Kimii-dera and Wakayama castle

At JR Kimii-dera station, the first thing I noticed was the direction where to go in case of tsunami. I can not tell where the area is situated at the station, but from the top of the Kimii-dera temple, it is clear. The area around the station is flat and close to the sea. If the tsunami of Tohoku scale would come, the train station would be flooded. The best place to go will be this temple as this temple is built on the mountain. The mountain is not so high, but enough for people to flee from tsunami.

This temple in Wakayama pref. is the 2nd of 33 western Japan pilgrimage site. The 1st one is further south in Wakayama pref. Perhaps this is my first time to visit Wakayama pref. with train. I saw some familiar name of station. Kushimoto-cho was where Japan saved members of Ottoman Turkey's delegation that was hit by typhoon and their ship wrecked more than 100 years ago. It is said that this sad accident and ensuing effort led to good relationship between Japan and Turkey.


Wakayama station is only two stops from Kimii-dera to the north. I didn't know what are there in Wakayama, but it got castle in the city center. Wakayama was known as Kii in Edo period and governed by Tokugawa family, from which shogun was chosen. I don't know if there were any shogun from Kii. I am realizing how I don't know about Japanese history, but completing the 33 pilgrimage site would help understand not only religious and cultural aspect but also historical aspect of Japan.

Kimii-dera is built on the mountain full of green

 

Rokuharamitsu-ji in the heart of Gion

Rainy season finally looks like rainy this week. My two pairs of shoes are still too soaked, so I had to use my old shoes, which is not so fit to my foot. I can't walk long hours with this shoes.

I continued my pilgrimage of 33 sacred Buddhist tempes in western Japan today. I visited Rokuharamitsu-ji, which is located close to very touristy area of Kyoto. Kiyomizu-dera is perhaps less than 30 minutes walk from Rokuharamitsu-ji, and Kyoto's first Zen temple of Kennin-ji and Gion is less than 10 minutes walk, but I have been to this temple only once in my entire life. And it was about 15 years ago. It's a short walk from my routine walk path, but it's kind of maze to reach there, so I always skip this temple. This temple is closely associated with samurai Taira-no Kiyomori, who briefly reigned Japan in late Heian period or late 12th century. Last year, NHK's year-long Sunday night histroy drama took on Kiyomori, but even that did not make me to try solve maze to reach this temple. The relationship between religion, warriors, nobles, and ordinary people are complicated in Japan, but it might be so worldwide.

Anyway, in comparison to temples in Shiga that I visited last week, temple ground is very small. Threre are not much ground to walk around. You have to pay 600 yen to enter the treasure house, but aside from that, it is free to roam. I am not religious, but started to distinguish the types of statue that each temple keeps as its principal image. And I was tempted to buy booklet of Heart Sutra, which I keep seeing at each temple. It costs only 300 yen. If I skip a glass of beer, it pays. And yet I didn't. But I found Heart Sutra in Japanese on YouTube and it's enough for now.

I think this temple is very famous, but there were not many people around, so I could step in the main hall and sit quietly to look at the statue. Religious or not religious, it is good to sit quietly facing sacred statue in the heart of mundane Gion district. 

Temple ground is not big in Rokuharamitsu-ji

Stamp and seal of Rokuharamitsu-ji pilgrimage

Shiga has much more to offer than the Great Lake - Ishiyama-dera and Mii-dera

Ask typical Japanese about Shiga prefecture and I bet you get the 1st reply of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. And the 2nd reply? Don't expect more. Of course, Kyotorite knows more than Lake Biwa on Shiga prefecture as Kyoto and Shiga are neighbors.

I have been to Osaka much more often than to Shiga, as Shiga doesn't have much more things than Kyoto except the Great Lake. I have been to northeast of Shiga, notably Nagahama city and Hikone city. The reason I have been to Nagahama was that Nagahama has micro-brewery, and the fact that Nagahama had magnificient castle had nothing for me.

Today, I visited the southwest of Shiga, just 20 minutes or so from central Kyoto, at Ishiyama-dera and Mii-dera temple, both of which are included in the 33 Buddhist pilgrimage of western Japan. The best or worst thing about visiting there was that I have not seen single convenience store in my itenerary. That's quite difficult if you live in urban Japan. It could be better if cell phone would become unavailable due to the lack of access point.

