An Escapade in Japan -- Part 4

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Kinkakuji (The Golden Pavilion) and Nijo Castle

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My notes for 21st February consist of the following:
21-Feb-2009
1) Travel to Himeji on JR pass (8:50 Hikari shinkansen)
2) Put the luggage in the locker (600 yen)
3) Walk 10 minutes to Himeji castle, spend about 1 hour.
4) Alternatively, take the Loop Bus from Station.
5) Take the Himeji -> Kyoto train (14:59 Hikari shinkansen)
6) Buy Kyoto Subway One-day card at station. (600 Yen)
7) Use it to go to the hotel (Kyoto->Karasuma-Oike->Keage)
8) From the hotel, take subway to Nijojo and take ‘Raku’ bus 101 to Kinkakuji. Come back to Nijo castle by 101 bus and take subway back to Keage.

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This was the plan for 21st but we did not follow it.

Avinash was keen to see the Himeji Castle. Forts and castles interest him more than the shrines. However, I pointed out to him that he will be fully busy in the conference for three days i.e. 22nd, 23rd and 24th and on 25th we would be leaving Kyoto for Nara and Tokyo, so, if we did not see Kyoto sights on 21st, he may not see them at all and all said and done, Kyoto shrines ARE the highlights of a Japan trip.

So, we dropped the plan to visit Himeji and travelled to Kyoto from Hiroshima. We did see the Himeji Castle in the distance as our train passed the Himeji station but that remained just an ephemeral vision with us.

We took a taxi from the station to the hotel and checked in.

Like all conferences, this too was in a five-star hotel, which is situated at a very inconvenient place, away from the station. The only reliable, nearby means of transport was the subway.

It was already midday when we checked in and all shrines close at about 4:00 PM or 5:00 PM in Kyoto. So we decided to see only two sights and accordingly, took the subway to the Kitaoji station, from where we were to take the 201 ‘Raku bus’ to the Kinkakuji shrine.

We got out of the subway train and checked the map at the station that showed a big bus-terminal adjacent to the subway station.

We came out of the station but there was no bus-terminal. Only a row of soporific suburban houses faced us.

We thought perhaps it might be on the other side of the station and so walked to the other side.

No bus-terminal on this side also. There was just a parking lot there.

Once again we circled the whole Kitaoji station but there was no sign of any bus-terminal anywhere near it.

“What did you do to the bus-terminal? How did you make it vanish in the thin air?” Avinash asked me querulously. Just because I do the travel-planning, he thinks that all such problems are of my creation.

I too was highly puzzled but there was also a sense of having read somewhere on the Net about a similar experience by another tourist. He too had circled the station and inferred that there is no Kitaoji bus-terminal.

Anyway, we had to find it, so we started asking people about the bus-terminal. No one had ever heard of it.

We accosted two young men and asked them the directions to the bus-terminal and explained to them that we wanted to take a bus to the Kinkakuji and we were also prepared to take a taxi.

‘Kinkakuji?” they asked.

“Yes.” I replied happily.

“We will take you there in our car because it is on our way.” they offered.

(All this conversation was in broken English, mind you.)

In the absence of any other alternative, we had to accept this offer, though we were feeling a bit awkward about it.

True to their word, they left us at the entrance to Kinkakuji and sped away.

Once again we appreciated the basic helpfulness of the Japanese people and thanked them. We do not even know their names but one of them worked with DHL and the other did not.

There are thousands of shrines in Kyoto but Kinkakuji is one of the most important ones in all Japan. Not for nothing is it covered in gold-leaf, lending it a special aura. It just shimmered in the afternoon sun and its reflection in the pond was equally attractive. Its setting is also beautiful as the whole area around is carefully developed like a Japanese garden, taking care not to disturb its natural beauty.

From Kinkakuji, we took the 102 Raku bus to Nijo Castle.

We had missed Himeji, which is the biggest castle in Japan but found Nijo Castle quite impressive. Especially impressive were the paintings of peacocks and other birds on a golden background as well as the wooden carved panels. Those ‘shoguns’ did quite well for themselves and lived in quite a style, right?

Of course, there is always a sword hanging over a crowned head and the ‘shoguns’ had to guard against the ‘ninjas’ ( NOT turtles, you dummy!) employed by a rival.

(In fact, there is nothing comic about real Ninjas. They were trained, unprincipled spies specializing in underhand practices like assassination, sabotage etc. which won’t be touched by an honorable Samurai with a ten-foot Samurai sword, because these lowly martial arts are against the bushido, i.e. code of honor of a Samurai.)

That is why the outside corridor of the shogun’s palace had a ‘squeaking’ wooden floor, which was a sort of alarm set off by the stealthy steps of a ninja bent upon mischief.

The usual fortifications like the moat, draw-bridge, donjon-keep are universal features of a castle or fort, be it in Japan, Germany or India.

The most appealing was the Japanese garden and the flowering Plum trees, even though it was winter. In fact, only the plum trees were in flower while the other trees like Cherry trees were awaiting the advent of the Spring, to blossom.

The only part of the planning that we adhered to on this day was coming back to the hotel by the subway.

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Photos

Kinkakuji
Kinkakuji reflected in the pond

Kinkakuji
The Golden Pavilion

The pond
The pond in the Japanese garden at Kinkakuji

Fortifications
The strong fortifications not only against enemies but also against earthquakes. These walls reminded us of Inca walls in Peru.

The donjon-keep
The donjon-keep of Nijo-jo

The spooky trees
We saw many of these trees in Japan. They look alright in the daylight, but imagine seeing them at night and you would get nightmares. They would look at though they are trying to get their talons in you. Spooky, eh?