Everything in Japan seems to be backwards from America. You get on the back of the bus and exit the front. Everyone drives on the left side of the road. Escalators are never going in the direction you’ve naturally grown to expect them to. They read books from right to left! Anyway, there’s my bit of wisdom for the day. Since I wrote, I’ve fallen madly in love with meat buns from Family Mart. This is a Bad Thing because they’re Very Fattening. Ah, well.
So on Monday afternoon two weeks ago Julia C and I headed out from the Doshisha campus, determined to enjoy a thoroughly sunny and warm day. We decided to explore the Golden Pavilion, figuring that it wouldn’t be too full on a week day. Boy were we wrong! I’m assuming that as it’s such a beautiful and famous location, it’s constantly chock-full of tourists. That didn’t stop us from getting the same glorious picture everyone and their mom has managed to snap, free of people in colorful Hawaiian shirts and sun block clad noses. The entire complex is gorgeous to say the least, and does not simply consist of the aptly named Golden Pavilion, which I suppose is really just a very big tea house. It’s been renovated since it was originally built by Yoshimitsu in the Ashikaga period of Japan. The complex originally boasted a great series of buildings, but only the Golden Pavilion stands today. Additionally, it was partially burned down at some point, but has of course been renovated back to its original beauty.
Afterwards we hopped on a bus to Nijo Castle, where many a shogun spent his days in the Edo period. Alas pictures cannot be taken within the breathtaking building that is the castle itself, made up of meeting rooms, libraries, arms rooms—though all now cleared. Every room has elaborately painted shoji screens and sprawling tatami floors. Surrounding every room is the famous nightingale floor, which squeaks when walked upon. Unfortunately it’s seen so many tourists and groups of middle schoolers that it no longer has what I’m sure was the amazing effect of catching the footfall of every passerby. That was, indeed, the reason the floor was built, so that the shogun might hear assassins.
On Tuesday afternoon I began kimono wearing lessons. I originally had wanted to take kimono sewing lessons, but as that went right out, I opted for the next best thing. I find it’s sort of a kitschy thing for a foreigner in Japan to be doing, but I suppose it’ll prove to be a handy skill perhaps at least once in my life. I am taking the lessons from Mamiko’s host mother, who is a good teacher…though she keeps inadvertently calling me fat and tall…neither of which I happen to be in America! I’ve taken two lessons and can now successfully get everything on except the obi, which she claims is faster than most Japanese people, however I don’t think I believe her!
On Wednesday we went to Sanjusangen-do, where I’ve been before to see the 1001 statues of the god Kwannon Buddha. After that we went climbing up Daimonji, the mountain with the kanji for “big” written on it. They set it on fire every August because Japan is crazy like that. Though not a particularly arduous hike, I found myself out of breath after about thirty minutes…guess I need to go running more often! It really was worth it, climbing to the top of the mountain just as the sun was setting. We stayed at the top for about an hour, enjoying the sight of Kyoto at night. It was absolutely breathtaking…both literally and figuratively! Despite the exhaustion the next day, I was absolutely thrilled to have gone, especially after having scared the ever loving you-know-what out of most of the group by hiding behind trees in the dark and screaming at them!
Lets see…that brings us to Thursday! Thursday was a particularly exciting day, having both the Jidai Matsuri—the festival of eras, and the fire festival on Mt. Kurama. I had originally intended attend both, but was too sleepy for Kurama. Thus Jenna and I headed off to the Jidai Matsuri during lunch, snapping as many photos as humanly possible. The Jidai Matsuri consists of a huge parade, which begins at Gosho—the Imperial Palace grounds across from Doshisha—and walks all the way to Heian Jingu, a Heian period shrine also in Kyoto. The parade begins with the Edo period, people riding horses in full costume, all the way back to the Nara period!
Then I suppose the next order of business is less than a week from then, when our class headed up Mt. Kurama. There’s a lovely story about Mt. Kurama and Mt. Hiei and how the two mountains love each other but are separated by the Kamogawa River…but I’ll save that for after I climb Hiei on Tuesday! Anyway the path up is longer than Daimonji, but not nearly as hard. The weather was perfect and the trees were beautiful, as in that area of Kyoto, they are finally feeling the effects of fall. The day was cool, with patches of warm sun. The view from the top boasted rolling mountains, one after the other. The main shrine at the top is where Yoshitsune supposedly learned to fight from the tengu. In the main temple complex I lit an incense stick for my cousin who is being adopted from Congo. Then I prayed to Yoshitsune higher in the mountains in a place that is supposedly cursed. Anyway the most notable thing about the brochure for Kurama is the second paragraph which reads as follows:
“More than six million years ago, Mao (the great king of the conquerors of evil and the spirit of the earth) descended upon Mr. Kurama from Venus, with the great mission of the salvation of mankind. Since then, Mao-son’s powerful spirit governing the development and the evolution not only of mankind but of all living things on Earth has been emanating from Mt. Kurama, and a priest named Gantei received the spiritual transmission.”
What?
Clearly this Buddhist god is Sailor Venus.
Friday was not actually Halloween, but that's when we celebrated it! We went to an all you can eat, all you can drink pizza place. On Halloween I ended up just watching some movies with some friends and eating even more disgusting amounts of pizza.
Anyway, this week I played it pretty easy other than the trek up Kurama. Had a few playdates and a sleepover…so mostly just relaxing, which a girl needs once in a while, even if she lives in Japan! Tuesday is a national holiday so our class voted to climb Mt. Hiei that particular day…because we clearly hate ourselves and would rather go mountain climbing than sleep in. Hey, I’m up for it! Friday is shopping at Uniqlo and Teramachi…so culturally important, I know :3
Ti-eye-double-guh-err and ta-ta for now!
