Kyoto Pictures

Bicycling in Kyoto

When we pulled into Kyoto station, Lori leaned over to me and said with smile, "It looks like just another big city!" I'm pretty sure she was kidding. Our plan: rent bicycles and cover as much ground as possible in two days. With hundreds of temples and shrines to choose from, it was difficult to whittle down the list. We spent the first night in the heart of the Gion district, which is famous for geisha houses (a.k.a. "the floating world") and traditional businesses. We visited the local Shinto shrine, Yasuka-jinja, and prayed to the gods to watch over us during our stay before spending the evening wandering the back alleys of Gion. Along the way, we saw many kimono-clad geishas and their apprentices, maiko, scurrying off to their next engagements. We rented bikes first thing Saturday morning and headed for Tofuku-ji temple in the southeast quarter. It was founded in 1236 and is one of Kyoto's five main Zen temples. It was early so we had it virtually to ourselves. Next, we headed north for Kiyomizu-dera temple, which is high in the Higashiyama hills and has a panoramic view of the city. The road up to the temple is lined with old shops hawking the local pottery. After Kiyomizu, we continued north to Ginkaku-ji temple, or the Temple of the Silver Pavilion. When you enter, the pavilion is the first thing you see and it's elegantly understated. (They never got around to the silver-plating.) Next to it are two sand sculptures: a enormous cone and a raised platform with a textured pattern. For me, the best thing about Ginkaku-ji is the garden path that weaves through the grounds. It's a meticulously maintained environment that's indescribably peaceful. Sublime! Saturday afternoon, we headed west across the north of the city toward Myoshin-ji temple, where we spent the night. But, along the way, we had time to stop first at Kamigamo-jinja, a Shinto shrine that's older than the city itself and surrounded by a forest which supposedly prevents you from telling lies. While we were there, a couple was getting married on the grounds of the main shrine and we managed to sneak a few pictures of the wedding party. Next, we went to Daitoku-ji temple, which is another complex of Zen Buddhist temples; it has a few subtemples which we really enjoyed. The first, Koto-in, has a moss and bamboo garden and a famous tea house. (The first picture on this page is of Lori on the path to Koto-in.) The second subtemple, Daisen-in, is home to a famous rock garden (which you aren't allowed to photograph). Both temples were small but well worth visiting. By this point, the sun was low in the sky, so we rode to Myoshin-ji temple, where we'd call it quits for the day. It's (yet another) Zen Buddhist temple complex in western Kyoto, and one of the subtemples, Daishin-in, allows visitors to spend the night. A full day spent visiting temples and shrines put us in a suitable state of mind. Again, not really able to communicate the experience in words or pictures, but suffice it to say, Daishin-in was basically pitch-perfect. We slept soundly in what seemed like total silence. Early the next morning, I went down for the daily service with the temple priest, and after an hour of sitting with my knees folded underneath, I thought I'd crippled myself. Breakfast was traditional vegetarian temple-fare and seemed extremely healthy. Afterwards, we rode to Kinkaku-ji temple (a.k.a. the Temple of the Golden Pavilion), a gaudy, gold-flaked peacock that seems to be one of the places everyone visits when they go to Kyoto. We almost had to wrestle our way into position for a clear picture -- crazy! We didn't stay long and I think we agree that it doesn't stack up with the Temple of the Silver Pavilion. Next stop: Ryoan-ji temple, which is one of my favorite place in Kyoto. It has a Zen rock garden that puts you into a trance state the longer you look at it. This time, it was crowded, which cut into the psychic peace-quotient, but I certainly still enjoyed Ryoan-ji, and I know Lori did, too.
Our last stop in Kyoto was Saiho-ji temple, also known as Koke-dera, or the 'moss temple.' Our reservations were for 1 p.m. but it was nestled in the hills south of Arashiyama and hard to find, so we almost didn't make it in time. Everyone first gathered in the main temple and, while the priest led a Zen incantation, we used the calligraphy brushes provided to trace the characters of the prayer. Afterwards, we each added our own prayer and offered it to the temple priests. Then we were free to wander the moss garden, which is why we had come. The leaves were just beginning to change colors and I'm sure it will only get better, but it was an almost perfect environment. Again, I have no idea how to begin to communicate the experience. Green of every shade, meticulously cared for. After Saiho-ji, I managed to get us lost on the way back to the station; we were both pretty zapped. But we made it back in time for our train to Nara. It's only 40 minutes away and was Japan's first capital, before Kyoto even existed. We met our friends Toshio and Shigeko, who we know from Charleston and who now live nearby, and had a lovely meal together. On Monday, they wagged work and showed us around. We first went to Horyu-ji, Japan's oldest surviving Buddhist temple. (And a place that every Japanese elementary school student seems to visit on their class trip. Every Japanese person seems to remember visiting Nara and Horyu-ji as a kid.) We also visited Todai-ji in downtown Nara. It's the largest wooden structure in the world (I believe) and houses an equally impressive Buddha sculpture. One of the best (and maybe the strangest) things about Nara was the hoard of deer wandering all around the different temples. There are hundreds of them and they're all hungry for whatever you have to offer. If you don't have anything, they quickly move on. When I was here in high school, a friend gave me a bottle of deer poop from Nara; it's supposedly lucky. Okay, I'm running out of steam, so I'll end here. If it's not obvious, we enjoyed our trip!

Kudo-san & Mejiro Gardens

This afternoon, we walked up the hill from our apartment to Mejiro to visit Ms. Michiko Kudo, Kudo-san, who is my pop's uncle Edwin's wife Etsuko's older sister. (Uncle Edwin was a marine during WWII and lived and worked in Japan for the State Department for eight or so years after the war. That's when he met and married Aunt Etsuko.) Now, what that makes me in relation to her, I'm not exactly sure, but she feels like family. She and her husband ran the store until he passed away, and now she runs it with her two children. I believe the store has been open for more than 60 years!

Today, we just stopped in for a quick visit and had some tea. She's very warm and kind, and it's truly nice to know we can visit her from time to time.

Japanese Gardens: Part Ni

With an amazingly clear fall sky overhead, we struck out last Monday for a couple of nearby gardens: Koishikawa Korakuen and Rikugien. Both are old -- Koishikawa Korakuen was originally part of a feudal residence built in 1629 and Rikugien was created in 1702 by the shogun at the time -- and neither disappointed. They're both pond-gardens with paths throughout. Koishikawa Korakuen is right next to an amusement park, and we could hear folks on the roller-coaster screaming their heads off. It didn't really matter, though, because the place was simply beautiful. The first five pictures are from Koishikawa Korakuen and the rest are from Rikugien. Tokyo is coming through with lots of green space -- more than we expected. These were as nice as any gardens we've seen so far. As for the random picture of the girl with the blue hands, it's from an indigo-dying outfit right outside of Rikugien. She invited us in and explained a bit about the process. She said we could come back for a class, and we just might. I've had my eyes out for indigo-dying shops but this was the first one I've seen so far. That's all for now!