I learned that Ishiyama-dera had a long history, actually longer than most of Kyoto temples, and autor of "the tale of Genji" had imagined the virtual world that later had been translated into the world first long novel at this temple. From the top of the temple premises, the good view of Seta river that flows from Lake Biwa can be seen.

Then Mii-dera also had a long history. Actually it origin dates back to Nara period, the period even before Kyoto became the imperial capital. From the top of this temple premises, the good view of Lake Biwa can be appreciated. And unknown to me, the temple has played central role of abacus development in Japan. There is stone monument describing the contribution of this temple to abacus development. Shiga was known as Omi in the old days, and Omi is famous for merchant. That may be because they can do math quickly with abacus.

Finally, if you are from American state of Michigan, you get a sister in Japan. Michigan state and Shiga prefecture has been sister states for decades. What they share? The Great Lake(s), obviously.

Rock and Pagoda of Ishiyama-dera temple

Stamp and seal of Ishiyama-dera pilgrimage

Jizo statue in unusual position in Mii-dera temple premises

Stamp and seal of Mii-dera pilgrimage

Sake tasting in Fushimi

Every year around this time, the company I work for make all employees to undergo medical checks. As I drink almost every day, I had uneasy feeling of the result of  alcohol related score from blood test. Nothing was wrong last year. And nothing is wrong this year after all.

So I took a day off on Friday to visit Fushimi, southern part of Kyoto city famous for Japanese Sake(rice wine) brewing as I felt relieved of medical check. Fushimi Inari shrine is famous for its thousands of red gates, but this Sake brewing part of Fushimi is quite far from Fushimi Inari shrine. I had been to this part of Fushimi only twice, and I had been to Kizakura brewery on both occasions. Kizakura itself is Sake brewery, but I was more interested in its micro-brewed beer of Cologne stye and Dusseldorf ALT style. And I had never tasted Sake on the past visit. As my interest has been changing from the foreign to Japanese, my main purpose of this time is to learn and taste Sake.

The reason why Fushimi had been famous for Sake brewing is that it has quality underground water. There are a lot of temples and shrines for water related beliefs in this part of the city. I visited Gekkeikan Okura memorial hall. There you have to pay 300 yen entry fee, but get 180 ml original Sake as a gift, which means you can get more than you pay. You can look at the process and history of Sake brewing, and after that you can do free Sake tasting. This free Sake tasting is tasting a small quantity of three types of Sake, but quantity given was too little for me. So after Gekkeikan Okura memorial hall, I liked to do Sake tasting of quantity. About 5 minites walk to the north, I visited Fushimi Yume Hyakushu(translated roughly as Fushimi dream 100 people). As it was still before 11 in the morning, nobody was there. Tasting three types of Sake costs 750 yen, but as I don't know much of the brand, and there were several sets offered. I asked the staff to give me Sake of dry character. Three Sake with Japanese pickles came and a smalll note was given for appropriate procedure to appreciate the Sake. Smell, look the color, and finally taste. I felt I could tell some differences in color and taste, but can not tell what it was.

Final Sake stop was Tori-sei brewery restaurant. It opens at 11:30, but soon after the opening, the customers flooded in. This place must be famous for locals and tourists. I was lucky to get a seat at counter. I ordered another dry Sake of their brand and Yakitori grilled chicken in skewer. The chilled Sake was quite good with chicken.

In the past, I have tried to add Sake in my drinking repertorie of beer, wine, sho-chu cocktail, and whiskey. But each time, it did not last as Sake taste was not so good. But Sake tasting in Fushimi this time is quite good. There is a possibility that I had been tasting non quality Sake before. Fushimi is just a short train ride from Kyoto city center, so I like to come here from time to time, to taste genuine Sake. Beside, Fushimi has several interesting historical spots.

Consumption of Sake has been in decline, and even the millenniums' tradition can not beat the rule of economy. Failure of transfer of this tradition is quite a blow to not only culture but to economy. Kyoto has top quality ceramic industries in ancient and modern. Ancient is for Kiyomizu-yaki ceramic ware. Modern is for ceramic capacitor and ceramic insulator that makes your smartphone tick. This two aspect of cermaic industries in Kyoto is closely related. I like to believe the same would become for brewing. Sake brewing tradition may lead to the new application of bio-technology and life science in the future.

