Kabuki Plays on Stage
A History of Japanese Religionkyoto
° Ise Peninsula ° Hakone National Park ° Kyoto
° Nara ° Narita ° Tokyo ° The Trains
° UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Kyoto, the capital of Japan for over one thousand years, will be the center of Japanese tradition and culture forever. It is the heart of traditional Japan and, as such, is one of the most beautiful, elegant, and artistic cities in the world.
Kyoto offers more than 200 shrines, 1,600 temples, three palaces, nine museums, and countless gardens. The shopping district offers a wide variety of fine arts and crafts, including pottery, lacquerware, bamboo, porcelain, and embroidery. Also, you can visit Uzumasa Eiga Mura, which is a theme park of Japanese historical movie locations. There is a pool and restaurant on site.
Buddhist temples that have stood for over a thousand years are alongside ultramodern department stores such as IseTan near the railroad station.
We enjoyed tea ceremonies, Kabuki theatre (which is easily understandable as the performers are superb at presenting and evoking emotion), walking the City, and visiting historical gardens such as Ryonji, famous for its raked sand gardens.
Ryoanji Temple (image left, middle) is famous for its mysterious rock garden, the most celebrated in Japan, which defies attempts at explanation. Enclosed by an earthen wall, fifteen carefully placed rocks drift in a sea of raked white gravel. A viewing platform right above the garden gives visitors an unimpeded view, although from whatever angle you view the garden, you can never see all fifteen stones. The temple was built in 1450 by a nobleman, Hosokawa Katsumoto, but no one knows for certain when the rock garden was made, who designed it, or what the designer's intentions were. While my daughter slept peacefully in our Inn in Kyoto, I took a bus over to this famous site; the elegant simplicity of the buildings and gardens were yet another highlight of travelling through Japan.
Another amazing site is the Kinkaku-Ji Temple, the Golden Pavilion. While it is quite easy to navigate Japan, we took day tours to sites such as the Golden Pavilion as we wanted to be able to concentrate on the site rather than negotiating to/from the site.
We also had a superb English-speaking Japanese guide for this trip who explained daily living in Japan in ancient times and now.
The Golden Pavilion is probably the most widely-recognized image of Kyoto: the small, graceful temple whose upper tiers, balconies and eaves are covered in shining gold reflected in the "mirror pond" with its small islands of rock and pine, Kinkaku-ji Temple. Originally built as a retirement villa for the retiring Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1409), the gold-leaf-adorned building was converted into a Zen temple shortly after his death.
In an event that was later fictionalized by the renowned author Yukio Mishima, a 21-year-old monk burned Kinkakuji to the ground in 1950. The temple was rebuilt in 1955, and continues to function as a storehouse of sacred relics.
In Kyoto, is it possible to cross paths with geisha as you stop for a snack at a tea house or local shop.
Also in Kyoto, if you want to bring something home from Japan, stop by IseTan near the train station. It is a high-end store with quality Japanese products. To the right are rows of geta in IseTan's shoe section . . . which also includes Western-style shoes. We purchased a few pair of wooden-soled geta with silk ties and we still wear them. They are exquisite. (If you are prone to bring gifts home for everyone, we recommend waiting until you fly out from Tokyo -- if you fly out from Tokyo. We spent overnight in Narita, which is a short train ride from the airport -- Narita is a sweet little town and has everything imaginable at reasonable prices. It was easy to bring gifts home from there, rather than lugging them around as we traveled.
We strolled on the Philosopher's Path alongside a steam on a hillside surrounding town, we enjoyed a late lunch on the banks of the Kamogawa River while watching Japanese teenagers flirt with each other. There remains a heart-warming innocence to the Japanese.
Nara
A trip to Kyoto means a trip to Nara, capital of Japan during the 8th century. Nara is a beautiful city with exquisitly preserved temples and shrines AND with tame temple deer that will follow you seeking treats.
We took a tour for this trip . . . booked the day before in a hotel lobby near Kyoto's Ise-Tan and the train station. The guide proved to be one of the most informative and amusing guides we've had anywhere ever. In addition to giving the historical background of everything we saw, he gave us a glimpse into Japanese life today, including marriage, eldest son status (i.e. the eldest son takes care of the parents and, as a result, sometimes has trouble finding a wife as Japanese women know they will eventually have to help with taking care of his parents), eating habits, schooling, etc. He was priceless; we learned far more than we would have from guide books or on our own.
The Todaiji (Great Eastern Temple), in Nara Park, is the world's largest wooden building, even though the present reconstruction of 1692 is only two-thirds of the original temple's size. This marvelous structure houses Japan's largest bronze Buddha statue. A popular attraction of Todaiji is a pillar inside the temple which has a hole in its base the same size as the Daibutsu's nostril. Everyone is invited ("challenged") to crawl through; it is said that those who can squeeze through this opening will be granted enlightenment in their next reincarnation.
The temple deer are hysterical. More than 1,000 tame deer roam through the 1,250 acre Nara Deer Park; they follow visitors around seeking treats (which are sold on site). If they think you have food for them, they are, quite literally, in your face. Their little noses push into pockets and purses. They are harmless, beautiful, charming and silly.
|
Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude