Kyoto - The Japan of Old

Kyoto was full of memorable moments, thus it is extremely challenging to select a few memorable moments. Do stay in a traditional ryokan to experience the rhythm of Japanese life of old--if only the rhythm of the rich and powerful, as traditional ryokans of Kyoto are the most famous throughout Japan, and the surviving ryokans have been in business for more than 6 generations.

Of course, other great moments are visiting the Japanese temples. There are so many of them that I thought I would be bored visiting them, but I was pleasantly surprised--they were so distinctive and inviting.

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It is true that Japan can be a very expensive place to visit, but if there is a good time to visit, it is now. Japan has been in a depression/recession for ten years now, and with the U.S. dollar being extremely strong overseas, you might find that Japan is surprisingly affordable. I had thought traveling on your own in Japan would be amazingly difficult, but people there are so hospitable.

Once you accept the inevitable fact that you will get lost in Japan, you will also find that any passer-by will try their utmost to help you. Making reservations is a bit difficult, as many of the traditional inns are not on the web, but through the Japanese Reservation Network, you should do ok.

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Words cannot describe the delight that my partner and I experienced at Horie''s. We happened on Horie''s through a recommendation from Mrs. Hirota, who operates Hirota Guest House, recommended by Fodor''s and Lonely Planet. But Horie''s beat Hirota Guest House hands down. Mrs. Horie lives in a house built by her grandfather in the 1800s, and she still has pictures showing that her house was one of the first ones built in this northern neighborhood of Kyoto that is now full of houses. She only has two rooms, both of which overlooking a zen garden, and walled in from the rest of the house by antique shoji door. The rooms are very, very large by Japanese standard, and are equipped with heaters and air conditioners. Staying in a place with only two rooms make showering and bathing in the morning indefinitely easy on us.

Mrs. Horie speaks English--she taught middle school and studied in Berkley for a few months. She is extremely sweet, full of knowledge about Kyoto, especially places that one should visit off the beaten path. Upon our arrival, Mrs. Horie brought tea and biscuits into our room, and then sat down with a map of Kyoto and went over our itinerary. As her house is about a half-hour walk to Ryoanji, Kyoto''s famous Zen garden, and Kinkakuji--the famous golden pavilion, it''s really convenient to those sites. In addition, it''s about a ten minutes walk to the Kyoto subway, so you can get to central Kyoto in about ten minutes subway ride.

For our breakfast, Mrs. Horie served bacon, eggs, vegetable tempura, a tofu hotpot, rice, miso soup, a vegetable plate full of freshly plucked tomatoes and delicious cucumbers, as well as a tray of fresh strawberries, kiwi, and native Japanese apples, along with coffee, tea, juice... We did not have to eat until dinner time, even after having walked for ten hours. Believe me, at $100 for two, with breakfast thrown in and some of the largest rooms in Japan, this is the best bargain of the Kyoto area.

We regret that we discovered Mrs. Horie too late, and so had to leave after only a night there. We wished that we had not made reservations elsewhere, for we would have stayed there longer and followed Mrs. Horie''s advice on places to go. Mrs. Horie told us that a bit north of her place are a few temples and old houses hidden in bamboo groves (I believe the region is called Aoyama), where very few tourists thread and so we would have the place to ourselves, and where there would be no charge for visiting. We promised to come back, and I promised to write about her here. IF ANYONE EVER HAS A CHANCE TO VISIT KYOTO, DO CONTACT MRS. HORIE.

No visitor to Kyoto should miss the Imperial Palace, which, although neither grand in the tradition of sprawling medieval castles nor opulent in the tradition of the renaissance European royal palaces, is one of Japan's most historically significant site. It is this nation's most powerful and commanding site. It has captivated the heart of the nation for 2,500 years, and is still today a spiritual center of the old Japan.

The Old Palace is mostly free of frivolous trappings. In its simplicity hid an extremely ordered, hierarchical society. A couple of things in particular illustrate this one dominant principle of Japanese society. For example, there are separate entrances for the king, the queen, high-level shoguns, and lower-level officials. The doors are distinguished, not by the amount of gold or other precious metals (though you do find gold leaf decorations on some of the palace doors), but by the thickness of the cypress roof, with the king's entrance having the thickest roof overhead. Even the empress was not allowed to use the king's entrance unless she was accompanied by the king. Another example is the waiting room for those seeking audience with the king. There are three waiting rooms: the room closest to the king's throne is the lion room (denoted by the painting on the shoji screen), followed by the crane room, and finally the cherry blossom room. The lion room is highest, i.e., you have to step up from the crane room to reach the lion room. The same goes for access to the crane room from the cherry blossom room. Even the colors of the tatami mats graduate from lighter to darker yellow.

