Kyoto, part Duex

Here's a couple pictures from Nanzen-ji. This was my favorite of the temples. Like I have said before, most of my pictures are on film and not on disk. So for now, just imagine...This first picture is of a small sub-temple or something off to the side of the real temple. It's taken from atop the gateway that leads up the main thoroughfare.This is the aforementioned gateway. When I first came upon this structure, I mistook it for the actual temple. Then I thought how peculiar this is, that there is nothing more than three large doorways. How little I do know about Buddhism, if this is a temple. I later realized that Nanzen-ji was just behind it, up the path a ways. The gateway is known to be one of the three largest gateways in all of Japan. You can ascend to a walkway up top for a great view of the city, and there is indeed a budha inside a small room in the upper portion.A couple pictures from Pontocho.

Not really knowing that much about it, it's hard to tell if this girl in kimono is a geisha. I saw a lot of people wearing kimono around Kyoto, and sometimes they have their hair done properly and sometimes they don't. Judging from the response she got from these other Japanese girls, I would say she is. She was really cute. Just before this, Ben stopped her and asked her if he could take a picture, and she just nodded, smiled, and waited. And of course, after we stopped her, these other girls wanted to take pictures with her, and started asking all sorts of questions. Really nice, and so tiny. Apparently, it's very rare to see geisha; most of my students are amazed when we say we saw a couple, and most confess they have never seen one in person. So, evidently, it's like this very traditional part of Japan, that was once open only to the extremely rich, and even now is very uncommon for the general populous to come in contact with.

Here's a couple geisha, though they're not wearing their make-up. To be honest, these two are kinda scary looking.Speaking of geihsa, I really want to see that new movie with Ziyi Zang. Rob, you know what I'm talking about.

Here's a caligrapher that was selling his work on the street. I took these pictures into class, and one of my student's exclaimed, "That's my name!" Kind of funny.We're still not sure what this street was, but it looked really cool, so naturally, we took it.Stumbled quite unintentionally upon one of the coolest temples, in my opinion. This is Kennin-ji, the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto. It dates from something like the 1200s. The whole complex is huge, with all sorts of buildings, with big rooms, small rooms, courtyards, gardens, and rock gardens. Not being able to speak or read, it makes it quite difficult to find out what all of these are used for, but needless to say, it's still pretty sweet.This picture would be really sweet if it weren't for those super bright flourecent lights. Pero, que sera sera.A smaller of the many rooms inside this temple complex. I love the tatami. I'm thinking that whenever, I move back to the states and settle down, I'm going to buy tatami for my house. It's so sweet. I'm also going to take my shoes off inside the house. I say that now, but we'll see what really happens.A couple rock gardens. Brad, wouldn't you love to rake this place every day?

Kyoto

Definitely the highlight of my journey thus far. Kyoto is the Old Capital (but not the old, Old Capital; that's Nara); it was moved there in 784 and then moved to Tokyo in 1868. So for over 1000 years it was the seat of power in Japan. It is still home of the Imperial palace. Kyoto is widely known as one of the most beautiful cities in Japan, as well as its cultural heart. There are many craftsmen and artisans who practice traditional Japanese arts, and it has maybe the highest population of Geisha. (We saw a couple while we were there. Not totally dressed up, but you could tell, they were.) So in a city of about 1 and a half million people, there is a palace, a castle, and about 2,000 shrines and temples. It's also a great place for - take a gander - autumn viewing.

So, for maybe two months now, I've been hoping and wanting to go. I talked to Ben about it, early in October, and we decided to go together, but things kept coming up, and we kept pushing is back. I must say, I was afraid that it might not actually happen. But it did. We managed to nail down a date, did a couple shift-swaps, so that we'd have three days off, and bought our tickets. We took an overnight bus from Koriyama that left on Sunday night at 8:30, and got to Kyoto Monday morning at 6:30. It was sweet. Just kidding; it was miserable, but well worth it (We probably saved about 2 or 300 bucks, and considering the Shinkansen (bullet train) doesn't run throughout the night, we saved a lot of daylight hours, too.) The main problem was that when we got to Kyoto, we wanted to die first and see the city later. But there would be no dying. We found our hostel straight away, dropped off our bags and hit the town. We were staying only a block away from the Imperial Palace, and this is listed pretty high on the "Things to do," but when we got to a palace gate, there were police officers there telling everyone it was closed til Wednesday at 6 p.m. We were a bit distraught, but more confused, so we sat down to have a look and see what we wanted to do.

