After breakfast, we still had some free time, so Kevin and I went to explore the gardens of our ryokan. I read in the tour guide that gardens are also a typical feature of the traditional ryokan. This garden started on the seventeenth floor and then wound its way down through a series of staircases like a labyrinth to sea level.
When our tour bus dropped us off Wednesday night in Atami, our driver, Masa-san, took the bus and our large luggage on to Kyoto about six hours away. We were taking the Shinkansen to Kyoto, which made our trip a mere two hours. The Shinkansen travels at 187 miles per hour on its own special tracks. This is by far the fastest Kevin and I have ever traveled on land. It's hard to believe that we were traveling at speeds akin to what Sprint Cup cars average on a super speedway. However, our ride was smooth, quite, and we didn't have the g-force effect that the drivers experience. The only time we really had any indication that we were traveling so fast was when Kevin tried to take pictures out the window (he only had an instant before it was out of range or something else was in the way) and when we tried to walk backwards through the train cars.
We arrived at Atami station a little early because the trains only allow thirty seconds to one minute for boarding. We had the opportunity to witness several express trains wiz through the station before ours arrived. I was amazed at how quiet they were.
Hide-san arranged for us to have a bento boxed lunch. The box, which was about the size of an 8-1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper, was divided into nine squares with a different dish in each one. There was a set of chopsticks secured to the lid of the box. I tried almost everything, but not the whole pickled baby octopus. That was a bit more than I could stomach. Even Kevin tried several things, though I did let him purchase a container of Japanese potato chips to supplement the meal.
Masa-san had the bus waiting for us at the Kyoto Shinkansen station. Kyoto was the former capital of Japan beginning in 1336. Following the death of shogun Toyotomi in 1598, the new shogun, Tokugawa, established his military government in Edo (modern day Tokyo) in 1603. After power was restored to the emperor in the 19th century, Emperor Meiji moved the capital to Tokyo in 1868. Kyoto was also the only major city spared from the bombs of World War II and is home to 2,000 temples and shrines and 20% of Japan's national treasures.
We drove past the Imperial Palace to our first stop, the Nishijin Textile Center. The museum is dedicated to the weavers who produced the elegant textiles for the imperial family and nobility. Silk weaving began in the Nishijin section of Kyoto as early as 794, and by the Edo period there were an estimated 5,000 weaving factories.
At the museum, we watched a Kimono fashion show. The women looked absolutely beautiful in their elegant kimonos. We had a hard enough time trying to tie the obis on our yukatas. I can't imagine how much practice it must take to tie the elaborate obi on a kimono.
After the show we walked upstairs where a weaver was demonstrating the Jacquard weaving system on a loom. Jacquard came from France. It uses a system of punch cards, like the punch machines my dad told me they used in machine shops prior to CNC machines, or the early computer systems. Once the weaver finished a row, she depressed a foot pedal advancing the card to the next set of holes which switched the position of the loom to continue the pattern.
The museum also had a silk worm display. I was a little disappointed that we did not have time to visit the silk worm farm in Cambodia so I was happy that we had the chance to see them in Japan. I was surprised at how slow the worms moved. At the top of the enclosure, there were small strands of silk hanging from bamboo rods. Seeing how little silk the multitude of worms produced made me appreciate why silk can be so expensive.
The travel guide described Kyoto as a grand, old imperial city, but from what I had seen so far, I was very disappointed. Kyoto was just a modern city that was past its heyday. When we arrived at our next stop, the Kodaiji Temple, my opinion changed. This is the Kyoto I was expecting to see. I guess in some respects, it was much like the difference between Old City Philadelphia and South Philly.
Kodaiji Temple was founded in 1605 by Toyotomi's widow to commemorate her husband and pacify his spirit, but it was funded by Tokugawa, the first shogun of the Edo period. We had come to the temple to attend a traditional Japanese tea ceremony in one of the tea houses designed by Sen no Rikyu, a famous 16th century tea master.
The tea ceremony, called cha-no-yu, is very formal and structured in Japan and much different than the tea house we visited in Hong Kong. The ceremony originated among the Buddhist monks, who drank tea to keep awake at night during their long, intense meditations. Women study for ten years before they can become a tea master.
