The weather being sunny and warm, we headed out on Wednesday afternoon with David, our History of Kyoto professor, to see the sights and learn about them historically. We first went to the Yasaka Shrine which is in Gion, the district of Kyoto most associated with Geisha, or as they call them in Kyoto, Geiko. We saw two girls who, at first, appeared to be maiko—lower ranking geisha—but their kimono and hair turned out to be incorrect. Thus we wandered away from Yasaka Shrine and trekked first up to Ryozen Kwannon, A Tribute to The Unknown Solider. It is a (somewhat kitschy) World War II memorial with a large Kwannon statue that looks like stone, but is actually metal and hollow. One can walk through it and view small statues of each of the animals of the Chinese zodiac. In another building is a collection of note cards written in Japanese and English of the names of American and Japanese soldiers as well as those who died in work camps during World War II. From there we walked to the Kiyomizu Temple, a large temple propped on the side of a mountain. The view is incredible to say the least. From there you can see both Toji Temple and Kyoto Tower as well as a large expanse of the city and the mountains on the other side. Kyoto is surrounded my mountains so it seems to me that a decent view is to be found as just about every corner.
After leaving Kiyomizu, Jenna, Kyle, and myself met up with Lizzy, a friend of mine from Smith who is currently attending Nanzen in Nagoya. With her we met the “usuals” who geisha hunt. Essentially these people come by after work or whatnot and snag pictures of geiko and maiko on their way to appointments. Some are more intense than others, such as the self-proclaimed geisha paparazzi, a man who gets closer than necessary to get the perfect shot. He apparently has a website somewhere. Anyway, some of the maiko and geisha are happy to have their photos taken, however, others are less than pleased to be followed by the cameras. I managed to get a few pictures, but once the sun began to set, getting a shot of quality becomes difficult; the flash cheapens the vibrant kimono colors.
Friday night everyone was feeling a little homesick and so we set out to find an Irish Pub. Kyoto certainly delivered and we found a pub with Guinness on tap, beef stew, and apple pie. This of course created our new phrase, “when we’re feeling homesick, we’ll come here…to Ireland!”
Saturday we headed to a shrine near Doshisha for a festival. It was somewhat small and because we had missed the opening ceremony, wasn't as hopping as we thought it might be. In addition the Kyogen theater wouldn’t be till the next day. Ah, well. We were treated to a practice round of the archery competition that would come later in the day.
Today we went to the Toji Temple market, which occurs once a month. Tons of vendors show up to sell fresh vegetables, delicious smelling octopus balls, handmade wares, old dolls, kimono, obi, and other such whatnots. While I went to find old dolls, I ended up only getting kimono! One is a gift so I won’t be posting a picture of it, but the other is above lookin’ sexy. I call it my Tim Burton kimono. It was cheap so I have no problems with turning it into a bustle! I also got two obi. One is red with a nice pattern and I intent to display it on my dorm room wall next year. The other is an obi that matches the Tim Burton Kimono in no way at all, but I’ll be wearing them together anyway. It is my David Bowie obi because the colors and fabric remind me of Ziggy Stardust. Hopefully there will be more dolls on display next month!
Weather permitting we’ll be heading off to Arashiyama for the day on Wednesday. This weekend we’ll hopefully make it to Nara to chill with the Daibutsu and the squeaky deer.
After leaving Kiyomizu, Jenna, Kyle, and myself met up with Lizzy, a friend of mine from Smith who is currently attending Nanzen in Nagoya. With her we met the “usuals” who geisha hunt. Essentially these people come by after work or whatnot and snag pictures of geiko and maiko on their way to appointments. Some are more intense than others, such as the self-proclaimed geisha paparazzi, a man who gets closer than necessary to get the perfect shot. He apparently has a website somewhere. Anyway, some of the maiko and geisha are happy to have their photos taken, however, others are less than pleased to be followed by the cameras. I managed to get a few pictures, but once the sun began to set, getting a shot of quality becomes difficult; the flash cheapens the vibrant kimono colors.
Friday night everyone was feeling a little homesick and so we set out to find an Irish Pub. Kyoto certainly delivered and we found a pub with Guinness on tap, beef stew, and apple pie. This of course created our new phrase, “when we’re feeling homesick, we’ll come here…to Ireland!”
Saturday we headed to a shrine near Doshisha for a festival. It was somewhat small and because we had missed the opening ceremony, wasn't as hopping as we thought it might be. In addition the Kyogen theater wouldn’t be till the next day. Ah, well. We were treated to a practice round of the archery competition that would come later in the day.
Today we went to the Toji Temple market, which occurs once a month. Tons of vendors show up to sell fresh vegetables, delicious smelling octopus balls, handmade wares, old dolls, kimono, obi, and other such whatnots. While I went to find old dolls, I ended up only getting kimono! One is a gift so I won’t be posting a picture of it, but the other is above lookin’ sexy. I call it my Tim Burton kimono. It was cheap so I have no problems with turning it into a bustle! I also got two obi. One is red with a nice pattern and I intent to display it on my dorm room wall next year. The other is an obi that matches the Tim Burton Kimono in no way at all, but I’ll be wearing them together anyway. It is my David Bowie obi because the colors and fabric remind me of Ziggy Stardust. Hopefully there will be more dolls on display next month!
Weather permitting we’ll be heading off to Arashiyama for the day on Wednesday. This weekend we’ll hopefully make it to Nara to chill with the Daibutsu and the squeaky deer.
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