Kyoto ancient culture, with tea ceremony

Day 10  Thursday, November 21, 2019   Kyoto

A highlight today was the traditional tea ceremony, and Janet was one who volunteered to prepare the tea herself (with assistance). We were impressed with how exacting the ritual was, and the hostess there in the photo made sure everyone did it correctly. Our other highlights today included walking through Gion, the center of old Kyoto, eating a traditional lunch, doing the prayer ritual at a shrine, having a conveyor-belt sushi dinner, and taking a Japanese hot bath!

Following breakfast, we bused a short ways to the Nishi Hongwanji Temple. Along the way, I took this photo of a shrine from inside the bus. This entire day in Kyoto was an optional tour, and most of us took it.

Kyoto (a two-syllable word, not three..."kyo-toe") was Japan's capital from 794 to 1868. You might remember that 1868 was when control of the country changed from the Takuwara Shogunate to the Emperor. That is when the capital moved to Edo, when they also changed the name to Tokyo (also a two-syllable word; "kyo" is a single syllable, not "kee-oh". My lesson of the day!).

Inside the temple grounds, after we had entered through a huge gate at the street, were this Founder's Hall (Goeido), and beyond is the Hall of Amida Buddha (Amidado). This Goeido is one of the country's largest wooden structures. It was built in 1760, and was completely restored in 2009. The Amidado is even older, dating from 1636.

 

The Goeido inside was certainly ornate! We had to remove our shoes at the bottom of the steps outside, before being able to enter. The entire temple (there was much more to it than my photos indicate) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our group were the only people there, since it was so early in the morning. Still, Gary had to remind us to stay quiet and respectful. 

Inside the temple grounds. It was quite extensive.

 In the temple grounds were lots of pretty floral displays.

 Now you can see the huge gates, as were were leaving. It's called the Goeido Gate. We crossed the street out there, and walked a short distance beyond to our Tea Ceremony.

This is the building where the Tea Ceremony was, on a quiet, narrow street. From the outside, one would not think it was anything too special.

We ascended stairs to the second floor, removed our shoes and left our bags outside the room, and then sat on chairs or the floor. The hostess started by bringing out little treats to eat "to balance the bitter taste of the tea."

The main host is demonstrating the process of making tea. It's all very precise, as a choreographed ritual. He explained the deeper, spiritual meaning behind every step. He spoke only in Japanese, so Gary had to translate for us. As our itinerary stated, "The process is not about drinking tea, but is about aesthetics, preparing a bowl of tea from one's heart." As you can see, he is pouring the hot water into the tea cup, which he has gotten from the pot sunk under the flooring. His ladle looked just like the ones we had used at the shrine for our cleansing ritual.

She is now whisking the tea powder into the hot water, to create a froth.

When the hostess was done demonstrating, she asked if anyone would like to do it themselves. Janet was the first. As she went through each step in the process, the hostess usually had to assist to make sure it was all done exactly correctly.

 The hostess is making sure Janet is pouring the hot water correctly! 

In this photo, she stepped in to whisk Janet's tea, because Janet had not done it briskly enough. About six or seven from our group took their turns making the tea, and for everyone except Jeanette, the hostess had to finish whisking the tea for them.

When everyone was done, I think we all got our photos with the attractive and friendly "tea hostess." I'm lucky that my socks did not have holes in them. Based on how many times in our China and Japan tour we had to remove our shoes, I think UTO should make sure their itinerary documents warn about the need to bring lots of socks that they won't mind being seen in. LOL

Our next stop was the famous Kinkakuji Temple, and these trees in full fall color were along the walk to it. The walk through these grounds was jammed with tourists.

Here's a close-up of the "ritual bell", or Konsho, which is part of every temple, located somewhere in its grounds. It is rung before any ritual service, most usually funerals. The sound lets the priests know to enter the "inner altar" area.

 The beautiful pavilion (Kinkakuji means, literally, Temple of the Golden Pavilion). It's one of the most popular buildings in Japan, designated as a National Special Historic Site. The top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf; gold was an important addition to the pavilion because of its underlying meaning, used to mitigate and purify any pollution or negative thoughts and feelings towards death.

