Trip To Kyoto late April 2011

We begin our journey to Kyoto early morning as you can tell by my face on the Shinkansen, the bullet train.

Ed gets to check one off his list of things he wants to do.  We both wanted to go to Kyoto so I guess that is two things for Ed.

This is the Japanese garden which was our view from the restaurant at the hotel. The ANA Hotel is very nice.

 So the rain is once again with us on our adventures, we are on our way to Gion which is Kyoto's most famous geisha district. 

 

Gion attracts tourists with its high concentration of traditional wooden machiya ,traditional wooden townhouses, merchant houses. Due to the fact that property taxes were based upon street frontage, the houses were built with narrow facades only 16 to 17 feet wide, but extend up to 65 feet in from the street.

 We have tickets to see the Miyako Odori , Japanese geisha show. The most famous geisha show held in Kyoto by geisha women belong to Koyto Gion Kobu.  Every thing seems to be famous in Gion. This is the outside off the theater and gardens.  There are still cherry blossoms about.

 These two geisha young ladies were waiting with a distinguished gentleman with the rest of us before the show.

Before the show everyone is invited to a formal tea ceremony.  We are brought into a large room with rows of tables and we are each given a souvenir plate with a sweet cake, which we eat and  wrap up our dish then the tea is distributed, to everyone after the guess of honor receives his.

Tea Ceremony

Preparing the tea.

Serving honored guest.

 Inside the theater. Oh, we can't take pictures inside so I will have to include examples.

 Miyako Odori is composed of eight scenes in total.  It starts to depict a scene in spring and then moves to scenes in summer,fall,winter and spring for the finale.

I wish we could have taken pictures it was all so very beautiful.  Each scene tells a story.

 The finale with about sixty dancers is very impressive and lavish.

 We then went to visit the Kodai-Ji Temple.  There are around 400 Temples and 1700 Shrines in Kyoto.  We did not see them all and I hope I get the correct names with the right pictures on the rest of the ones we did visit.

 The temple garden landscaped by Kobori Ensyu (1579-1647).

 These teahouses were designed by Sen-no- Rikyu, a famous 16th century tea master.  They were moved to their present location from Fushimi Castle in southern Kyoto.

One of the temple gardens with their trade mark raked gravel.

 

Accent up to the temple

 Bamboo Forest on the walk down from the highest point of the Temple grounds

 

The Ryōzen Kannon  Temple is a war memorial commemorating the Japanese who died during World War II. It was closed by the time we finished coming down from the Temple next door to it. It is huge. 

The Shikrakawa Area which runs along the canal.  The canal is lined by willow trees, high class restaurants and ochaya, tea house, many of which have rooms overlooking the canal.  So, we stopped and had dinner.

 

Yasaka Shrine was first built in 656 AD. It was dedicated to Susa-no-o, the god of prosperity and good health, and his wife and 8 children. Most of the buildings that remain today are from a reconstruction in 1654.

Back at the hotel for evening drinks.

Day two In Kyoto, we are going to Nijo Castle which was just across the street from our hotel.  It was originally built in 1603 as the official Kyoto residence of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu and completed in 1626 by the third Shogun, Iemitsu. To safeguard against treachery, Ieyasu had the interior fitted with "nightingale" floors.  Intruders were detected by the squeaking boards and true enough they squeaked while we walked through.

Past Nijo Castle

Present Nijo Castle

Front Gate

 Guard House, 50 guards where housed here.

 Karamon Inner Gateway, after passing through the gate, you enter the Ninimaru palace which is divided into five buildings with numerous chambers. Only the highest rank were permitted into the inner buildings.

Ohiroma, this was a hall of great importance to the shogun where  he personally meet with groups of feudal lords.

Again no pictures, but I did want to share the beauty with you.  This is inside, one of the chambers the shogun used for his private meeting quarters.

The shapes of the tigers are strange because the artist had not ever seen a tiger in real life and drew the pictures from using actual skins that were given to the shogun as gifts.

These were the ladies in waiting

Ninomaru Garden

The gardens were completed in 1965,when trees, rocks and part of a mansion of wealthy merchant were relocated to these grounds.

We loved the cherry blossom trees.  This was at the end of the season in Kyoto.

 Walls surrounding the grounds, Ed wanted you to see the size of the stones used.

Inner Moat the walls are almost 50 feet high.  It originally accommodated a five story tower.  The Emperor Gomizumo-o climbed for a magnificent view of Kyoto.

We are back in the Gion area visiting the Kiyomizudera Temple which was first built in 798 and devoted to Juichi-men, an 11-headed Kannon, God or Goddess of Mercy. The present buildings were built under Iemitsu, the third Tokugawa shogun, dating from 1633.

 This main hall has a huge veranda that juts out over the hillside and is supported by 139, almost 50 feet high, wooden pillars.  We just climbed all the way up here.

Up these stairs is Jishu-jinja, the "Love Shrine".  Visitors try to ensure success in love by closing their eyes and walking about 60 feet between a pair of stones, if you miss, your desire for love won't be fulfilled.  Lucky for me I made it.  A group of young girl students asked if we would take a picture with them.  We haven't got the promised email just yet.

Our young friends sent the picture!!  A wonderful group of young ladies.  Thank you!

Sad but this is a shrine to aborted babies.  Each of the little statues represents an aborted baby.

Area for washing hands before praying in the temple

Before we entered the Temple we looked, without success, for the Tainai-meguri which figuratively speaking you enter the womb of Daizuigu Bosatsu, a female Bodhisattva who has the power to grant any human wish.  Maybe we get a few points for looking.   This is the Temple.

You can see the wooden pillars and the huge veranda.

We are starting our way down. You can see the Yasaka Pagoda in the distance.

Otowa-no-taki spring, where visitors drink the sacred waters believed to have therapeutic properties. I can't remember why but I did not drink from the spring maybe the long line.

On our walk back to the train station down the hill and through the large crowds of people with shops lining the street the whole way.  As you can see, rain is no reason to stay inside.

 This is our third and last day.  The sun is shining and it is a beautiful day.

Small Shrine we passed on our way to the market.

 The dragon water spout to wash your hands before praying

The shrine

We think we are there.  We are looking for the Nishiki Market.  Ed loves going to the market places.

We found it. Nishiki Market is the greatest food market and one of the best shopping streets overall in Kyoto.

It is the best place to see all the unusal ingredients that go into Kyoto cuisine.

 This is Katsuobushi, dried shaved fish flakes, that is used  for making stock also as garish and flavor a variety of Japanese dishes.

Ed and I were tempted to buy a few dishes but we thought the asking price was a bit much.  We did buy a hand painted fan and a vegetable cutter that cuts vegetables and cookies in the shape of a dragonfly from different shops, of course.

We had a snack here. It was chicken I believe.

Vegetables and such

Nuts and candies

Sucking oysters

 

 Salted something

Fresh octopus

Making very good peanut brittle

We know they are baby octopus on a stick, but we are not sure if they are candied or just died.

It has been wonderful.  We really like Kyoto.  I think it would be a lot easier living here for it is not quite as busy as Tokyo and life seems to move slower.

 Shinkansen, the bullet train, speeds us back to Tokyo.