Gekkeikan Okura memorial hall

Canals and boats are part of Fushimi cityscape

Sacred Mt. Hiei covered by cloud

Japan's most famous and most sacred mountain is obviously Mt. Fuji in central Japan. But for Kyotorite and Japanese Buddhism, Mt. Hiei is the place to admire. Rainy season is finally becoming rather wetty and typhoon is coming to Kansai. Yesterday, Mt. Hiei was partly covered by cloud. Mt. Hiei stands like the wall in the east end of Kyoto city, separating Kyoto and Shiga.

At the top of Mt. Hiei sits Enryaku-ji, perhaps the most influencial Buddhist establishment in Japanese history. Enryaku-ji is the head temple of Tendai school, which was opend by Saicho in early Heian period in 8th or 9th century. Enryaku-ji had been for the top learning place in Japan, like modern day's University of Tokyo or University of Kyoto. Enryaku-ji belongs to Tendai school, but many monks who had studied at Enryaku-ji started new schools of Buddhism. Honen was one of them. For centuries, Buddhism had been for noblemen, scholars, and imperial family, and not for ordinary farmers nor merchants. And Enryaku-ji itself had become complacent and corrupt. While studying at Enryaku-ji, Honen asked himself what the teaching was for if it could not help ordinary people. So he left Enryaku-ji and opened Pure Land school of Buddhism in 11th century. The only teaching of Pure Land Buddhism is to always recite "nam-ami-da-butsu", those meaning I actually don't know. Only this recitation gives yot salvation. Only noblemen had the opportunity to learn difficult Buddhism theory, but Buddhism should be for everyone, who may not have such an opportunity. It is obvious that farmers had been busy tending rice paddies and no time for learning in the old days. So came the simple practice of reciting "nam-ami-da-butsu" for the salvation. The head temple of Pure Land school is located in eastern Kyoto and named Chion-in. Its wooden gate is magnificient.

I got most of these stuff through manga. Yes, the Buddhism teaching is difficult for me, and I have no time and no will to learn Buddhism while I work as a salayman, so simple salvation is convenient for modern people as well as for the people in the past. Am I religious? No and Yes.

Mt. Hiei viewed from bank of Kamo river

Cold beer with hot food in rainy season

Yet another Monday. I got no external pressure to work a long hour, nor I did not have will to work extra hard. So I ended up with cold beer in early evening at standing bar.

When it comes to standing bar, I think Osaka has more in number and quality than in Kyoto. But I don't have energy to go to Osaka on weekday just to have a quick drink. So I went to standing bar near Kyoto station, named Hyotan.

What I took was Oden. The items I chose was egg, daikon(Japanese radish), chikuwa(a tube‐shaped fish paste cake). These are my favorite items of Oden. Oden is usually served in cold winter season. Almost every convenience store serves Oden in winter season, from October to March. But Oden is good even in hot season.

It did not rain today again. But in a couple of days, typhoon would come to Kansai area. Rainy season may have finally come. No rain in rainy season is really bad for fresh water supply and rice harvest.

Green leaves in Northern Kyoto - Renge-ji, Myoman-ji, Iwakura Jisso-in

Autumn foliage is much admired in Japan, and I myself love them. Now early summer, I am finding green leaves are also very admirable.

Meteorological agency declared that rainy season offically had started a week ago, but no rain for the last week and today. Some of weather forecasters are saying that they are somehow feeling guilty on TV..

No rain on Sunday, so I went to the temples with green leaves today, all of which I have never been to and all are located in northen Kyoto. These include Renge-ji, Myoman-ji, and Iwakura Jisso-in.

Renge-ji belongs to pure land sect of Buddhism and reconstructed in 1662. Renowned artist including Ishikawa Jozan, who built Shisen-do, helped the reconstruction of this temple. The highlight of this temple is garden with lush green. I have never thought that Japanese garden with green leaves are so beautiful.

Next is Myoman-ji, which belongs to Hokke sect of Buddhism and built in 1389. A huge bell, magnificent stupa, and garden are the drawcard. This garden is said to be most beatiful when covered with snow. Actaully the name of the garden is "snow's garden". Nontheless, I enjoyed the garden covered with green.

