A tsukubai

This is a tsukubai, a carved stone as basin for running water, traditional Japanese feature in garden, in front of buildings and in private gardens too. Is used to wash your habds and refresh yourself in the torrid Japanese Summer. I just love the noise of runnibg water and in winter the ice inside the stone hole. This photo taken in Kitakata, is from my first trip to Japan, is a 35 mm. slide scanned with a simple scanner, so the quality is not great.