The gardens and the Palace themselves form the center of Kyoto, and are thus a vital and necessary focal point for the tourist. Take a walk through the gardens and along the paths between them. I find that walking in the footsteps of countless old rulers is a powerful and humbling experience. As you walk through the gardens and approach the Palace, do be mindful of its tremendous significance, and that it was the seat of the chrysanthemum throne for two and a half millenia.

Most famous for the dry landscape style, Ryoan-ji is also perhaps the most famous Zen garden in Kyoto. This unique garden was founded in 1450 under the patronage of Hosokawa Katsumoto, a top-ranking war load, who was offered the premises by the Tokudaiji family. The temple itself was constructed in 1488 as a courtyard meditation place for the priests of the Ryoan-ji temple. Though most well-known for its rock garden, Ryoan-ji has a lot more attractions for those who have more time to explore.

Upon entering Ryoan-ji, you notice a large pond to the left. We visited in early April, and were amply rewarded by sights of majestic cherry trees, in full blossoms, with laden branches gracefully giving offerings to the water beneath. Through the branches, one can glimpse turtles and swans languorously sunning on the rocks. Most visitors pass by this pond fairly quickly, heading straight for the dry landscape garden. However, many flora and fauna can be discovered around this lake if you wish to.

The famous rock garden is surrounded by earthen walls in three directions and faced with the corridor of the Hojo building. In the rectangular space measuring 30 by 78 feet, and contains, 15 rocks of various sizes are arranged on white sand in five groups, each comprising five, two, three, two, and three rocks. The most popular explanation of this garden is that the rocks represent a mother tiger and her cubs, swimming in the river of the white sand toward a fearful dragon. Others have said that the gardens resembled at point rice fields, and at others the undulating sea. Yet others have said that the garden might well be called "The Garden of Nothingness" for its very austerity. Ryoan-ji is famous for being very, very crowded, and one guidebook I read warned that in some seasons, one can not even get through the visitors to get even a glimpse of the garden. I have to admit that we must have been extremely lucky, for even dead in the middle of cherry blossoms season, only five other visitors were in the garden. No need to say that we found a gorgeous, bright pink cherry blossom tree drooping just over the wall of the rock garden, lending the otherwise austere garden the spirit of spring and renewal.

Two of the most famous temples in Kyoto are the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji), which lives up to its namesake, and Ginkakuji, whose Japanese character means the "Silver Pavilion," though no one has gotten around to covering this temple with silver leaf. Nevertheless, it is a gorgeous Zen complex built in the 15th century, complete with raked sand, a few buildings, one of which is the oldest Shoin-style building in existence with Japanese cypress thatched roof.

Ginkakuji was the first temple we visited during our tour of Kyoto. The day was gray and the temperature in the low 30s (unusual for April). I don't know whether the weather contributed to enhancing the mood of Ginkakuji, but I thought that the temple complex was magical. Upon entering the main entrance, we were immediately struck by the 50 m high hedges that lined both sides of the approach to the temple. The hedges were made of stones, bamboos, and camelias, and were truly magnificent. Upon passing the gate to the temple courtyard, you are immediately struck by a mound of sand, about 2-3 feet high, in the form of a cut-off, inverted cone, immacurately raked. How the sand remains in shape must be a miracle of design. Immediately to the left of the cone is a courtyard of sand, raked in undulating waves and patterns.

The whole temple complex was immaculate. Anything that might remind a visitor of modern times is disguised, for example the grills to the sewer were covered with bamboo sticks woven together. Even in the cold and rain, several men were sweeping the temple walkways, trimming trees, and picking up fallen leaves. In this spotless environment, there was only one, just one, fallen magnolia bloom that had yet to be picked up by the gardeners. Follow the road at the back of the temple to a high point to admire the temple complex from above, examine the raked sand patterns, and see folding below you, the city of Kyoto.

One of the national treasures of Japan, Sanju-sangen-do tops the list of favorite temples of many visitors to Japan. Reconstructed in 1266, Sanjusangendo has survived unchanged for 700 years. I thought it a nondescript building, nondescript because all the doors are closed, while the building, with white screen doors against brown wooden background and typical slanted roof was nothing to look at - at first. Of course, one soon noticed the incredible length of this building, about 120 m long, or about 360 feet. The name, Sanjusangendo, signifies the thirty-three spaces between the columns that form the foundation of this amazing building.

