getting amongst it all

When you've got some time to kill, the best thing to do is get yourself a bike and cycle around in a foreign city.. Found that out on Saturday when the three of us (Kevin, Lee and I) hired bicycles from our respective hostels and went on a temple hunting mission.. Lee and I were fashionably late (as usual) to our meeting place at the Kyoto Imperial Palace and we had a little trouble locating Kevin at first, but after all the kerfuffle we were on our way..
The first temple we intended on visiting was a place known as the Silver Pavilion (more commonly, Ginkaku-ji). Leading up to this temple is a river lined with cherry blossoms and rows of shops selling miscellaneous items and foods (including Sakura icecream, which is basically icecream with musk flavouring.. mmm). Unfortunately, the Silver Pavilion itself was undergoing renovations and so we weren't able to see it. From here begins a lovely 2km stretch of sakura-lined road known as the Philosopher's Walk, which follows the river as it meanders southward; the name derived from the philosopher Kitaro Nishida, who would walk this path to meditate. We walked this road (not realising this was actually the path until later that night) in order to reach the next temple, Honen-in. This temple was built over 300 years ago to honour Honen, the founder of the Jodo school of Buddhism.
After a bit of lunch we made a move onto the next temple, across the other side of town and one of my favourites of the day, Kamigamo-jinja. This very orange temple is one of Japan's oldest and even predates the founding of Kyoto. It was built in dedication to Raijin, the god of thunder, and is approached via a long path with a large orange torii at each end.
The last temple on this apparent religious pilgrimage was the mother of all of them. Kinkaku-ji, or the Golden Pavilion, is one of Japan's most well known sites; the main attraction being the three-storey pagoda finished in gold leaf. Although the original building - initially built in 1397 as a retirement villa but later converted to a temple - burnt to the ground, the accurate 1955 reconstruction is still very impressive.
All of that temple hopping could easily have been construed as stressful and so we decided to join Kevin for a dip at the Funaoka Sento. A sento is a Japanese public bath, the etiquette being that you get completely naked and wash yourself sitting on a stool in front of everyone before hopping into the water with the other naked men (in my case) - the baths are segregated based on gender. It actually wasn't as unnerving as I had expected so I had a really relaxing time.
Dinner in the Gion district (the geiko and maiko area) was the final stop and Kevin took us to an Izakaya restaurant, basically a Japanese pub where you order small dishes and drinks as you go. Kevin chose a whole bunch of delicious dishes and we ordered umeshu (plum wine - more like a strong sweet spirit) with ginger ale. Yum!
The whole of the following afternoon and evening - a Sunday if my memory serves me correctly - was spent with Kevin and his mates, along with two of the guys from our hostel, Melissa and Christopher, in a park called Kiyomizu-dera for a marathon hanami party.

Everywhere you look there are cherry blossoms and people sitting on tarps, food stalls and game stands.. A lot of sake was drank that day! Kevin was definitely quite happy, even by the time we arrived (he had been there since 8am to reserve a prime spot in the park!) and when he and Mark, his Aussie mate, donned their manga character costumes and started schmoozing with the Japanese people also enjoying the delightful weather, it only got worse haha! There were definitely some crazy people out that day, and a lot of kids too!

While a few of us - you know who you are - were stumbling back to the hostel, at around 2200hr, we were amazed when we noticed a couple of Geisha (in full costume) pushing their children on a playground swing. It was such a lovely sight and a perfect end to a day filled with Japanese tradition..

Photos:

1. Prayer blocks and rope

2. Sakura at the hanami party

3. Prayers

4. Formal outing

5. The Golden Temple

6. Lunch under the sakura

7. Enjoying the atmosphere..

8. Mark and Kevin - Peppy Kids!

9. Entrance to kiyomizu

10. traditional musical performance

11. Sakura shower!

12. cute kid :)

13. Melissa having fun with the kids

14. a Geisha