 Even though there were "millions" of tourists taking these photos, Gary motioned a few us over to a spot he knew where no one would be standing, so I could get my shots without crowds and heads in the foreground. The temple dates to 1397, but the current structure was rebuilt in 1955. In 1950, the pavilion was burned down by a 22-year-old novice monk, who then attempted suicide due to his shame (he was sentenced to 7 yrs in prison for arson).

 The gold on Janet's vest matches the pavilion! I don't know how I got this photo without a trace of the other gazillion tourists crammed into the pathway as we walked through the grounds.

One final picture to show the pretty lake and setting surrounding the pavilion. Of course, Japanese are famous for their artistic approach to everything, but especially their gardens.

We next went into the old central section of Kyoto called Gion. We had a bit of a walk from the bus drop-off to our lunch restaurant, and along the way, Gary told us how this area is known as Kyoto's most famous geisha district. He said we would likely see geishas everywhere (actually called geiko here in Gion), but that we should not take their photos because they were "professionals" flitting about the streets on their way to their appointments, usually as singers, dancers or general entertainers in the teahouses.

However, oftentimes they are high-priced hookers, and it was a humorous struggle for Gary to talk about this topic. If these particular geiko are posing for photos, it's part of the fee they get paid for their "services", which can command, as I recall, about $2000 per client. Interestingly, we did come across one of these women all dressed up and posing, and she was actually okay with some of our group taking her photo, although I did not.

The restaurant was called The Aglio Garden, and we had this room to ourselves. You sit on the floor, but the tables are above a recession so that your legs get to drop down normally. Each table was for four, and our mates were Mike and Jeanette. At each table were bowls of kobe beef strips, raw eggs, and greens. In the center was a bowl of seasoned water over a boiler plate where you cooked everything. And we all used only chop sticks at first, but later Janet and Jeanette got forks.

This photo is from near the end, when we were cooking and eating the cooked greens. The first thing we did was cook the beef strips a few at a time. You were supposed to dip the cooked beef into your bowl of raw egg before you ate them, but I think I was the only one of us who did this. It sorta grossed the others out to have raw egg on each bite. We later cracked their eggs into the boiling pot and cooked them before eating them. We then dumped all of our bowls of greens in there at once, and served ourselves.

We later looked around the room and saw that we were WAY ahead of everyone else, because Jeanette and Mike had taken charge and cooked all four of our servings at once rather than each person trying to cook his own stuff individually. Ours was Family Style! Anyway, we all enjoyed the experience and the food.

 We then took off on foot to explore old Gion, the city’s most famous entertainment district and the center of its traditional arts. This area was first built during the so-called Sengoku period, during the 1500s and early 1600s, a time of social upheaval and near-constant military conflict. The Japanese feudal system had collapsed under the shogunate of that time, but it was re-established under the Tokugawa shogunate (remember him?) that began in 1603.

 One of the sights along our walk in Gion, that I thought looked pretty cool.

What? An Irish Pub (purple, not green?) in old Gion?

 Eating their lunches during their rickshaw ride. Pretty funny. I wonder where they'll throw their trash? No trash cans, of course.

 Quiet during the day, but this area is a major entertainment area at night. Gary said this was the less-busy side of Gion, but that we would soon reach the busy area.

 Loved this fence and the attractive gardens. They recently renovated this street and general area, moving all the overhead wiring underground as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the original beauty of Gion.

 Our walkway was next to this Shirakawa Canal, and luckily there were some gaps in the trees to be able to capture this picturesque scene including the backs of all these teahouses (ochaya). Gion is famous for its old wooden houses.

 Haha. Some of the old dwellings are turned into modern franchises.

 Another view of the Shirakawa Canal and the teahouses.

 Our walk eventually reached the Kamo River, which means duck river. These walking/biking pathways extend most of the way through the city.

This is one of the city's best known and most popular landmarks, the Yasaka Shrine (begun in 656 AD). After we were at the Kamo River, we walked back west again down the busiest main street of Gion, Shijo Street. I don't have any photos along Shijo St, but at its end was this glorious two-story vermilion entrance gate to the shrine. The grounds were extensive, including 12 sub-shrines.

