LOST IN TRANSLATION - Chapter 2: KYOTO

Back in Osaka station and another change to move onto Kyoto. There we would have two nights. A precious time to sort out what I had in my suitcase. Lo and behold this turned up on my mobile telephone screen when we were about to leave the hotel the following morning….an earthquake alert…not that I understood much!

Friends living close to Kyoto had suffered an earthquake. They had woken to see furniture slide all over the floor and a grand piano which crashed though a window onto the slopes outside. I shuddered. Surely we were not to experience the same event…the lights swayed a little. We were informed by the hotel that the earthquake was some way off.

Signs are quite frequent for « Tsunami Danger ». I felt that Jerome’s remark was a pertinent one. What happens if you are in a ferry? I didn’t want to know…

But how to run 2,5 metres with a wave approaching?

There are two highlights, no three in the trip to Kyoto. Perhaps not ones which seem pertinent but for me were the most enjoyable. The market to begin with. The different produce. The stalls. The cakes and how they were made… it was magic. Just look at these to see the variety … so much that we wondered what the produce was…it was the only market we saw before going onto Higashiyama-Ku district or as they call them « wards » and this was one of the 11.

First of all the fans....

Then all this....

Buying cakes-


-Like these

The Toji temple we visited is supposedly the highest pagoda in the world. This was something that could not be questioned. Somehow, it didn’t impress me. Probably because of the milling crowds and Jinzo was not around to protect me. There were other gods though who were there. Okage-Myo Jin who will answer the any prayer whatever it is. He is believed fervently as a guardian deity especially for ladies…Now just look at this…

Or perhaps there was another Japanese god who is in charge of love and good matches…how about him?

Messagers for the gods

and see him below

Devils, snakes and all sorts of beasties around to drive away the crowds and turn Kyoto into a simpler, complicit place which I was looking forward to.

  Of course the saké tasting in the Nakagyo-Ku district (no ward) was key in my trip to Japan. As of 2008, the ward has an estimated population of 102,620 people. Tourism, shopping, and entertainment are the primary sources of income in the area. The Kamo River flows through the district in the area known as Kawaramachi. Back to the saké tasting. Suddenly there were nine glasses of different saké set before us. Three for each one of us.

Something triggered in my mind. Saké and vodka were not unalike. Perhaps with saké and three different glasses I would remain sober and without a headache the following morning. I was right. From then on, I would drink saké without hesitation. We tried sweet, dry, fruity, milky, classic…a fantastic moment of discovery with a young man who knew his job. I wished we could have eaten there.
that I had dreamt of. Tiny streets and then something that was impossible in my way of thinking for a country supposedly so far advanced from a technology point of view... electricity cables were low in the narrow streets and low every time we saw them. Much later, the men made the remark that perhaps if those electrical cables were so visible it was easier to see them, recuperate them after a Tsunami or an earthquake. Perhaps but so ugly in narrow streets and always there in any place that we visited.

See the cables?

What a contrast

There was the musical group we stopped to listen for a moment. Local music is right locally but I find these high notes and incomprehensible sounds a little difficult to accept - outside of the right environment.

Dinner hunting was on. We finally opted for a restaurant which gave onto the river. Tourism, shopping, and entertainment are the primary sources of income in the area. The Kamo River flows through the same district. We saw it the following day and the restaurant where we had dined.

Not bad eh?

There was so much else going on. The streets at night made Kyoto what I wanted to see. Contrast.

The Buddhist priest

Following a ceremony without understanding exactly what I/we /were doing…

Meeting the Buddhist priests on the bridge who spoke and perhaps blessed us?

The little shops with natural products like soap - who knows and cares if they were natural …

Soap Shop

The real thing

Contrast again

The false Geisha who had nothing to do with the filiform of the real…

Contrast…

And finally, out of the blue a welcome sign to Kyoto…had we turned around in circles? Perhaps

It was after I had caressed the Bull. Or Oxen if you prefer. They are regarded as messenger of another deity. I choose them perhaps as they bare the suffering for you - (Translation from "It is said they the Ox will bear your suffering for you" ) So you must touch with your right hand or both hands « Touch the pedestals of taller statues » left me somewhat confused.

How to touch the bull

The gardens, the smaller temples without too people, it was a new experience. Again, the silence. Something perhaps that I hadn’t been prepared for.

Red leaves were appearing

Incredible transparency

Suddenly all would change. The three of us were off to see the Festival or in French « Jidai Matsuri

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jidai_Matsuri Jidai Matsuri

We had gone to where we were supposed to be at an early hour. Such processions in my book mean crowds, pushing, not seeing anything in the long run…I was quite wrong. The procession had apparently been going on since the early hours of the morning. We were there in the afternoon. I gather too, that each time we saw these « people » in grey go by, were we changing a dynasty…I was totally lost.

Changing a dynasty - or so we thought - they appeared regularly

Yes he's different

Another dynasty

and another

This was to pick up the horse dung

At least we saw his face...

Laurent videoed most of the procession but without cutting the length of film, frankly, the short films are not too interesting. There were moments when it was exciting but oh so slow. Without understanding the centuries, we could only see costume changes. Occasionally there were faces but enthusiasm was not there. Before anything else, what impressed me was once again, discipline. The procession route was so long that there were no crowds. Everyone there, or where we were, stood with their cameras, waiting patiently for something to happen.

I was glad to get back to the underground and discover father (?) and son.

Or typical Japanese women

Now onto a new Shrine. Fushimi Inari Shrine is an important Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds.

I think they were foxes...

A short rest....

The map of our

The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies, and we saw what I suppose were the donator's name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate. The cost starts around 400,000 yen for a small sized gate and increases to over one million yen for a large gate. In something we all understand that means around $3,800 US and close on $10 million for a large gate. I don’t know many of us who could donate.

The trail is a thrilling experience and once again we were lucky to be alone most of the time. It seemed to go on and on. A pause in a small garden and we climbed again. I think we went to the end. I have never seen anything like this trail and it too will be a key point for the Kyoto visit along with the saké tasting and the market.

There is so much to learn about this culture. I read a lot before coming but as usual it slipped out of my mind and I needed a « refresher course » once back home.

Then I nearly forgot. Of course there was another key feature in the Kyoto visit…The Temple Ryozen Kannon War Memorial,

Ryozen Kannon Temple, located in the south east of Kyoto is a war memorial dedicated to the fallen on both sides of the Pacific War and a moving testament to the futility and loss of conflict. It was only when Laurent reminded me what the name of the temple was that I remembered that we had learnt about the Pacific War. They knew very little about that side of history.

The 24-meter concrete image of the Goddess of Mercy was built in 1955 We could enter the body of the statue to see the enshrined Eleven-headed image of Kannon (the Goddess of Mercy). There is also an altar containing soil from every Allied cemetery from the Pacific theater of World War II. That I found very touching.

The grounds and gardens were blissful. And just a touch of red on the leaves.

The reflections in the water were out of this world. Sometimes so clear it looked as if a second temple had emerged in the water.  There was a woman gardner, oblivious to the tourists

Bamboo forests which looked as if they too had be polished!

Time to eat again but you see that the menu is somewhat difficult to choose from

Cooking our meat...

so I settled for this.

Before we leave Kyoto, there seemed to be something following me around. Little shoe-box cars. We discovered them first in Koyasan. I felt they were something specific to that area. But no, they kept on popping up all over the place and literally looked like tiny boxes on wheels. As the men would say « Mignon »!