The day began with me looking out my hotel window and seeing the tallest pagoda in Japan. This majestic tower is part of Ninna-ji Temple complex. We did not visit the temple, but the image of the pagoda is a perfect example of how the new and old are juxtaposed here in the ancient imperial capital.
Our first official stop was at the Zen Buddhist Temple of Ryoanji. It is most famous for its rock garden. If you have ever seen a picture of a Zen rock garden it is probably from this temple. The garden contains 15 large stones, and if you are sitting and meditating in front of the garden, you cannot see all 15 stones. This re-enforces the idea that no one is perfect. My Fuji camera must be even more imperfect because I could only capture 7 stones at one time.
This temple is more than just a rock garden. It is set on a side of a hill just outside Kyoto. It has a beautiful lake, and you can just start to see the fall colors in this part of Japan. If you look closely, you can see a red tori gate on the island. The gate means that the island is home to a Shinto spirit or kami.
After the Zen temple, we went to Nijo Castle in the center of Kyoto. This was the second castle of the Tokugawa shoguns. They maintained their first castle in Edo(now Tokyo), but they maintained this castle in the imperial capital to ensure that the emperor did not become too powerful and try to remove the shogun as commander of all the feudal armies of Japan. The castle is famous for its nightingale floor. Underneath the floor boards are a series of nails and clamps so that the floor squeaks like the songs of nightingales. It is a pleasing sounds, but it was also a precaution against ninja or other assassins trying to creep into the castle and murder the shogun.
After the castle, it was off to another Zen temple, the Silver Pavilion. The original plan was to have the pagoda at this temple covered with silver. However, it was never done. Below you can see that pagoda is under renovation. Next to it, you can see a sand and salt Zen garden that was created for meditative contemplation. The temple's garden path led me to this view of the pagoda and the city of Kyoto beyond.
After so many temples, many in our group were glad to have a couple of hours shopping time at the Kyoto Handicraft Center. It had a lunch buffet and 6 floors of shopping excitement. It was a mixture of authentic crafts and touristy trinkets.
It was no surprise to discover that close to the handicraft center was another shrine. In this case it was the Heian Jingu Shrine. This was built in the late 1800's and contains the remains of two emperors of Japan. The emperor was once worshiped as a Shinto god. Thus, it is not surprising that this shrine has the largest tori gate in the world.
Inside most Shinto shrines, much of the work is done by pure young maidens. The one below is taking time to sweep.
We returned to the hotel to freshen up, and then it was off to dinner. We had shabu shabu. This means that in the middle of each table was a heated pot of water and oil. The waitress brought us vegetables and thinly sliced beef and pork, which we put into the heated liquid. When the food was cooked, we pulled it out and dipped into different types of sauces. It was quite good, much like Mongolian barbecue without the hot grill.
After dinner, we walked to the Gion district, the place in Kyoto where you can still be entertained by geisha. Though we did not have the money or inclination to track down one of these courtesans, we did go to the Kyoto Gion Corner. At this small theater, we were entertained by some classic Japanese art forms, like Bunraku puppetry. Three men controlled the one puppet shown below.
We have one more morning in Kyoto. It will rain again tomorrow, but that will not stop us from visiting one more temple. After that, we bus to Osaka where we will visit another castle before we prepare for our flight home on Saturday.Chuck Newell
Kyoto, Japan
10/23/08
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