So on Monday afternoon two weeks ago Julia C and I headed out from the Doshisha campus, determined to enjoy a thoroughly sunny and warm day. We decided to explore the Golden Pavilion, figuring that it wouldn’t be too full on a week day. Boy were we wrong! I’m assuming that as it’s such a beautiful and famous location, it’s constantly chock-full of tourists. That didn’t stop us from getting the same glorious picture everyone and their mom has managed to snap, free of people in colorful Hawaiian shirts and sun block clad noses. The entire complex is gorgeous to say the least, and does not simply consist of the aptly named Golden Pavilion, which I suppose is really just a very big tea house. It’s been renovated since it was originally built by Yoshimitsu in the Ashikaga period of Japan. The complex originally boasted a great series of buildings, but only the Golden Pavilion stands today. Additionally, it was partially burned down at some point, but has of course been renovated back to its original beauty.
Afterwards we hopped on a bus to Nijo Castle, where many a shogun spent his days in the Edo period. Alas pictures cannot be taken within the breathtaking building that is the castle itself, made up of meeting rooms, libraries, arms rooms—though all now cleared. Every room has elaborately painted shoji screens and sprawling tatami floors. Surrounding every room is the famous nightingale floor, which squeaks when walked upon. Unfortunately it’s seen so many tourists and groups of middle schoolers that it no longer has what I’m sure was the amazing effect of catching the footfall of every passerby. That was, indeed, the reason the floor was built, so that the shogun might hear assassins.
On Tuesday afternoon I began kimono wearing lessons. I originally had wanted to take kimono sewing lessons, but as that went right out, I opted for the next best thing. I find it’s sort of a kitschy thing for a foreigner in Japan to be doing, but I suppose it’ll prove to be a handy skill perhaps at least once in my life. I am taking the lessons from Mamiko’s host mother, who is a good teacher…though she keeps inadvertently calling me fat and tall…neither of which I happen to be in America! I’ve taken two lessons and can now successfully get everything on except the obi, which she claims is faster than most Japanese people, however I don’t think I believe her!
On Wednesday we went to Sanjusangen-do, where I’ve been before to see the 1001 statues of the god Kwannon Buddha. After that we went climbing up Daimonji, the mountain with the kanji for “big” written on it. They set it on fire every August because Japan is crazy like that. Though not a particularly arduous hike, I found myself out of breath after about thirty minutes…guess I need to go running more often! It really was worth it, climbing to the top of the mountain just as the sun was setting. We stayed at the top for about an hour, enjoying the sight of Kyoto at night. It was absolutely breathtaking…both literally and figuratively! Despite the exhaustion the next day, I was absolutely thrilled to have gone, especially after having scared the ever loving you-know-what out of most of the group by hiding behind trees in the dark and screaming at them!
Lets see…that brings us to Thursday! Thursday was a particularly exciting day, having both the Jidai Matsuri—the festival of eras, and the fire festival on Mt. Kurama. I had originally intended attend both, but was too sleepy for Kurama. Thus Jenna and I headed off to the Jidai Matsuri during lunch, snapping as many photos as humanly possible. The Jidai Matsuri consists of a huge parade, which begins at Gosho—the Imperial Palace grounds across from Doshisha—and walks all the way to Heian Jingu, a Heian period shrine also in Kyoto. The parade begins with the Edo period, people riding horses in full costume, all the way back to the Nara period!
Then I suppose the next order of business is less than a week from then, when our class headed up Mt. Kurama. There’s a lovely story about Mt. Kurama and Mt. Hiei and how the two mountains love each other but are separated by the Kamogawa River…but I’ll save that for after I climb Hiei on Tuesday! Anyway the path up is longer than Daimonji, but not nearly as hard. The weather was perfect and the trees were beautiful, as in that area of Kyoto, they are finally feeling the effects of fall. The day was cool, with patches of warm sun. The view from the top boasted rolling mountains, one after the other. The main shrine at the top is where Yoshitsune supposedly learned to fight from the tengu. In the main temple complex I lit an incense stick for my cousin who is being adopted from Congo. Then I prayed to Yoshitsune higher in the mountains in a place that is supposedly cursed. Anyway the most notable thing about the brochure for Kurama is the second paragraph which reads as follows:
“More than six million years ago, Mao (the great king of the conquerors of evil and the spirit of the earth) descended upon Mr. Kurama from Venus, with the great mission of the salvation of mankind. Since then, Mao-son’s powerful spirit governing the development and the evolution not only of mankind but of all living things on Earth has been emanating from Mt. Kurama, and a priest named Gantei received the spiritual transmission.”
What?
Clearly this Buddhist god is Sailor Venus.
Friday was not actually Halloween, but that's when we celebrated it! We went to an all you can eat, all you can drink pizza place. On Halloween I ended up just watching some movies with some friends and eating even more disgusting amounts of pizza.
Anyway, this week I played it pretty easy other than the trek up Kurama. Had a few playdates and a sleepover…so mostly just relaxing, which a girl needs once in a while, even if she lives in Japan! Tuesday is a national holiday so our class voted to climb Mt. Hiei that particular day…because we clearly hate ourselves and would rather go mountain climbing than sleep in. Hey, I’m up for it! Friday is shopping at Uniqlo and Teramachi…so culturally important, I know :3
Ti-eye-double-guh-err and ta-ta for now!
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