Kyoto Day 1: Shrines and Temples

7/10-7/13 Kyoto Trip

Well the breakdown of this tip is going to be in parts because we did we way too much in Kyoto to put in one post.

Thurs. night YR, Kevin, our friend Zac, and I all met at 11pm in Shinjuku to catch our night bus. From there it was about a 6 hour bus ride to Kyoto. Of the four of us only YR got more than 2hrs of sleep during the ride. There were also two pit stops which were both refreshing and frustrating at the same time. Frustrating because they both happened right when I was on the verge of falling asleep. When we did arrive we couldn't get into our hostel until 8am so we looked for a place nearby where we could eat breakfast. We found the perfect little hole-in-the-wall joint. It didn't have a sign with it's name, the owner's dog was asleep on the floor, and the counter was strewn with papers and various odds and ends. Basically one of those places where if the food is delicious you don't ask why and just enjoy your meal and if the food is bad you again don't ask why and just never go back. Luckily for us it's hard to screw up the standard breakfast set of coffee, a hardboiled egg, and toast. We played cards until it was time to go to the hostel were we left our bags in the staff room (because even though it was open we couldn't check in for a few more hours), put everything we needed into my little draw string duffel and Kevin's bookbag and got to it nice and early.

Our first stop was Todaiji. (oh yeah these names may not all be completely correct but they should be at least pretty close to what they're actually called) This was a Buddhist temple with a very big pagoda and many other buildings. There was a lot to see and everything was very old and very beautiful. You weren't allowed to take pictures inside the temples but they were each home to about 10-15 giant golden Buddhist statues. Next we meandered through a park that we saw and hung out in a clover field for a while. I even found a four-leaf clover!

Next was lunch at Kyoto Station. First we all went and bought our shinkansen (bullet train) tickets to go home on Sun. Then YR and I ate really good Italian food at Kyoto Station and we all caught our bus. With a helpful tip from the guy at the hostel we had bought a 500yen bus pass because that is the best way to get places in Kyoto. We were first going to go all the way to Ginkakuji and work out way back down to the hostel but I saw that our bus stopped at Kiyomizudera and because I had heard about it I really wanted to go. I was convinced there was a really big waterfall there.

At the temple there was a ton to see. I would love to go back one day and explore more of it. What we did get to see was really amazing. One of the places to purify yourself was a dragon (not a flying horse this time) and the water came from its mouth. We also went into a place called the "womb". You had to take your shoes off and go down steps. There was no light (you actually couldn't see your hand in front of your face) and you had to hold onto the "prayer beads" that composed the railing you held onto to find your way (I still ran into the wall) and that led you to the womb. In there was light shining on a rock with a symbol on it (it wasn't Japanese but something else) that you put your hand on and made a wish. A very fun experience to walk through the complete darkness underground at a Buddhist temple. Then we went searching for my waterfall. We followed signs that had a kanji that included river and neck. We thought that had to be leading to a waterfall. We found out later, after seeing this set of kanji at almost every place we went that really meant we were on the "usual path". What we actually found was a place almost like a waterfall. The water flowed from three spout over the roof of this small platform and you reached out with a dipper to fill your cup and drink. It's supposed to be for wisdom and health (or something like that) and we asked if we could fill up our water bottle and surprisingly enough were told yes. So all day long we drank lucky "wish water". It was a good thing they let us because Kyoto is disgustingly hot and humid. Our clothes were soaked through all day long. It was pretty gross.

Next, we bused to kinkakuji, the silver pavilion. In a way it was big let down because it was under construction so you couldn't really see the pavilion at all. We did see a large pile of sand that represented Mt. Fuji and a field of bees. There were also several types of moss including "moss the interrupter" and "VIP moss". I bought some souvenirs here so hopefully I contributed to the speedy reconstruction of the pavilion.

Next, was the search for Gion Corner where we (not YR) wanted to see a bunraku (puppet play) performance because we thought we had to buy the tickets beforehand. It was still closed (we actually found a back entrance, completely missed the do not enter signs, and got chastised for trespassing before finding the correct entrance) so we decided to come back later. So then went to Yasaka Shrine and relaxed there. There were portable shrines there in preparation for the Gion Matsuri (festival) that would start shortly after we left. After chilling at a little pond there we tried to go to Chionin Temple but it was already closed for the day. So instead we went to Pontacho-ate. This is a street where all the night life is supposed to be and we wanted to find a restaurant were we could have a geisha serve us. Unfortunately, we seemed to be a little too early and a little too foreign to figure out how to do that. We just went to a Tai restaurant and ate there. It was really good but no geisha service.

