Day 3: Temples, Palaces ... and Blossoms, Blossom!!

This morning we had to check out from our Kyoto hotel which was an interesting experience as we have booked our suitcases through to Tokyo and packed our backpacks with jammies, toiletries and clothes for tomorrow. The suitcases are then couriered to our hotel in Tokyo and will be waiting for us on Wednesday night when we get there. So we left our laden back packs in the hotel cloak room and travelling light, went in search of breakfast and our pick up spot, the hotel on the other side of Kyoto railway station. Have to say it was like running the gauntlet as were were jostled by peak hour commuters on the way across the railway. We grabbed some bread products for breakfast at the bakery, found the tour desk at the rival hotel and boarded one of 7 buses that was doing the Kyoto morning tour. THIS was going to be busy and evidence of the fact that every hotel in Kyoto is booked out at present.

On our way to stop one, our tour guide Yuki shared some interesting information with us about Kyoto and its religious significance. Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan from 600 until 1868. It is the capital based on the fact that the emperor lived there. It is a centre for both Buddhism and Shinto with over one quarter of the temples and shrines located in the area. All uo in Japan Buddhism features 1600 temples and Shinto shrines clock in about 500. En route to our first stop we learned about one of the over 100 sects of Buddhism, one for the "commoners" which is the sect of Buddhism represented at the Namuami Yamatsu temple which we passed. The other thing that our guide said about Buddhism and Shinto is the fact that many Japanese exist comfortably in both belief systems... while Shinto gives you direction and inspiration for the here and now, Buddhism look after the afterlife. A neat arrangement me thinks. 

Stop one on this morning's tour was the Ninomaru Palace within the grounds of Nijo Castle, otherwise known as the Shogun's palace. This was the "temporary residence" for the Shogun when he popped down to Kyoto to see the Emperor, because Kyoto was the Imperial Capital until 1868 and Tokyo was the permanent home of the Shogun.  The Shogun was the power man in Japan, having total administrative power in the country until 1868. It was a position gained sometimes through deviant means and sometimes through brute strength.... but because the shogun liked to keep his friends close and his enemies closer there were interesting things about the palace.

Firstly it is very old.  A rustic building in traditional Japanese style it has large wall murals, most of which are being restored, but in the first reception area we were able to see some panels before restoration. given that this palace dated back to the early 18 century and has no sealing due to no windows, it is phenomenal. The floorboards are called Nightingale style in that they are drilled and nailed such that they  "sing " like a nightingale if someone walks on them... warning the Shogun of approaching enemies.  The walking tour through the palace was conducted in socked feet... ouch and chilly too on such a cold day. As we went further on the tour we went closer into the private world of  the shogun. The distance between the visitors and the shogun was furthest in the welcome hall for the outer warlords. the inner warlords got much closer and then there was the Shogun's personal space, but at every level there were the red tasselled doors, concealing the body guards who would jump to the aid of the shogun should any warlord get a bit tetchy. The paintings also revealed a more aggressive feel in the outer chambers featuring tigers and eagles, but in the interior world there were cherry blossoms, for the shogun getting in touch with his feminine side. 

Another thing we learned about was the personal symbology of the Shogun and the emperor. The Shogun used the three leafed Hollyhock as the symbol on all of the metal work and also on pottery pieces. The emperor on the other hand used the chrysanthemum. When in 1868 the Shogun relinquished all power in Japan to the Meiji emperor, the Shogun's palace was taken over by the emperor and many of the external symbols were changed from Hollyhock to chrysanthemum. So there is mix of symbols on the exterior. Flower power!!

With our toasty warm shoes back on our freezing cold tootsies, it was off to stop two on the tour, the Golden Pavilion within the Kinkakuji Temple. This is a magnificent Buddhist pagoda located in the middle of a lake with magnificent gardens surrounding it. Unfortunately the serene sounding vista was not quite as it should be... in fact it was not quiet at all as busloads, probably over 50 of them bustled around the site. The pagoda was used by the Shogun when he visited Kyoto. The lower level received visitors, the middle level was used for cultural pursuits such as reading and writing poetry and the upper level was reserved for meditation. The entire building is covered in 22 carat gold leaf and it glimmers on the water. It has a phoenix on the top showing the rising from the ashes a previous pagoda had burned down. We would have loved some more time here in silence, but that was not to be... guess it was a case of Zen in the real world.

