I don’t know what you do when you get home from work, but I like to spend my Saturday nights washing Yama-ishi (Mountain stones – 山石) in my bath tub.

Actually, I don’t like it. But they need to be cleaned so we can use them the Tsuboniwa (mini Japanese garden) which we will start building tomorrow. I took a day off tomorrow (everyone else is working) to begin the work on my first Japanese garden.

These pictures show the stones after their third shower.

After brushing off the dirt:

A Tawashi (束子), the traditional Japanese scrub brush can be used for everything in the house – including cleaning stones

I use a tawashi (束子), a brush made of palm fibers to scrub off the dirt. These brushes can be found everywhere in Japan – they can be used in the house for cleaning floors, pots and the like; in the bathtub to make hands and feet smooth and beautiful and we often use them in the garden to brush dirt off tools etc. The palm fibers have natural oils that prevent the brush from molding. They are like bamboo – flexible, but strong.

I will let you know how the first day in the Tsuboniwa goes!