First on the list today was Kiyomizu Dera temple in the hills of southeast Kyoto, an easy two stops south of Shane's station to the Keihan-Sanjo station. Shane stopped at one of the 7-eleven stores to pick up a crustless ham & cheese sandwich, I found that quite entertaining! We walked from the station up to the eastern foothills where the temple is located, using a quieter south street approach. At the entrance, there were hoards of school children! It was fun walking around the temple grounds in a sea of Japanese children on field trip. They were all about our height but it was easy to keep tabs on each other since we were the only blonde people there!
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| Kiyomizu Dera overlooking Kyoto |
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| Kiyomizu Dera |
At one point, I was on the main deck admiring the architecture when I was approached by a group of high schoolers who had to interview an english-speaking foreigner for their english class. They came up to me and asked if they could ask me some questions. The conversation went like this:
"Where are you from?" Portland, Oregon, USA.
"How long are you in Japan?" About 10 days.
"Is this your first time to Japan?" Yes.
"Have you been to Nara?" We're going tomorrow.
"What is your favorite Japanese food?" Sushi!
They thanked me and went on their way. It was quite fun! I was spotted by mom & Shane from across the deck and they started making their way over to harass me when they were soon roped into the same interview by other students of the same class! Very entertaining. We made our way along the temple grounds to the Otowa spring, the temple's keepsake. It is said that praying while drinking from the spring will grant your wish of health, love, wealth, & intelligence. The spring was a beautifully enshrined image of Kannon Bosatsu, with three branches of the spring pouring from the top of the roof down to a pool below. Visitors move through the shrine behind the spring falls. Metal cups with very long handles are kept in a UV box. Visitors grab a cup, use the long handle to reach out to where the spring water is falling, and take a drink.
Very cool! After the spring we made our way through the rest of the temple grounds. As we headed down the same quiet street we came up, Shane mentioned a little ice cream parlor that he and Ryoko had visited when she took him up here. We didn't find the same exact ice cream parlor but we did find a fantastic one. Shane ordered a green tea ice cream in a waffle cone with two little Japanese sweets on the side. Mom and I split an amazing Japanese version of an ice cream sundae. It had green, brown, and mango ice cream with pieces of fruit and cream, it was delicious! After the splendid dessert, we made out way back up to the temple to go down Kiyomizu-michi street, which is lined with all sorts of souvenir shops. We spent quite a few hours making our way down the street while finding souvenirs for our friends and family. While sampling Japanese sweets in a shop, we heard a ruckus outside on the street. We look out and see a handful of monks speed walking toward the temple, surrounded by a heard of supporters. Apparently the Japanese buddhist monks will pilgrimage from temple to temple, keeping a fast clip the entire time. I jumped up and ran outside to snap a quick picture of the last of the group.
After filling up my backpack with 15 lbs of ceramics and other souvenir gifts, we finally made our way back to the Keihan subway. We continued south on the train and got off at Fushimi-Inari station. Our next destination was the Fushimi-Inari shinto shrine. Fushimi-Inari is the primary shrine dedicated to Inari, the god of business. We walked along the paths on Inari mountain, which are lined with torii gates. Businesses will donate a torri gate in their name to pay homage to the god of business and ensure prosperity for their company. It's amazing because all the torii gates look the same going up the hill but you turn around to move back downhill and you see company names and information are all inscribed on the back of the torii gates, kind of like a giant advertisement on the walk back. Since it was all in conji, it sill looked beautiful. We spent a few hours walking the paths, enjoying the shrines, watching the many cats wander the mini-shrines. At one point, we sat down to take a break and Shane bulled out his shakuhachi to practice for a few minutes. Eventually we headed back down the hill. We passed statues of foxes, regarded as messengers. One fox holds the key to the rice granary, the other holds a ball shape of rice.
We hit up a small restaurant before getting back on the train to Shane's place. It was a delicious meal of fried pork on top of rice with partially cooked egg mixed in. It was delicious! We headed back to Shane's place where we relaxed for a few hours. After dinner we headed to the Greenwich Jazz House with Kim, Jessica, and Ryoko. It's practice time! We spent a few hours watching them practice. Chieko even had me play the mini-bongo drums and was impressed with my beat-keeping skills! She brought a couple of the crustless sandwiches filled with cream and fruit. I was kind of weirded out at first but then I realized that crustless white bread is not much different from angel food cake and that the treat was quite good. She also brought a delicious plum juice that she mixed with sparkling water, delicious! The songs they practiced where beautiful. Chieko wrote them down for me so that I could look them up: Tsuki ni yoseru nihon no uta and Kamon. After practice was finished, we said goodbye to Chieko, knowing we wouldn't see her again before we leave, and headed back home for an early morning trip to Nara.
"Where are you from?" Portland, Oregon, USA.
"How long are you in Japan?" About 10 days.
"Is this your first time to Japan?" Yes.
"Have you been to Nara?" We're going tomorrow.
"What is your favorite Japanese food?" Sushi!
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| Getting interviewed |
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| Otowa Spring |
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| Kiyomizu Michi |
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| Fushimi Inari shrine |
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| Fushimi Inari shrine |
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| Torii-gate walkway at Fushimi Inari |
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| Torii gates at Fushimi Inari shrine |
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| Music practice! |
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