So last week on Thursday, Janet and I went to Kyoto to meet up with our friends David (visiting from Tokyo) and Wynne (from Wakayama). It was such a cool day. First we went to Fushimi Inari shine, which I had never been to before, and then over to Kiyomizu-dera, to check out the leaves changing.
Here's the explanation sign in front of the main gate. Fushimi Inari is a shinto god of grains, and since in the olden days wealth was measured by rice, the god has associations with wealth and prosperity. Since Kyoto is a world famous tourist destination, most of the stuff is bilingual, which makes it nice for me to understand what's going on.
Janet and David, in lovely sepia tones.
So this shrine is famous because it has thousands and thousands of these "torii" gates along the path. It's actually quite a hike, we were stomping around the woods for nearly two hours, and we didn't get to cover everything. Every inch of the path is covered by these gates, so it's really beautiful to see. According to Janet, the chick from Memoirs of a Geisha was filmed running through the gates (dunno, my bootleg version is unwatchable, as I bought it in Shanghai and it's dubbed in Russian... go figure?!).
Torii upon Torii upon Torii.
Here's us, actin' a fool at the top of the mountain.
Once we started getting into the more heavily wooded parts of the mountain, they had these cute signs for "entertain your dog by putting out a fire," or "wearing funny hats makes my dog laugh at me." Or something...
This is typical at the entrance of shrines and temples in Japan, there will often be a hand wash so that you can "cleanse" your worldly sins and purify yourself before you enter the holy area, through the symbolic hand washing. The red bibs are actually to do with abortion (the god of unborn kids? I dunno), I am a little fuzzy about the exact meaning but I think that because abortion is used as a form of birth control in Japan, you see a lot of statues with these red bibs hanging out.
So the fox is the messenger of Inari, and there are a number of fox statues throughout the grounds. The fox, or "kitsune" in Japanese, is believed to have magical powers and can sometimes assume human form. Foxes are associated with benevolent trickery, which is kind of like Native American folklore too - I wonder how foxes throughout the world have this reputation?
Here's my artsy lantern/shrine shot.
On the way back through downtown Kyoto, there was a company doing some sort of exhibit for their new product, and had hired a Geisha to sit in a tent and get photographed by tourists (yup I'm a sucker too). Geisha in Kyoto proper are called "geiko" in the local dialect, and "maiko" (underage geisha). I'm lucky enough to have seen a few in Kyoto, but to even catch a glimpse is like seeing a shooting star - quick and fleeting.
BUT, the ladies can rent costumes for the day and get their faces painted. I see this quite often and the girls usually get dressed up and walk around Kyoto a bit and snap photos. I snuck my camera in on a photo shoot - I doubt that real Geikos give the peace sign when they are being photographed.
Here's us in front of the famous Kiyomizu-dear ("Pure water temple"). That's Wynne on the right. She can speak Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and English all with equal fluency. Isn't that rad?!
The temple was a mob scene when we got there. I've been there 4 other times (it's one of the most famous sites in Japan, and everybody always wants to visit... with good reason, it's beautiful). The fall "kouyou" season, when the Japanese maple leaves turn colors ("momiji") and it's really pretty. Unfortunately, we picked a national holiday to go, so it was butts to balls at the temple - not exactly the peaceful mountainside setting one hopes for, but entertaining in its own way.
My artsy shot.
Here's a panoramic (ish) of the temple. It's famous because it's such a large wooden structure that is supspended off the side of the Eastern Kyoto mountains. It's got a great view of the city skyline and the maple trees below are nice too. Too bad I was shooting with my crappy old camera, next time I go I'll try to get a better shot.
Here's David and Wynne lookin' silly, bringing luck on themselves by "bathing in incense."
So one of the famous parts of Kiyomizu-dera is this rock. There are actually two of them, in this courtyard area off the side of the main temple grounds, and the are technically called "Love Stones." Japanese lore states that if you can walk from one stone to the other with your eyes closed, you will find true love (or something like that, I wasn't really paying attention). If you need help to get there then you will need help to find your true love (again, or something like that, wasn't paying attention). This place is always mobbed with young people who are bumping into each other in their attempts at finding true love. Is that some kinda metaphor for love I just made?
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planet_janet (photo credit: Janet)
Here's me, getting ready for the attempt. The place was so super crowded, I ended up trampling a couple of people in my attempt to find true love. I had the right path for a bit, but in the end veered off and ended up waaay off course. Modern day cupid, David, had to steer me back.
The temple is named for the pure mountain water that runs off of it, hence the name. Again, you can bring luck/fortune onto yourself by drinking the water that runs from the mountain. Funny thing is, it was so crowded, I saw a lady whack a kid with the metal pole (on accident... maybe) right after they had both finished drinking. So much for good luck!
The area surrounding Kiyomizu-dera is full of old style Japanese gift shops with all kinds of curious. This one is for mochi-sweet bean snacks. (photo idea credit: Wynne).
Here's a night shot as we are leaving the area. Nice, huh?
...for more pictures, check out Janet's collection at http://community.webshots.com/user/planet_janet.
(according to the Internet, this is what my throat looks like right now... totally closed and swollen)