After dinner YR left and the other three of us went back to Gion Corner to see the bunraku. When we got there, we found that what we thought was only bunraku was actually a bunch of different traditional Japanese performances in one go. We paid our $30 and got to see chado (tea ceremony), koto (the stringed instrument I have pictures of in a previous post), kado (flower arrangement), gagaku (traditional court music), kyogen (traditional comic play), kyomai (Kyoto style dance performed by maiko, the geisha in training), and finally bunraku (puppet play). They were all really interesting but clearly the performances were tailored for foreign audiences. Not that I minded hearing both English and Japanese explanations but there were a lot of tourists there (yes, I was one of them, but I'd like to think I'm a superior tourist to the average Joe-no offense Daddy-with no clue about any of the meaning behind things). I especially enjoyed the comedy. Not only was there an English synopsis in our pamphlet but I could understand enough of the Japanese (though it was hard because they were speaking way old-school style) to find it funny. It was great getting looks from the kind of obnoxious Americans in front of us when laughing at parts that weren't blatantly humorous by the actors actions.

After that we were ready for nothing more than to shower and sleep. But first there was the requisite meeting of our roommates. That first night in our eight-person room it was me and seven guys. Of course three of them were the guys I was traveling with and the other four were traveling together. Three of them were deaf but we talked to the one guy who could hear and through him communicated with the rest. Right when we were finally getting ready for bed we were told that YR had met some interesting people in the lounge and that there was a vending machine with Chu-hi (flavored beer). Once the guys found out I had never had Chu-hi before it quickly became apparent that we still had enough energy left to remedy this. There were two English guys, a french guy, and an American girl all talking to YR when the three of us joined them. We bought our beer and played a massive game of BS. Which was followed by a some very interesting rounds of that game where you write a famous person's name on a piece of paper and stick to someone else's forehead without them seeing it. Once everyone has their new unknown identity you begin asking yes or no questions to try and figure out who you are. There were some really fun ones including Godzilla, a British guy who couldn't figure out he was Winston Churchill, and Kevin as Barbie. We did this until about 12:30ish and then finally went to sleep.

That concludes Day 1 in Kyoto the next installment will be out soon. For now some pictures.

Zac took a picture of us three WFU students on our way into our first sightseeing stop: Todaiji (YR, me, Kevin)

Some of the temple as well as the part of the pagoda we could see as we first walked in.

Gettin' my meditation on.

Godzilla Cynthia at the pagoda. We spent a lot of time taking shots like this here.

On our way to Kiyomizudera we saw these two maiko. They had to be so hot in those kimono.

The first thing you see at Kiyomizudera, which is shortly followed by...

...the sight of this.

The cool dragon (not Pegasus) to purify yourself (also very refeshing in the heat).

The "waterfall" at the temple. It was fun to reach for the water and a lot harder than it looked to fill up the cups. YR and I paid 200yen and bought special cups to stick out there and that we got to keep.

You stuck your dipper into the UV sterilizer after you were done. Smart move but slightly incongruous to see it right there next to the water.

This is the best shot I have of ginkakuji.

This represents Mt. Fuji.

Here all the types of moss you can see at the shrine. The three main types are: (from left to right if you can't read it in the picture) "inhabitants of ginkakuji", "moss the interrupter", and "very important moss (like VIP)".

Even though the pavilion itself was under construction, there was still a lot to see.

The group still at ginkakuji (Kevin, YR, me, Zac)

Yasaka Shrine

Portable shrines for the upcoming festival. It would be so cool to see these carried down the streets.

The nice little park-like area inside the shrine. To the far left you can see a heron (I think).

The Chionin Temple that was closed.

The river side of Pontocho-ate...probably...I was kinda turned around at this point, but we had just left the street so it makes sense that this picture in some way might contain some of the street in it.

Kado. A lot of my pictures from Gion Corner where blurry. Probably because I had to try to take pictures from wierd angles because the lady in front of me kept moving into my view.

Gagaku-traditional court music. There was also a costumed dancer but you can't see him here.

In the kyogen the two servants got tricked into being tied up by their master because he was afraid they would drink all his sake, but as you can see they managed to drink it anyways.

Kyomai

Bunraku. There are three puppeteers but only the master is allowed to not have his head covered and he gets to operate the head and right arm of the puppet.