Day 6. Kyoto.

Our flat is near a street that specialises in renting out kimonos, but today there were more people than usual emerging from the shops, beautifully adorned in traditional wear.  One of the lovely characteristics of Kyoto is this valuing of tradition in both the young and old, while remaining a very modern city in other ways.

Today, we took the train to Karasuma-Oike station and discovered some cute mural painted stairs and a rather wonderful exhibit of cardboard animals and stuffed animals.  I love the little surprises you get in Kyoto.

Then we emerged onto the Horikawa-Oike street, where we joined the crowds waiting by the side of the road waiting for the Jidai-Matsuri Festival. This festival is annually held on the 22nd October, and stages a costume procession representing the people of each era in the history of Kyoto.  It is a truly amazing spectacle since about 2000 performers  (ranging from old men and women to quite young children) slowly parade from the Imperial Palace to the Heian-Jingu shrine dressed in traditional clothes, which demonstrate the strata of society that they are representing.

 

 

 There are also carriages,

 bullocks,

 horses,

 bands,

 

 performers

 and floats.

 It is quite an awe inspiring procession but terribly tiring unless you manage to bring a seat as it goes on for 2 1/2 hours.  We didn't last till the end because we were starving at about three o'clock, so finally succumbed for the need to eat, leaving the lovely ladies that we had been exchanging cultural notes with to watch the whole show.

We have discovered in Kyoto that often the best shops and restaurants are to be found hidden upstairs, unobtrusively, in some building.  We saw a food sign at the front door of the Duce Mix building, and had a lovely lunch in a little restaurant called the Collobo. We had noticed , when climbing the stairs, that the stairwells were painted with quite witty little drawings and paintings.

We discovered that the whole building was inhabited by shops displaying art and handcrafts and clothing by various artisans.  Our favourites were Atelier Turr, which had amazing jewellery , hats, ceramics and gifts, Phooka, which stocked Scandinavian gifts and Idola, which stocked buttons, beads, fancy pins etc. We would like to explore some of the others, like the knitting shop Yau, on another trip.

We next visited the Museum of Kyoto gift shops and discovered that the main one had an extensive range of handmade and commercial papers.

 

  I have never seen such a vast collection.  It had lovely souvenirs as well,  but I was fixated on the papers.  I need to come back with an empty suitcase.  Attached to the museum are other shops displaying works of various local artists, and more souvenirs, but the most outstanding work was in the Arton art gallery, where the lovely Makiko Takashahi was displaying her humorous and very original glass works.

As usual, we got home very late, but we were very grateful for our last minute experiences.

Unfortunately, this is the end of our Japanese adventure.  tomorrow, we travel all day to our airport hotel, then it is back home to reality.  We fully intend to return again though.  Japan is addictive!

Day 5 Kyoto

Today we caught the train to Kyoto, and then walked to the Toji Temple, which holds a market on the 21st of the month.  On the way, we bumped into three ladies studying English at a local college as a hobby, and chatted with them, exchanging cultural insights.

The market is vast and varied and has everything from fortune tellers to food stalls,

 plant stalls

 

 to clothing stores,

antiques to hand made articles, fabrics to ceramics.  It is the place to go if you love food, arts and crafts,

 

exploring a different culture, gardening and more.  What is lovely about it is that the locals adore the place as much as the tourists do.  And, it continues operating as a centre for worship in the midst of the madness and mayhem.

  I spent a lot of time getting ideas for my art work and buying souvenirs, stopping now and then for a delicious snack from one of the food stalls, and people watching.  My friend enthused about the clothes, bought souvenirs, raved at the plant stalls and  fell in love with the pottery.

