Gardens and Temple Food

First, Happy Birthday to Quinn! The turtle came up specially so I could take his picture for you!

While Win was at work today, I went to Nanzen-ji, one of the big temples in Kyoto (a Zen temple begun in 1291). But I decided to go to one of the sub temples, Konchi-in, known especially for its garden. It is said to represent a tortoise and a crane surrounded by a sea of sand. Both animals are associated with longevity, beauty and eternal youth. The twisted pine in the photograph sits atop the boulders representing the tortoise. Lovely and quiet in the morning with few visitors. Then the garden at Tenju-an with moss everywhere and a lovely waterfall. Met Win at the nearby Kyoto International Community House, an organization devoted to cultural understanding.

We had a wonderful Shojin Ryori meal (Japanese vegetarian meal typically served near temples) at the restaurant of the Ryokan Yachiyo. Among other things, there was a pot of simmering tofu (very soft and delectable) for which there was a wonderful sauce and various garnishes including ginger, bonita, scallion, and seaweed. There was beautiful vegetable tempura (squash, sweet potato, lotus, eggplant, beans), a small dish of pickles, and two plates of various other small things we could mostly not identify (but one morsel was a small ball of green pounded rice with bean paste in the middle, wrapped in a piece of ?banana leaf tied with a piece of grass. How gorgeous!)

We then saw two short films at the Community House, one about an 80 y/o man who is a master of the art of dyeing kimono materials - a very complicated and laborious process which produces magnificent and expressive patterns (Yuzen silk if you want to look it up). The second film was on the tea ceremony and how it developed in Japan.

Since the day was still lovely, we walked over to the nearby Murin-an Garden, a more modern and naturalistic garden than the others and also very tranquil. One or two maples were beginning to change color...

I could almost forget about what happened to the Red Sox...

Much love to all

Kyoto Station

28 September 2011

All of us are pilgrims on this earth. I've even heard it said that the earth itself is a pilgrim in the heavens.
-Maxim Gorky, 1903

Win went to his office on Monday for the day, to get the lay of the land and so on. I adopted the role of shufu (housewife). Enjoyed resting my feet etc. But having finally obtained a battery for my light meter, I can soon engage in my shumi (hobby) of B&W photography.

Tuesday morning we had our 2hr Japanese conversation class at Shugakuin International House. The participants are from: Sweden, China, India, Bangladesh, Russia and ourselves! Can you sort of picture it? The sensei is a good-natured older woman who encourages even the worst speakers among us (me that is). In the afternoon we went down to the Kyoto Station, a mamouth and dramatic modern building - sort of a city in itself - with a department store, many shops, restaurants etc, not to mention trains, subways and buses. At the very top (12 stories up) is a Tranquility Garden of Bamboo trees and great views of the city. The third photograph shows part of the escalator going up - looks a bit like a waterfall in the picture. The green umbrellas at about the 3rd level show a cafe where we stopped for some iced matcha tea - a definitely bracing and the beautiful color of spinach. The first photograph is a reflection in an adjoining building. The last shows one of the many sculpture installations which caught our eye.

Today I went into central Kyoto on my own mostly to window shop. Found some of the great old stores described in "Old Kyoto" including ones selling brushes and brooms, paper and paint brushes of all sorts, gorgeous ceramics, pewter tea pots etc,etc. Luckily Win hasn't been paid yet.
Tonight I fixed sort of spaghetti for old time's sake and am asking the gods of good fortune to look after the Red Sox.

Much love

Flea Market of a Thousand Stalls

25 September 2011

Off to the northwestern side of Kyoto (Nishijin neighborhood - once known as the center of textile crafts), where we first where we first stopped at the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine. There a gigantic flea market is held on the 25th of each month in and around the grounds of the shrine. Clothing, old and new, tools, ceramics, plants, food of every sort, amusements for children, cloth, small furniture, just name it and it would probably be somewhere. We made just a few small purchases and some food from vendors for lunch - some sort of pancake ball with octopus plopped in the middle and sauce and bonito flakes on top. The picture shows Win eating the delicious fried Japanese yams - very sweet.

