18 October 2011
My pattern seems to be to take long walks on Mondays and Wednesdays when there are no Japanese lessons etc. Yesterday I set off for the Philosopher's Walk (named for a certain Kyoto University professor of the early 20th century who took daily constitutionals there). It is a pleasant walk in Higashiyama (eastern mountains) by a pleasant canal. There are no cars, so it is a quiet place to walk. There are a small shops and restaurants, great blue herons in the canal, well-fed stray cats (cats send their best to E, S & Q), cherry trees and willows. Altogether very pleasing. A perfect place for Nelson. I stopped by the famous temple, Eikando Zenrin-ji. It is a series of buildings connected by walkways. It is especially famous for The Looking-back Buddha. The story goes that the head priest Eikan was walking around the altar when the Amida statue stepped down. The amazed priest stopped in his tracks, and Amida looked over his shoulder to encourage him to come along. (NB: the first three photos are not mine).
Later Win came home and we took the bus over to the Kyoto Botanical Garden, of which we only saw a small portion, including a marvelous exhibit of bonsai (from ancient gnarled trees to fruit trees, grasses, rice and a fern forest), water garden, bamboo garden, Japanese native plants and trees, lots of fall-blooming shrubs, and so on. There is an immense conservatory which we will visit on another trip.
Today were morning and afternoon Japanese lessons for me and teaching for Win. At least I can say "where is the toilet" (and hope to find a western style toilet though I'm slowly getting more adept with the squat sort and now know to face backwards)!
With all our love
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