 This food stand was inside the shrine. I still had a hard time thinking that everyday commercialism would be inside a shrine. It's a SHRINE, for goodness sake!

 This was Yasaka Shrine's famous Buden Hall, with these paper lanterns that make quite a display when lit for ceremonies such as weddings.

I stole this photo from the Internet to show its glory with all the lit lanterns.

 Then we moved along to the Main Hall, which is where we did the prayer ritual. Gary reminded us of the steps, and many of us gave it a try. Mike is looking up at the bells that are connected to the thick ropes that hang down.

 Here is the ritual: 1) Toss a small coin, usually a five Yen, over the fence in front of you, 2) swing the rope back and forth to ring the bell above, 3) bow twice (Janet is bowing in the photo), 4) clap twice, 5) state your name and address (?? Do you include your zip code?), 6) say your prayer, and 7) bow once.

Janet is at step 6, saying her prayer. We did this whole thing at two or three more shrines during our tour. I watched Gary do it, and he was slower and more deliberate in all his bows and claps than we were. Some visitors did not quite wait their turns, as Jeanette is patiently, and Peggy had some fierce words for them! Gary quietly said something like, "Let's not do that." LOL

 Yet another glorious structure at Yasaka Shrine, as we departed back to our bus.

We next drove a ways to the outer Kyoto hills to visit the Kiyomizu Shrine/Temple, and joined the massive crowds of tourists. This was the narrow city walk leading up to it.

The crowds are still massive as were reaching the shrine/temple on the hill. There's Jack's head in the foreground. This was as far as Janet's sore ankle would allow her to go, since beyond this spot, there were numerous stairs to get to the top. So, she headed back, to leisurely see the many shops and then rest on the bus.

Kiyomizu was formerly a shrine of a Buddhism sect, but it became an independent Buddhist temple in 1965. Thus, it is called both a shrine and a temple, but it officially should now be called a temple.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple was founded in 778 and its present buildings were constructed in 1633, ordered by Tokugawa. There is not a single nail used in the entire structure. It takes its name from the waterfall within the complex, which runs off the nearby hills; Kiyomizu mean "clear water."

 Another view, looking back toward the city. These buildings only recently were covered in scaffolding, to be restored preparation for the 2020 Olympics.The largest and most impressive building, behind us farther up the hill, was still in the scaffolding, so we didn't get to see it.

 The autumn colors made this view impressive.

 There's Kyoto, sprawled out below.

As at all our tourist spots, many Japanese visitors were out in force wearing their traditional costumes. Gary said they rent them, and make sure they get lots of photos of themselves!

 OMG, it was so jam-packed on our way back down the hill to the bus parking lot.

 I took a side street down a hill just to sight see, since I had time, and came across these young ladies taking selfies in their geisha gowns. It was indeed a pretty spot for photos.

I don't have any more photos until this dinner at the conveyor-belt sushi place. I had seen an inexpensive sushi restaurant near our hotel on a map, so it looked like a possibility. The Lipovetsky family had said they might go there the previous night, so I asked, and they had, and they said it was great.

When we arrived, we gave our name and had a long wait, maybe 45 minutes. There was a display board where they showed whose numbers were coming up, so we could see when we were getting close.

Once seated, we were next to a conveyor belt, with a computer pad hanging there. Little plates of sushi or other items were traveling by us. Our waiter explained that we use the computer pad to scroll through the menu and order our items. They would, in a little while, come down the belt and we had to grab them as they went by. Our plates would be carried on a red bowl, plus the computer pad would announce when it was getting close. What a fun experience this was, and cheap! I think it was $1 U.S. for each two-piece sushi plate.

As the dinner went on, we kept going back to the pad to order more stuff. Janet liked her pumpkin tempura, I loved my nigiri sushis.When we were done, the waitress stacked up all the red plates (100 yen each) and all the yellow plates (150 yen each), measured their heights with a tape measure (as opposed to just counting them), and then calculated our bill based on how many plates of each color we had eaten.  We loved this special dinner.

The Japanese Hot Bath! We are in our robes, from our hotel room, ready to go down to the lobby and the baths. There was a routine for these too: 1) Put your robe and any belongings into a locker and keep the key, 2) go into the bath naked, with a towel, 3) go to one of many sinks and sit on the stool, 4) use the flexible-hose shower, and shampoos and soaps, to shampoo, wash, and rinse, 5) walk into the huge open shallow tub, sit down, and soak.

We both loved our baths! We then hit the hay after a long, interesting day.

Castles, shrines, temples, and deer

Day 9  Wednesday, November 20, 2019    Osaka and on to Kyoto

We are visiting the Kasuga Shrine at the Nara Deer Park, in Nara, after departing Osaka and before reaching Kyoto. On either side of the path were these hundreds of "night lanterns". We started the day touring the Osaka Castle, then visited a popular Osaka shopping area for lunch, bused here to the deer park, and arrived in Kyoto after dark.

Breakfast was similar to what was offered in China, in that there were numerous offerings, and most were novel. But we managed just fine. Our first destination was this Osaka Castle. On the bus ride there, which was a long distance because our hotel was far from the downtown, Gary introduced us to the city, the country, and the language. He taught us "good morning" (ohio gozaimus), "thank you" (arigato, or arigato gozaimus), "hello" (konichiwah), "yes" (high), "no" (ee-ech), and "where is it?" (doko-deska).

As an introduction to our tour, here's a map showing where we covered during our week. The map shows Honshu, the primary island. (North of Honshu is Hokkaido, where Sapporo is located.  The island south of Hiroshima is Shikoku. The other main island is to the west, Kyushu.) Osaka and Kyoto are there just left of center, then we drove east to a middle-of-nowhere resort on the Pacific Ocean southeast of Nagoya, then we went to Mt Fuji on our way to Yokohama, and finally a bit north to Tokyo.

Osaka is Japan's 2nd-largest city. In the 7th and 8th centuries it served briefly as the imperial capital. It continued to flourish during the Edo Period (1603–1867, also called the Tokugawa Shogunate) and became known as a center of Japanese culture. Following the opening of the country in 1867 (when the emperor, Meiji, took over ruling from the shoguns), Osaka greatly expanded in size and underwent rapid industrialization.  Today, Osaka is Japan's major financial center.

The photos of the Osaka Castle moat here, above, and in yesterday's post show how massive this castle was, covering 15 acres. It was begun by a shogun in 1583 and finished in 1597. The guy died and passed it onto his son. Just 18 years later, the new shogun from Edo (what Tokyo was called back then) came and destroyed the castle and took over this shogunate as well.

Gary made sure we knew this shogun's name, because he referred back to him numerous times during our week - his name was Tokugawa.  The Tokugawa Shogunate lasted between 1600 and 1867, and was the final feudal military government before being replaced by the Meiji Restoration (restoring the emperor as Japan's leader).

Gary explained that when Tokugawa defeated the castle, he completely destroyed it, and then decided to build a new one on top of the ruins.

This is the main structure inside the castle walls, called a tenshu. The original was built in 1628, but burned down in 1665 after a lightning strike. In 1843, after decades of neglect, the castle got much-needed repairs and the tenshu was rebuilt.

In 1868, just a year after the Meiji Restoration, the castle fell to the new anti-shogunate/pro emperor loyalists. Because the tenshu was always being burned from lightning strikes, since it was the highest structure around, they rebuilt it out of iron and concrete in 1931. But only 14 yrs later, near the end of the world war, Allied bombs destroyed the castle since it had become one of Japan's largest arsenals, with over 60,000 workers. The bombing destroyed 90% of the castle and killed 332 workers.

The Osaka Castle and tenshu we see today were reconstructed in 1997.

This massive stone wall was just inside the entrance to the castle after crossing the wide moat. It is called Octopus Stone, and was built in 1624 when Tokugawa was rebuilding his new castle on top of the ruins of the original. It was meant to be a barrier to invaders who might breech the moat. It weighs 108 tons and is 646 square feet.

Our next stop was Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori, a crowded tourist shopping and dining area, where we had plenty of time to look around and find lunch. The next eight photos illustrate the look of busy Dotonbori Street, where we walked about 1/3 mile.

 Well, this place sells crab!

 A clam, and Spiderman.

 I see the cow, but what is that black thing with what looks like a hand grenade?

 A hand holding sushi!

 Red octopus!

Way down the street, we got to this spot where a bridge led to the other side of the canal. This was where Janet and I decided to decide on a place to eat. By the way, Gary had told us not to expect to find any trash cans, and he was right. Everything was so clean, it was counter-intuitive to me that there would be no trash cans as opposed to lots of them. Since the many take-outs along the street were served in paper or plastic and people ate them immediately, where did they dispose their trash??

Also from this bridge we could see the famous Glico man. Our UTO itinerary specifically mentioned seeing this icon of Glico Candy, the company that makes Pocky. Originally installed in 1935, the sign depicts a giant athlete on a blue track. It has been altered on several occasions to celebrate events such as the World Cup or to show support for the Osaka baseball team. This current version is the sixth, which uses LEDs when it lights up after dark.

Janet and I found a little restaurant with a menu with photos, so we managed. We then walked back to where we started, got on the bus, and headed north toward Kyoto. Gary explained that Japan has 47 prefectures, which seemed to me similar to our states. Each prefecture's chief executive is a directly elected governor. Osaka is in its own prefecture, and Kyoto is in its own, but on our drive between the two, we would pass through another, Nara.

 As we drove toward and into Nara, it was hilly and green and NOT 100% urban the way it was in China. A nice change of green scenery. Eventually we reached Nara Deer Park, where 1200 deer roam freely, as in my photo above.

We started by walking to the Kasuga Shrine within the park. There's a wandering deer, of course, and the stone "night lanterns" on the right, of which hundreds and hundreds were crammed in throughout the area. People pay to erect to them to "carry" their wishes, usually for a successful life in one form or another.

 Look at all the formal-looking men and other crowds leaving from the shrine! I was glad we were arriving after they all departed.

Here is our group going through the "required" shrine-washing ritual. Gary told us about this on the bus as we approached. At the purification fountain near a shrine's entrance, you take one of the ladles (as seen in the photo), fill it with fresh water and rinse both hands. Then you transfer some water into your cupped hand, rinse your mouth and spit the water beside the fountain. At all the shrines we visited during our visit, we went through this process. Gary also described the ritual for praying, but I don't recall that any of us did that at this particular shrine, so I will describe it later where I have photos.

With tame deer everywhere, it was fun to get close, as Mike is here. Of course, the deer is right between two night lanterns. The deer are able to roam freely and are believed to be sacred messengers of the Shinto gods that inhabit the shrine and surrounding mountainous terrain.

It was Janet's turn to pet a deer.

Here we are about to enter the shrine. Kasuga Shrine was begun in 768, and has been rebuilt many times. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We were inside the shrine, and this photo looks back at the entry gate. I was not expecting the shrine to be open like that. I assumed a shrine was like a church, I guess, enclosed inside an elaborate structure like the gate there. Not so!

 We then walked back down the hill, down the road, and out into the broad park with its colorful trees and roaming deer. As you can see, they had some beautiful settings.

So beautiful, in fact, that this wedding couple was having its photos taken there.

Deer and tourists were all over the park.

 The tree colors were spectacular.

The little creek added to the bucolic setting. Poor Janet was not able to come down to this park because her ankle and hip were getting too sore. 

There they are again, with a visitor in the background wearing a geisha gown. During our tour, we were to see hundreds of Japanese tourists wearing these rented traditional clothes. It was always pretty cool to see.

You could purchase deer crackers to feed them, and many were doing this. But those critters would get pretty aggressive when they knew a person had the crackers.

I liked this scene, so I got a photo.

I have no more photos for this day. We continued on north to Kyoto and arrived after dark. Gary told us all about the hotel's bath house, and encouraged us to give it a try. Yes, you go in naked, but men and women have separate baths. There was a routine for taking a bath too, which I'll mention tomorrow since Janet and I did it on our 2nd night there.

