Kyoto
Vermillion Torii of Fushimi Inari temple complex in Kyoto
So, I’ll admit that my dad’s right. I’m getting a bit “hefty”, no thanks to long hours and fatty food at work. But after today, I should have lost at least 2 pounds. I woke up at sunrise and took a local train to western Kyoto to a neighborhood called Arashiyama. I took a morning walk through a bamboo forest and then along a river.
I made it back to the Shunko-In temple for the 9:00 AM meditation class led by Rev. Taka, who explained 2 types of meditation and led us through two 15 minute meditation exercises. It was pretty cool. Although I lost some blood flow from crossing my legs like a contortionist, I was able to hear a dragon fly amongst hammering and chirping and feel a fly weave its way through my leg hairs. (Sorry for the gross imagery?)
Hopefully to the relief of my crusading super-catholic parents, I didn’t become zen-buddhist. After the class, he took us on a brief tour of the temple grounds. Taka explained that some of the 300-yr old screen paintings in the temple’s possession belonged to Japanese christians that were living in hiding from persecution, and who hid Christian symbology in the paintings. The temple also has a bell from the 1700s, which has the Jesuit stamp “IHS” on it. As the story goes, Taka’s grandfather buried the bell during WWII to hide it from the Japanese army who sought metals to melt for weapons. An inter-faith delegation from the Vatican is scheduled to visit the temple to view the bell.
The class and tour ended with Macha (green) tea – like the tea in Japanese tea ceremonies, which is very different to what I drink day-to-day and some interesting tea biscuits. I was quite sad to leave the temple, but more of Kyoto awaited me.
Unlike my earlier experiences, my journey to my hostel in central Kyoto was pretty smooth. I didn’t get lost! I rented a mountain bike with good brakes (this time), and went to yet more temples called Kiyomizu Temple and Jishu-jinju Shrine. They were at the top of a very steep hill filled with tourist souvenir shops for good shopping. I had actually gotten lost in Kyoto’s Women’s University for about 1 hour and got lost for about 1 hour going up the steepest hill for about 2 miles before I decided I was lost.
I ended the day riding to Fushimi-Inari, which is a huge Shinto Shrine complex on a hill. Thousands of vermillion-red Torri gates arching over the paths that lead to the summit of Mount Inariyama. “Inari” was the shinto god of rice and sake, so to occasion I brought some Inari-sushi to eat along the hike amongst the many statues of foxes, which were Inari’s messengers.
Shinkansen to Kyoto
Kawaguchiko was quaint and relaxing but I was definitely glad to leave that that wet blanket. I hopped on the first train out to Tokyo, which was almost a 3 hour endeavour: Fuji-Yoshida Line to Otsuki, then transfer to the JR Azusa express to Shinjuku, then transfer to the JR Yamanote Line to Tokyo station. From there I caught the Hikari Shinkansen (bullet train) Kyoto. Along the way I ran into 2 other non-Japanese: Joe from Wales and Raquel from Brazil/Austrailia. It was good to speak with English speakers again, and share advice on what to do, where to go and how to do it. The conversation about Japan was always positive. I gave Joe a 15USD rain jacket that I ended up never using because it never rained, snowed or got colder than 50F on the mountain. I’m in denial about wasting money and try to recount it as “insurance”. Joe would have better use for it, since he’s been doing harcore hikes on the wettest and most distant areas in Japan.
The Shinkansen was ridiculously fast,and forking over the extra cash for the Green Car JR Pass – a.k.a. First Class! – was key in compensating for the abuse I imposed on my body for having to lug around the 20kg backpack from hostel to train station to hostel. I enjoyed my reserved seat in a 60 person-capacity car with only 4 people occupying it, while I ate my chirashi (a bed of sushi rise topped with the freshest of raw seafood like sea urchin, caviar, and yellow fin tuna) and green tea.
When the Shinkansen opened its doors at the city of Nagoya, my glance met a 6’2″ sumo wrestler dressed in a purple silk yukata and zori (straw japanese sandals). Contrary to some remarks made by ex-president George Bush, Senior; the Japanese are not actually that short, and this sumo wrestler definitely proved it. I tamed my paparazzi urges out of respect for this athelete, but managed to take a candid shot of him walking away at the Kyoto train station.
From Kyoto, I transfered to the local JR Sagano line a short 20 min ride/walk to Hanazono station in west/central Kyoto to the Myoshin-ji Temple (complex). Kyoto at first was a bit disappointing as it was not the picturesque Geisha-town that holywood had me believe. It was more industrialized, but when I entered the temple complex, I could not believe that I would be spending the night here.
When I arrived at the Shunko-In Temple (my accomodations for the night), I was met by a guy sporting a shaved head and wearing Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirt and shorts, watering the walkway and raking the gravel. I was expecting a greeting by a monk in traditional robes. Instead, I learned that Taka (Reverend Taka Kawakami) was the monk featured on the temple’s website. Taka had actually gone to Rice University and University of Arizona for his education.He led me to my room, which to my surprise was a traditional Japanese style room with tatami mats, sliding doors, elevated floors, and a sleep-on-floor style of bedding.
Shunko-In even had bike to use free of charge. I planned my route to Kinkaju-Ji temple, and had my first taste of urban riding in Asia – weaving through narrow streets, dodging pedestrians, and sharing narrow alleys with tiny Japanese cars. I took some time to figure out the rules of the road. The rules which are that no one follows the rules! According to the arrows painted on all the bike lanes, riders should stick to the left side of the path. Instead, it seemed to be a riders preference to choos to ride on the right or left-hand side of the path. Worse was that pedestrians didn’t really care about bike path vs. sidewalk. Somehow, everything worked out – the real rule was “survival”.
I made it to Kinkaju-Ji temple just 30min before they (and every other temple in Kyoto) close. This temple is also known as the Golden Pavillian, which was built as a retirement home for one of the shoguns. The main attraction is the pavillion, which is covered in gold-leaf.
With 2 hours left in the day, I rode like a madman through central Tokyo passing through the Imperial Palace grounds and Nijo-Jo castle.
I ended the evening by meeting up with one of my sisters roomates, Emily, who is doing a semester abroad and living in Kyoto. Eight of us met up at a real local’s joint called Jambo, which served Okonomiyaki. I’ve had this dish before in Manhattan, from a hole in the wall called Otafuku. But this was a real experience. 4 people sit at a table, with shoes removed and legs crossed (think traditional style). A grill occupies most of the table, where they cook right in front of you.
I ended the night taking some evening shots of the temple grounds in the dim light, and enjoyed my most relaxing night in Japan.
