Splendors of Japan

Day Eight

18 May 2014

Kyoto!

Weather: Hot. Hot. Hot.

I was down to breakfast a little early cause Kimiko said they were opening early because there were so many people. I went down to find a line of chairs that were all full. Luckily, I ran into the other solo on the tour and she had already registered her number so they added mine so that we didn’t occupy two tables.

The breakfast was delightful. This hotel has the first omelet station I’ve come across. The tea and apple strudel were delicious. Kimiko had made our departure time for 8:45 as there were like 150 Japanese tourists scheduled to leave at 9 and very limited room on the street for the buses. Everyone was early and as our bus pulled out, a large group of Japanese school kids waiting for their bus waved to us.

First things first, Kimiko offered free water to everyone. We’ve had as much free water as we could drink from day one even though the tap water is not only safe to drink, it’s actually pretty good.

Our first stop is the Nijo Castle. From the brochure: “It was originally built in 1603 as the official Kyoto residence of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu. It was completed in 1626 by the third Tokygawa Shogun, Iemistsu, with the addition of some structures transferred from Fushimi Castle. Nijo castle is one of the finest examples of early Edo period and Momoyama culture in Japan, as it makes splendid use of early Edo period building designs, lavish paintings, and carvings that Iemistsu generously commissioned.
In 1867 when Youshinobu, the fifteenth Tokgawa Shogun returned sovereigny to the Emperor, the castle became the property of the Imperial Family.”

The paintings inside use a lot of gold leaf and is so sensitive to light, we can’t take pictures. The building is a series of large rooms that go from very formal to relaxed with the paintings reflecting the power and strength of the Shogun. The first couple of rooms are waiting areas and have tiger paintings which are meant to make the Shogun look fierce. The third room is the reception room where the lords meet the Shogun. They are only allowed to wear their short swords and place a fan in front of them as a barrier between them and the Shogun. The Shogun is on a slightly raised floor.

The visiting room is where the Shogun meets his potential concubines. The paintings are more relaxed showing cherry blossoms. There was always a competition to become the mother of the next Shogun and the house mother would present the girls to the Shogun. The girl would serve him tea and he would decide. If he didn’t like her, he would say ‘she’s not my cup of tea.’

LOL. No idea if Kimiko was joking there.

And she noted that the Shogun used to have up to 7 different meals prepared for each meal to avoid poisoning.

The next room was the weapons room and the last one was where the Emperor’s messenger was received.

As we walked through the castle, you could hear the floors make a squeaking sound like mice and Kimiko told us it was on purpose so that the occupants could hear people moving about – another primitive security device. When we went outside, she showed us the exterior of the planks and you could see the nails set into the wood that rub together to make the squeaking sound.

Kimiko gave us about 20 minutes or so to see the gorgeous gardens and pick up a fridge magnet. Once again, not a t-shirt to be seen!

When we got aboard the bus, Kimiko said someone had asked why there was so little furniture. She said that furniture would damage the tatami mats (which I’ve been spelling wrong all along) but that Japanese are minimalists when it comes to space. They like the emptiness and view it as a way to make room for imagination. They see beauty if emptiness. Even if rich Japanese have homes full of furniture, the rest consider themselves rich as they view the emptiness as a sign of wealth.

As our next stop will show, it’s possible to spend all your wealth on the siding instead of the furnishings. 🙂

Our next stop is the Golden Pavilion or Kinkaku. It was built in 1397 by a wealthy businessman who traded with China. He was a Shogun at 11 and retired at 37, handing his title over to his 9 year old son. When he died, the villa became a Zen Temple as per his wishes. In 1950, the original building was burned to the ground by a mentally unstable monk who was considered extremely intelligent. He was arrested and sent to a mental hospital but never said why he burned down the building. It was rebuilt in 1955 and it took 200,000 sheets of gold leaf from Kanazawa to cover the exterior.

Our ticket to get into the grounds was actually a calligraphy drawing and she tells us that it wishes us safety and wards off evil spirits, but is only good for one year.

Kinda like the warranty on my TV.

Our next stop is the Heian Jingu Shrine. This is a fairly new one built in 1894 as part of the 1100th anniversary (boy, you don’t see that every day) of the founding of Kyoto as the capital of Japan. It’s modeled after an 8th Century palace.

The Shrine has huge grounds around it and more gardens including a series of rocks you can walk across. Kimiko said that five or six tourists fall into the water every year but that the Shrine has showers and change rooms available for anyone that falls in.

At the far end of the gardens there is a covered bridge and several brides and grooms getting their pictures taken in this idyllic spot. We stopped to watch one bridge in a gorgeous red robe and the man standing next to us looked at us and smiled and told us he was the father. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a man so happy.

It’s finally time for lunch and we head for our Be My Guest lunch at the Ryokan Yoshida. The building used to be owned by the Emperor’s brother in law. I took a video of the greeting in which she explains the history of the building.

Lunch was what I like to call “Be My Guess.” I can honestly say I’ve never seen so much food that I can’t identify or even imagine existed. The best part was the rice and beef combo. There was soup, duck and a number of other tidbits. I tried everything and ate what I liked. Since I don’t eat fish, I got a different bowl at one point containing what looked like flat pieces of lean beef. I tried it but it was so tough, I couldn’t even tear it (and we had no knives). So, I looked at the meal list and mine listed beef tongue.

Yeah. Sometimes, I just rather not know.

Desert was watermelon and two slices of orange.

We were done early and went out to claim our shoes. We had been given a claim check (piece of wood with Japanese characters on it). The claim’s twin was put in our shoes and they were laid in a side room. We collected our shoes and boarded the bus. The host came aboard and thanked us for coming and as the bus pulled away, they waved…and kept waving. So, I and another tourmate got up in the back window and kept waving back to see who would blink first.

Stalemate! We turned a corner a good ½ km away and they were still waving.

Our last stop on this gorgeous day is to another food stall extravaganza near the hotel. The Nishikikoii market is like the one in Kanazawa and is stall after stall of fish and vegetables. I wouldn’t know what to try as I struggle just to identify half of what is displayed.

There was a 100 yen store there too with some good prices for souvenirs. And at the far end, a hand painted fan shop where the fans go for $30 to $50.

By now, my foot is really bad. I’ve been fighting plantars fasciitis and now I have a blister like thing on my little toe on the same foot. We get back to the hotel and I try the walk to McDonald’s about 3 blocks away. I manage to get there and when I get back to my room, I find a basin in the bathroom and fill it with cold water and submerge the foot.

Talk about relief.

Oh, did I mention that I have a shredder in my room?

Oh wait. That’s not a shredder……