ぶちの 鹿・ buchi no shika / Dappled deer

Can you see the deer? My son spotted it in the wild area behind our house yesterday afternoon. Needless to say, we were amazed and kept watching to see what he would do. He was just nestled in the wild growth, against a tree much like my dog on his favorite rug. Occasionally he would lift his head as if to look at the sky or catch the breeze. We have had other wild critters visit from time to time, but this was the first deer, a handsome stag no less.

On another note, my classes seem to be going well this first week back. I haven’t lost too many students and those who are still there seem to be enthused. We’ve only barely begun with most lessons having to do with expressions and vocabulary around the topics of Deai and Aisatsu, encounters and greetings. I also squeezed in a lesson in Katakana where they used it to create meishi (business card). Next week I think we’ll give it a quick wrap with practicing the form using one, then we’ll need to continue with classroom expressions. I left them with inspiration (I hope) over the long holiday weekend, a video clip of Jero the new hot, American hip-hop turned Enka idol. One thing I like to show, if I can, is what unique things some Westerners are finding to do in Japan.

Another little tidbit related to deer and cloth: Dappled cloth is referred to as 鹿の子絞り・ka no ko shibori. The first kanji is the character for “deer.”