Nanzenji Shrine
We ended our last trip to Kyoto with a walk through Nanzenji Temple. This is a large compound with multiple buildings and an aqueduct. Although I had visited there during my last trip to Japan there was still quite a bit I had not seen.
Initially we were going to go to the top of the main temple but, running out of time, decided to visit a temple whose walls were decorated with old paintings.
There was a gorgeous rock garden inside with several rooms, closed to visitors but you could see inside, looking out over this garden. The floor to ceiling paintings on the walls were still quite vivid despite being old. The subjects consisted of tigers and landscapes and samurai and everyday folk.
And the landscape surrounding the temple was, of course, serene and beautiful. Such an old and beautiful city. They've laws prohibiting the building of sky scapers above a certain height, in order to preserve the existing look of this hallmark city.
The sun was just about to set below the surrounding mountains but I managed to capture a nice picture of the pinkish clouds catching the last bits of red sunlight on their edges.
After leaving Nanzenji we walked down narrow stone-paved streets then jumped on a bus for a short ride to Gion. We went to the Craft Center then walked down the street toward the side streets. We noticed several people lining one street were were on then saw the object of their attention; a geisha and maiko were entering a taxi. I tried to snap a photo also but they looked annoyed and in a hurry.
A moment later another geisha and maiko pair walked past us and into a restaurant. I snapped a blurry picture of them and both Misato and I swore that one of them was the young girl in the documentary "Geisha" we have at home.
We returned to the main street and into a pickle store. Misato bought some pickles for Yoko-san, our surrogate step-sister who has and still helps us so much. Then we returned to Osaka, priced some small tv sets at Yodobashi deepato then caught the elevator up to the food court. We all decided to eat om-rice; an omelette stuffed with rice over gravy. Mine had a ground beef patty on top smothered in hayashi sauce. Ross' had chicken katsu on top but Misato's was plain.
Ross and I made the mistake of ordering medium size; we did not believe the waitress when she told us that what we saw in the window display were all small sizes. We could not finish what we had ordered.
Then we went home and I went to sleep.
Initially we were going to go to the top of the main temple but, running out of time, decided to visit a temple whose walls were decorated with old paintings.
There was a gorgeous rock garden inside with several rooms, closed to visitors but you could see inside, looking out over this garden. The floor to ceiling paintings on the walls were still quite vivid despite being old. The subjects consisted of tigers and landscapes and samurai and everyday folk.
And the landscape surrounding the temple was, of course, serene and beautiful. Such an old and beautiful city. They've laws prohibiting the building of sky scapers above a certain height, in order to preserve the existing look of this hallmark city.
The sun was just about to set below the surrounding mountains but I managed to capture a nice picture of the pinkish clouds catching the last bits of red sunlight on their edges.
After leaving Nanzenji we walked down narrow stone-paved streets then jumped on a bus for a short ride to Gion. We went to the Craft Center then walked down the street toward the side streets. We noticed several people lining one street were were on then saw the object of their attention; a geisha and maiko were entering a taxi. I tried to snap a photo also but they looked annoyed and in a hurry.
A moment later another geisha and maiko pair walked past us and into a restaurant. I snapped a blurry picture of them and both Misato and I swore that one of them was the young girl in the documentary "Geisha" we have at home.
We returned to the main street and into a pickle store. Misato bought some pickles for Yoko-san, our surrogate step-sister who has and still helps us so much. Then we returned to Osaka, priced some small tv sets at Yodobashi deepato then caught the elevator up to the food court. We all decided to eat om-rice; an omelette stuffed with rice over gravy. Mine had a ground beef patty on top smothered in hayashi sauce. Ross' had chicken katsu on top but Misato's was plain.
Ross and I made the mistake of ordering medium size; we did not believe the waitress when she told us that what we saw in the window display were all small sizes. We could not finish what we had ordered.
Then we went home and I went to sleep.
posted by Aaron at 11:37 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home