This morning we woke up to the Monday morning fire department inspection. All the firemen were lined up in their uniforms and had a complete military inspection. What a sight!
Our morning walking tour with Johnny Hillwalker was interesting. We saw the local sights and sounds of Kyoto by walking the back streets, seeing where the locals manufacture fans, kimonos, tatami mats, prayer beads, etc.
We stopped at one of the largest, active Buddhist temples, Higashi Hongan Temple. This temple controls over 10,000 temples across Japan and is headquarters of one of the two main sects of Buddhism in Japan. This particular sect features an easy path to salvation- in fact, the Jodo Shinshu sect doesn’t even require you to be good to be reborn into Paradise. On display was a length of rope made from hair donated by female believers. It was used to haul the timber for the reconstruction of the temple (our guide claimed it was the largest wood structure in Japan). Inside the temple, there was a service going on to consecrate the ashes of the dead. If you give enough money, you get a private service. Otherwise, you get group mode.
We continued the walk to the Kikokutei Shosei-en Garden, built by the shogun for the Buddhist elders. It was amazing how a small oasis of trees and water in the middle of the city makes such a difference.
We stopped at one of the largest, active Buddhist temples, Higashi Hongan Temple. This temple controls over 10,000 temples across Japan and is headquarters of one of the two main sects of Buddhism in Japan. This particular sect features an easy path to salvation- in fact, the Jodo Shinshu sect doesn’t even require you to be good to be reborn into Paradise. On display was a length of rope made from hair donated by female believers. It was used to haul the timber for the reconstruction of the temple (our guide claimed it was the largest wood structure in Japan). Inside the temple, there was a service going on to consecrate the ashes of the dead. If you give enough money, you get a private service. Otherwise, you get group mode.
We continued the walk to the Kikokutei Shosei-en Garden, built by the shogun for the Buddhist elders. It was amazing how a small oasis of trees and water in the middle of the city makes such a difference.
We walked through more small streets seeing small local shrines and temples. The old streets were filled with teahouses, now out of business. The geisha business is a dying art, now mainly sustained by tourists. In the olden days, the teahouses were the place for business communication, a way for businessmen to get together and talk. There was a certain sadness in our guides’ description of this way of life that is disappearing.
We stopped at the Kanshundo Pastry Shop and had a few samples of Japanese pastry- lots of presentation, not much taste.
Our last stop was the Toyokuni Shrine. They had the world’s heaviest bell- 80 tons.
We grabbed a cab to a junk shop we had seen the previous day- only to find that it was out of business. So, we made our way to our last Temple stop- the Chion-in Temple. It was built in 1234 on the site where Honen, one of the founders of the Jodo sect taught and eventually fasted to death. Today it’s the headquarters of the Jodo sect. The main entrance gate – two stories- is the largest in Japan. The main hall was connected to the Dai Hojo Hall by a “nightingale” floor- constructed to “sing” at every step.
“Templed” out, we headed down the antique street to the river, got a beer at our river view restaurant, Le Monument bleu, and watched the people on the streets.
More Japanese oddities:
** There is definitely a generation gap of serious consequence in this country. The young people appear to be rejecting the rigidity of their parents’ generation- wearing outrageous clothes, dying their hair orange, and rejecting the corporate lifestyle. When we asked our guide in Nara about the problem, she quickly acknowledged the problem- and said, “We must have done something wrong”. There is a Japanese word, giri, which translates to a sense of honor, but also communal and personal responsibilities of your group.
** Their maps are often upside down or sideways- north is not always at the top of the map, making it very difficult to know which way you’re going.
** On the streets, people put plastic bottles filled with water around their trees and houses to keep the dogs away.
** They measure the size of their rooms by number of tatami mats (a 3x6 foot mat).
** This is the lowest percentage of English speaking people we’ve ever seen. Even most of the young people know no English or are too afraid to speak it.
** There is definitely a generation gap of serious consequence in this country. The young people appear to be rejecting the rigidity of their parents’ generation- wearing outrageous clothes, dying their hair orange, and rejecting the corporate lifestyle. When we asked our guide in Nara about the problem, she quickly acknowledged the problem- and said, “We must have done something wrong”. There is a Japanese word, giri, which translates to a sense of honor, but also communal and personal responsibilities of your group.
** Their maps are often upside down or sideways- north is not always at the top of the map, making it very difficult to know which way you’re going.
** On the streets, people put plastic bottles filled with water around their trees and houses to keep the dogs away.
** They measure the size of their rooms by number of tatami mats (a 3x6 foot mat).
** This is the lowest percentage of English speaking people we’ve ever seen. Even most of the young people know no English or are too afraid to speak it.
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