Patapan Art

Today was the day that I have been looking forward to for years.  We went to the Toji Temple market , Kobo-san.  Oh wow!!!!  It was all I had hoped but more!  Trouble is, I was so overwhelmed, I didn't really buy much!  For those of you who have no idea why I was excited, this market takes place once a month and it is both a place of pilgrimage and a huge market filled with food, antiques, fabrics, clothes, pottery, crafts.......  This is where the dealers come to buy a chest at $60 and then sell it in Melbourne for $600.  Can you see why I was excited now?  I went mad with the camera, as you will soon see!

We got to one of the entrances and had some hint of the mayhem to come:

Once inside, the crowds were amazing.  For the first time in Japan, we felt overwhelmed by the amount of people.

 

Then, we had to decide what to look at first. 

You could buy threads and yarn:

old and new fabric:

  (I am besotted by indigo dyed fabric, in case you hadn't guessed)


clothes, new and old:

 

(I bought a shirt from this shop)

(this gorgeous guy was modelling the fabric that the seller produced for sale, and already made into clothes, bags, etc.  It felt like really hard hessian with a coating on it)


accessories, like belts, hats and bags

(This hunk is wearing his creations)

pottery, lacquerware and chopsticks, old and new.

 

 

Crafts and souvenirs:

 

 

 

 

(these are made from dried lotus pods)

plants and flowers:

antiques:

tools:

 

furniture:

 

 

and much, much more!

And, because it is Japan, and it seems there is a food shop every two steps you take, there was food!!!!!  You could eat it at the little stools behind the stall:

 

We spotted this guy cooking, so Bob stood in the queue with everyone else,

And we had it as one of our brunch meals.  Absolutely yum!

I liked the look of the octopus balls

But they were a bit under-whelming.

We would have had more, but couldn't fit it in!

 

 

(this girl managed to cook and smoke at the same time!)

 

Or, you could buy it to take home:

Bob and I are seriously considering emigrating here!


In the middle of all this, the temple kept on operating as a temple, complete with monks, fortune-telling and praying.

We had to leave after a while.  It was all too addictive, and overwheloming, and we were very, very tired............

so, of course, we looked for green tea icecream sundaes:

After that, we expolred/got lost in the railway station, with its myriads of loayers, shops and restaurants and discovered that you could climb up stairs or catch an escalator upwards

 

 

 

past an auditorium with a school band playing

To a roof garden, complete with tapes of crickets

and views of the city.

Amazing!

 

We also popped into the enormous grounds of the Higashi-Honganji Temple, some of which is being renovated in huge hangars.  The craftsmanship is really special.

 

 

 

Outside, we were lucky enough to see a heron posing on one of the gateways.

 

 

By, this time, we were absolutely exhausted, so we trudged home past these lovely ladies:

 

I think that's what we love about Kyoto,  A new sight around each corner, and a mixture of the modern and the old.