Kyoto--The Bryan, John, and Amy Trip, Part 2

Part 1 is here.
After the Tsukiji experience, the five of us boarded a Shinkansen bound for Kyoto. It was a beautiful sunny day and we got some great glimpses of Mt. Fuji on the way there. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Kyoto. It was nice, but the service was more akin to American than Japanese, which made it feel like not such a nice place. We did, however, have some pretty fun poker games in the evenings we stayed there. They had a full grocery store in the basement, so we would go down and buy a few beers, then sit in the lobby playing Texas Holdem all night. Good times!
On our first night there, we went for Indian food in downtown Kyoto. The first thing that struck me about Kyoto was that even though the city grid is laid out more clearly than Tokyo, public transportation left something to be desired. They have a subway/rail system, but it doesn't go to all parts of the city, and the stops can be quite far from each other. So we ended up doing a lot of walking.
The next day, we woke up early and got some shots of the sunrise over Kyoto. This was also the day that a 7.3 Richter earthquake hit near Kanazawa, About 300 Km from Kyoto. We felt the quake in our 6th floor hotel room. It shook us a little, but nothing really moved. Needless to say, we were freaked out since we were on the 6th floor, and the escape stairs in the hotel were a little difficult to navigate. Anyway, we went for breakfast and then decided to get our walk on all over Kyoto. We took a taxi to Kyoto station and began to look for sights. Unfortunately, I led the gang on a bit of a detour due to the fact that I misread the map of the station area. Once we got our bearings back, however, we found many of the historic sights in the city.
Kyoto is the historic capital city where the Emperor lived. Much later, he moved to Tokyo, but many of the castle areas and temples are still intact. One of the first stops on our walking tour was Sanjusan Gendo, where emperor Go-Shirakawa had his retirement villa built in the 12th century. This particular emperor was politically savvy. He retired from his reign, but retained a great deal of political power from behind the scenes at Sanjusan Gendo. Here are a few shots of the temple grounds:








They Didn't let us take photos inside the temple, but the inner area is impressive. There are hundreds of statues of the godd(ess) Kannon and also some statues of other gods and bodhisatvas famous in Japanese Buddhism.
The next stop on our walking tour was Gion, the historic Geisha district of Kyoto. In old times, Geisha were trained in many places, but now, the only major school remaining is in Gion. On our way there, we found some interesting historic sites as well, including this pagoda:
In the foreground are some decorations left over from the Girls' Day Matsuri (festival). They are representative of babies, and adorn the homes of many people around the day of the festival (March 3). The area surrounding this pagoda was chock full of ancient sites. We walked up this street to the pagoda itself and then wound around toward Gion, which took us through a lovely park near a shrine (note: in Japan, Shrines are always Shinto, and Temples are always Buddhist, but Buddhism and Shinto overlap a great deal). We saw a few people making wishes at a Jinja, which I captured on video:
On our way around through the streets, we caught glimpse of our first Maiko. Maiko are apprentice Geisha, and many tourists spend time trying to run them down to take their picture. The Maiko do not deliberately avoid being photographed, but their apprenticeship has them running from class to class and trying to make it to various engagements, so they are often seen hurrying (as quickly as possible in their full kimono) through the streets of Gion. These two were simply enjoying a trip to the temple nearby, and we caught them getting off of a rickshaw:

Later that day, when we arrived in Gion, I chased down another Maiko. I spotted her at the same time as an older Japanese woman, and we both ran after her together. As she rounded a corner, I shouted "Sumimasen!" (excuse me), but the Maiko did not turn around. The Japanese woman looked at me and emphatically motioned for me to call her again (she was too polite to raise her voice, but was happy to have a Gaijin nearby who could be rude for her). So I shouted again and the Maiko turned around. I bowed and asked her "Photo, onegaishimasu?" She looked serenely at me and held up her index finger, nonverbally telling me I was allowed only one photo. So I snapped away, as did the Japanese lady next to me:
That night, John and I went back to Gion and saw a Geisha show that was designed to display the ancient cultural heritage of Japan. There was an exhibition of tea ceremony, in which John volunteered to participate. Here's a shot of him drinking his O-cha (green tea):


Additionally, They had two dance exhibitions and a drama exhibition, along with a traditional puppet show that reenacted an ancient story in Japan about lovers separated by family obligations. The best part, in my opinion, was the Geisha dance itself. It is a marvel in many subtle ways. First, the Geisha's cosmetics and kimono are very detailed and precise. Everything about the Geisha is a deliberate attempt at beauty and serenity. Second, the dance itself involves movements that would cause the average person to fall over or at the very least get twisted up in the robes of the kimono. Here's a clip of the Dance itself:

On our third day in the Kyoto area, we decided to hop on a train and head for Nara, a short half hour ride to the south, where there are more historic temples. Nara is also famous for the deer that roam around looking for hand-outs from the tourists. Many vendors sell little deer biscuits for 150 Yen, and it's fun to watch the deer crowd around when someone starts feeding them:

The temples in Nara have many old statues depicting members of the Shinto pantheon, along with some of the overlapping Bodhisatvahs (non-Buddhist gods who later became Buddhist guides to enlightenment, e.g., Kannon). Here are a few shots from the temple areas of Nara:


The Last day before we went back to Tokyo, we decided to take in the political histroical areas of Kyoto--Nijo Castle (the Shogun's residence) and Kyoto Gosho (the Imperial Palace). The Imperial Palace grounds where huge, but rather unimpressive, as they keep the good stuff locked away. We didn't know that in order to visit said good stuff, you have to make a reservation in advance. So we strolled along the wide pebbled avenues and saw a few of the gardens of Kyoto Gosho before moving on to Nijo Castle. Here's a shot of the three bench warmers at Kyoto Gosho:
It was just beginning to rain, so we borought out our umbrellas. Fortunately, it was only a light drizzle, so the rest of the day wasn't ruined. Nijo Castle was pretty impressive. They had a full exhibit inside that was open to the public. The entire building complex was surrounded by hallways on the outside that had Nightingale Floors. The boards of the floor are made to squeak ever so politely under the slightest weight so that any guards can hear someone approaching their rooms. It's quite a clever design, for security and for the nerves, since the squeaks don't cause you to go mad listening to the hundreds of people walking over them. Rather, they make a pleasant noise that is loud enough to be heard, but soft enough to be ignored. Inside the complex were many displays that demonstrated what life was like for the Shogun and his attendants. After the castles, we decided to take in Kyoto's shopping district. We split up into groups and walked the blocks and blocks of fashion, souvenir, and Japonica shops. I finally managed to find a pair of sneakers that would fit me, and they were only 2900 Yen! I had been shopping all over Japan for size 29s (they use centimeters in Japan for foot sizes, and most Japanese shoe stores only stock up to 27 or 28 cm), so it was a great relief to be successful at last.
On our last day in Kyoto, we decided to check out the North side of Kyoto Station, which we had missed twice due to my confusion with the map. It's one of the largest train stations in Japan, and has an enormous shopping area. We arrived at about 10 am and spent a couple hours wandering the halls until our train arrived, and we headed back to Ito.