Kiyomizu-dera

Hello all,

After a much better night’s sleep, we set off this morning to join a day walking tour with the same company as last night. Today our guide’s name was Ben, an English guy that moved to Japan 11 years ago.

We started off near Shinjo Bridge where Ben explained that Kyoto was the capital of Japan 794 to 1868 because of its great set up as a city. On three sides it’s surrounded by mountains, and it has a river running north to south. Back in the day this was considered good feng shui. It was also set up as a grid (a bit like Melbourne!) as when Kyoto’s streets were being designed, Xi’An in China was one of the most prosperous cities in the world (also a grid). To this day, Kyoto people still believe it should be the capital as it’s the most beautiful and historic city in Japan. Apparently despite being nice to foreigners, they can be quite rude to other Japanese people as a result.

The three surrounding mountains have their downside, as they trap heat/humidity in summer and cold in winter. We have noticed the humidity the most here so far. Apparently a few years ago it was 38+ degrees this time of year for weeks in a row. I’m very glad we don’t have that!! Kyoto apparently has the same yearly rainfall as London, but 90% of this rain falls in the rainy season (summer). I definitely believe it after yesterday. We were lucky today to get some sunshine as it made everything very picturesque, but boy was it hot!

Ben also showed us some McDonald's and Starbucks signs during that tour that were muted/dull, explaining that the typical bright coloured signs aren't allowed here as it's important to keep the cultural vibe going in Kyoto. A quick stat for you - there are 58,000 shrines and temples in Japan, and 57,000 convenience stores. There's nearly one on every corner! Speaking of the cultural vibe and the beautiful buildings here, Kyoto and its gorgeous streets and buildings were lucky to survive WWII. They literally did because Henry L Stinson, US Secretary of War, had been here on his honeymoon so suggested Kyoto not be bombed because he and his wife had found it so beautiful. You might remember that line from the movie 'Oppenheimer' if you saw it. Crazy that that's ultimately what saved the city and its cultural significance.

We retraced some of our steps from last night and learned that the house and shop fronts here are narrow because the taxes when they were built were based on the width of buildings. So they're narrow but go back a long way. There are only 40,000 of the traditional style houses left in Kyoto, as sadly it's cheaper for first home buyers to buy concrete residences, and new houses can't be built in the traditional style due to fire codes etc. I hope as many as possible are preserved over time, as it's so charming here.

We then made our way through Chion-In, a temple at which we walked around a bit, which was approximately 450 years old. There were lots of steps! We saw the Great Bell, that was in the top three biggest bells in Japan. It was huge!! Next we passed through Maruyama Park which was opened in 1886 and is very popular in cherry blossom season. It was really beautiful, and we enjoyed an ice cream and a cold drink. We also saw the statue of Sakamoto Ryoma here, known as the 'Father of Modern Japan'. Between 1603 and 1868 Japan was cut off from the rest of the world due to the strict isolationist policies of the shogunate at the time. Relations and trade were severely limited with other countries, and nearly all foreigners were 'locked' out. These rules had been created due to previous religious conflicts with other countries. The silver lining of this time was that Japan became very inwardly focused, and Japanese culture and art such as kimonos, manga, kabuki etc all developed during this time. Sakamoto Ryoma was a samurai warrior, and had other samurai warriors band together to overthrow the shogunate and reinstate an emperor to rule over Japan. It's pretty amazing that after two and a half centuries of isolation, Japan then became so industrialised and a world leader in some industries within a century. By the mid 1900s they were leading the way with fast trains, and just a century earlier no one here had even seen a train before. Speaking of which, there's a new type of fast train coming in the next five or so years here using maglev (magnetic levitation) technology that will go 500 km/h. Crazy!!

We then started our ascent towards the Kiyomizu-dera Temple, through the crowded streets of the surrounding area. The streets were beautiful and again very traditional, but absolutely crawling with people. We keep being told this is "low season", so I hate to think what cherry blossom season is like. We saw the Yasaka Pagoda and lots of shops along the way, as well as trees that have been manicured to look like large versions of bonsai out the front of shops and homes. Eventually our tour ended just outside of the temple, and then Mum, Dad and I paid to go in ourselves. We had decided this temple's grounds was the place we would sprinkle some of Nan's ashes. My Nan always wanted to come to Japan, but Pa wouldn't go because he fought in WWII and had strong opinions about the Japanese due to that (understandably so). We just wish Nan had told us earlier how much she wanted to come here, as we would've brought her while she could still come. But we found out too late and she was too frail. Our trip here in 2020 was supposed to be to take lots of photos and bring her lots of things back, but we never got to go. We had even tried to rebook the trip for April 2022, but the borders were still shut here, and we would have been here when she died if that attempt had been possible. After Nan died, Pa gave me a short list of places he wanted he and Nan's ashes scattered, and he told me that he wanted us to scatter some of Nan's here when we eventually made it. So we carried Nan around for the entire walking tour today. She's done pretty well really! She made it to Japan, went to Tokyo, went on two Shinkansens, went to Hakone, and toured all over the beautiful parts of Kyoto today. And now she will forevermore have a beautiful view over Kyoto from the temple, including cherry blossom trees when they bloom each year too. I'm so glad we were finally able to help her "make it" here. Love and miss you, Nan.

The grounds were just stunning, so picturesque and beautiful. But it was quite hot, so afterwards we enjoyed trying lots of different food and drink in the crowded neighbourhood nearby. We took our time walking back down slowly, and particularly enjoyed a pottery shop, salted cucumbers, a beef bun (the shop keeper asked Dad if he wanted "Kyoto beef" or "Australian beef" and weirdly the latter option was cheaper...!), a shop giving samples of yatsuhashi (a Japanese confectionery made of glutinous rice - so yum!!) and a smoothie shop that made amazing watermelon smoothies. We even saw a Starbucks styled in a traditional Japanese shop. I don't like Starbucks coffee myself, but it was nice to see the store fit in with its surroundings and not be garish.

We eventually made our way back to the apartment where we had a rest and watched Collingwood play the Gold Coast. A frustrating result as the game was very winnable. Tonight we had dinner in Pontocho Alley, but couldn't get in at any restaurants that had the terraces facing the river. Nevertheless, the food we had at the restaurant we chose was delicious, and we instead made our way to a rooftop bar a friend had suggested after dinner which had wonderful views. We enjoyed some drinks and a delicious mud cake.

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox