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Outside the tea-room...

Posted by ben-stevens at 02:59 AM on September 20, 2009

...is a pond packed full of koi. Every morning when I'm in Nagasaki I fill a bowl full of their vile-smelling green pellets, make my way through the ocha-shitsu ('tea room') and open the wooden shutters. The koi immediately start to thrash around and gather below the wooden ledge you see above. So far, so Pavlov's dogs.

In summer they are fed daily, but in winter, when they move around less, only every other day. One of the fish recently looked as though it was about to swim up a mythical river and turn into a dragon (so believed the ancient Chinese when a koi was nearing the end of its natural lifespan - I could just say that it was floating on its side whilst weakly opening and closing its mouth), so Unki-san - temple caretaker - asked me to dig a small grave for it slightly up the mountain.

I was sworn to secrecy, as Unki-san didn't want my mother-in-law - who's very attached to the koi - to find out. I'm pleased to say, however, that the koi actually went on to make a full recovery. Guess I'm rather attached to them myself.

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