We then walked quite a long distance through some traditional neighborhoods to find the Raku Museum. There are several well-known families which have been producing ceramics since the 16th century. Some of the ancient tea cups look utterly modern, and all are beautiful small sculptures, each in its own way of balance, light, design, and so on. There were other items as well - incense boxes, fresh water containers, vases etc. We thought it was breath-taking. The above poster is of the current exhibit - the black cup shows Mt Fuji.

We decided to walk all the way back to the train rather than catch a bus. On the way, we passed several temples and shrines. At one (Shiramine jingu Shrine), a lively game of Kemari was being played using what looked like a water logged (heavy), deflated volley ball. We have no idea about the nature of the game, but given the colorful costumes, it was very entertaining. No body contact, just something about kicking the ball up in the air.

Kombanwa (good evening)

With all our love

Trip to Uji

24 September 2011

Another glorious day. We set off on the Keihan Line for the ancient city of Uji which lies about 10 miles south of Kyoto. Uji is famous for its green tea, abundantly obvious from the many tea purveyors and tea rooms selling tea and (mostly green looking) sweets. One tea shop is at least 350 years old, but the line was too long for to sit for tea. We crossed over the Ugigawa River, flowing with a furious current which we imagined was due to the recent rains. The bridge was first built around 1000. It is still partly wood (see photo above). Our first stop was
Byodo-in, converted from a Heian era summer residence to a Buddhist temple in 1053, and now a Unesco World Heritage site. It is situatuated on a pond signifying the western ocean. It is quite graceful, with two large phoenixes on the roof and also large, golden Buddha inside, many wonderful carvings of Bodhisattvas, dancing, playing instruments, in prayer etc. The entire building is meant to resemble a phoenix and represent Amida's heavenly palace in the Pure Land. A museum has been built behind the temple to exhibit some of the most magnificent pieces.

After lunch we visited the oldest shrine in Japan, Ugigami-jinja, built in the 10th centery. The small islands and their connecting bridges, often thought of as the Bridge of Dreams from Tale of Genji, were all closed probably because of the raging river so we had to recross on the Uji bridge. The old shrine was very simple and peaceful. From there we went to the Tale of Genji Museum, as 10 or 15 chapters of Tale of Genji (Lady Murakami - see above print) are set in Uji. Quite interesting, and even with an English audio guide, amazingly enough. By then our feet have had enough and we make our way back to the train.

We miss everyone. Have met no American (or even native English-speaking) people yet...But we are soaking up as much Japanese ambiance as possible.

Love to all

Fushimi Inari Shrine

23 September 2011, Shubun no hi (National Holiday for Autumn Equinox)

Finally a beautiful, clear and less steamy day! Since the national holiday is a time for visiting graves, it seemed appropriate to visit the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Fushimi. This is an ancient Shinto Shrine built in honor of Inari, the God of Rice. People come from all over to pray for prosperity, health and so on. Over hundreds of years, behind the main temple buildings, thousands of torii gates have been built (each by a business or individual - priced according to size) to line the paths going up Mt. Inari. Along the way are hundreds of smaller shrines typically adorned with miniature torii and with foxes (the messengers of Inari) wearing red bibs. The paths are rise steeply up the mountain through the woods, with light and shadows creating a wonderful, dramatic arch. The loud sounds of cicadas and ravens provide the music.
A wonderful and energetic hike, and we made it to the top! Treated ourselves to soft cones made with soy flour flavor...? The top two photos were taken by Win and the third shows one of the wily foxes holding a granary key in its jaws. At the shrine we rang one of the large bells to send good wishes to Anne P. and later lit a candle in remembrance of the wonderful trip we had to Kyoto with C & J in 2009.

Before visiting the shrine, we took a walk through Fushimi to see the old sake breweries by the canal. Fushimi (town) is still a center for sake production. The town is just a few stops further south from Fushimi Inari on the Keihan line. Easy to get to.