The third stop on the morning tour was the Imperial Palace. This palace was used by the Emperor until the seat moved to Tokyo. We were very lucky as the Imperial Palace is only open to the public on 10 days per year... 5 in Spring and 5 in Autumn and we happened to be there!! The grounds are covered in crushed white stone... and Chris describes the sound as very noisy rice bubbles with every step you take. The buildings are imposing.. You can only view them from the outside but they are so open that you can view the interior to an extent too. There is a part where a "new" portico needed to be added for the coronation of an emperor in the modern times, because people now arrived in cars and the horse and carriage gate was not good enough. The coronation hall is huge and imposing and is flanked by a Cherry Blossom tree on one side for peace and on the other by a Orange tree for health and longevity.

 

Behind the palace we wandered the most exquisite gardens with little bridges and nooks, almost out of scale with the size of the palace. 

Palace finished it was lunch time and those of us completing the afternoon tour too were dropped at a Washuko restaurant not far from the railway. We walked in to find each table set with a selection of condiments, and a paper filled "soup" over an individual burner. The photo tells it all...  it was amazing. And then back on the bus for round two.... lots more temples.

Stop one was the Heian Shrine, a HUGE shinto shrine deifying the first and last Kyoto emperors. Again it felt like rice bubbles underfoot, but the expansive building and grounds hosted the crowd comfortably. This shrine was built "to lift the spirits" of the Kyoto people in the 19 century when their emperor moved to Tokyo. There were the tree with votive requests tied to it and the plaques board asking for good luck.

The Tori is very large.

En route it was absolute chaos, but we did see lots of  Cherry blossoms as we passed through the Gion district that we had visited last night. We even saw a group of people travelling on a Thames style barge having a cherry blossom viewing. 

As the traffic was so bad today, we didn't go across town to our next stop, we went up and over the mountain and it was a very winding road with very limited clearance for passing busses. Scary. Stop two was well worth it though. There is no photographs as one is not allowed to photograph in the temple to the 1001 buddhas or Sanju-Sangendo Hall. But wow. The wooden structure is almost 500 years old and contains individual buddha statues with a large Bodhisattva in the centre. The other thing that is striking about this place is the deities that overlook the temple. They are mainly Hindu in origin, like the God of War and the God of Thunder, and yet they sit quite comfortably in this Buddhist environment. There were many places where one could make offerings and it was quiet-ish in spite of its busyness. Our feet were chilly again after this one, and it was good to get on the way to out final stop... literally at the top of a mountain.

The final temple was the Kiyomizu Temple built literally on the top of the mountainside. It is fairly typical in design but the view is truly amazing and setting amidst the cherry blossoms is gorgeous, At this place, as well as having the main prayer hall where offerings are made and joss sticks are shaken there is also three natural stream of water. One for wealth, one for health and one for happiness.

People queue for ages to drink the water from one or more of the streams as it flows out from the rock. They dangle panniers on long sticks. An interesting sight. The pagoda here is also beautiful nestled among the fir trees and cherry blossoms. It is customary for young Japanese visitors to get dressed in Kimono and visit the temple, so there were many young girls wandering around hair done as part of the deal. It reminded me a little of the Bibbity Bobbity Boo salon in Disneyworld except that the clientele were much older, and it seemed an interesting contradiction to see a young Japanese woman so traditionally dressed but on her mobile phone too!!! After hiking all the way up, it was then the hike down, competing with the crush of tourists as the picture shows.

A hot cocoa and custard puff for afternoon tea on the way down as it was far too cold for an ice cream and back to the bus to be dropped at the station. We grabbed dinner in the food court, went back to the hotel to collect our day packs and boarded the Thunderbird train for the two hour train trip to a mighty chilly Kanazawa.

