evdog

Kyoto

Where to start? Kyoto was the capital of Japan until 1868, making it in many ways the cultural capital of Japan, complete with 13 UNESCO World Heritage sites. Despite the fact I’ve spent eight days, my feet and daily appetite for temple touring has allowed me to view 7 of the 13, have to save some for next time.

First a little bit about where I’ve been staying. Mr. Nakagawa’s family has a Buddhist temple located in the northwest corner of Kyoto. The family has graciously hosted me in a small guest house on the grounds of the temple. The little house is surrounded by gardens and sits just 20 feet away from the main temple building. The mat covered floors, sliding panel walls and doors, and low door jams have provided a great feel for what it’s like to live in a traditional Japanese home, and also a couple bruises, in the case of the low door jams. After a couple weeks in Japan, I’ve finally stopped hitting my head…knock on wood. The resident monk, Tomori, a friendly young guy just out of college, and Mrs. Fukia, his 88 year old great aunt, live in the main house. I spent a laugh filled evening with them eating pizza from Pizza Hut and visiting. Mrs. Fukui told me, with the assistance of Tomonori, about her visit to New York City over the 4th of July 25 years ago and how she looked down on the fireworks from the observation deck of the World Trade Center. She used a word, one I’ve since forgotten, to desribe the feeling of forever missing something or someone that has been lost. I guess it wasn’t all laughs…

I’ve mixed in a couple days to relax and solidify the itinerary of my train trip to Hokkaido, but otherwise have been on a site seeing feeding frenzy. I’ll spare you the long winded description of each locale, and instead touch on a few of my favorites. Pictures, at some point, to follow.

The morning I arrived via night bus from Tokyo, after taking a nice nap, I walked to nearby Kinkaku-ji, a temple that is home to the golden pavilion. The grounds are in a highly wooded area at the foot of low mountains. The three story gold leaf covered pavilion sits on a large pond surrounded by immaculate gardens. Clounds eventually yielded to sunshine, offering the pavilion opportunity to shine in it’s full glory, a golden reflection cast in the rippling waters.

The next day I checked out Ryoan-Ji, home to one of Japan’s most renowned rock gardens. The garden only contains 15 rocks and measures less than 40 feet in length, yet was impressive in it’s simplicity. After spending years being slightly puzzled by the little zen rock gardens resident in the cubes across corporate America, it was fun to see the real thing. Later that afternoon I took a hike up the mountain on a trail that features 88 temples, a reconstructed version of a 88 temple pilgrimage route on Shikoku Island. I started out stopping at each temple and ring the bell, but after a dozen or so, hunger overruled devotion and I powered throug the rest of the steep hike.

One afternoon I toured Nijo-jo, a castle built in 1603 that housed Ieyasu, the first Tokuhawa shogun. The interiors of the buildings within the multi-building complex, joined by external wood decks, were incredibly ornate. Each of the rooms, from rooms that served as greeting areas for merchants, to rooms that housed the weapons, to the final room, the shoguns private quarters, contained finely painted screen walls - vivid nature scenes in muted tones against a gold background. The wood decks were an example of nightingale floors, floors designed to squeak as you walked across them, protection against intruders. As one might expect, I was able to trigger an extra loud squeak.

Tomonori’s parents arrived in Kyoto to visit their son over the Golden Week Holiday. His father took me to visit Fushimi-Inari Taisha, a Shinto shrine in the mountains. The shrine is famous for it’s 4KM trail covered by hundred of red torii, the archways that mark the entrance to a shrine. Families donate the torii and in turn contribute to the impressive tunnel of torii. Thankfully we got an early start to the day and beat most of the holiday crowd, though the way down the trail was a bit of a traffic jam.

Mr. Shimizu had plans that afternoon, so he dropped me off at Sanjusangen-do, a temple famous for it’s 1000 Kannon statues, Kannon being the Buddhist goddess of mercy. A 12 foot sitting image of Kannon was flanked by 500 life size gold Kannon statues on either side. The 9 rows of nearly identical statues took over 100 years to complete, an impressive, though borderline intimidating, sight. As is the case with several of the temples, no pictures were allowed.

That touches on a few, skipping over a 1000 year old garden, monster 800 year old trees, a villa built by a Japanese silent film star, a temple that is one of the largest wooded building in the world, a hike along a river vallley, and a large temple complex with a main hall featuring a veranda that juts out over the hillside… and on and on… much to see in Kyoto. Forthcoming pictures will tell a better story.

A couple non temple/shrine related activities of interest. I spent a late afternoon walking around Gion, the famous geisha district. The guide book featured a walking tour of the area, including the quiet streets that house the 17th century era teahouses and restaurants. I lucked upon two kimona-clad geisha on their way to catch a cab, and joined a crowd of young school children in snapping a few photos. I had hoped to attend a performance, but missed a rare public performance by a day.

The temple guest house is without bathing facilites, so I’ve been taking part in another favorite Japanese activity, bathing at the onsen, or public bath. A little hesitant at first, mark it up to my innate scandinavian modesty, I’ve found it quite relaxing. One of Kyoto’s most famous onsen is located a mere 5 blocks away and is complete with super hot saunas, pools of various temperature, and one that emits a light electric shock, though I’ve not yet dared to enter that one. The onsen makes for a great way to end a long day of site seeing.

It’s time to move on from Kyoto. I’ve had a great stay. Tomorrow I catch the train to Osaka, where I will meet a friend of Mr. Nakagawa’s for an afternoon of touring, before taking an evening train to Nara. I’ll spend two nights in Nara and then activate a 21 day Japan Rail Pass for the trip north, north to Hokkaido.