Kyoto

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Kyoto

Kyoto was Japan's capital for more than 1000 years, and was the centre for only politics, but also religion, philosophy, art, culture and cuisine.

My challenge in Kyoto was to see some of these amazing historical sites whilst also avoiding the throngs of sheep-like tourists that tended to plague most areas around central Kyoto.

My first step to achieving this goal was to hire a motorbike, allowing me some freedom in the sites and areas i wanted to visit.

Hiring a motorbike in Japan is not an easy feat, however armed with my international motorbike license and a bit of research, I eventually found a place near Kyoto station that hired bikes to foreigners.

There were bikes of all sizes there, however as the bike I really wanted to hire would have cost around AUD$160 per day, I swallowed my pride and settled on a little, pink, 50cc automatic scooter...hehehehe. The rental process was quite an experience, as the man in the store spoke little English, so eventually we resorted to using an online text translator to conduct our conversation, with sometimes humorous results as the literal translations from Japanese to English can often make little if any sense. But we got there in the end, and with a final text translation for me, the english translation reading “please ride safe”, I was off. After getting mildly lost, I arrived back at my guesthouse for some rest in preparation for the following day of exploration.

Starting off early, I had grand intentions to travel East towards a mountain temple and from there continue on to more mountainous regions to the North. As I mistakenly thought my guesthouse was on the wrong side of the river to what it actually was, it eventuated that I travelled for quite some time in the wrong direction, and after a couple of hours I accepted that yes, I probably was a little lost. However this was not a lost cause (pardon the pun) as I had inadvertently stumbled on a very pretty, non-touristic mountain area of towering pine trees, cool mountain air, small local temples and quaint little villages. By early afternoon I was ready to get lost again, so I headed South along the river, and eventually accidentally came upon Gion, Kyoto's centre for high culture and also the main area where the geisha-san and meiko-san live an work (as seen in the book and film Memoirs of a Geisha). Gion is full of the old cobblestone street and wood-fronted teah houses, and away from the tourists, it is a very pretty place where history abounds.

Whilst meandering along a back street, I happened upon a photgraphic shoot of a girl wearing a Kimono, with old Gion in the background. I stopped to take a few snaps, and was later informed that this girl is actually a famous Japanese actress/model, and was told I was very later to see her without her being surrounded by fans.

Early the next day, full of grand intentions to visit several key temples as recommended by my Kyoto guide (whom I was to meet the following day), my well-worn map and I journed South to the first temple, which I surprisingly found after getting lost only a short time, only to find literally thousands of tourists shuffling along towards the main gates. Not surprisingly, I chose to keep riding by, and decided to locate the next temple on my list.

From indications give me to by my map, it was a fairly straight-forward journey, so I embarked on my mission full of zest and confidence that shortly i would enjoying the spectacular visions that this temple promised to show me. Two hours, noticeably low on zest and confidence, I had not located the temple, so decided to cut my losses and head back to Gion - a place where I knew the location of, and thus my zest and confidence returned anew.

On my fourth day in Kyoto, I partook of the Kyoto free guide service and met with my guide Takako.

Takako is a lovely lady, who speaks near perfect English. She has lived for several years in US, and since returning to Japan is now working as a translator for big corporates and visiting dignitary and diplomats. In fact, only a few months ago, she was the translator for our own Kevin Rudd, on his visit to Japan! She shared with me he is a very friendly man, who was very eager to show her his skills in speaking and writing Mandarin. He also knows a few words in Japanese. Prior to K-Rudd she was also the translator for John Howard, and more recently to the Singapore President. Obama is scheduled to visit Japan in a few months and I daresay she will be asked to work with him too. She is an amazing lady with a heart of gold, and I'm honoured to have met her.

Takako's husband is a highly esteemed Oncologist, who was working and researching in the US for some years, and is now conducting research in the field of cancer detection using PET. His work aims to detect cancer earlier when it is treatable and curable - I'm sure you all agree this is a noble and worthwhile cause.

The first stop of the day was Nanzenji temple, a beautiful group of temples each built in a different era, outside of Kyoto and far away from the throngs of tourists. When we arrived, there was hardly anyone there, it was fantastic!

We explored the different temples, and spent some time in an extraordinarily pretty Japanese garden - the photos really don't do it justice. We also sat in front of the zen meditation garden, a “dry garden” designed for the purpose of meditation, and with much symbolic meaning. This particular symbolises a family of tigers, the father and mother being the big rocks and the smaller rocks being the babies. The tigers are stranded on an island and are trying to cross the river, represented by the small stones that are raked before dawn every day by the resident monks.

We finished by sitting down to some Japanese tea in the temple's tea room, a traditional room with an outlook onto another beautiful garden, and spent some time there chatting and sharing aspects of our cultures.

Monkey Slipping tree - named for its slippery bark that apparently monkey's can't climb

After Nanzenji we visited a local shopping mall, where we took a tour of the local supermarket so Takako could help me to identify what the some of the strange foods I'd been seeing were.

A late meal followed, sampling Okonomiyaki, a dish cooked in front of you, with lots of vegetables, egg and seafood/meat if preferred, topped with dried smoked fish flakes, a barbeque type sauce, and mayonnaise.

After lunch we travelled to Takako's house for a pitstop (it is a huge honour to be invited into the home of a Japanese person, so I was accordingly very grateful) and then walked to nearby Bishamondo temple, one that Takako had visited often but never been inside. What a good thing it was we went inside, as it was truly amazing.

Bishamondo temple was originally built in the year 703, and after much destruction, was later rebuilt in 1665. It is a Monzeki temple of the Tendai sect of Buddhism, where Imperial family members would serve as head priests. This temple is also renowned for its weeping cherry blossoms in Spring and gorgeous autumn leaves, the former featuring on various marketing material for Japan Airlines, and the latter featuring on various promotion material by the Japanese Tourism board.

Once inside we were greeted by our temple guide, a local retiree who volunteers his time to help care for the temple. He was such a character, very friendly and very funny, and also spoke enough English for us to have a few laughs during the tour. Takako was fantastic in explaining the more difficult concepts to me, translating on the go like the processional she is.

The main feature of the tour are the paintings adorning the wall partitions in each room of the temple. Optical illusions, painting using reverse perspective, these images transform before your eyes as you move from one side of the room to the other. Seeing such images as the dragon on the ceiling guarding the emperor, whose eyes follow you as you walk around the room, to the fish who changes shape, and the boatman who changes the direction he is looking - all were highly entertaining, which was the original purpose of the designs. Apparently these rooms were waiting room where people who came to visit the emperor were asked to wait. Often the wait times to see the emperor were very long, and so the emperor commissioned these paintings for the inside of the rooms to keep his guests occupied!

Outside of the temple was another stunning Japanese garden, and the famous cherry blossom tree that is 150 years old.

We later stopped by the front gate to chat with our temple guide and his volunteer colleague. In the photo below you can see the other man writing in Japanese script with brush and ink - I learnt that many Japanese have a special book, which they bring with them when they visit a new temple, and get “stamped” so as to have a record of their visit as a keepsake.

After saying farewell to Takako, I travelled by to Kyoto city centre, and spent more time exploring the lovely Teramichi area for some shopping and dinner.

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Photos

Traditional Japanese Guesthouse
Where I stayed for 3 nights in Kyoto

Communication via the Internet
Through the help of the Internet, I managed to hire a motorbike and have a good chat to the guy in the shop too

Colourful foods in supermarket
Notice the beautiful tiny red roses