Japan Day 10 - The Gardens of Kyoto
Bright sunshine and blue skies this morning, so we made an early start. Lori had expressed an interest in touring some of Kyoto’s famous garden spots, and with the weather smiling on us, it seemed like a nice day’s outing.
Our first stop was Nijo Castle, only two blocks from our hotel. Its moated and walled precincts enclose a lovely 17th-century garden, and the palace, built as a showpiece by the Tokugawa shoguns, is very interesting if rather austere.
Unlike its contemporary European palaces, such as Versailles, Nijo-jo has very little furniture. Its artistic wealth lies in the gilded and masterfully-painted sliding doors and screens, and in the amazing carved friezes and doorways. The chambers themselves are large, bare expanses of tatami mats.
Similar to the last time I visited the palace, there were numerous groups of elementary and middle-school students tromping through the palace. About half-way through our tour, we were stopped by some shy and giggling fifth-graders who were armed with a carefully-written script in English. They asked us where we were from, and could we please put a sticker on their world map?
In return, we received hand-made bookmarks with famous Kyoto landmarks and the student’s name who had asked us to fill out their survey. I imagine that their teacher thought to kill two birds with one stone on a class field trip-show the kids part of their historical and cultural heritage, and find tourists to practice their English on.
The gardens were lovely, and not too crowded. We wandered amidst the artfully-arranged miniature landscapes of gnarled pines, boulders, ponds, and trees, until we came across a lovely little tea-house set in a rock-and-water garden. We stopped for tea ceremony, and much to our bemusement, were served with exquisite correctness by a young Australian woman in traditional Japanese garb.
Just as it had been done at Hama-rikyu in Tokyo, we sat or kneeled on tatami mats in a pavilion whose siding paper doors were open to the outside air. We were served a sweet first, a sweet green tea and red bean dumpling presented on a lacquer plate with a deep bow, kneeling, her forehead touching the backs of her hands placed on the tatami mat before her.
We returned the bow, Lori most gracefully, Nick and I bit more stiffly, and ate our dumpling in tiny bites while gazing out over the beautiful tea garden.
Frothy dark green tea in bowls was served next, each bowl presented in turn with a deep obeisance. Then our hostess gracefully exited the room on her knees, sliding a screen shut behind her, and we were left in a privacy to drink our tea and admire the garden.
From Nijo-jo, we walked to a nearby train station, and took a short ride to the northwest part of the city, Arashiyama, to visit the famous bamboo groves at the base of Kyoto’s wooded western mountains, and to see the UNESCO World Heritage site gardens of Tenryuu-ji temple, first planted in the 13th century.
We saw a steady stream of rickshaws guiding tourists along the paved paths through the bamboo groves. The young men pulling the rickshaws trotted along at a steady pace, keeping up a stream of commentary for their passengers. We saw one young man performing a difficult feat-pulling a rickshaw while half-turning to speak to the two elderly ladies who were his passengers, and bowing repeatedly to them without missing a step.
After finishing our short stroll through the bamboo grove, we decided to stop for lunch at one of the many restaurants and shops lining the narrow streets of the neighborhood around Tenryuu-ji. We ended up a tiny restaurant, shoes off, sitting on cushions on a tatami-matted platform. Nick and Lori had soba noodle soup; I had a tempura set, with red miso soup, tempura green beans and yams, tempura shrimp, steamed rice, and an assortment of Japanese pickles.
The temple grounds were indeed beautiful, and we spent over an hour wandering the paths and taking photos. It was also crowded with tour bus groups, though the crowds were probably less than what they had been on the weekend.
We stopped for soft-serve ice cream cones on our way back to the train station. What we had assumed were strawberry, chocolate, and green tea flavors from the plastic models turned out, upon inquiry, to be cherry blossom flavor (only available in spring), green tea, and genma-chai (dark tea flavored with roasted grain). We ordered a swirl cone of green tea and genma-chai, which was delicious, and ate in on the way back to the station.
Lori, Nick, and I parted ways when we returned to the downtown part of Kyoto. They wanted to see the Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion shrine) and I wanted to go to the Archaeological Museum. I was out of luck, unfortunately-though the sign on the front of the museum indicated that they were open daily from 9am to 5pm, it appears they are closed on Mondays, as the doors were locked and the lights were off.
Footsore and weary, I hopped on a bus back to the hotel, and rested for a while, writing up this travel journal and reading a bit.
Tonight, we’re going to the train station to reserve our seats for the bullet train to Hakone on Thursday. We’ll also cruise the giant underground mall for a place to have dinner (there are supposedly over 100 restaurants in the station mall).
Tomorrow, I’m planning a solo outing to Hikone Castle, about a half-hour away from Kyoto by train. I’m not sure what Lori and Nick are doing-neither of them are particularly interested in seeing the castle, so we’ll likely part after breakfast and meet up again for dinner.