Team Marshall: Kyoto

To celebrate our anniversary in the middle of October, Kris and I took a week-long trip to Kyoto and Osaka, which are south of Tokyo on the main island of Japan (Honshu). Our anniversary happened to fall in the middle of a few Japanese holidays, so we got a whole week off and only had to use 3 vacation days. We took an overnight but from Sendai to Kyoto, which took about 13 hours. It wasn't too bad for me because the bus was pretty empty and I could sprawl out across the seats.

After dropping off our bags at the hotel (Hokke Club Hotel Kyoto), which was across the street from the main subway, JR, and bus station, and stopping at Starbucks, we headed over to the Higashiyama area of Kyoto in the east. This part of Kyoto is just amazing! It is full of temples and shrines (so many that it can be overwhelming), but the best part of this area is the "traditional feel" it gives you as you weave through its narrow streets. Many of the buildings and roads feel as though they are over a century old. It's hard to describe it in words, so you'll have to just look at the pictures.

We loved Kyoto, especially since we took in the sights at a leisurely pace and just enjoyed being together.

On our first day in eastern Kyoto we saw Sanjusangen-do, the longest wooden building in Japan filled with 1001 gold statues of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. Then we walked up some back roads along a cemetery to get to Kiyomizu Temple, a temple built on a mountain. After that, we wound through the old streets of Hagishiyama and found places to shop and a small restaurant to eat Japanese food. Continuing our walk through eastern Kyoto, we stopped at Kodaji Temple, a small temple with a beautiful garden and bamboo trees and small tea houses. We also briefly stopped at Higashi Otani Masoleum before continuing on to Maruyama Park, which was a delightful little park we enjoyed strolling through. After a full day of trekking around Eastern Kyoto, we were exhausted, so we called it an early night and relaxed in our hotel room and took a stroll through the streets around our hotel.

Kris in front of a garden at Sanjusangen-do Temple.

Me in front of the main hall a Sanjusangendo Temple

Very cool trim on a shrine. I love the contrasting brown and white style of this time period.

Cemetery -- notice how close together and tall the grave markers are. People in Japan get cremated instead of buried. Ancestral worship is very important to them.

Deva Gate at Kiyomizu-dera

Kris and I at a spot at Kiyomizu-dera overlooking Kyoto

Pagoda at Kiyomizudera

One young Japanese girl leading another through the love stones. In Kiyomizudera is a small shrine that has 2 stones. According to legend, if you walk between the two stones with your eyes closed, you will find your true love.

The man hall of Kiyomizu-dera
Local legend says that if you make a wish and jump off the terrace and survive the fall, your wish will come true. The survival rate for jumpers was approximately 85% when the tradition was outlawed.

Old-feeling streets in eastern Kyoto

Two apprentice geisha in eastern Kyoto. Yes, there are still the real-deal geisha in Japan.

Memorial hall and garden at Kodaji Temple

A tea house at Kodaji Temple. No, it is not a replica - that is the actual teahouse. Yes, it really is that small. Yes, it was really used for tea ceremonies.

Bamboo garden at Kodaji Temple

Mani Wheels
These small wheels surrounded one shrine at the temple. According to tradition, if you have a wish about health or a long life, walk around the temple and spin each wheel with your right hand, and your wish will come true.

Ornate gate at Higashi Otani Masoleum

Me at Maruyama park

On our second day, which was also our anniversary, Kris brought me breakfast in bed from Starbucks -- how sweet! Enjoyed a nice breakfast in bed and then explored Nishi Market. Because it was a week day, there weren't many people in the market -- which was fine with us. We've lived in Japan long enough to experience enough large-packed-in-like-sardines-crowds.

Nishi Market

Store just for rice! We must be in Asia!

Gross looking food...oh Japan!

Then we headed over to Nijo Castle, which was once a dwelling place for the Shogun and was later used as an Imperial Palace. One of the coolest parts about this castle are the "nightingale floors". To protect the people living in the castle, the builders constructed floors that would squeak loudly (like nightingales) whenever someone walked on them. When we walked through the inside of the castle (which was really a bunch of empty tatami rooms), the floors did squeak loudly and it was nearly impossible to walk on them without making them squeak. To do so, I had to tiptoe around slowly and carefully.

Kris in front of an inner gate at Nijo Castle

Kris and I in front of Ninomaru Palace at Nijo Castle

Us with the big group of kids who practiced their English with us.

