Nara and Temples and Shrines

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Guess what, Lucy started us again at 8:15 – is ok? What can we say – of course, Lucy, we will be ready to go! So off we went to the countryside to the town of Nara. Founded in 710, it became one of Asia’s most splendid cities in its 74-year spell as Japan’s first capital. It became the grand diocese of Buddhism and the far eastern destination of the Silk Road.

Nara Park has over 1,000 tame (very tame) deer. We all feed them the “cookie crackers” you could buy to feed them. They are regarded as messengers of the gods. The main item to see here is the Todai-ji Temple which houses the “Great Buddha.” The body is 50 ft. tall!

Walking from the Great Buddha, (of course, uphill) we went to the Kasuga Grand Shrine which has over 3,000 stone and bronze lanterns. We saw a wedding taking place as well as several families in another part dedicating their children. It is great when we are able to see the “people life” activities taking place.

We had a good lunch and we are both getting pretty good at chopsticks! After lunch it was off to see the Kofukuji Temple with a five-story pagoda. It is 164 ft. tall making it the 2^nd tallest in Japan. Then one more shrine – Fushimi Inari – we only went to the entrance. By this time we were “shrined-out” and it was starting to rain plus it was all uphill the rest of the way. This was the shrine of a 1,000 gates and we did not want to see them all!

We got back to the hotel around 5 and had dinner on our own. I had Lucy write on a piece of paper “plain cheeseburger” and we headed down the street to McDonalds. The girl smiled and chuckled when I handed her the piece of paper AND I got what I wanted!!!

Kyoto Day One

October 23rd Saturday

We hit the trail running early today and in our guide Lucy’s voice “Is OK to start 15 minutes early?” Actually, She has said this every morning which is fine because there is so much to do and see. I won’t be writing much today other than naming where we visited, but be sure to check the slide slow pictures. We saw so many amazing antiquities (Charlie says, translation – old things) and stunning gardens!

We started off the morning with the Kiyomizu Temple which is one of the most famous in Japan. It was a steep walk up and lots of steps!

Next was the Sanjusangendo Hall where we could not take pictures. We did take a picture of a post card for the slide show. This was the hall of 1,001 gods with lots of arms and 11 heads to help people for everything! Supposedly, they were called Kannons.

Nijo Temple was next – which also allowed no pictures on the inside. It was quite impressive. It was build almost entirely of Japanese cypress and has beautiful woodcarvings and paintings from the Kano School. One of the neatest features is its so-called “Nightingale floors.” To protect the shogun from enemies, special floorboards were installed which creaked when someone walked upon them in the corridors. The floors really do sound like they are “singing” when you walk on them. Outside was another beautiful garden. (We do have pictures of the garden in the slide show, but again we had to take some pictures of actual postcards of the inside because no photos were allowed.

All of the above we visited before lunch – it was a very full morning! (Actually it was an Advil morning – tons of walking up and down hills etc). We had our lunch at the University of Kyoto’s Faculty Dining Room. It was a lovely lunch and it was so nice to sit down!

Then off we went again starting at Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion) which was beautiful! This was constructed in the 1390’s as a retirement villa for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiitsu. It is covered in gold leaf with a roof topped by a bronze phoenix. The reflections in the pond are beautiful. As with all of these temples, there was another lovely garden – this had a blue heron in the pond.

The day was not finished yet – off to the next temple, Ryoanji, where the famous part was the Zen Rock Garden. This was laid out in the 15^th century. One is suppose to sit here and contemplate what was trying to be communicated by the 15 rocks. I decided that it represented the 7 continents – the way they were clustered…….Charlie thought they were big rocks on top of smoothly raked small rocks – oh well!!

By this time, I think that I was on my 3rd dose of Advil! We got back to the hotel around 5, but we weren’t done for the day…..Lucy decided to have us all go and experience “Okonomiyaka” commonly known as Japanese pizza. It was a lot of fun. You sit at a table for 4 with a center cook top. You order what meat, vegetables etc you want and then they bring it in a bowl which you mix up. For example, I ordered shrimp and leeks and Charlie got cabbage and pork. So I got a bowl with flour, water or soup stock, egg, shrimp and leeks. I mixed this together in the bowl and then they have you pour it on the grill in front of you spreading it out. You cook it on both sides and when it is done you “paint” it with a sauce which we think was like a hoison sauce or tonkatsu sauce. It was really good and we want to try this when we get home. I actually “googled” Okonomiyaka and recipes came up for it.

We still were not finished for the day. Lucy walked us through the Gion District which is where the nightlife is as well as some teahouses used by Geishas.

