Japan trip: The continuation
... Distracted by work, and the very idea of penning down ALL MY FEELINGS is making me feel lazy. XD Anyway, the continuation of the report goes under cut!
30th March
We woke up super early that morning (about 6.30am-ish? Correct me if I'm wrong, priest/nao). As Nishi Honganji opens rather early, that was our first stop of the day. To be honest, I was interested in seeing that human hair rope I read about which is why this temple made it to my sightseeing list. Took a bus there and it was extremely easy to locate. When we got there, I think they were having some sorta sermon thing... or an event. There were many monks in the hall (doors were closed for the most part). The entire place was rather quiet and serene. Didn't get to see human hair rope but the scenery was nice. Walked around barefoot in the temple itself too, and stared at the designs on the building. I like how temples and shrines are built.
Next on the list was its partner, Higashi Honganji. ... Now THIS temple was ridiculously hard to locate. We walked in the wrong direction TWICE. -_-; The first time around, I stopped a guy to ask for directions. This is when I learnt that I am terrible at following directions. He said, "Go straight down this path. All the way straight until you see that building over there. Turn left, and then right immediately." Simple enough! But what I did was walk straight and turn slightly before I actually got to the building, which meant I couldn't find the right turn after the left. orz. When we finally got on the right path, turns out we were right behind the temple and we needed to turn either left or right down the road to circle back to the front. We saw a few entrances along the way, but they were all staff entrances. -_-; Oh well, at least the scenery was nice (there was a moat/river/thing around the temple and there were some fishes there). This temple was a lot larger than Nishi Honganji, and a bit more tourist-y as well. It certainly wasn't as quiet as Nishi Honganji. Still no human hair rope. Lots of pigeons though.
After that, I think we meant to go to this park (I forgot what it's called already). The park is somewhere between Higashi Honganji and our next temple/shrine stop, Yogen-in and it's within walking distance, sort of, so we walked. However, our luck with directions being as spectacular as always, the walk wasn't as straightforward as we thought. Asked for directions at a bicycle shop, went to where we THOUGHT the park was and realized we couldn't get in. -_-; Honestly, this entire trip trolled us. Then, we stopped at a bus stop to figure out the bus routes to Yogen-in. Had to help an old lady get onto the bus, but we didn't know how to help so we passed the job onto another lady who was there. ._.
Anyway! Turns out Yogen-in was in walking distance so, tired of cracking our brains over the bus routes, we walked instead. Had curry rice on the way. The curry rice was okay (wish I had asked for a higher spice level though).
Yogen-in was situated next to the famous Sanjusangendo. Out of all the places I visited in Japan, Yogen-in is my favourite. Before leaving for Japan, it was the place that I wanted to see the most and I'm glad I managed to. The ceiling boards of this temple are the floorboards of the now dismantled Fushimi Castle. This article is relevant to this temple: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fushimi
The path leading to Yogen-in had a rather forbidding aura to it. I can't quite describe it but it's just... lonely, and sacred. In order to appreciate this place, you need to have some knowledge of Japanese though as the guided tour is entirely in Japanese. There's an entrance fee, and you can't walk around freely. There's a lady who will take guests around the temple, stopping at each site of interest, play a tape and then explain further about the history of the things there. The bloodstains on the ceiling were very distinctive. I could see the handprints and footprints, and when our guide pointed out where Torii's body was, I could actually see it. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photographs in there so I can't post any. However, I highly recommend this place to anyone planning to visit Kyoto and have an interest in history.
Next stop of the day was Fushimi Inari Taisha. Took the train there as it was a bit to the south of Kyoto. Had takoyaki there and realized just how different takoyaki actually is, compared to what I've been eating all this while. The taiyaki was pretty good too.
One word to describe Fushimi Inari Taisha: Torii gates everywhere. After following the path of the torii gates for a bit, priestnobaka and I found a fork up to the bamboo forest, and further up the hill. The bamboo forest was an amazing sight. When the wind blew, all the bamboo around us shook along with it; the feeling I got from that was a mix of amazement and appreciation of nature (it was sliiiightly terrifying at first). Following that path brought us to some rather quiet places with Inari statues and memorial-stone-like things. There weren't anyone else there, which lent to the somewhat spiritual/serene feel of the place. Would have gone further but we were a bit worried we wouldn't know how to get back to the original path so we went back without fully exploring the area. While waiting for Nao and Windy to get back, we explored the shops/stalls down the road from the shrine and bought tofu ice-cream.
Tofu ice-cream was delicious and it's one of the many things that I will keep thinking about when I think of Japan.
They sold fresh senbei as well and the senbei I had was pretty good.
Bought sake for shinigami_yumi after that (with an extra bottle for ourselves) before we went back to Kyoto station. Our initial plan was to go to Kyoto Tower at night but the admission fee turned us off so we went back to the hostel straight after.
