Our first stop was Kiyomizudera - probably the top most recommended temple in Kyoto. We had managed to miss it three times, but this time it was the central goal of the trip. We took the bus to the stop at the bottom of the hill and walked up a long windy road lined with tourist shops, quality goods and restaurants. It would have been quite interesting if it hadn't also been down pouring at the time. We were doing our best not to get drenched as we made our way up the hill.
The thing with Japanese rainy season (and this one got off to a late start and is now making up for it) is that the skies tend to open up for maybe 10 minutes, and then the weather can be lovely again. Sometimes there is a real storm that lasts, but those mostly seem to happen at night. Luckily, this was one of the short-lived variety and by the time we arrived at the temple, the sun was out humidity building once again. We took some pictures outside the temple and then headed in.
The nice thing about Kyomizudera is that once you are inside there is quite a lot of ground to cover and quite a few things to see and do. You are not just waiting in a long lone to see a statue and then waiting in a long line to leave. There was the large metal post that men were trying, unsuccessfully to lift. Russell followed suit. Then, there was the huge wooden overhang with the view of Kyoto below and the lush green mountains above. Next, we followed a path down through gorgeous greenery to a incense rich shrine where people were tossing in their coins, ringing the bell and then praying.
We continued along the path to another famous attraction at the temple: the three water fountains. Its not altogether clear where the water is coming from - I assume it is from a natural spring or stream that simply splits into three spouts before cascading over the water-drinking dais. To participate, you get in line, buy a personal keepsake cup if you so desire or just use one of the sterilized metal cups provided and then stick your cup under the waterfall and drink. The legend (which a number of signs around the fountains refuted) is that each spout of water offers a different kind of wish: long life, health, and wisdom. The website I had read before going said that you can drink from all three, but many people worry that doing so will seem greedy, so they choose only two to drink from. We had considered our options thoroughly the night before. Being the insensitive sort, I decided against long life preferring to enjoy my health and wisdom as long as allotted since I wouldn't know I was dead anyway. Nicole pointed out that this meant leaving Russell in the lurch - something which I don't think he had considered until that moment and which was hence voted selfish. The whole exercise was unnecessary, though. The signs around the fountain said the water grants all wishes and it doesn't matter where you drink. I had no way to know which fountain was which anyway, so I just drank from the far left one and called it good. Wish kept secret (even though it already came true - yay!). We followed a beautiful walk back up to the main temple and then headed to lunch. We were having a hard time choosing a restaurant when nature chose for us. The rains began again and pushed us into a soba (buckwheat noodle) shop above a chopstick store. We had a lovely lunch and then headed out to our next site: the Kinkakuji. Russell and I had been to this temple before (the one covered in gold) but our friends had not. We walked through the gardens around the temple, took pictures, sat on the famous stone chair (which Russell and I had missed the first time around) and then ended the visit at the Matcha shop once again.
This time, we drank our matcha indoors on tatami mats. We were served by a very kind lady in a kimono who served us a la Tea Ceremony but insisted that it was not necessary for us to sit on our knees (as you would have to in a true tea ceremony). Everyone else was enjoying their tea in the fine weather outside, so the tea house was all ours. It was peaceful and blissfully cool thanks to a carefully tucked away air conditioning unit. Go modernity.We ended the day at an Izakaya we found on a narrow little traditional street near the train station. Our guides picked it out and we went upstairs. It was a tiny, tiny place. I think the maximum capacity was probably about 15 and our group of 6 dominated the place. Luckily we had our own little nook under the stairs and while a bit tight, it was cozy and the food was FABULOUS. It is definitely worth it to take native Japanese speakers to Izakayas. Russell and I can rarely read the menus (they tend to be full of specialties of the house with names we have no chance of deciphering) but man, is the food good! Russell can usually find things we know, but its the things we don't know that usually taste the best. We had a wonderful salad, some barely cooked chicken breast (our guides were a bit put off and sent it back to be more fully grilled) and then came the super good stuff... the skin from the top of tofu fried with cheese in the middle and a kind of rice - was it called bad luck rice? Something like that. The rice was cooked with meat and vegetables that floated up to the top. When it is served, the guests stir the vegetables and meat into the rice, but of course, some bowls have more good stuff than others, no matter how carefully you mix. This inspired the name, but I can't quite remember what it was.
All told, though, it was a lovely day. Did I mention I love my Japanese teacher? She's the best. Her friend was really nice too - and Russell got to practice listening to two native Japanese speakers go at it without the speed turned down (which he thoroughly enjoyed). I was annoyed that I only got one day to play (I spent Saturday cooped up in a couple study abroad parent meetings), but we definitely made the most of it.
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