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I'm eating mitarashi tofu. It's got a surprisingly sweet sauce and is also fun to eat. It's been an easy day, all things considered. I woke up at the ungodly hour of 7 by fricking roommates who couldn't turn off their bloody alarm. Hit up the international ATM, then caught the bus to Kiyomizu temple. (I love the bus system in this city.) I climbed up the hill towards the temple, getting sucked in by the tourist kitsch as was intended. Ended up with two fans, soft tofu triangles that are surprisingly tasty (they suck you in by giving you free tea and lots of free tastes. Bastards;)) and I couldn't resist buying a cheap (at least $10 less than anywhere else) Shinsengumi fuku. I am both ashamed and thrilled. Kiyomizudera itself was larger than I expected and kinda on the edge of a cliff. It was a normal temple. I got to light a candle then wandered over to the love shrine where I watched many try the 'walk of love' as I've dubbed it - you have to walk with your eyes closed between two sacred rocks about 20ft apart and if you succeed, you'll be lucky in love. I was very amused when after I did it successfully, a Japanese lady told me, "Congratulations!" *L*
The porch of the temple is a favourite suicide place, which must suck for the people who have to find the bodies in the trees below it. I followed the path down to the sacred springs where I got in line to taste the water that supposedly grants wishes. They sanitized the cups there with radiation or something. Very weird, but the water was cold and tasted good.
I left the temple and wandered through the touristy, merchant hill district around the temple to the Kodaji temple which has a huge Bodhisattva statue. They handed me this huge stick of purple incense when I went in, and it turns out the place is dedicated to unknown soldiers who died during WWII. That made me feel pretty weird especially when I noticed I was the only one given incense... Afterwards, I hit up this cute little tea shop completeley dedicated to tofu for an early lunch of mitarashi tofu and tea. Then I headed to Yasaka shrine, took some quick pics (it's famous, but there's not much there), and into Maruyama Park which was quite nice, but I never did find Chionin temple. Did have a great melon ice though. Should mention, I saw some fake maiko (trainee geisha) near Kiyomizu where you can pay to dress up as one then pose for photos. It was cute.
I headed to The Museum of Kyoto after that for their amazing ukiyou-e display. It was nearly every print by Hiroshige and Hokusai! Famous ones like the Great Wave (and all the other 36 views of Fuji) and lots of smaller or less famous ones I've never seen. There was a distinct lack of info in English, but I bought the exhibit display so maybe someday I'll read it. After the exhibit, I fled from some rain into a covered shopping area close to Gion which was fun to wander through, but bad for my pocketbook. I first found an English book sale (they had an entire floor of them *cries*) and picked up the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle and the Spider-man 2 novel (because it's by Peter David). Then I was sucked into a ukiyou-e store and it was a beautiful and heartbreaking place *fake sob* The older actual prints were $100-200 dollars which isn't bad, but I can't afford it (someday, please!). So I bought a beautiful print reproduction of a Hiroshige view through a bridge that I had seen earlier. I checked that it was an actual print (those archaeology skills come in handy) and the colour was fantastic so really $25 was a good price.
After spending all that money, I headed back to my hostel, dropped off my parcels and headed for the station to catch a local train to Fushimi Inari Shrine which is just a stop away from Kyoto. There are these fantastic mountain paths covered in bright, red tori leading up to kitsune surrounded shrines. It had a fantastic atmosphere especially in the evening, but all the food shops were closed (was hoping for some kitsune udon or inari sushi) so I caught the train back and went for okonomiyaki. The lady cooked it for me while I read my book. Then I had desert nearby at a little teahouse. I had toffee tea and chatted with an Australian staying at my hostel, Maureen, who was there to visit Japanese gardens.
The porch of the temple is a favourite suicide place, which must suck for the people who have to find the bodies in the trees below it. I followed the path down to the sacred springs where I got in line to taste the water that supposedly grants wishes. They sanitized the cups there with radiation or something. Very weird, but the water was cold and tasted good.
I left the temple and wandered through the touristy, merchant hill district around the temple to the Kodaji temple which has a huge Bodhisattva statue. They handed me this huge stick of purple incense when I went in, and it turns out the place is dedicated to unknown soldiers who died during WWII. That made me feel pretty weird especially when I noticed I was the only one given incense... Afterwards, I hit up this cute little tea shop completeley dedicated to tofu for an early lunch of mitarashi tofu and tea. Then I headed to Yasaka shrine, took some quick pics (it's famous, but there's not much there), and into Maruyama Park which was quite nice, but I never did find Chionin temple. Did have a great melon ice though. Should mention, I saw some fake maiko (trainee geisha) near Kiyomizu where you can pay to dress up as one then pose for photos. It was cute.
I headed to The Museum of Kyoto after that for their amazing ukiyou-e display. It was nearly every print by Hiroshige and Hokusai! Famous ones like the Great Wave (and all the other 36 views of Fuji) and lots of smaller or less famous ones I've never seen. There was a distinct lack of info in English, but I bought the exhibit display so maybe someday I'll read it. After the exhibit, I fled from some rain into a covered shopping area close to Gion which was fun to wander through, but bad for my pocketbook. I first found an English book sale (they had an entire floor of them *cries*) and picked up the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle and the Spider-man 2 novel (because it's by Peter David). Then I was sucked into a ukiyou-e store and it was a beautiful and heartbreaking place *fake sob* The older actual prints were $100-200 dollars which isn't bad, but I can't afford it (someday, please!). So I bought a beautiful print reproduction of a Hiroshige view through a bridge that I had seen earlier. I checked that it was an actual print (those archaeology skills come in handy) and the colour was fantastic so really $25 was a good price.
After spending all that money, I headed back to my hostel, dropped off my parcels and headed for the station to catch a local train to Fushimi Inari Shrine which is just a stop away from Kyoto. There are these fantastic mountain paths covered in bright, red tori leading up to kitsune surrounded shrines. It had a fantastic atmosphere especially in the evening, but all the food shops were closed (was hoping for some kitsune udon or inari sushi) so I caught the train back and went for okonomiyaki. The lady cooked it for me while I read my book. Then I had desert nearby at a little teahouse. I had toffee tea and chatted with an Australian staying at my hostel, Maureen, who was there to visit Japanese gardens.
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