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SC writes: After a leisurely journey yesterday we arrived at our latest rather nice hotel in Kyoto - near the station, free coffee, very nice Onsen, free bowls of ramen soup after 9:30 pm. Having dropped the bags and dealt with some ticketing admin. we set off for “the philosopher‘s path”: a very enjoyable walk alongside a small waterway, with all sort of interesting and enterprising shops and cafes along the way. After an hour or more walking we found the temple and garden we were after: the Ginkakuji Temple and surrounding garden. Small, delightful landscapes and some very extravagant, raked sand. See photos and think very large frustum of a cone (CJC’s: actually, you’re meant to think ‘Fuji!‘). Our sense of timing was off a little here as we arrived at exactly the same time as five distinct school groups, so we ended up sharing that garden with about 200 school kids. It must have been a Friday afternoon treat for them! ....or not. Anyway, it was very enjoyable and overall good start to our time in Kyoto in fine (hot even) weather.
Today we recovered our sense of timing as we discovered that the 25th of each month,
but only the 25th, means a large market up in the northern suburbs. We got there on a ridiculously busy bus... everyone wanted to go, and it was great. I’ll let Cathy take up the story...
(Cj writes) I do love a good market, especially flea markets and craft markets. This one combined both: some real old tat, some pottery that looked fairly cheap but actually cost 50,000 yen (£350 - for a small sake jar and cup), absolutely mountains of used kimono for 1,000 (£7) each, and even bigger mountains of things made with bits of old kimono ... and, of course, bits of old kimono to buy (some of them cost more than the whole kimono! Not shy of making a yen or two, these Japanese). Needless to say, I bought lots of bits of fabric - and Steve bought some too: I’ve already embellished one of his old hats with patchwork scraps and sashiko embroidery, and he has designs on me making a few more when we get home.
Back to Steve ...
Following our exertions in the exceptional market, we had to work our way over to the western countryside, in order to
catch the “Sagano Romantic Train” . This is a little private line that runs for only about 30 minutes, and about ten miles, but it runs through an amazing river gorge. I hope the pictures do it justice. By getting off one stop early we were able to take a short cut to a Bamboo walk that we’d had visited previously. It looked great in the afternoon sun. That in turn lead us to the Tenryu-ji Temple and garden. We spent a couple of hours there walking around, enjoying the views and even sat to contemplate the view - having learned the correct way to do that earlier on this trip. (Cj writes) Tenryu-ji is nowhere near as big as, say, Kenroku-en - but it has been a UN World Cultural Heritage site since 1994. First established in 1339 (Japanese history is as impressive as ours), it was last rebuilt (after burning down) in 1864. Wooden construction again - still, I suppose it all helps to keep the ancient Japanese expertise in woodworking alive. It’s a lovely garden, built up one side of a hill and with a large pool stocked with carp in front of the main building. Unusually,
all the trees are au naturel rather than being cloud pruned. A great way to end a really good, varied day.
SC concludes: Trains and gardens AND shopping all in one day. We rounded off the day with a trip on a tram to get back to base (a small private network out in the western suburbs), a Dim Sum supper and the by now obligatory Onsen. I’m now a fan of the cold plunge poor ! Brrrr!
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