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The Kamo no Shirabe Cafe in Takashima
by Jeffrey Friedl Sat, June 28th, 2008 11:48pm JST (11 years ago)
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 52 mm — 1/80 sec, f/3.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Face of Freedom
working for pleasure, not just a paycheck
We decided to have a relaxing day, and took drive north an hour and a half to a middle-of-nowhere cafe that Fumie had read about on someone else's blog. It turns out that it's run by a guy who used to be some kinds of architectural-plastics engineer in Osaka, and left it all behind to follow his passion for, oddly enough, stone kilns. That translated into a cafe with fresh pizza on the menu.
The place is called kamo no shirabe (かものしらべ), which means either "melody of the ducks", or "sounds of the river", depending on whether the kamo in the name is the word for "duck" or a reference to the kamo river ("Duck river") that flows by the place. (There's also a kamo river in Kyoto, so perhaps it's a common name?).
In either case, there was good food in a very pleasant atmosphere.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 52 mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
from the terrace, which we didn't use because a light rain was falling
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/320 sec, f/5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
outside terrace
Where We Would Have Liked To Sit
It's in a place called Takashima City in Shiga Prefecture (an hour and a half north of Kyoto, Japan), but they must be on the far-flung outskirts because there's no City in evidence anywhere around here. There are map links under each photo (all of essentially the same place, of course).
Pizzas Arrive
We each got a $15 "pizza set", a triplet consisting of a personal pizza, a drink, and a small salad. It was most excellent.
Cutting His Own Pizza
with carrots, cucumber, tomato, black beans, sesame, and a fairly heady vinaigrette
After stuffing myself on my pizza and most of Anthony's, I went out for a short stroll with the camera. Here's the restaurant from the rear, from across the little river that flows by.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 28 mm — 1/90 sec, f/8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
And the view looking the other way – the one you see from the restaurant – is of terraced rice paddies, mountains, and on a drizzly day like today, mist...
I love the looks of terraces of rice paddies cut into the mountains, such as these and these.
It's then that I met the proprietor, who was happy to show me the wood-burning stone kiln that he made himself, in which our pizzas had been cooked...
Stoking the Fire
of his pizza kiln
I like a cup of hot coffee to settle the tummy after a big meal, so I ordered one, then watched him prepare it. He was chatting with Fumie as he did, which yielded the big smile in this post's lead photo, but eventually it was time to get down to business of fine coffee...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/2.2, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Serious about his Work
Fetching a Cup
My Trying To Be Artsy
Meanwhile, Anthony played with the heavy stone mill they used to grind the coffee beans...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
The guy and his wife do a lot themselves. He made the kilns, and the furniture, for example. (Check out the heavy wooden tables in the 2nd photo, for example.) They grow most of the vegetables they use in their cooking, right next to the restaurant. Here's a shot of the sign out front, with the restaurant in the background on one side, and the garden on the other....
Kamo no Shirabe
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Wonderful blog! I found your blog from Sean McCormick's blog and was really interested in the panning timelapse script you made. I submitted a question on that post, but was hoping I could get some help regarding the running of the script; I've followed your instructions and Sean's too, to no avail.
I enjoy your photographs and thank you for sharing your knowledge!
— comment by Todd on June 29th, 2008 at 2:34am JST (11 years ago) — comment permalink
Great restaurant!
— comment by Anne on September 10th, 2012 at 3:58am JST (6 years, 10 months ago) — comment permalink