At this point in my writing, I realize that I'm becoming quite long-winded in the journal-style approach. So suffice it to say, the trip was excellent, I loved every second there, and as soon as I get a chance, I want to go back. I'll list the highlights for you, and comment on any pictures that I think need it.

Highlights of the trip:

Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Temple)
Ginkaku-ji (The Silver Temple)
Kiyomizu (a really big and popular temple, although Ben and I both concurred that it was crap.)
Nanzen-ji (one of the largest temple complexes, highly recommended by the Lonely Planet, and my personal favorite)
Kennin-ji (stumbled upon this one quite by accident, but it is the oldest Zen Temple in Kyoto. Lots of rock gardens.)
Shopping in the Teramachi covered market
handicraft market at Chion-ji
Pontocho (a small alley of a street, runs parallel to the river and has tons of old houses, shops and Geisha houses.)
A couple random streets we walked down that were similar to Pontocho (old, traditional architecture and stuff)
Eating at a Mexican Restaurant (average food, really good pico)
Eating at Wendy's
Eating at this French Bakery/restaurant, so good
Fish n Chips and a proper pint of Guinness at a British pub
Chillin' with Bush and Koizumi (the Japanese PM) while they were in town

Here's a couple shots of the train station, an architectural wonder in and of itself.
This is the outside of the Imperial Palace grounds. There is a large garden, much like Central Park, but a little smaller, and in the middle is the old Imperial Palace. However, it was closed in preparation for President Bush and Prime Minister Koizumi's visit.The Golden Temple
World Leaders
This is the Silver Temple. I actually prefered this one. The grounds and surrounding gardens were much nicer.
By the way, it's not silver. It was intended to be, but civil war broke out before it could be completed. I think I like it this way, though.I don't know if you can really call this a rock garden, but it was all gravel and sand, no glue or cements used. Pretty cool.This is really the only cool picture I got from KiyomizuHandicraft market at Chion-ji

Autumn Colors

Japanese people can be quite peculiar. They are are enamored with all things naturally beautiful, to a degree that is much more extreme than anything in America. Every one of my students tells me how much they love the fall colors, and where great places are to go see the changing leaves. The will drive two or three hours just to walk in a park or take a few photos. They even have a word for "Autumn viewing." My Japanese teacher told me that next week, her photography club will go to a river that is "famous for" (that's a whole nother post) autumn viewing. In the States, people will definitely go to places that are known to be quite beautiful: Radner Lake, in Nashville for instance. But that's like everyone just generally knows that it's really nice, and a very small percentage actually go there. This is like everyone in the country talks about it, goes somewhere and wants to hear about places they missed. People even predict when the peak of the season will be, for best colors and contrasts, and apparently this season's been written up by a newspaper or website or something as being sub-par. To me it all seems somewhat strange, but to their credit, they do have a lot to be proud of.


That being said, I thought it was about time I broke out the old camera, and went on some "autumn viewing" excursions of my own. Anyway, here's a few pictures I took in and around Koriyama. It really is beautiful. Unfortunately for you, the best of my pictures I took with my SLR and not my digital. If I can upload some of my film-pictures to a CD or something, I'll see if I can post them.



After posting these pictures, I realized that there's not much autumn visible in them, aside from harvest-torn rice fields. Not to worry though; I've got plenty from Kyoto.

More pics

A random statue, dressed up for the fall festival

















A temple here in town. Burning leaves.




































Me in front of a portable shrine

Kid's Sumo

Sorry this took so long. I know you'll enjoy though.