We started by taking the bus to Nijo-jo, the seat of power until national reunification and transference of political authority to Tokyo. The shoguns, or warlords, met here from 1603, when it was built for the head guy, Ieyasu, the first Tokagawa shogun as his official residence. Wishing to impress upon all visitors his importance (and the declining importance of the Emperor), the palace is a wealth of interior beauty and exterior might. Thick walls and a moat enclose large rooms with golden enhanced painted walls, and heavily carved hallways. No photos were allowed, but here are some off the brochure.
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| what a shogun meeting would have looked like |
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| tigers don't exist in japan, so these were painted using pelts and photos |
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| this ceiling looks like Tudor England but is the hollihock |
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| they could afford to be lavish with space, but they were also lavish with gold |
My favourite part of the entire place was what is called the "nightingale corridors", so called because the sound of nails rubbing against the floorboards when walked is exactly like birds chirping. It's is also an excellent way to prevent nefarious and treacherous activities, as any intruder could be heard.
The garden is not spectacular, but it is impressive, with large rice granaries, rows of cherry and plum and pine trees, and the entire compound surrounded by large trees that are actually allowed to grow as nature intended, with all pruning done inside the garden. Apparently the head guy directed the planted himself from a vantage point upstairs, even choosing what plants went where. His authority had no bounds.
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| entry gate |
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| gate detail |
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| castle garden |
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| manmade island |
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| ancient rice granary, pruned trees and trees au naturel |
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| tea room |
The last shogun saw the writing on the wall and decreed reunification. Thus the beginning and the end of a huge part of Japan's history were initiated in this very place.
From there we walked to Nishiki market, a long, narrow, covered street of foodstuffs, household items and cafes that stretches about 4 city blocks. Some of the items unique to Kyoto's cuisine include a lemony pepper with a long aftertaste that is crushed to power on stone by hand. There are also vegetables covered with a brown sludge that is the leftover lees of saki making. Tiny octopi sat on sticks, their bulbous head filled with a tiny hard-boiled egg. Chefs' knives would be lined up in one stall, while geisha hair accessories filled another.
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| not the octopi wiht the "egg heads" at the back |
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| ubiquitous jelly sweets |
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| marinating in saki lees |
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| who wouldn't want a pagoda made of pineapple? |
We decided to eat here and found a cafe upstairs, so that we could look down at the melee. It was a Japanese buffet, filled with a tightly curated selection of items: noodles, rice dishes, pickles, salads, hot vegetables meat and seafood, and desserts. It was a good chance to try things we hadn't and wouldn't even know to ask. Some of them were delicious, and other ones were not, at least to my western palate. The plates we used had little compartments for each item, a cunning design.
Continuing on, we walked through the main, high end shopping street, across the bridge over the large river (as opposed to the small rivers and streams that intersect Kyoto) and to Maruyama-koen, Kyoto's favourite sakura viewing park. We too sat on our 'mats' (lavalavas we bought in Fiji almost 30 years ago - one of the better $1 we've spent) under the blossoms and communed with nature. It is amazing to think that these famed blossoms only last about a week, and already the grass is strewn with fallen blossoms and the trees sport leaves. The sakura season was considerably earlier this year, and in finer than usual weather (it being 20 degrees plus Celcius every day), to our benefit and we appreciate just how lucky we have been.
Two temples: one with a rare performance of No theater (Yasaka-jinja), Japan's oldest performing art, rooted in Shinto rites; the other to Kyoto's most popular pilgrimage temple, Chion-in. This one sports Japan's largest San-mon gate of all, two storeys to the usual one, as well as Japan's largest bell, cast in 1633 and weighing 70 tonnes. It is rung on New Year's eve only, 108 times.
Unfortunately we did not have time to see Shoren-in, with its enormous camphor trees, because we had a date with a geisha. The only thing we booked, and that was only the day before, we wanted to take in a traditional tea ceremony. It being high season, they are extremely popular and we were lucky to get in to one. It was about an hour, a "causal" ceremony, as the full ones, with the keiseki gastronomic meal attached, can last 4 hours. We shared our geishas (two, one to describe in English what we would see, and one to do the actual ceremony) with 4 people from Argentina and a family from India living in Dubai. A veritable United Nations of tourism.
It was a lovely afternoon, complete with a sweet, matcha tea, and all our questions answered.
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| introduction geisha |
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| before |
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| during |
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| after |
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| our seasoned guide |
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| maiko |
thrust out in the warm evening we strolled through Gion, the largest and most well known geisha district. It is still and active practice with women studying for 5 years before they are considered proficient. They start as teens, as "maiko", with ornate dress and hair full of swinging accessories. They must pay for their own clothing and accessories, and spend a good three years learning their craft. Each change in their studies is marked by a difference in their dress, so that a smarter person than I can tell where they are along the geisha trajectory. The big ceremony is when they move from trainee to geisha, when their under kimono collars change from red to white. The white make-up and exaggerated painted-on features indicates they are beginners, and make-up becomes more natural as they go along.
In the evening they can be seen going into restaurants to work, and these restaurants are all marked with a specific type of lantern out front, red, but with a design around their circumference of white circles joined in a line. A popular thing for travellers is to go into any of of dozens, if not hundreds throughout the city, of shops that will kit out both men and women, although it's primarily women in teh traditional garb, including hair and all the accessories. Then you "rent" the look for a few hours and wander through town in your new finery. I had thought it might be interesting to see just how involved the dress is and ask about its history, but seeing other Caucasians shuffling along in full kimono and obi gear, I went off the idea. for some reason it just did not look right, even though it was equally popular with Indian and Chinese visitors. I contented myself with buying a beaded hairpin from a geisha supply shop (and learning how to install it), and a cotton yakuta at famed department store Takashimiya.
We closed our day with a walk along Ponto-cho, a lovely little street full of night activity, following a little stream and lined with cherry trees. We found a tiny stand-up bar that looked over the river, and ordered whiskey and soda (Martin) and sake (me). A small glass was placed in a little wooden box, then filled with sake so that the glass overflowed and filled half the box. The idea was to drink from the glass, and when it was empty, to drain the box into the glass. I had two of them.
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| waiting for my sake |
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| the box is decorated with the imperial crest, a sixteen petals chrysanthemum |
The proprietor also made us gyoza, little rice dumplings filled with meat and spices and fried, which he made by hand. We finally left into the night air and found a bus back home.
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