Kyoto

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After Takayama, we headed to Kyoto, again such a beautiful train trip out of Takayama! We were quite excited to see Kyoto as only heard such great things about it.

And right from the beginning it impresses.

Firstly is the train station which is this massive modern structure. Not all agree with it as it is very modern in a town know for its history, but we liked it! Just beside it is the Kyoto Tower and just past that is this huge temple! What was weird about this temple is that it seemed to have a really awful modern building in the middle of it. We later found out it was temporary scaffolding - one that even had a full on lift in it!!

Our first tourist stop was the Golden Pavilion, and you could tell we had finally hit on the tourist route! (for both foreigners and Japanese) there were people everywhere getting photos. The lake with this gorgeous Pavilion on it was beautiful. You could not go into the building and can only wander the grounds but it was lovely so no problem there. The whole site was a Zen temple that dated back to the 1200's. Most building have been destroyed except for the Pavilion, which has been restored but does date back to the late 1300's. I may be wrong in this as a lot of building in Japan, while the site dates back centuries and the buildings look how they did back then, they are actually newer buildings as the original has been destroyed in fires, earthquakes, bombings etc. That leads me to one of things that made me laugh in Japan. You can smoke in restaurants there but not outside in the streets!

After the Pavilion we wandered down to the Imperial Palace, but didn't go in nor were the gardens particularly exciting.



Later that night we wandered in to the main area and soaked up the atmosphere! we wandered down this gorgeous laneway full of nice bars and restaurants and tea houses - we even had a quick glimpse of a geisha - which excited 3 tourist beside us so much they raced down this little laneway to hunt her down!



The next day we did a tour I would highly, highly recommend. It was Johnnie Hillwalkers Kyoto Walking Tour. Awesome!! It is a 5 hour/3 km walking tour around Kyoto. Johnnie has been a tour guide for over 50 years and the walk has such a range in it - it is not a hard walk (though it is hot!) and you explore and learn alot. He started in the large temple I mentioned earlier and that is how we discover it was scaffolding hiding the largest wooden building in Japan. He explained to us about the religion in Japan and the difference between temples and shrines.


Shrines are for the Japanese Gods. They are recognizable by their torii gate - simple wooden structure. There are different gods for different things and you pass through the gate, and need to cleanse yourself before going in. There is usually some water to the side and after a particular way for cleaning yourself (scooping water over your hands and into your mouth) you go to the 'alter' ring a bell and clap your hands to alert the god and then make your prayer (apparently the god can be out so this is like your modern day door chime).


Now Temples are for the Buddha. Temples are recognized by the big elaborate gates you enter. Now most countries people are either one religion or the other (or neither). In Japan most people are both. This is because the main Buddha there is for the dead. It seems (as explained to us by Johnnie) that as far as religion goes the Japanese basically took what then need. So while they have all their gods, none looked after the dead, so when Buddha was introduced to the Japanese they discovered that one 'Amida Buddha' looked after the dead. so they embraced him, but along with their gods - not instead of. They like Amida because he accepts everyone - whether good, bad, religious or not. The Indian & Chinese do not recognize the Japanese Buddha.


Basically I liked the Japanese way of religion - made much more sense to me! A god for a range of things (we visited one for your head, one for women) then another for the dead who accepts you no matter what. then there is the service - either you to the temple or the priest can come to you and the service is 10 minutes! Nice!

Ok please remember this is just a rough overview of what we were told this blog is long enough without all the details!


Johnnie also took us through different old parts of Kyoto explaining how whole streets and families work together to make different things - prayer beads, fans etc. It was also good as he explained how it was and how it is today. We also learned about Geisha's and all that has impacted on their culture. As I keep mentioning the tour was good as you saw different parts of Kyoto, learned about Japan's religion, history and culture and the different things effecting it. Johnnie has been doing these tours for years and is a great source of info.




The following day we headed to the Inani Shrine - a shrine just a couple of stops from Kyoto. This shrine has thousands or the torii gates following paths throughout the mountains. - very picturesque the green of the woods with these bright orange gates everywhere. You start wandering up the paths and its is very peaceful - at one point you come across a small lake full of these huge cod, turtles and surrounded by cats and shrines. At another point you come to a little stop where you can sit out and enjoy a view over Kyoto and have a beer - perfect!




In the evenings we wandered around the Gion area - a great old area with little alleys, canals and some great restaurants, tea rooms.

Kyoto is really lovely and well worth its reputation for a must see!

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