D04 Kyoto

We fortunately ordered one western and one Japanese breakfast this morning, otherwise one of us would have been pretty hungry.  Japanese breakfast was pretty weird, although the sticky rice was fine. 

We collected our shoes (Jeri made sure she had the right ones)

 and bags and were off again on the “meandering road to Hakone Moto to try to get some photos of Mt Fuji.  Yasuko had called ahead and was assured that the mountain top and lower third were clearly visible.  Not so when we got there.  We were socked in with thick low clouds and poor visibility.  So much for Japanese forecasting.  

                                      

We picked up another bus here bound for the Shinkanean (bullet)train station in Nagoiyo.  The bus ride was about an hour with stops all along the way picking up and dropping off locals including an elementary school class on their way to a grocery store in the big city to observe the workers there.  They practiced their English on us, and we practiced our understanding their English.  They were very cute, though. One of them asked me how old I was.  When I told them sixty, they were astonished thinking I was much younger. Gotta love the honesty of children (LOL).

In Nagoiya, we purchased our bullet train tickets for Kyoto.  As we got on board, the clouds opened up and there, looming in the distance, was a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji.  The foreground was not ideal and the moving train not an ideal platform for photographs, but I made the most of it and fired off a few pix. 

                               

                                       

The train got us to Kyoto pretty quickly, but as we arrived, the weather, that had improved now deteriorated to overcast, rain, and high winds. The hotel shuttle was full and after much deliberation we decided to take a city bus.  For me, busses are torture, and tightly packed city busses with no air are the worst. On top of that, we had no idea how long we would be on it.  Yasuko (we think) said about 30 minutes, but by the time the sardine can got us to our stop and we were at last freed, it seemed more like an hour.  We then had a short walk to our hotel.  Checked in and were surprised to find out we were upgraded  (pays to overuse your Starwood Preffered Guest Amex) to a club room with access to the club lounge.  We dropped off our bags and headed back out for some sightseeing.  Fortunately, the weather here is a lot like home (including the temps-50’s-60’s), if you’re not happy with it, wait a minute.  The rain had stopped and it looked like it was trying to clear.  Our hotel was in a nice area, unless you wanted to do a lot of sightseeing.  Kyoto is pretty big (2^nd largest city in Japan behind Tokyo) with a human population of 6 million and a temple population of over 8,000 (of which I believe we saw every one!).   Kyoto was founded in 794 as Heian-kyo (capital of peace and tranquility).  It is bounded on three sides by mountains and bisected by a river..  This became the Imperial capital but the balance of power shited to Edo (to become Tokyo) during the Edo Period  from 1600-1868 when the Shogunate reigned.

Our first stop was  the Nanzen-ji Temple dating back to 1386.  This is the quintessential Zen Buddhist temple with every attempt made to create an air of peace and serenity.  

The Hojo or abbott’s quarters include rooms with paintings from the Momoyama period (1579-1674), a room with a waterfall,

 and a traditional “dry” (ie. no flowers) Zen garden for meditation.  The garden consists primarily of rocks and sand that is raked into patterns by the monks.

The temple’s main gate  was built in 1626 ads a tribute to people killed in the siege of Osaka Castle.

                               

Back when Kyoto was the Imperial capital, The Emperor Kameyama lived here in a sumptuous villa.  In front of the villa is an incongruous  western style red brick aqueduct.  It was built in 1890 as part of a canal project to bring water into the city from nearby Shiga.

The road from the temple is well know for tofu, with this huge tofu store and the best tofu restaurant (oxymoron???) in the world.

We walked from Nanzen-ji along a canal lined by early fall foliage

                                   
                                   

 to our next destination the Heian  (Shinto) Shrine built in 1895 to improve the city’s economy and morale which suffered after the Emperor move the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo in 1868.  

The architecture has many elements of China’s Tang Dynasty architecture including bright vermillion pillars and green tiles.

This picture nearly landed me in a Kyoto jail.  I saw no “no photo” signs and I took it looking out from the actual shrine, but it did draw the attention of one of the guards who seemed to be speaking very harshly especially for a Japanese.

We were now headed for the Gion Corner, the major (one of 5) geisha district.  In order to get there we had to employ my favorite mode of transport. Yuchch!  Geisha are professional female entertainers dating back to the 17^th Century and generally only seen in private clubs and restaurants.  They are not to be confused with onsen geisha whose activities include entertainment of a carnal sort.  Having a geisha perform for you at a restaurant could cost in the neighborhood of $200 on up. 

We elected to see a short show here instead which gave a smattering of different types of Japanese entertainment including:

Tea Ceremony (which originated in Kyoto (around 1500)

                                                  

Puppets

Short Comedy

Flower Arrangement

Dance

It was a good thing that the show was short, because Jeri and I were exhausted and slept off and on throughout.  I think we got the gist of it , though.  We elected to take a cab back to the hotel to avoid the dreaded bus.

After last nights adventure in dining at the ryokan, we almost went for a burger in the hotel, but decided to try a local hangout recommended by the concierge.  We got a bit lost walking there (hard to find and then understand the street signs), but it turned out to be perfect.  We were the only westerners there until another couple came from our hotel (apparently also sent by the concierge).  The only downside was that we had to eat on our knees again.  I’m not sure why, but the smoking section all had chairs.  Apparently it pays to smoke here in Japan.  We ordered udon noodles and shrimp tempura and left comfortably full and not a bank breaker.

Back to the hotel and off to bed, quite exhausted.