Thursday July 19

Thursday July 19
Kyoto

Today was a very hot and hectic day. Ms. Becker and I went on an historic one day tour of the major sights of Kyoto. We saw 6 major sights in really unbearably humid heat. It was still a good day.

Our first stop was Nijo Castle. The castle was originally built in 1603 and completed in 1626. It was the residence of the Tokugawa shoguns. It is considered an excellent example of Edo period building design and paintings. The Tokugawa were responsible for unifying Japan after a long period of division. The castle was built as a show of their power. During this period, the shogun was really the one who held power and the emperor was really a figure head. Like the major domo in Europe, the shoguns held the political and military power. In fact, this castle, unlike others, was not built for fighting but was built to keep an eye on the emperor. This all takes place during Japan's feudal period. Remember we compared that to European feudalism.



The place is really beautiful. The castle is all made of wood and is a huge complex of rooms for many different purposes and for each person's differing status. One of the things I loved was the "nightingale floor." The floor actually makes squeaking noises like nightingales as a warning to invaders. It was really wild. There were lots of incredible paintings inside as well but we were only allowed to take pictures outside.















Then off to the Golden Pavillion. This place is called a sheriden meaning that it is a hall of relics of the Buddha. At one point it was also used as a guest house. Now it has been converted to a temple. It is, like many of the sights we saw today, surrounded by breath taking gardens of bonsai trees, water, rocks and bridges. What a serene place. It's out in the middle of the water and I can imagine myself relaxing there and reading.












Our third stop before lunch was the Imperial Palace. Ms. Becker and I were starving and sweating like crazy at this point. Okay, so this place was enormous! It is a total of about 27 acres!! In 784, the capital of Japan was moved from Nara (we are headed there tomorrow) to Kyoto and it remained there for over 1000 years until it was moved to its present location in Tokyo. The move marked the beginning of the Heian period where we get the great literary work of the "Tale of Genji" by Lady Murasaki. The city of Kyoto is considered the "heart of Japan" since the capital enjoyed such a long history here. Unfortunately, the palace was often destroyed by fire and was rebuilt several times, so I am not sure what is original if any. But it had some amazing paintings inside and awesome gardens.




























During all this we had a real character of a tour guide. For those of us older folk who have seen the show "Taxi, " our tour guide was like Laka on red bull!!! He even said "thank you very much" in the same way about a million times. Ms. Becker and I were dying! Too funny. That was the extent of our morning tour, then it was off to lunch with our group and some shopping. Good bye Laka and thank you very much:-)

In the afternoon, we had three more stops and a new tour guide! Ms. Becker and I were totally exhausted and drenched in sweat at this point. Our first stop was the Heian shrine, built to honor the 1200 anniversary of the period. It was beautiful and a bright orange color but recently built. The garden areas here as you will see are spectacular. I could have stayed there all day!

("This was by far my favorite place we visited. I got to sit on the bridge and feed the fish."- Ms. Becker)


































What is neat is that each shrine has a place to buy good luck charms. At one I purchased a good luck driving and traffic safety for my nieces, one has been having some issues lately. Then I purchased two for myself that is supposed to help with headaches. Anyone that knows me would not be surprised that I got two.

Heck, I was ready to buy up the whole box ! It's neat though, they have a good luck charm for everything: studying, for exams, for health, love, etc

Next we went to the Sanjusangen-do temple. It has a thousand sculptures of Kannon or gods of mercy. It is a rather strange sight to see all of these in this dark space. This wooden structure was built in 1164 and is the longest wood structure in the world (that is a shout out to Andrew, Tim and Adam from out tour group, they will know why). There is one main Kannon that has 1000 arms (symbolically). It also has images of 10 other heads upon its head. Ms. Becker and I could not take pictures here.

But for 100 yen you could try your luck at a fortune grab basket. Ms. Bisconti was smart to not test her luck but I just had to know. Thankfully my fortune was "good", solidly in the middle of best fortune and incredibly bad luck. Here are a few highlights from my fortune:
1. Stress will effect my health (I already knew that one)
2. Journey is agreeable (I was glad to hear that because we have 6 more days wandering around this awesome country.)
3. My soulmate will be late (bummer)
4. My lost item will be found later (I didn't even realize I was missing something. Now I need to figure out what it is.)

Finally, Ms Becker and I were at our last stop, which was up a huge incline and lots of stairs. I just wanted to cry at this point. This was the Kiyomizi temple. Once at the top it provided some spectacular views of Kyoto. We looked around, snapped some photos and headed back .

Ms. Bisconti and I also briefly visited the Jishu shrine where the god of love lives aka "the Cupid of Japan". You could purchase all sorts of charms to have a better chance at love or ensure a good marriage. Young girls and boys were running around and one group in particular were giggling while ringing a bell that must have something to do with finding true love. It was quite sweet.

























At this point, Ms. Becker and I were starving. Happy to say we found a Burger King. Now I don't really eat fast food at home, but I am really missing home right now and that whopper jr., fries and soda tasted like the best thing I ever ate. So much so that Ms.Becker hardly sat down and I finished my meal with a huge grin. This is why my family used to call me the human vacuum and many family members are known to grab their food when they see me coming! Anyway, I must confess. It was so good and I was so hungry and homesick that I got up and ordered another full round. The guy behind the counter laughed. I sat down and this time savored every bite:-)



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