We next took the side streets to the local shopping mall.  While enjoying green tea and a local parfait dessert, we suddenly felt dizzy and disorientated.  After a few seconds, we suddenly realised that the room was swaying and that we were experiencing a 6.2 earthquake, luckily centred quite far away in Tottori.  It was interesting watching the reactions of the locals.  The older women looked worried and focussed on the hanging ceiling lights, then got up and left.  The younger ones dived under the table.  Most just looked stunned and stayed where they were.  My phone registered an emergency.  The waitresses came round and checked we were all ok afterwards.  I have installed an app on my phone, Omotenashi Guide, which translates any future warnings into English.  There had been a siren and an announcement earlier, but we just assumed it was a practice fire drill.  Now we will know.

We then tried to find the handicraft store in the basement of the Kyoto tower, Yodhikawa, but it turned out the floor was under repair and the store no longer existed, so we headed over to the Sacra building, to check out the yarn in Avril.  It turned out that they had closed down, but instead, downstairs,  we discovered the magnificent Doll Studio Tomo ( Koubou Tomo), which has an amazing collection of exquisite Japanese child dolls, dressed in antique, one-off kimonos. Upstairs, we discovered Wisteria, a very good wool and craft shop, and Idola- a shop split into two rooms, selling, beads, buttons, fancy pins, trims, etcetera.

Wandering into the street, we strolled along until we found ourselves back in the arcade area.  We checked out a few shops, then visited another Namura Tailor House.  It turns out these fabric and craft shops each have slightly different contents, so my friend was forced to buy more fabric.  I think she needs to catch a boat rather than a plane home!

Day 4 Kyoto.

I bought a new memory card from BIC in Tokyo, which I discovered was either faulty or the victim of my technological incompetence when I tried using it in Arashiyama, so today we traipsed over to  the BIC  store here to see if they could tell me what was wrong.  Nobody in the camera store spoke very much English, and my Japanese is non- existent, but through sign language they worked out that I wasn't the problem, the memory card was.  Then, a miracle happened.  They got a translator on the phone to ask what I wanted. I explained and they said I could have a replacement card, plus a cd with the missing photos that I had been unable to unload for free.  This all would all have taken about 45 minutes, involved 3 to 4 staff members, and I did not have to pay a cent.  Now that is service!  Thank you BIC.  I love you!

We decided to go to Isetan so my friend could take a photo of the incredible escalators which descend 11 floors in a straight line.  As usual we got distracted.  There was an amazing display of art from local artists, and we met 2 of the makers: Shigeki Miura, who works in wood and does printing, and Yousuke Fujimura, who makes beautiful tiles and lamps, and clothing using  screen printing.  There were also awesome ceramics, jewellery, knitted people, ear muffs, and hats.

After that, we decided to take the train to Fushimi Imari Shrine.  Unfortunately, we had a senior moment and got out three stops too early.  Still, we managed to glimpse other shrines and a taste of suburban life before we walked to the station and caught the train again.  Once we got off at the correct stop, we joined the crowds strolling past the souvenir shops and food vendors ( catching a snack of huge grilled scallops and sugared sweet potato wedges on the way) and bumped into a couple from Seattle who we had met in Arashiyama!  What are the chances in a city this big?

 

 

 Leaving them, we started the gradual ascent of the path through the thousands of stunning red/ orange tori gates which wind upwards through the forest towards the summit.  On the way, we passed temples and thousands of shrines dedicated to the god of rice, Inari.

 

 Most had statues of  foxes, which are supposed to be the messengers of the god.

 We took time to wander off into the forest from time to time, to enjoy the wonderful bird song, the earth, the plants and the sound of the breeze through the trees, and views of one of the little lakes.

 

 Occasionally, we came across little cats, which were obviously fed by the locals since they were very tame.

 When we decided that we had gone far enough and the gradient steepened a lot, we took the shortcut back, coming across other shrines - some looking more Chinese in style with dragons and  Buddhist monks, others with wonderful frogs.

We stopped at a cafe by a lake, Vermilion, and discovered an Aussie waiter and that the owner had lived in Melbourne for 10 years!

Another long day, but a very enjoyable one.