The entrance to the Kanazawa Railway Station

Day 2: The sky cried....again

                  

The day started with Room Service Breakfast rolled in on a linen covered table and the day just progressed from there. We left the hotel lobby, hit the station in Kyoto in search of Platform 13 , the Shinkansen or Bullet Train to Hiroshima. Train tragic that he is, Chris was very excited to be traveling on his first Shinkansen. As we were in Car 16 at the very back of the train, we got a great view of its arrival into Kyoto. On-board, what did we discover.... a car full of Australian school kids. They were very well behaved and most of them slept the entire way to Hiroshima. While on-board during the almost two hour trip, a trolly service made its way through the train selling all kinds of random snacks. That is service for you.

The Shinkansen bolts along at a racking pace. Just out of Kyoto it is mainly flat plains but then as the hills draw closer to the coast, the train passes through a series of small valleys separated by tunnels. The valleys are beautiful but so small that if you blink you miss them, and all the while the mist descended low over the mountains. Something of an omen it seemed. It was ghostly, eerie.

Safely arrived in Hiroshima, we found our bearings, checked out the hotel lobby where we had to meet the guide and then went exploring to find somewhere for a coffee break. There is a huge amount of renovation going on at the Hiroshima station and its environs and, by this time the rain was pelting, and so we did not venture too far. Back for the 10.30 rendezvous and, aqualung and flippers in tow, it was time to board the bus for a run around central Hiroshima before moving down to the coast to catch the ferry to Miyajima ... which is mistakenly called Miyajima Island, but it is really the town on Itsukushima Island and Miyajima actually means Shrine Island.  Looking at the Hiroshima skyline, the first thing that strikes you is the sameness of the buildings in terms of age... this is the first inkling of the scope of the events of August 6 1945, but more on that later. 

Miyajima
Miyajima is a 10 minute ferry ride from the mainland and it is home to the famous red tori gate that is seemingly floating in the water, until the tide goes out and you can see the footings sitting on the sand.  The gate is the 8th generation gate, in that it is the 8th to be built on this site and it dates back to 1877. It is red and black... two colours viewed with rejection in Shinto and yet, both the gate and the shrine are adorned with red. Miki tells us that the gate used to be painted with mercury based paint... which lasted a long time but did shocking things to the fish. 16 metres tall and 24 metres long, it is an imposing structure and it is not really footed at all. The gate balances on the mud flats and is weighted by rocks that are placed in the hollow top. When you consider the king tides and storm surges that the gate weathers, it is a miracle that it stays there.

The Isukushima Shrine is a UNESCO World Heritage listed site, and it is easy to see why. This Shinto shrine, dating back in location and parts to 1160's is expansive and quite inspirational. The gate "protects" it from evil, but they still let us in to have a look around. At the entrance way one washes hands with water drawn from a spring by a bamboo pannier. Then it is time to walk around and observe the various shrines. We were very fortunate, because in the main shrine there was a wedding taking place and, while we had to be very quiet, we were fortunate to see the beautiful traditional movements and hear the chanting that accompanied the wedding. The main shrine is dedicated to the three daughters of Susano-o no Mikoto, Shinto god of seas and storms, and brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu. Retaining the purity of the shrine is so important that since 1878, no deaths or births have been permitted near it. To this day, pregnant women are supposed to retreat to the mainland as the day of delivery approaches, as are the terminally ill or the very elderly whose passing has become imminent. Burials on the island are forbidden.

There is also a Noh theatre stage in the centre of the shrine and that also dates back to the 16 Century providing a venue for the enactment of significant Shinto myths. The 5 level pagoda towers behind the shrine and was built also in the 16 century in Zen Buddhist style.