Garden and pond inside Nijo Castle

Inner Palace of Nijo Castle

To take a break from all the temples and shrines (they start to blend together after a while), we took a bus ride to Arashiyama (about 20 minutes outside of the city center) where there is a monkey park. To get to the monkeys, we had to climb for a half an hour up a STEEP hill (the kind of hill that would be called a mountain in Pennsylvania -- haha) to get to the top. Towards the top, monkeys walked and climbed freely all around the path. At the top of the hill was a lookout area to sit and look out over Kyoto and also a small hut. All around the top of the hill, monkeys were climbing, eating, playing, scurrying, and resting. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!

We went inside the hut, where we bought a small bag of food for 100 yen (about $1.20) to feed to the monkeys. The windows were open but covered with wire, so you could reach out your fingers to feed the monkeys, who would come up and grab the food out of your hand. One person feeding the animals wasn't to careful, and the monkey almost grabbed his camera and DID grab the whole bag of food.

The cutest part were the baby monkeys that had been born 4 months earlier in July. It was really fun to feed them and to watch them run around and play.

Monkeys and the view from Monkey Hill

Kris feeds a monkey.

I'm feeding the cute baby monkey!

Us at the top of Monkey Hill

Me with the monkeys at the top of Monkey Hill

Funny sign along the path

Mama and baby!

Monkey family

In the evening, we took in a show of traditional Japanese arts at Gion Corner. While it was interesting to see a demonstration of 7 different Japanese arts, the performances were very amateur and not worth the money we paid. I wish instead we had been able to take in one of the specific arts performed professionally; unfortunately, the professional geisha performances only happen during certain times of the year.
After the show wed strolled through Gion, which has a very old and traditional feel. There are still geisha houses where geisha live, and tea houses where geisha go to entertain. We even saw two geisha walking through the small, old streets. Then we headed to Tony Romo's, to celebrate our anniversary with some American-style ribs and steak.

Me in Gion

A geisha house in Gion

Two geisha demonstrate how to play the Koto Zither

This demonstration of Kyogen theater was still funny even though it was all in Japanese.

Geisha dance performance

Bunraku puppet theater -- This one puppet was operated by 3 people.
Below is a video of the puppet in action. This ain't no sock puppet!

On our final day in Kyoto, we visited Kinkakuji (also known as the Golden Pavilion). This was my absolute favorite site in Kyoto and a must-see if you are traveling to the city. This was a retirement villa of a shogun but became a Zen temple after his death. The top two floors are coated in gold leaf. Architecture buffs will likely appreciate the 3 different styles used in the villa; the bottom floor was built in the Shinden style used for palace buildings during the Heian Period, with natural wood pillars and contrasting white plaster walls. The second floor was built in the Bukke style used in samurai residences. The top floor was built in the style of a Chinese Zen Hall, and is topped with a golden phoenix. The garden and pond surrounding the temple were equally as beautiful. The whole site over all was just breathtaking.
In the villa grounds were a few stone "wishing wells". If you can throw a coin into a stone bowl placed among taller stones, legend says that your wish will come true. Kris got his coin in on the second try; and although he wouldn't say what he wished for, I'm pretty sure it had to do with our office's Fantasy Football playoff games.

Golden Pavilion

Us with more kids that practiced their English with us. Holding up a piece sign is the common thing to do when posing for a picture in Japan.

Us with the Golden Pavilion (representing Pittsburgh, baby!)

Stone wishing well

Kris tossing a coin and making a wish for playoff glory for his fantasy football team

While we stopped for a break, Kris took the opportunity to do some research for his fantasy football team.

Origami given to us by Japanese students

Our last stop in Kyoto before continuing on to Osaka was Fushimi Inari Shrine in the southern part of Kyoto. This shrine is dedicated to Inari, the Japanese god of rice. What stands out about this shrine are the (literally) thousands of red torii (gates) that line the path leading to the shrine. All the shrines have been donated by Japanese businesses (most I'm sure are hoping to earn favor from the "god" for their business), which costs ranging between 400,000-1,000,000 yen (roughly $5,100-$13,000). Because foxes were thought to be Inari's messengers, there are many fox statues throughout the grounds.

We didn't bother climbing to the top of the mountain to the actual shrine, as the hike takes about 2-3 hours and we had already seen a gorgeous view of Japan from Monkey Hill. But we really enjoyed walking through the grounds and going partway up the mountain. This sight should definitely be on any Kyoto traveler's must see list.