Kyoto: April 9-11, 2011

Even though we just got back from our three week long emergency vacation, it was time for another holiday - this time to Kyoto. It was planned and booked way before the earthquake, and it was nice to get out of Tokyo again.

Kyoto is some 450km from Tokyo, but the super fast bullet train got us there in about two hours. It was very impressive. We arrived at Kyoto Station, which was incredibly modern for such an old city. It was based on a winning design submitted by a Tokyo professor. It remains controversial to this day, for its ultra-modern style in such a traditional Japanese city. The city itself was founded in 794 as the second capital of Japan (Nara was the first).

This wall near the station is completely covered by a net of small flower pots, and flowers of course.

Kyoto is surrounded by mountains on 3 sides and a river on one side. As the population grew, hygiene became a problem, especially when the river flooded. Outbreaks were common, and a series of rituals and festivals emerged to placate the spirits responsible for disease. This is one of the reasons Kyoto has such a rich culture and so many temples.

The city was heavily influenced by first the imperial court and the nobility. Then came the samurai which brought Zen Buddhism and the tea ceremony. The merchants were also an influential group in the forming of Kyoto. The city was destroyed by earthquakes, fires and wars, and power began to shift to Tokyo during the Edo period (1600-1868). The capital was officially moved to Tokyo in 1868.

Higashi Hongan-ji Temple was a short walk from the station, and is a very important temple in Kyoto, still in use. We had to take off our shoes to walk around the lavishly decorated, tatami-floored main hall, which was built in 1895 and claims to be the largest wooden structure in the world.
From the outside, it doesn't look so great since the entire structure is enclosed in a permanent type of scaffolding, almost like a hangar. They are really paranoid about fires here.
Next stop was Nijo Castle, which was built by the Shogun Tokugawa (1543-1616) to symbolize the riches of the newly established Edo-based shogunate. Ironically, in 1867 the last Tokugawa shogun resigned here, in the presence of Emperor Meiji. Meiji was responsible for the most formative years of Japan's history, in which he opened the country to international influence and introduced many modern services such as schools to promote universal literacy, hospitals and the post service.

Inside, Nijo is famous for its ornate paintings and nightingale floors, which make a bird-like squeaking sound to warn of possible intruders in a pleasant, musical way.

The castle also had beautiful gardens, with many cherry trees of course.
A view from the walls; you can see some of Kyoto's mountains in the background.
And even more flowers!

The moat and defense tower of Nijo Castle.

Toji Temple was founded in 796, and became the headquarters of an important sect of Buddhism. This temple is extremely important to the history of religion in Japan, and its 5-story pagoda is also the tallest wooden structure in Japan.

People buy charms and fortunes at temples. When they get a fortune they don't like, they tie it to something and leave it behind. There are special fence like racks to get rid of bad fortunes.

We got there shortly before the temple closed, but were lucky to get inside and take pictures of the pagoda and cherry blossoms. At least this guy had a giant tripod, so he didn't miss out on much either.
Our hotel had an excellent location, as it was convenient to get around to most of the city's attractions. The small alleys in the area were also very picturesque.
The day we were in Kyoto happened to be one of the two days of the year when the Imperial Palace was open to the public.
There were hordes of people and we got around by shuffling in a long line that wound through the palace grounds. Luckily we got there early, so there was no line to actually get in.
The main hall of the palace, which is also the throne room. To the left (in the straw hut for protection from the elements) is an orange tree, and to the right, a cherry tree. Both trees have important symbolic value, which I don't know.
The palace grounds also contained a Retired Emperor's Palace.

The grounds also had amazing stroll gardens - gardens which are meant to be walked through and their scenery enjoyed as the viewing angle changes. We were only allowed to see them from afar, but they were beautiful.

The park surrounding the palace grounds had some amazing flowering trees, not all of them cherry blossoms.
Kinkaku-ji, also known as the Golden Pavilion, is one of the most famous sites in Kyoto. It was built by the shogun Yoshimitsu (1358-1408) who relinquished his official duties (but still held onto power) and entered the priesthood. It was originally his retirement villa, but after his death a fervent follower directed that the complex become a temple. The temple was destroyed by arson in 1950, and this is a faithful reconstruction.

Ladies in kimonos are a common sight in Kyoto.
The three stories are totally covered in gold leaf and topped with a phoenix.
The Golden Pavilion is also surrounded by beautiful gardens. People were throwing 1yen coins at this statue, but we missed.
This cherry tree lined canal is known as the Philosopher's Walk, because a famous Kyoto University philosophy professor visited it daily for his morning stroll. There are many cafes, restaurants and craft shops along the route. We spent a big part of our day meandering along the canal, looking at the pretty flowers.

There are also many temples lining the canal, although we were too distracted by the cherry blossoms to visit any of them. This is a small cemetery next to one of the temples.

And this beautiful building is a cafe/restaurant/souvenir complex.
The cherry trees that were scattered on the forest covered hills were beautiful, since they looked like individual snow-covered trees.

This kid was showing off for me; he pretty much walked into my picture and started doing tricks. One second after I took his picture he fell off and bonked his head. He wasn't hurt at all and was totally happy, which made it super funny.

