Japan - Day 4
Getting around in Japan is incredibly easy once you figure out how to navigate the train system. There are basically three types of trains - Subways, local Japan Rail lines, and Shinkansens. With our rail passes, the JR lines and some of the Shinkansens are free, but Subways still require payment. Fare depends on how far you go, but average fare that we've paid is around $2-3. We've been using the website Hyperdia, which is well-integrated into the train system and takes things like connection times into account to give you the best possible route. It is absolutely astounding how many people the rail system moves around in this country on a day-to-day basis. The smaller stations have a few tracks and are pretty easy to find your way around, but in larger terminals like Kyoto and Tokyo, it is a mass of humanity that is difficult to comprehend. I guess it is necessary to be as convenient and efficient as possible when you have over 130 million people packed into a tiny country.
Days 4 and 5 found us in the inland city of Kyoto. Kyoto is the former capital of Japan, and is known for its traditional culture. It has classical Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, beautiful gardens and the old imperial palace. It is also known for traditional kaiseki dining (more on that later), and geisha, female entertainers.
Our first stop was the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which sits at the base of Mount Inari. It is most famous for its trails that are lined with thousands of tori gates and sculptures of foxes holding valuables in their mouths. Shinto shrines and tori gates are painted what looks like orange but is actually a colour called vermilion. It is a brilliant scarlet pigment originally made from cinnabar. It was widely used in art in ancient Rome and China. Inari is the god of rice.
After our visit to the shrine, we popped into a custom chopstick store nearby, and picked out a set of chopsticks. The staff at the store were very nice and willing to engrave anything we wanted on the chopsticks, so we went with our names. One chopstick in English and one in Japanese.
Next on the list was Kinkaku-ji, or the Golden Pavilion. Perhaps one of the most photographed places in the world, the Golden Pavilion is a three storey structure that is literally covered in gold leaf. It makes for quite a beautiful photograph spot, if you can squeeze through the thousands of people to get a photograph. The Pavilion was burned down by a novice monk in 1950 and rebuilt, with a thicker coat of gold leaf.
Kinkaku-ji is a little out of the way, so we hopped in a taxi to head to the Imperial Palace. In the park surrounding the palace, cherry blossoms had started to sprout and there were quite a few people having cherry blossom picnics, where they set up their blankets and lunches underneath the cherry blossom trees. After the free tour of the palace, we grabbed some onigiri and made our way down to Gion, a historical district of Kyoto.
Gion Corner is home to many geisha, Japanese female entertainers. We attended a show at Gion corner that included many traditional Japanese arts. The show was packed full of tourists, and unlike a lot of other shows, the audience was allowed to take pictures. It was a bit expensive (about $37 per person for 50 minutes), but offered a unique insight into traditional Japanese music and arts.
The show began with a traditional tea ceremony, Koto Zither music, and flower arranging. It picked up a little after that, with some Gagaku court music and dancing, and a Kyogen theatre production. Gagaku is the name for indigenous Japanese music and dance performed at the imperial court, shrines and temples. The Kyogen play was a comedy about a lord who is leaving to go to the city, so he ties his servants up so that they won't steal his sake. The servants manage to get creative and drink a bunch of sake, laughing and dancing and having a great time when the lord returns. It was essential to read the English script handed out before the play began.
Next was my favourite part of the show, the Kyo-mai dance which is performed by two maiko, geisha apprentices. The dance was a beautifully choreographed piece, which the maiko executed elegantly and flawlessly without any emotion on their faces. Finally, the show concluded with Bunraku puppet theatre, where three men controlled a puppet. The movements of the puppet were quite impressive, at times it was easy to forget she wasn't a real person!
Our evening was beginning to come to a close, so we walked over to Pontocho alley to find some dinner. As we walked, we saw some interesting signs throughout Gion that informed us not to touch the geisha.
Days 4 and 5 found us in the inland city of Kyoto. Kyoto is the former capital of Japan, and is known for its traditional culture. It has classical Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, beautiful gardens and the old imperial palace. It is also known for traditional kaiseki dining (more on that later), and geisha, female entertainers.
Our first stop was the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which sits at the base of Mount Inari. It is most famous for its trails that are lined with thousands of tori gates and sculptures of foxes holding valuables in their mouths. Shinto shrines and tori gates are painted what looks like orange but is actually a colour called vermilion. It is a brilliant scarlet pigment originally made from cinnabar. It was widely used in art in ancient Rome and China. Inari is the god of rice.
After our visit to the shrine, we popped into a custom chopstick store nearby, and picked out a set of chopsticks. The staff at the store were very nice and willing to engrave anything we wanted on the chopsticks, so we went with our names. One chopstick in English and one in Japanese.
Next on the list was Kinkaku-ji, or the Golden Pavilion. Perhaps one of the most photographed places in the world, the Golden Pavilion is a three storey structure that is literally covered in gold leaf. It makes for quite a beautiful photograph spot, if you can squeeze through the thousands of people to get a photograph. The Pavilion was burned down by a novice monk in 1950 and rebuilt, with a thicker coat of gold leaf.
Kinkaku-ji is a little out of the way, so we hopped in a taxi to head to the Imperial Palace. In the park surrounding the palace, cherry blossoms had started to sprout and there were quite a few people having cherry blossom picnics, where they set up their blankets and lunches underneath the cherry blossom trees. After the free tour of the palace, we grabbed some onigiri and made our way down to Gion, a historical district of Kyoto.
Gion Corner is home to many geisha, Japanese female entertainers. We attended a show at Gion corner that included many traditional Japanese arts. The show was packed full of tourists, and unlike a lot of other shows, the audience was allowed to take pictures. It was a bit expensive (about $37 per person for 50 minutes), but offered a unique insight into traditional Japanese music and arts.
The show began with a traditional tea ceremony, Koto Zither music, and flower arranging. It picked up a little after that, with some Gagaku court music and dancing, and a Kyogen theatre production. Gagaku is the name for indigenous Japanese music and dance performed at the imperial court, shrines and temples. The Kyogen play was a comedy about a lord who is leaving to go to the city, so he ties his servants up so that they won't steal his sake. The servants manage to get creative and drink a bunch of sake, laughing and dancing and having a great time when the lord returns. It was essential to read the English script handed out before the play began.
Next was my favourite part of the show, the Kyo-mai dance which is performed by two maiko, geisha apprentices. The dance was a beautifully choreographed piece, which the maiko executed elegantly and flawlessly without any emotion on their faces. Finally, the show concluded with Bunraku puppet theatre, where three men controlled a puppet. The movements of the puppet were quite impressive, at times it was easy to forget she wasn't a real person!
Our evening was beginning to come to a close, so we walked over to Pontocho alley to find some dinner. As we walked, we saw some interesting signs throughout Gion that informed us not to touch the geisha.