There are many places to make offerings around the shrine. One of the traditions has that the dangling of white strips of cloths will keep the shrine safe from evil. Looking similar to this, the faithful purchase offerings which are white paper cash register dockets and they are tied to strings at various places around the shrine.  At another place in the shrine offerings can be made to a person ( whose name escapes me) who was a school master who became a deity (This shrine is dedicated to Sugawara-no-Michizane, also called Tenjin, a prestigious deity of education and intelligence - Chris). Here the offerings a little cards with lettering on them that students make to request a good examination result and the like... my fellow chalkies may appreciate this deification.  The other thing that took my interest was the 108 granite lanterns that adorn the coastline near the shrine. 108 is an important number in Buddhism... Miki says that 100 is about the ways of evil and the 8 fold path is the way to righteousness.. Be that as it may, they all light up at night and would make a magnificent display. She also told us that, while 90% of Japanese follow Shinto, 70% plus are also Buddhist and so they historical blending of the two ancient religions continues to influence life in modern day Japan. ( Heck sounding like an SoR teacher here)

Miyajima is also a quaint little village and has some lovely eateries and shops selling all manner of souvenirs. We had brought a sandwich from the railway station and so did not need much for lunch but found this amazing ice-cream that is sold in a sweetbread cornet. Chris chose White Peach flavour and it was speckled with pieces of white peach and mine was caramel crunch and it lived up to its name... Unfortunately we were due to catch the 2.25 ferry, however 4 people from our group were late back and we were delayed til the next ferry... which was a little bit of pressure to get the Hiroshima experience completed and get back for our 5.47 Shinkansen.

A view of some of the lanterns, looking towards the Tori gate

The JR Ferry

Liz amongst Cherry Blossoms

and Cherry Blossoms

Hiroshima
For me (Liz) I had wondered how I would react to being in Hiroshima Peace Park... a student of history, I have studied the wars, I have taught the John Hersey novel Hiroshima and I have visited the World  War One battle fields, stood mute beside the ovens of Dacchau and wept on the decks of the USS Arizona monument in Pearl Harbour... all moving experiences, but the sense of being overwhelmed was perhaps more raw in this beautiful space.

Our first stop was the A bomb dome. This had been a government building with an observatory like structure at its centre. IT must have looked resplendent on the river bank until 8.15 am on 6 August 1945 where it was reduced to a heap of twisted metal and shattered brickwork. Its structure remains in part, and each 3 years it is tested for structural soundness. At present it is covered in scaffolding as a part of that testing, but it serves as such a reminder of the scope of the disaster.









Nearby the A bomb dome was a place where school children had been conscripted to work preparing packs and munitions for the war effort. There were somewhere up to 6,500 of them killed on the day the bomb was dropped and a 5 level 5 level pagoda style monument covered with 8 doves representing the 8 fold path to Enlightenment stands where many of these children perished. Unspeakable carnage. At this point my stomach tenses and I feel tears close to the surface.

We walked the length of the park where we saw the " Rest Centre" the only building in Hiroshima that remained structurally in tact. Hard to believe that everything else was levelled. The randomness of it all. Crossing to the other side of the river we walked along to the Peace Bell and the Peace clock. Every morning at 8.15 am the peace clock chimes, a reminder of the silence before the blinding flash on that August day. The peace bell, engraved in ancient Sanskrit and covered in the engraving of a world map without boarders, has a blank circle at eye height. Visitors are invited to look into he circle as if into a mirror and to eliminate hatred and find peace.  They then ring the bell to cleanse the soul of the self and to help cleanse humanity that this will never happen again. Moving away from the bell we arrived at a funeral mound topped with a metal pagoda. This is the resting place of the ashes of those who were unknown, at least 70000 or more interred in this place. Gone vanished without a trace.

We then arrived at the Children's Peace Monument. Draped in thousand and thousands of paper cranes, it was build in the memory of Sadako Sasaki, a young Hiroshima girl who developed Leukaemia as a result of exposure to radiation. She attempted to fold 1000 paper cranes, in line with the Japanese legend that anyone who folds 1000 paper cranes would be granted their wish. Sadako did not survive, however her legacy is a peace legacy and this monument is so powerful. Tears streaming down my face.