When we entered the tea house, we removed our shoes and walked down a corridor to a room with tatami mats and low tables and stools. Everything in the room is carefully chosen for each individual ceremony, including the flower arrangement, calligraphy scroll, preparation utensils and tea cups.
The ceremony begins with the tea master serving each guest a sweet dessert. She served each of us individually, bowing deeply. We bowed back to express our gratitude. Hide-san had explained to us that bowing originated during samurai times. Warriors would show the top of their heads to one another as a sign of trust, as one blow to the head with a sword would be certain death.
We could not immediately each the sweets but rather had to wait until the tea master cleaned each utensil, slowly and methodically inspecting each as she went. The drying process was equally as methodical. I later read that the simplicity of the movement and the tranquility of the setting are intended to free the mind from the banality of everyday life and to allow the spirit to enjoy peace.
Once this process was completed, we were invited to eat our sweets while the tea master began preparing the green tea. First, she carefully adjusted the temperature of the water by combining water from both the hot and cold pots. Then she added the ground tea -- the tea ceremony does not use tea leafs. Then she whisked the tea using an exacting technique and served the cup to the first guest. The tea master places the cup with the design facing the guest.
When you receive the tea from the tea master, you again bow, pick the the cup with your right hand, place it in your left hand and raise the cup to show your appreciation. Then you turn the cup 90 degrees so that the artwork is no longer facing you to show your modesty. The guests quietly sip the tea until they get to the last mouthful, which is slurped as a sign that it was delicious. Finally, you turn the cup so the design is facing you again and admire the artwork.
After the ceremony, we walked through the gardens and exited the temple into streets lined with Japanese craft shops until we reached Kiyomizu Temple, one of the most celebrated temples in all of Japan. Kevin and I had visited a replica of Kiyomizu Temple in Ueno Park on our first day in Tokyo. The temple was founded in 778 and rebuilt in 1633 on an exalted spot on Mount Otowa. The main hall and stage are constructed over a cliff. The wooden veranda is supported by 139 pillars, each 15 meters (49 feet) high. The entire structure was built without the use of nails.
According to the guide book, the height and view of the veranda are so well known throughout Japan that the idiom "jumping from the veranda of Kiyomizu Temple" means that you are about to undertake some particularly bold or daring adventure.
Behind the main hall is the Jishu Shrine, which is said to be the dwelling place of the god of love and match making. There was a sign explaining all of the wooden plaques on which people had left messages and hung outside of the shrines and temples. These are prayers, and once a month the monks pray that all of the prayers left outside will be heard.
Also at this temple was Otowa Falls known for the purity of its water. The word kiyomizu translates as "pure water". There were three streams trickling from the waterfall. One was cleverness, the other love and the third one long life. You could only choose one stream from which to drink and supposedly you were granted the characteristics of the water. The line was insanely long and it was raining pretty hard, so we choose not to drink.
Our final stop of the day was the Gion quarter, Kyoto's most famous geisha entertainment district. Hide-san explained that it was becoming increasingly difficult to see geishas on the street as they now took taxis everywhere. Our only chance was to see a geisha running from her house to the taxi. We figured in the pouring rain that wasn't going to happen. Hide-san did show us the black plaques on the houses which indicated that it was a geisha house and also listed the names of the geisha living there. The public is not permitted to enter the traditional wooden houses in which customers were entertained. One can only gain access through an introduction provided by someone who is already a customer.
There were several restaurants in Gion and we were allotted some free time during which we could get some dinner, as our hotel was at a conference center outside of the city. However, there was also a geisha museum that had a geisha show to which we could purchase tickets ,so many of us choose to skip dinner and see the show.
The show was dedicated to preserving traditional Japanese performing arts, including some of the entertainment offered by the geisha. We saw another tea ceremony, koto (a Japenese harp performance), Kado (flower arranging), Gagaku (court music), Kyogen (an ancient comic play), Kyomai (Kyoto style dance performed by the geisha) and Bunraku (a puppet play).
On our way back to the bus, we found a Family Mart and bought some Cup of Noodles for dinner. If nothing else, we figured we would be able to find hot water in our hotel. Compared to the previous two hotels, the one we stayed at in Kyoto was my least favorite but still very nice.
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