Was tired from all the walking around that day so I suppose it was good that we went back early. XD I can't remember if we ate dinner out. orz
31st March - will write about it another day.
30th March
We woke up super early that morning (about 6.30am-ish? Correct me if I'm wrong, priest/nao). As Nishi Honganji opens rather early, that was our first stop of the day. To be honest, I was interested in seeing that human hair rope I read about which is why this temple made it to my sightseeing list. Took a bus there and it was extremely easy to locate. When we got there, I think they were having some sorta sermon thing... or an event. There were many monks in the hall (doors were closed for the most part). The entire place was rather quiet and serene. Didn't get to see human hair rope but the scenery was nice. Walked around barefoot in the temple itself too, and stared at the designs on the building. I like how temples and shrines are built.
Next on the list was its partner, Higashi Honganji. ... Now THIS temple was ridiculously hard to locate. We walked in the wrong direction TWICE. -_-; The first time around, I stopped a guy to ask for directions. This is when I learnt that I am terrible at following directions. He said, "Go straight down this path. All the way straight until you see that building over there. Turn left, and then right immediately." Simple enough! But what I did was walk straight and turn slightly before I actually got to the building, which meant I couldn't find the right turn after the left. orz. When we finally got on the right path, turns out we were right behind the temple and we needed to turn either left or right down the road to circle back to the front. We saw a few entrances along the way, but they were all staff entrances. -_-; Oh well, at least the scenery was nice (there was a moat/river/thing around the temple and there were some fishes there). This temple was a lot larger than Nishi Honganji, and a bit more tourist-y as well. It certainly wasn't as quiet as Nishi Honganji. Still no human hair rope. Lots of pigeons though.
After that, I think we meant to go to this park (I forgot what it's called already). The park is somewhere between Higashi Honganji and our next temple/shrine stop, Yogen-in and it's within walking distance, sort of, so we walked. However, our luck with directions being as spectacular as always, the walk wasn't as straightforward as we thought. Asked for directions at a bicycle shop, went to where we THOUGHT the park was and realized we couldn't get in. -_-; Honestly, this entire trip trolled us. Then, we stopped at a bus stop to figure out the bus routes to Yogen-in. Had to help an old lady get onto the bus, but we didn't know how to help so we passed the job onto another lady who was there. ._.
Anyway! Turns out Yogen-in was in walking distance so, tired of cracking our brains over the bus routes, we walked instead. Had curry rice on the way. The curry rice was okay (wish I had asked for a higher spice level though).
Yogen-in was situated next to the famous Sanjusangendo. Out of all the places I visited in Japan, Yogen-in is my favourite. Before leaving for Japan, it was the place that I wanted to see the most and I'm glad I managed to. The ceiling boards of this temple are the floorboards of the now dismantled Fushimi Castle. This article is relevant to this temple: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fushimi
The path leading to Yogen-in had a rather forbidding aura to it. I can't quite describe it but it's just... lonely, and sacred. In order to appreciate this place, you need to have some knowledge of Japanese though as the guided tour is entirely in Japanese. There's an entrance fee, and you can't walk around freely. There's a lady who will take guests around the temple, stopping at each site of interest, play a tape and then explain further about the history of the things there. The bloodstains on the ceiling were very distinctive. I could see the handprints and footprints, and when our guide pointed out where Torii's body was, I could actually see it. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photographs in there so I can't post any. However, I highly recommend this place to anyone planning to visit Kyoto and have an interest in history.
Next stop of the day was Fushimi Inari Taisha. Took the train there as it was a bit to the south of Kyoto. Had takoyaki there and realized just how different takoyaki actually is, compared to what I've been eating all this while. The taiyaki was pretty good too.
One word to describe Fushimi Inari Taisha: Torii gates everywhere. After following the path of the torii gates for a bit, priestnobaka and I found a fork up to the bamboo forest, and further up the hill. The bamboo forest was an amazing sight. When the wind blew, all the bamboo around us shook along with it; the feeling I got from that was a mix of amazement and appreciation of nature (it was sliiiightly terrifying at first). Following that path brought us to some rather quiet places with Inari statues and memorial-stone-like things. There weren't anyone else there, which lent to the somewhat spiritual/serene feel of the place. Would have gone further but we were a bit worried we wouldn't know how to get back to the original path so we went back without fully exploring the area. While waiting for Nao and Windy to get back, we explored the shops/stalls down the road from the shrine and bought tofu ice-cream.
Tofu ice-cream was delicious and it's one of the many things that I will keep thinking about when I think of Japan.
They sold fresh senbei as well and the senbei I had was pretty good.
Bought sake for shinigami_yumi after that (with an extra bottle for ourselves) before we went back to Kyoto station. Our initial plan was to go to Kyoto Tower at night but the admission fee turned us off so we went back to the hostel straight after.
Was tired from all the walking around that day so I suppose it was good that we went back early. XD I can't remember if we ate dinner out. orz
31st March - will write about it another day.