At the end of the Philosopher's Walk we stopped by the Nanzen-ji temple, which was built in the 17th Century. In the context of what we've seen, this temple was nothing special. Still, looking at these pictures, it's quite beautiful. If you spend enough time in Japan, you become desensitized because of temple overload.

This western-style Meiji-period aqueduct on the grounds of the temple is very famous. It also seemed kind of out of place.

Toward the end of the day we returned to our hotel, which was in the Gion District, Kyoto's most famous geisha district. The area started in feudal times, with stalls catering to the needs of pilgrims and other visitors. These evolved into teahouses (for satisfying a variety of apetites) and eventually Kabuki theater was introduced. There are still many bars, restaurants, and theaters in the area.

We had Japanese steak in a restaurant in one of these old wooden houses, before heading out to the theater to see a variety show of traditional Japanese art forms. We even got to participate in a Japanese tea ceremony.

Gagaku (literally meaning elegant music) is the term applied to ancient Japanese music. The word covers classical singing, dancing and instrumental music. Court music was introduced from China to Japan in the 8th century. Even though this court music died out in China, it flourished in Japan. The flutes and percussion seemed rather atonal at times.
The accompanying dancer was cool though.

Next on the bill was a scene from a Kyogen (ancient comic play). Kyogen pieces emerged in the 15th century as a kind of comic play that was performed as an interlude in a Noh play. Noh was heavy in symbolism and not spoken in everyday language, so this type of Japanese slapstick became popular. The play we watched was about two servants who drank all of their master's sake when he was out of town.

The Kyomai (Kyoto style dance) was performed by two Maikos. Maikos are Geishas in training and can be distinguished by their colorful collar; when they become Geishas, they will don a white collar.

Finally, we saw a scene from a Bunraku (puppet play). Unlike Western puppet theater, in Bunraku, the puppeteers are in full view. The main puppeteer's face is visible, and he controls the puppets head and spine. There is another puppeteer supporting the puppet and controlling its arms, while a third one controls the feet to create realistic walking movements. Bunraku emerged over 12 centuries as the popular entertainment of the people.

The Yasaka Shrine was established in 656 and originally called the Gion Shrine. Its deities protect from illness, and in 869 were paraded through the town to prevent an epidemic. This was the birth of the Gion Festival, one of the most important festivals in Japan. The shrine is located in Maruyama Park, a popular cherry viewing spot, so it was full of drunk people and carnival booths. This created an unusually jolly atmosphere for a religious site.

Lots of people were enjoying drinks and food at this outdoor restaurant set up under a ceiling of cherry tree branches.

We returned here the next day for lunch. Whenever the breeze came it would shake petals loose, so it looked like it was snowing.

A lot of the petals ended up in my udon...

This tree in Maruyama Park seems to be the symbol of the cherry blossom season. Its illumination was spectacular.

And by day...

Near the park was the Chion-in Temple. Actually, no matter where you are in Kyoto you will be near a temple or shrine; there are just so many! This gate is called a Sanmon, and is the largest such gate in Japan. It was built to proclaim the supremacy of the Jodo-sect Buddhism, of which this temple was the headquarters. We walked around the grounds and sat in the main hall where we watched an interesting ceremony, complete with chanting.

The grounds also had an interesting pagoda; only two stories tall and very colorful:

This little shrine had some interesting offerings...

... bottled drinks and cups of coffee.

We also explored one of the hill top gardens, which had a nice view overlooking the roof tops of the temple's buildings and the city of Kyoto in the background.

Near Gion is the district known as Higashiyama (Eastern Mountains). The district lay outside official city boundaries and was always more secluded and rustic. Also, since it was separated from the main city by the Kano River, it was spared many of the fires that destroyed Kyoto. As a result, Higashiyama is one of the city's oldest, unspoiled districts.

Mmm... Green tea ice-cream! It's the norm in Japan.

There are, of course, many souvenir shops. Rick wanted to steal this Totoro, but it was too big to fit under his jacket.

A shot of Higashiyama...

... and the reverse shot.
The Yasaka Pagoda is visible from many parts of Higashiyama, and is all that remains of a Buddhist temple that once stood there.

Geisha and Maiko are a fairly common sight in Kyoto, especially since Higashiyama borders on the Gion district.

Random sign post, with cute little monk statues.

Our last stop in Kyoto was the Fushimi Shrine. It's the most famous of the thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the deity of rice and sake, since it's located close to the sake brewing district.

The shrine is most famous for its avenue of over 1300 torii (gates), that have been donated by businessmen hoping to win favor from the gods and bring success to their endeavor.

I misread the guidebook, and expected a hundred gates, which would still be impressive. I was blown away to discover it was hundreds.
If you can't afford to buy an actual gate, you could buy these miniatures at small shrines scattered along the trail.
We followed the tunnel of torii to the top, where we got an excellent view of Kyoto right before sunset.
On the way down, we could see each gate had something written on it. One gate had text in English, and it was a company's name. If you read Japanese, you are bombarded with advertising.

Even though we were in Kyoto for only 3 days, we saw a lot. It's a very interesting city, and we could have easily stayed longer. Unfortunately, it was time to go back to Tokyo.

Kyoto get's two Japanese peace signs up from us.