Gary also mentioned several places we could venture out on our own for dinner or sightseeing. Since Janet was still nursing a sore ankle, we decided to buy dinner items from the convenience store down the street. I walked down there and bought two noodle cups (the hotel room had the usual water-boiling pots), some small sandwiches, and a couple beers. But did we have enough space in our hotel room to sit, eat, and move? Barely...

One of our indelible Japanese memories were the TINY hotel rooms this night on through to the end. When we arrived at our Kyoto hotel and opened the door to our room, we were stunned by how there was so little room besides the bed. There was no room for the suitcases other than on the beds, but then to use the beds, we needed to close them and put them in the narrow entrance way, blocking the way in or out. And, the amount of space on the counter was so minimal, we could barely set anything out. (The photo above is our room in Tokyo, since I didn't take photos of our rooms in Kyoto or Hamanako.)

Needless to say, eating our dinner in the room was a real challenge due to the tiny space! Also, as I recall, at no time during our China or Japan hotels did the TVs have anything in English that resembled news or anything else of interest. We read, we called home, we uploaded photos, and finally we went to sleep.

Flying to Osaka

Day 8   Tuesday, November 19, 2019  Shanghai to Osaka, Japan

This photo in Osaka is from the next day, because I did not have any good pictures from today with all our traveling from China to Japan.

On our way to the airport in the morning, we passed by Disneyland (the real Disneyland, not the Buddhist "Disneyland". LOL). It opened in 2016, and it was a kick to see with the usual fairytale castle and everything. In just its first 18 months, attendance was 5.6 million.

Steve had his final opportunity to tell us stuff:

1) During our days there, we traveled 630 miles.
2) < 20% of Chinese go to college, but not long ago, it was < 1%. Steve said the people are not only better educated, but with it goes better behavior (such as not pushing and shoving, he said, that we had in the boat line the night before from those less educated).
3) He mentioned that the pushing and shoving is based on a long history of needing to rush in life, to get food, to make a living, etc.

We arrived at our gate with plenty to spare before our 11:40 flight. Our group was NOT all on the same flight, so we would arrive in Osaka, as I recall, at three different times. My main memory from the airport was buying two bottles of spirits at the Duty-Free shop. I bought a bottle of Knob Creek bourbon for me, and an American Honey for Janet. They were to be cherished during our Happy Hours in Japan over the next week!

The flight to Japan was fine. I loved looking out my window on the left, as we passed over many islands during our approach. Once we landed at 3 pm, we found Gary, our guide, and waited around for the other flights to arrive so that we could depart. We weren't hungry because they had fed us during the 2½ hour flight. Janet and I already had lots of Yen that we had exchanged back at LAX.

The Osaka Airport is on an island, so our bus traversed a long bridge into the city, and we needed to travel only a short distance to our hotel. I think we arrived around 5 pm.

The lobby of our hotel was quite colorful. Gary had told us that our rooms here were going to be spacious compared to our later hotels, an ominous sign of things to come. The room here was okay, but there was not much moving-around space. It had two beds, so at least we had a place to put our luggage. No wash cloths in the bathroom, and NO COFFEE! They had the usual water pot  to boil water, as they'd always had in China, but there were no coffee packets, only tea. Potential disaster!

We also saw another sign of things to come in Japan, vending machines. The hotel lobby had about 10 of them, with all sorts of items to purchase.

We were free for the rest of the evening. There were many restaurants in the area, plus a large supermarket. I think everyone in our group went to that supermarket at one time or another. I went right away to buy coffee, plus snacks to go with our Happy Hour spirits! Luckily I did find one coffee product with the Nescafe packets, but it came only in a 36-packet box. That turned out to be a god-send, though, because none of the hotels in Japan had coffee, and we would use three or four every morning.

When it was time for dinner, we went with Mike and Jeanette and located a small curry restaurant I saw on a map I had printed out before we left home (many in our group, it turned out, bought their dinner items from the supermarket). We enjoyed our dinners, and got to know Mike and Jeanette much better. They are from Yakima, WA. The cost, including our Asahi beers, was very reasonable. We invited them back to our room to share more of our Happy Hour spirits, and had a nice (and cramped) time. Not much room for four people to sit in that hotel room.

Ready to see Osaka tomorrow!