This temple houses one of the most amazing collections of Kannon (the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy) statues anywhere in the world- 1001 of them. The principal image is a gigantic seated Kannon with 40 arms, flanked on each side by 500 standing statues of the 40-arm kannons. The statues were carved out of cypress and gilded. Each is different, from their pose, to their elaborate dress to their headgear, expressions, arm positions, and what the instruments on each hand. In front of the 1001 kannons are 28 guardian deities which protect the kannon and also pious buddhists who believe in him/her. In addition, the Wind God and the Thunder God also guards the entrance and exit of this temple. All 1031 pieces are masterpieces, carved curing the 12th and 13th century, and incredibly well-preserved. They were just awesome.

One other important fact. This temple used to hold archery competition, where the archers would shoot their arrows down the length of the building, all day and night, with the one hiting the most targets declared the winner. The most amazing story is of one 13 year old, who shot over 8000 arrows in 24 hours to become the undisputed winner of one of the contests. It's truly a game of stamina. Nowadays, the temple still holds archery competitions on Coming of Age Day in January, with the competitors tending to be 20-year-old lady archers.

Though Mrs. Hirota, the proprietor of the guest house where we were staying, had kindly marked this temple in her map, I felt like we actually stumbled on this gem of a Kyoto temple. For an amazing experience, come to this temple after dark if you happen to be in Kyoto during the cherry blossom season (this temple is only open after dark for a couple of weeks in April). During the rest of the year, this temple is also a must, as its garden is considered one of the finest in Kyoto, and more importantly, it is relatively deserted as many tourists flocked to its more well-known cousin, i.e., Kinkakuji, Gingakuji, Ryoanji…

This temple was long the resident of the head abbots of the Tendai sect, who were invariably imperial princes. Founded in 1144, the modern-day structures were erected in 1895. Giant camphor trees signaled the entrance into this temple. Once past the gate, lanterns highlighted our approach to the main temple complex. The temple houses antique shoji screens, old paintings and furniture, but the subdued lighting at night does not lend itself to a productive inspection of these treasures. Instead, take your place along the outer wall of the complex, where large windows afford the first glimpse of the temple garden at night, where strategically placed lights automatically direct your eyes to the main sights of the temple.

We finished our tour of the building and went outside. It was here, in the garden, that we truly felt the magic of this temple. The garden path meandered past budding cherry trees and manicured lawns to lead you to a bamboo grove, where well-tended bamboo stalks were so healthy they shimmered in the spectacular white lights that were shined onto them. My friends remarked upon seeing our pictures that the grove was so beautiful that it looked unreal.

After a while spent in oohing and aahing, the path led us past a couple of smaller buildings of worships to the temple bell. Unlike other temples, here visitors can take turn sounding the bell. We did just that, and the sound that emanated from that bell made for a perfect ending of the temple tour. (For those who want to, the temple also offer a tea ceremony during those nights the temple is open for touring).

Originally a villa of the Saionji family on the hills of Kitayama, this temple was offered to the third Shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate in 1397. After his death, the villa was converted into Rokuonji Temple, which is the formal name for this temple complex. We did not know this at the time of our visit, so we were a bit thrown off when we approached the entrance to our destination and saw the big world Rokuonji. For a minute we thought we were lost.

The Golden Pavilion, for which this temple complex is known, is the first sight that greets an excited visitor. Named after the gold paper that covered the structure, the Golden Pavilion is a three-storied hall situated at the margin of a large pond. Its architecture is typical of the Muromachi period (1333 - 1573), which means that each floor is of a different style. The first floor is styled after the palace of the noble of the Heian period(794-1192). The second floor is of the Kamakura period (1192-1333), while the third floor is of a Chinese style, so its roof has a Chinese phoenix-a lucky bird in China. The large pond on which the pavilion is built is a reflecting pond. We were lucky to be there on a clear day, so even a photograph taken by our cheap point-and-shoot camera showed the temple and its reflection in the blue-green water. The temple looks just like perfection itself.

Throughout the more than 600 years of history, this temple had been rebuilt several times. Originally, only the top floor was covered in gold leaf. In the 1950s, a monk immolated himself in the temple, purportedly to carry its perfection with him. When it was rebuilt in 1955, 100,000 pieces of 22K gold paper(10cm x 10cm) were used to gild both the first and second floors of the pavilion. In 1987, 200,000 pieces of 24K new gold papers were pasted again, thereby rendering the pavilion as shiny as it ever was. The new facelift cost more than $7 million. This temple was recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site, and as such, it is on the itinerary of many tours and many tourists. We were lucky at the time, however. We must have gotten to the temple in between the tour buses, because the temple was peaceful and only a few visitors were loitering around. We had a great time admiring the temple from every angle, without obstruction.

After admiring the pavilion, follow the well-tended path to admire the numerous koi swimming in the pond, and relax in the various benches placed throughout the temple complex. Finally, you can enjoy a Japanese tea ceremony. The temple also has a gift shop.