It was truly a great day and Lucy is amazing. She is around 60 and never stops. We can’t keep up with her. So the busy day meant that this blog from yesterday is being posted a day late – we were exhausted! Do be sure to look at the Kyoto slideshow.

Mary's Birthday

Friday, October 22, 2010

We spent the morning at our “Home Hosted Visit” – this is something that our travel company – Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) always has you do at some point on your tour. This is something we are not very excited about – it does push you out of your “comfort zone.” Believe me, this is really true in some of the places we have been to – picture me eating guinea pig in Cusco, Peru! OK, I have to be honest – I slipped it onto Charlie’s plate! Or some remote village in Turkey (we had no idea where we were) walking up the hillside after a woman to her home for lunch – she knew no English and we did not know any Turkish. We all smiled a lot.

Well, so off we went in a taxi with another couple for our visit this morning and it was delightful! It was a husband and wife, retired, and we had a great time. First, they showed us their garden which was beautiful and well cared for – he talked about all the elements the Japanese want in their gardens. You could tell how much they enjoyed their gardening. Next, we went into the house for tea and a sweet bean curd cake. During this “Kane” talked about his hobbies – horses/dressage – he actually got the “Order of the Chrysanthemum” award from the emperor for his long contributions to equestrian activities. (This award is one of the highest awards in Japan.) He shared some haiku that he had written – his wife read it in Japanese for us. She spoke almost no English. They took us all over their house telling us about everything – explained their Buddhist shrine they had in one room and the Shinto shrine they had upstairs. They practice both religions.

Towards the end of the visit Kane did calligraphy for both couples – it means “One Life – One Encounter” – we were very touched. It was just a very special time.

Just before noon, we headed back to the hotel, picked up our luggage and we all headed to the train station. We had a 2 hour train ride to Kyoto. We are here until the end of “tour” part of the trip before we head out on our own.

We had a yummy western dinner tonight and now are getting organized for a full day of sightseeing tomorrow!

Mountain Villages and Crafts

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Today we took the optional trip out to the remote mountain regions of Shirakawa-Go and Gokayama. This is an area of steep thatched houses because the area is under deep snow from December to March. Historically, this area was a refuge for the defeated and persecuted. Less than 150 of these houses still remain and are designated as World Heritage sites. It was just fun to roam around here.

We stopped at a paper handi-craft workshop where we all got a chance to make paper. The process they use here to make paper makes a paper that lasts a long time! They say 3 to 4 hundred years.

We enjoyed a good lunch of “soba” noodles, a special dish with tofu and also some tempura. It was the best food we have had – at least I think so!

Then on the bus again and we headed to another area of Shirakawa where we made rice cakes – Mochitsuki. Oh, I forgot, we stopped at Murakami House which is the oldest “gassho-style house” in the area. We saw the Kokiriko Dance here.

We got back to the hotel a little after 5 – it was a long, but very interesting day!

We just did not realize how beautiful Japan is - we have been in several valleys that we felt like we were in Switzerland. The people, truly, are so friendly.

Tomorrow we are off to Kyoto.

Kanazawa

Wednesday, October 20^th

We started our tour of Kanazawa by going to the Kenrokuen Gardens. This is one of the “great 3” gardens in Japan and is truly beautiful. We can’t imagine how it must be when all the azaleas are blooming. It was established in the mid-17^th century and opened to the public in 1871. Kenroku-en means “garden of six qualities” (desirable in Chinese gardens) -spaciousness, seclusion, air of antiquity, ingenuity, flowing water, and views. It is a stolling-style landscape garden.

We continued touring the city by visiting a samurai house, museum of traditional arts and crafts, a sake brewery, and the Kanazawa Gold Leaf factory. We did get a stop for lunch at a place in the “geisha district.”

Later in the afternoon we returned to the hotel and had free time to roam around. A group of us had dinner at an Italian restaurant – enough fish!

Bullet Train

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

This was excitement day – we rode the Bullet Train – the Shinkansen – we were on Hikari-507. While we were waiting for our train there was a bullet train about every 5 minutes that went through with a big “whoosh!” It looks like a bullet that goes at the speed of light. Actually, it only goes around 140 MPH. They are beautiful trains. We were on it for an hour and a half and then changed at Nagoya for Kanazawa which was a 3 hour ride.

We are here for 3 nights. This city was historically shielded from outside influence by its location between mountains and sea. They say that when Japan modernized, Kanazawa focused on culture. This helped it escape WWII bombing.

Tomorrow we visit Kenroku-en Garden which is suppose to be one of Japan’s “great 3” gardens.

People are so polite everywhere – Charlie needed to get a pair of “reader/glasses” and the store help is amazing. They even cleaned my glasses so I could see!