The final stop was the Cenotaph and the Eternal Flame. The flame, which looks like it is being upheld by two hands will burn until all war ceases and peace reigns. A noble sentiment!. The cenotaph, just down from the flame contains the names of all the known victims of the blast, both at the time of the blast and as a result of complications following. When you stand at the cenotaph and look through the arch, there is a fabulous alignment that links the A Bomb Dome with the flame and cenotaph... it is haunting, powerful... such sacred ground.  The final stop in Hiroshima was the Peace Museum. It is undergoing renovations, I suspect in preparation for the Anniversary later this year, but the quick look that we had was goosebumps stuff. The real face, the human face, to horror of war. The sadness!!! Etched in my memory for ever. And the humanity was brought even closer by our tour guide Miki whose mother had been a 17 year old school girl some 2km from the Hyperzone on the day of the explosion... she explained the tiers of health care for survivors but said very little else except that her mum does not like to talk about it

WE caught a cab back to station and grabbed a  Katsu dinner box to eat on the Shinkansen back to Kyoto.

Gion Corner
A quick trip back to the hotel to drop our stuff to go onto Gion. This is the entertainment district styled in old traditional manner. We got there by catching two trains and when we arrived it was pouring rain. As a result there were not many Geisha in the area so we did not see much.A walk in the rain slightly further down to the river and we found the illuminated cherry blossoms. Wow!!! Carpet of petals. Spectacular but fragile. It struck me that this was a fabulous motif for the fragility of life today in Hiroshima. Again the sky cried!!!

ON the return journey we mistakenly boarded an express train and had an extra long ride for our 150yen. OOppppsss!!! 6 stations too far. Had to catch the train back. What a LONG day

Day 1: Timezone troubles and lots of queues

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Con ban wa. Or good evening and greetings from Japan. It has been a long day but we have finally arrived. It all started this morning when Daylight Savings finished at 2am. Thought I had it sorted as I had taken the auto Timezone off my phone and set the alarm, setting Chris' trusty Darth Vader as the back up... One problem. Darth was not so trusty and my phone decided to auto correct, moving itself back a further hour than it should have. I woke to the bedside clock which is digital and auto-corrects and it said 4.07am. Yikes the cab was booked for 4.30! Needless to say there was some rapid heart beating as we threw the last of our stuff together,showered ,dressed and were ready when the cab arrived. Destination domestic airport for our Jetstar flight to cairns.

There was time to grab a very quick brekkie and then away. It was a pleasant flight and reasonably comfortable in row one. At Cairns there is about a 500m walk to the International 

Terminal. And when we got there the queue was massive! An entire plane load of school kids... Japanese ones going home. Turns out they were clogging up the check in as the Tokyo flight had not opened yet. Finally they saw sense and moved us to another place to check in but there was no down time before joining the boarding queue for the leg to Osaka.

Seven hours passed quickly, reading and napping and Chris watched some movies on the Tablet. Jetstar has very average service but the seats were comfortable as we had an exit row. The queue when we got to the customs hall was HUGE! It took over an hour to clear customs, but in truly organised Japanese style the suitcases were all lined up in perfect rows. Out of the terminal and the first thing we see is Starbucks. Oh No! They haunt us wherever we go. The  JR office was just outside the terminal and that is where we had to go to get our Japan rail passes which are our means of transport for the next week. Then it was in to the platform to watch the train being cleaned and the seats being rotated through 180 degrees as if by magic so they faced in the right direction.

Kyoto is just over an hour from Osaka and the train was very efficient. The hotel Granvia is literally on top of the station so we checked in and went to find somewhere to have dinner as it was already 9pm and our body clock was saying 11pm. So a shared meal of Pork Katsu Roll with Miso soup, salad rice and pickles. Real Japanese cuisine.

We had thought about a train trip to Gion tonight but we are both so tired that it is bed, to sleep for tomorrow and our big adventure to Hiroshima.

And if you are interested, here is the map we are following: