Flickr

I want to share more photos with you. Blogger is just not the right place to do that. So, I finally gave into the urge to join yet another online community, Flickr. I can post bunches of pictures online that you can see easily.


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Nara Prefecture and Kyoto: Day Two (of two)

Woke up and had a nice breakfast in the hotel, then climbed in the bus for an hour or so to Kyoto.

We started off the morning at Rokuon-ji Temple. It’s better known as Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion. We were there around 9:30 am and the mid-morning light was perfect for photographing and viewing this famous and breathtaking building.

There was a great feeling of peace at the pavilion and the surrounding area, which climbs up a slope behind it. On the grounds are monks’ quarters, other shrines, a gift shop, and beautiful ponds and sculptures. After many hours on the bus the day before and knowing there would be more in the evening, I really enjoyed strolling around the grounds, soaking in the scenery, talking to Ayako, and taking some pictures. I picked up a nice postcard in the gift shop. As though the Golden Pavilion weren’t enough of a landmark, one of the large hills behind the temple is marked by a huge kanji, I believe in stone. (Think of places having a big letter on the side of a mountain or hill in the states.)

I mentioned taking a lot of pictures here, because I so much wanted to capture the simple and natural beauty of the place. There is a large bond surrounding the temple building called the mirror pond because it’s perfect satiny surface. The trees, the temples, the stones and hills are all exactly duplicated, upside down, in its still waters. Around all the outbuildings, shrines, statuary, and ancient walls (for which I have a bit of a weakness), the trees, moss, and grasses silently grow. I don’t recall the sound of any birds or the rustling of small creatures in the leaves, but I didn’t notice their absence at the time. But the feeling I have in my memory is one of an unstirring serenity.

The next stop was an other temple, Kitano Tenman-gu.

Their the plum trees actually were blooming. We took our big tour group picture here. I’m a big sucker and bought one! The guide walked us around and told us some things. I don’t know what said things were, because it was all in Japanese. My Japanese friends here have an amazing ability to translate mostly what I was actually able to pick out of what was said, but leave the rest out. I think it’s likely because those are the quickest and easiest things to translate between to very difficult languages. (I also think it’s very funny, if you ignore the part where I rationalize it.) He even walked us out a back exit and into the surrounding neighborhood to where the traditional Japanese fan dancing studios are, and an area that, I believe, used to house the geisha. On our way back in, we caught a glimpse at a couple coming into the temple for a traditional wedding ceremony. (I kept searching for them again, but no luck.) Then we had time to wander around the temple ourselves. What most caught my eye and the attention of my AA battery sucking camera (but really, thanks sincerelyAyako) were the plum blossoms, the great turnout of visitors (thanks to wonderful weather and the blossoms), and the orange color of many of the buildings’ trim.

I also managed a couple of photos of young girls in full kimono. Ayako then shared with me the detail that if you wear a kimono in Kyoto, you get a 10% discount everywhere, even if you’re gaijin (a foreigner). If only I had known. Over the shoulder the girl on the left you can see that she’s taking a picture of the plum blossoms with her camera phone. These are the kinds of contrasts I’m hoping to get good pictures of before I leave!

From here we hurried on, just as the rush of visitors was getting ridiculous, to a pickles shop. Now, pickles here means any kind of pickled vegetable, root, etc. We had set up a pickle tasting with complimentary wine. It was obviously a good deal for the shop, as I watched the slightly liquored up women buying loads of souvenir pickles here. (Everywhere in Japan is famous for a number of kinds of food. Food is the most popular souvenir.) This was also a very famous shop, and they obviously make their money, because the two story (at least) business looked like it used to be an art gallery, and the company decided not to renovate. It was beautiful and strange. And across the street from a former palace that we didn’t have time to go to on this trip.

The last temple we visited was Kiyomizudera, the Pure Water Temple. It was very big, and is famous for a sacred cleansing spring.

It is built on the side of a large mountain, and much of them main temple is supported by stories of scaffolding.

Large platforms allow you to look out at the city and down the paths to the other shrines below. One of the shrines a bit above the main temple is Jishu Shrine, dedicated to the deity of love. If you can walk from one end of this shrine to the other with your eyes closed, without stumbling (or running into people, I assume) you will find luck in love. I learned this by almost being bumped into.

A short note on good luck: Having good fortune, is, of course, very important. At shrines you can buy charms to bring good fortune (accompanied by virtues like hard work, of course) for so many things: passing examinations, safe driving, marriage, long life, conception, good health, love, love chance, love knot (not sure what this one meant), against disaster, and (at this shrine) your astrological sign!

Below the temple, are narrow streets lined with shops. Here we found face paper, soft serve ice cream (I got green tea and sakura leaf twist!), and curry for lunch. On the way up the hill to this temple, we had stopped near another tour bus for the guide to explain to us what was going on. Near the bus were standing two American young college-age guys (from Texas) who didn’t notice me at first. When our guide was done talking, they asked where we were going and were pretty much ignored. Then one of them noticed me. After a strange and somewhat rude conversation with him, I decided I should have answered him in French or Japanese! I’m starting to wonder what it will be like to adjust to living back home, or if it will be much of an adjustment.

On our way back to Tokyo, there was a lot of sleeping and resting. We hit some really nasty traffic trying to get back into Tokyo’s outlying areas on a Sunday night and were pretty late getting back home. When I got back to my apartment, I packed up and prepared to catch a plane the next morning to Nagasaki, to visit my friend from college, Ayako! (Obviously a different Ayako than the former student of mine who took me on this trip.)

Kyoto was fantastic and I think I’ll have to try to visit again before I leave; probably without the help of a tour group.

A Note: Picture-heavy blog posts are a pain in the rear for everyone. I'm setting up a flickr account so you can see lots more of my pictures. I'll keep you posted. Next up: Nagasaki