Back home, with tired feet, we decided to go out for supper locally, and so stumbled into a joint where you mostly grill your own food at the table - a combination of all manner of chicken parts (including cartilage and skin) or meats or sea food from a large tank (clams for us, but there were also eels, and other creatures as well). Certainly an adventure in trying to figure out what to do from watching other diners but also trying not to stare. Rice with a raw egg and some soy sauce mixed in turns out to be pretty tasty. We had wheat wine with dinner which was something like sake. Sticky rice balls in syrup for dessert.

We wish everyone a good fall and send love.

Typhoon Roke

21 September 2011

The past two days have been humid and soggy, with especially heavy rain today related to Typhoon Roke which had a much more severe impact along the east coast in the Nagoya area. We went over to the University where Win was supposed to participate in a meeting, but found the place mostly shut down. At least he knows what bus to take and which is the building where his office is located. Classes don't start until October 1.

The heavy rain curtailed our explorations this week, giving us more time to read etc. I highly recommend a wonderful book Holly B. gave us before we left called The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal, a gifted English potter whose family (Ephrussi) in the past were wealthy bankers from Odessa who settled in Paris and Vienna in the late 19th Century and were among other things art collectors. One member acquired a magnificent collection of 240 netsuke during the early days of enthusiasm for Japanese art. How this collection moved from Paris to Vienna, surviving the unspeakable horrors of the Nazi invasion, and ended up in Japan after WWII via England and finally in de Waal's possession makes a mesmerizing and extremely touching story. The picture I include is his hare and another netsuke I just liked.

We think the weather should be getting better, and since Friday September 23 is another national holiday (o Higan or Fall Equinox) we will try to take some day trips outside the immediate city.

With love to all

Exploring Nishiki-koji Arcade

19 September 2011, Respect for the Aged Day (National Holiday)

Yesterday we set out for Kyoto's famous food market, Nishiki-koji Arcade, which sits right in the midst of incredibly busy downtown. It seemed as if the entire population of Kyoto was out shopping on a Sunday. The arcade, as the picture shows, is a long corridor flanked on both sides by some 150 vendors selling all imaginable sorts of traditional foods and household items and then some. It was quite a thrill! The third photo shows traditional pickles - tsukemo - of which there seem to be hundreds of colorful varieties. Often there are small bowls from which one can take a sample which was heaven for Win who loves them. Of the things I could identify, there were beautiful fruits and vegetables, and abundance of fish and octopus, cooked, fresh, smoked and pickled and who knows what, many sorts of sweets, the skin of cooking soy milk rolled up (yuba), fried things on sticks, tofu donuts, delicious sweet chestnuts, rice balls, and everything a competent cook from Kyoto could possible need. We had a great time and even bought some pickles and ginger.

Today, September 19, is a holiday called Keiro-no-hi or Respect for the Aged Day. Ki is the character for persons over 60 and ro for persons over 70. The ideas as far as I can tell is that people visit their grandparents, and that everyone considers the cycle of life and the positive attributes of the elderly including the wisdom that comes with a long life. Since no one was around to respect us, we just paid compliments to each other! Then went for a long walk to a park, Takaragaike Koen, which was much further that we thought so that by the time we found it we were ready to come home. We did walk through some lovely quiet neighborhoods and saw young kids playing very competent baseball under the watchful eyes of parents (Japanese little league I guess) in the sports park. Reminded me of watching Silas and Quinn only these kids were a little older. Japanese love baseball, and when we have told people we are from Boston the first thing they mention is poor Daiskei.

Tomorrow Tropical Storm Roke is coming this way, so we expect rain for the next two or three days...

