There are many festivals to experience in Nobeoka throughout the year. I go to these festivals because
I want to meet people that I've known through the years. On this night, I met a current student. And, I saw Kaori from Kami
Igata Cho. She was selling "kakiko-ri" or snowcones. I also met the owner's son from Yamaroku Restaurant.
Oh, I also met a staff member at Sazanpia, her, her husband, and her three kids. Her son said, "Ano hito dare?"
I told him I was Santa Claus. She corrected me, and told her son that I was a teacher.
Nobeoka is famous for its Noh Masks. Perhaps you have taken a look at them at one time or another, even
in Tokyo.
CRANE is a company that recently took roots in Nobeoka as a hospital and as Sazanpia, a place to study.
I happen to teach English there in Minami Nobeoka. It's located between the southern MaxValue and the Minami Nobeoka
Train Station. There's a swimming pool and work out room. For more information, call: 0982-34-5666.
Nobeoka is a castle town. There were once four castles named Shiroyama, Nishishina, Atago and Matsuyama.
A lot of the local dialect is related to Lord Naito and old traditions of the Edo Era, over four-hundred years ago.
If you didn't know, that's an Ayu, sweet fish, trap. Ayu are related to the trout family of fish, I believe.
They're quite tasty.
Reply to Nichigon-ama
On the eighth day of the eleventh month in the third year of Koan (1280), I placed before the Lotus Sutra the written petition
in which you, Nichigon-ama, expressed your prayer, together with your offerings of one kan of coins and an unlined robe made
of thread spun from bark fiber, and reported the matter to the gods of the sun and the moon. In addition, you should not presume
to fathom [the blessings of the Gohonzon]. Whether or not your prayer is answered depends upon your faith; [if it is not,]
the fault in no way lies with me, Nichiren.
When the water is clear, the moon will be reflected in it. When the wind blows, the trees sway. One's mind is like the
water.
Faith that is weak is like muddy water, but faith that
is resolute is like clear water. The trees are like the principles [of all things], and the wind
that sets them in motion is like the recitation of the sutra. You should understand things in this way.
