Kyoto
Kyoto is the old capitol of Japan where the nobility built castles and numerous temples. Through green bamboo forests you can catch glimpses of old Japan surrounded by a restrained modernity. The architecture is careful and tasteful and traditional. Its a bit like an austere Europe done in dark cyprus instead of ornamented marble. Wood, paper and stone provide their own natural detail if lit and arranged properly. Much of it is set up to look like it wasn’t arranged all.
We got to walk around the traditional entertainment district on Coming of Age Day when all the twenty year olds dressed up in kimono and went out on the town. We even bumped into an apprentice Geisha.
We were able to stay in a traditional dwelling while in Kyoto. Japanese homes are constructed post and beam with sliding rice paper walls. Tatami mats cover the floor and “outside” is just a gradual succession of increasingly open walls. The sliding walls mean you can reconfigure the interior rooms to fit your whim and makes small houses seem deceptively large. This design is meant to air out nicely in the summer. In the winter it meant huddling around kerosene space heaters.
We spent a long time just shuffling around temples in our socks going from one grey stone and green bamboo setting to the next. Walkways in the gardens turn into stepping stones to force you to slow down and notice a detail and then twist about to show you something else. One technique is to frame a garden with the larger landscape around it. Mountains overshadowing bonsai messes with your perspective.
Most religions attempt to inspire divine awe in their followers by building big stone and glass buildings. Shinto plops a temple down in the middle of a spot of natural beauty and lets creation speak for itself. But then of course the monks are Japanese. So they tweak the hell of the area with meticulous millennium long gardening plans. Nature is grand, but everything can be improved.
There are more temples and shrines then you could ever possibly visit in Kyoto, but some people try. Surrounding the temples are religious pilgrims in traditional attire that travel from temple to temple on foot, waving their hands in prayer seeking enlightenment through repetition. Also surrounding the temples are ridiculously fit guys in traditional garb that will haul you up temple hills in a rickshaw for a hefty fee. After hanging out with struggling cyclo drivers in Vietnam it was very strange to see these well fed guys just getting in a good workout on your yen.
After China we were expecting a continuation of Tea Heaven. But the Japanese drink so much American style coffee it actually took us a while to find a tea house. When we did, it was very upscale joint. Quoth Mandy: “This tea had better have been shat out by unicorns. For this price you could go to China, buy great tea and have a lovely holiday.” Which is, I guess, what tea merchants do.
Nenjo Castle is right in the center of Kyoto surrounded by gardens. The Shogun had the palace inside the castle equipped with “nightingale floors” so you’d know if ninja were sneaking around the joint. The floors sing when you step on them. Its not squeaky at all, it sounds like a chorus of tiny violins every time you move. Its an impressive blend of aesthetic and security. The rice paper walls are elaborately painted with phoenix, tigers and trees.
We loved Kyoto. Mandy keeps saying she wants to move to “Kyoto, Vermont.” Unfortunately we had to pace ourselves and do a lot of half days so that Mandy’s evil Chinese cough didn’t turn into a flu.
Photos of the pretty city.
We wanted to take the bullet train to Yokahama (2 hrs!), but though an interpreter we found an overnight bus for much less…