Love to all

Trip to Himeji Castle

17 September

Today we decided to take a break from fixing up the apartment and so headed out of Kyoto to Himeji Castle by train, about 1hr 20min ride from Kyoto Station. We actually managed to buy tickets on the correct line and board the correct train! Which was a great confidence booster. Himeji Castle is one of the 12 surviving great castles in Japan, built in 1580 of magnificent wood timbers covered with plaster. It has a long and colorful history and is now a Unesco World Heritage Site. Known for its beauty as well as its military might (there are special "stone dropping" windows which open downward so rocks or boiling oil could be dropped on the heads of enemies and vast halls where muskets and swords were stored), the castle is know as the White Heron. The tiled roofs with the fish-like creatures at the corners are particularly graceful. Unfortunately for us, major restoration at present means the main castle building is shrouded by scaffolds (until 2015) as all the roof tiles are being removed and replaced if necessary. Hence the above photo is not mine. However we were able to go up inside the restoration and see the top roof etc. And we were lucky to have an English speaking guide all to ourselves.

After many hours and feeling about to faint, we went to the more modern tea garden adjoining the castle, called Koko-en, and had a lovely lunch, sitting at a table overlooking the pond with its many large and colorful carp. We wish we could have brought a few back for Anne P. As the weather was ominous (apparently a typhoon in the vicinity) and the hour late, we walked back to the train station to come home. We even found our bus #5 at the station to come back to Shugakuin and missed the worst of the rain.

Yesterday (9/16) we went to a small department store and finally got proper towels and some other necessities. But I still haven't found decent coffee, though I know Starbucks exists in Kyoto in several place. In the afternoon we went to the National Museum of Modern Art in Okasaki-Koen. The ceramics were excellent. Oddly there were two rooms of Walker Evans' photographs from the 50's, one series of a Spanish village and one of a rural southern midwife. A not quite coherent collection we thought.

Once again we send our love.

Arrival in Kyoto

Shugakuin International House, Kyoto University

15 September, 8pm
We arrived at our new apartment on Tuesday after about 24 hours of travel - mind-numbingly long but no delays or problems. Two students and Furukawa-san met us at the house where we are staying and took us up to our apartment, a small, spare but entirely adequate place to live, save that the only items in the little kitchenette were the 4 glasses the students had bought us. They took us out for a nice dinner at a hotel in the neighborhood, but we were probably not the best company.

So like two impoverished graduate students, we have carried bags of household items to our place from the local Y100 store (sort of like the 5 and dime of yore). Now we have two of most essentials, chopsticks, plus a little tea kettle. Bedding is supplied luckily. The neighborhood grocery store proved more daunting. Pretty much nothing is labeled in English. That is ok for noodles and a few other things, but most of the packaged food is quite mysterious. Even for soy sauce there are dozens of types. Today I wasn't certain if I was buying salt or sugar. But with our two burners, we can cook rice and stir fry the excellent vegetables and any one of an entire case of tofu types (also involving blind faith). The little stove has a toaster drawer, but no oven - ok for breakfast. When I get braver, I will stop by the local fish monger just down the street, but I can't really recognize most of what he sells from his little icy stall. I see he is always feeding the neighborhood cats.

In our apartment we have three small rooms and a balcony. We have no TV or radio but can use the computer to hear our familiar morning WGBH in the evening etc. And there is AC which is a great relief in this extreme autumn heat. The building seems pretty empty just now, but we figure that will change when the semester starts around Oct 1. Win was lent a cell phone but I can't get one until the end of October when I will get my alien resident card. Win-sensei also has a bicycle at his disposal and a large office at the university! Well, I don't think I could ride around Kyoto because I'd always be looking in the wrong direction since Japanese drive on the left. And I think he doesn't really know what he will actually do in the office!

On Wednesday we spent the morning at Kyoto University meeting staff and graduate students, doing paper work etc. Then we went to the Sakyo Ward office to fill out the alien resident forms etc. Today we had the courage to take the subway (two actually) to go to the Kyoto National Museum which had been closed when we were here two years ago and alas seems as if it is going to be closed another two years. It was so hot (over 90) that we couldn't get up the energy to visit the temples in the area, so came home and went grocery shopping. Cold green tea seems to save us. Monday is a holiday - Elder Persons Day Win thinks. That's us. If the weather cooperates, we will take one of the historic walks. Sayonara.

Much love to everyone.