Rachel's Blog from Japan

The weekend in Kyoto was so jam packed that I will break it into two installments.  We stayed at a ryokan that, because it did not serve breakfast, was called a business hotel.  Despite the name it had tatami floors, futon bedding that the maids removed during the day, a low table and chairs on the floor, tea service, and a heated toilet seat.  I will be surprised if we ever stay in a western style accommodation.

Our first stop on this warrior tourist trip was a shrine in the outskirts of Kyoto.  The Fushimi-inaritaisha shrine and grounds cover an entire hillside.  It is a shrine at which farmers come to pray for rain and a good harvest.  What is most memorable are the miles of orange and black torii (arches) that snake their way through the woods, up and down hills and through small living quarters.  

 We thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the hillside, not sure where we would end up, seeing the occasional shrines, smelling the incense and reveling in the forest.

The next stop was the Kiyomizudera temple.  A massive structure built into the hillside and supported by 6 stories of huge wooden beams. 

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 On the way to this temple we spied a maiko (apprentice geisha) on the street, but she was gone before we could bring out the camaras.  She was beautifully made up with white face and the traditional painted peaks on the back of her neck.  We were not sure whether she was a real geisha or someone made up to look like it (the rage now).  Anyway, we can pretend that she was real.

We also visited the Nishi food market where vendors were selling an array of seafood, vegetables (fresh and pickled), and locally make candy and soy products.  The sights and smells were numerous and lucky for me, they offered tastes.  I tried crunchy, spicy, sweet, salty, slimy, sea-weedy, and other tastes that I could not begin to identify. That was a terrific way to have breakfast.

Part II

The Kyoto adventure continues with a visit to Sanjusangendo, a Buddhist temple that is extremely long, wonderfully old and contains 1001 images of Buddha.  1000 of them are life-size, and one is over 11 feet tall.  We were not allowed to take photos inside the hall, so the following website has very good depictions of some of the statues:

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/sanjusangendo_temple_kyoto_japan.htms. 

This was a very extremely awe-inspiring site.  The age and craftsmanship were unsurpassed!!

We also visited the Ginkakuji pavilion, or the Silver pavilion.  The Shogun that built it had intended to paint it silver, but died before he could accomplish that goal.  Nonetheless, the temple and grounds were lovely, particularly the sand sculptures.  There were two, a cone that stood about 6 feet tall and maybe 20 feet in diameter, and also an ocean depiction that was about 2 feet tall and about 40 – 50 across.  Both immaculately formed and raked.  Seemingly not a grain out of place.

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Another famous temple is Kinkakuji, or the Golden pavilion.  This one really is covered in gold leaf and is surrounding by beautiful gardens and forests where the forest floor has nothing other than numerous species of moss. The pavilion sits on a reflection pond that was flanked with purple irises. Unfortunately, this site was over-run with tourists so we did not dally. 

In addition to the shrines, temples and gardens, we felt very successful when we were able to use the Kyoto bus system.  I love traveling by bus as you really get to see a slice of life both inside and outside of the bus.  We have thoroughly enjoyed Kyoto.  We have barely scratched the surface of all of the sights.  Hopefully, we will return soon and continue our adventures. 

Ja matta.  Rachel