, I’ve been blessed by being able to bring my students to the countryside on a regular basis. Often to the mountains, more often to the seaside. The learning that can take place by using the countryside as a classroom is limitless.
Having stopped teaching at Nishimachi International School in Tokyo after 27 years in July of this year, I plan to continue to bring groups of students and adults to the Minami Boso area for years to come. Introducing the peninsula to our guests from the seat of a bicycle, studying marine life in the tide pools, learning from the people you meet along the way and making connections with nature at every turn............A wonderful opportunity to discover the Japan that is impossible to find in the city or from a book.
David Green
January, 2006
