Asakusa + Kyudo

This past Saturday, I went with Matsuzawa-sensei to this kyudo thing in Asakusa. I still don't exactly understand what was going on, but it was for some kind of matsuri (didn't catch the details).
At any rate, it's an annual event--I guess you'd call it a tournament, although there's no "winner" in that sense. The tournament goes over 2 days, with people showing up at the dojo all day. You sign up when you arrive, they give you a number, and then when your number comes up, you get to go and shoot 4 arrows (in kyudo, called 四つ矢 yotsuya). Like in Western archery, the arrows are scored based on where on they target they hit--although this is rather unusual in kyudo, where it's usually a question of if you hit the target, not where. Then, the people with the several highest scores (I'm not sure how many, really) get some sort of prize, and you can win a kendama if you hit the bullseye.
I met Matsuzawa-sensei at Ohkurayama, on the Toyoko-sen, and we went together from there to Asakusa (cause I would've had no idea how to get there). We arrived at the dojo a little before 3pm, and were given #406 and 407, respectively. Since they were only on #300 when we got there, we didn't actually get in to shoot until a littlel after 5. I did pretty well. It was a really small dojo, and they were shooting 6 at a time, so it was more cramped than I was used to and I kept hitting the people in front of and behind me with my bow (lol), but I managed to get 10 points! The scoring went: 3pts, 5, 7, and 10 for the bullseye--I got two 5's, first and last arrows!

After we finished shooting, Matsuzawa-sensei took me to this really amazing restaurant in Asakusa to have どじょう dojou, which is apparently a bit of an Asakusa 名物 specialty, that you can only get in a few places. This restaurant is called 駒形どぜう Komagata Dozeu (dozeu being another name for dojou), and it's been around since 1801, specializing in dojou--it's actually all they serve. It's a very nostalgic-feeling restaurant, with low tables, where you sit on cushions on the straw-mat floor. And the food is nabe-style, where you cook it over a burner at the table.
Speaking of the food, I didn't really understand what dojou was (Matsuzawa-sensei kept saying that it was "like a baby eel," but I didn't understand if that meant it was a baby eel, or just looked kind of like that...). At any rate, it tastes very similar to unagi, which I LOVE, it's one of my favorite foods, so that was enough for me. For those who are curious, I've since found out (thanks to Wikipedia, both English and Japanese versions--Japanese wikipedia is just as cool, btw) that dojou is actually a type of loach, which is a small freshwater eel.
At Komagata, they bring you a small skillet filled with dojou, which you place over the burner and then cover with negi-onions, literally to the point where there's a mountain of negi on the skillet, and you can't see the fish at all. You let it cook for a while, pouring this sauce over it, and then eat! It was really good, and I'm soooooooo thankful to Matsuzawa-sensei for taking me (and treating me). She's seriously the sweetest person ever, and has really become like a second grandma to me here, always treating me to things, giving me food, checking to make sure I'm eating properly ("not just パン bread"). ^_^

We also walked by the famous Asakusa temple on our way to the restaurant, and it was huge and really beautiful. It was night by that time, so I don't have any pictures, but hopefully I'll go back sometime, and then I promise lots of photos.