Dip Your Kyoto in the Water
We woke up at 5:30 am, made a handful of breakfast, and walked to the Kiomizu-Dera Buddhist temple. Given that it was supposed to be 105° today, it was a great plan to head out early and beat the sunshine.
The walk up the hill towards the mountain shrine was calm and quiet at 6:15 in the morning, and everybody was feeling good, but still a little hot.
We arrived at the temple, and I was immediately struck by the the size of the buildings and the architecture and assembly of them.
The idea that these things were built more than a thousand years ago and are still here and are still standing, looking similar to how they did back then is a testament to their prowess in carpentry and maintenance.
We learned the right way to wash our hands before entering the temple, and Malcolm and Henry and Charlie all rang a gong, announcing their presence to the spirits, after which they bowed and clapped as is tradition.
Much of the temple centers around reflection, and the movement of water. There are many fountains and places to wash your hands and ring gongs, and there are a number of places that are different experiences for different waters and different textures of water.
We stopped at a Starbucks that blended seamlessly into the shape and style of the buildings in the area. The novelty of having something so modern in somewhere so ancient is amusing.
We stopped by a number of other small shrines, and each had its own particular style and shape, though none as impressive as Kiomizu-dera.
We headed back to the hotel to avoid the sun for another part of the morning, but when it got overcast we ventured out and enjoyed the indirect heat and headed to a local fan shop to see if we could pick up a souvenir fan for Henry, who has been looking for one. With Kyoto being the place that focuses on fans specifically, we found an incredible shop, but all of the fans were $40 and more and so we decided not to get one, despite their incredible beauty.
Instead, we went to the Lawson, a local dollar store, the Family Mart, a local quick stop, and a 7-Eleven looking for fans. We did find one fan a, but it was covered in princesses and so that was a miss.
We headed home, did some laundry, and ate a snack or two.
Elizabeth booked us a university student led tour through old Kyoto. Around 6pm, we headed to the meeting spot and met up with Reon, a local theater student who spoke excellent english.
He started off by feeding us a snack, which immediately cemented his status as a five-star tour guide.
The cookies he gave us called yatsuhashi are named for a builder in Kyoto, who was famous for his playing of the koto, a stringed instrument.
He explained a bunch of things to us that helped us see the depth beneath many of the things we'd already seen.
For example, he explained that the lion/dog statues in front of each shrine represent the beginning and end of the alphabet and so the two dogs had one open mouth and one closed mouth.
Apparently the area around Kyoto has a significant number of gods, and we saw a handful of those shrines including talent, romance, money, relationships, agriculture, beauty, and more.
Our guy taught us the proper way to ring a gong, bow, make a wish, and pray to each God at each shrine.
He also explained that Shintoism sees rope as the clouds, paper as lightning, and the gates we've seen at many shrines as the sky. The 5 things that make the material world, earth, water, fire, wind, and sky are represented in art and architecture everywhere. The temple with 5 levels, for example, one for every part of the material world.
We saw a bunch of really nice views, learned about being a university student, and saw the geisha district, learning about the incredibly difficult lives they experience in Kyoto.
We bid Reon adieu and grabbed bubblegum/soda flavored ice cream from a place with something like a Keurig, but for ice cream. I picked up a bottle of sake from a roadside vending machine (no ID required 🤔).
Finally, after 18,000 steps, we collapsed at home, hopefully ready for an easy travel day tomorrow.