The final stop was at Iwakura Jisso-in, which belong to Tendai sect of Buddhism and build 1229. This is one of the so-called Monzeki temple, in which relative of Imperial Family served as head priest. This is one example how Buddhism and Shinto have been coexisting for thousand years. The garden is said to be at its peak in autumn as the expression "floor of red foliage" says. But, but, "floor of green leaves" is not bad.

All three are not crowded and located in rural area, where rice paddy can be seen. So try if you are fed up with crowd and too touristy a spot.

Renge-ji garden

Myoman-ji garden

Rice paddy on way to Iwakura Jisso-in

Kyoto walking tour, maimai kyoto

I have a memorable experience to join walking tours in Dublin and Inverness. In Dublin, there were many walking tours in autumn. If I rember correctly, winter had few of them. At Inverness in Scotland, I joined walking tour in frigid winter, and theme was someting like "hunt for ghost" or something related to ghost. It was good to hunt ghost in frigid winter.

This year, I found the walking tour is organized in Kyoto for everyone. Unlike Dublin or Inverness where English is spoken, this walking tour is in Japanese, so basically it is just for Japanese. The theme of each of this Kyoto walking tour is quite unique, or I can cay maniac. I have participated four walking tour so far, but none covered no famous temples and shrine, nor world heritage site. I, who has been living in Kyoto for a long time, kept discovering new facts and new theory while participating this walking tour.

Yesterday, the spring period of this walking tour was complete, so drinking party was organized. I dared to participate. I don't remeber the exact number, but about 160 walking tour was done in the spring period. I only participated 4 times, so most of the participants were new to me.

The tour guide is ordinary people, but they have deep interest and knowledge to particular area. If you have a chance to stay in Kyoto, and you like to experience unbeaten track, consider this.

This is called "maimai kyoto". "maimai" is "walking around" or "loiter" in Kyoto dialect. If you are interested and need translating, I will do translation depending on workload in my salaryman life.
http://www.maimai-kyoto.jp/

You get unique seal on every occasion. It's fun to collect these seals, too.

Japan got a ticket to FIFA world cup 2014 at Saitama stadium

This has nothing to do with Kansai, but very encouraging to Japan.

Japan scored an injury time equalizer in FIFA world cup qualification match with Australia in Saimata this night, finishing the game a draw. That is enough for Japan to clinch the ticket for next year's world cup in Brazil.

Japan has been experiencing the lost decades of economic slump, but the period overlaps the emergence of Japanese football in the world stage. Japan first qualified for FIFA world cup in France 1998. The game that decided Japanese football's first appearance at world cup was played in Malaysia in 1997, when I had stayed in the U.S. for one year. I got the rental video of the game at Japanese bookstore in the U.S. and watched the game intensely. (Yes, rental video existed 16 years ago!)

Last year, I watched three games of world cup qualification at British pub in Kyoto. Kyoto has several of Irish or British pubs and most of them airs international football and rugby games live. I have been enjoying the atmosphere since Japan had held the FIFA world cup in Japan/Korea in 2002. But today, I watched the game at home. What a pity!

Aqua Fantasy, Kyoto station

Monday is depressing, isn't it? It is indeed true for a Japanese salaryman. If I am asked what I do for the living, I usually reply that I am an engineer, not a salaryman. I am an engineer, but I work for a company that basically decides what I will do. So, in a sense, I am just a salaryman...

I commute using Kyoto subway and JR railway, transferring at Kyoto station. So, aside when I am on a business trip, I do use Kyoto station every working day.

I don't know exactly when, but I guess that about a year ago, I started noticing this symphony of water, music, and light in front of Kyoto station's north side. I checked what it is called today. It seems to be called AQUA FANTASY. If you happen to be in Kyoto station at night, check this event. It is not so beautiful like Ryoan-ji temple in spring, but it still is good in rainy season.

Tomorrow, Japan have a football world cup qualification match against Australia. If you are American, don't take football as American football. It is soccer.

Thank you Taiwan, photo from 29-Dec-2012

I have fond memory in my stay in Taiwan. I had been there only four times, on two business trips and two personal trips. Generally, their behavior to Japanese people are very good. I will say too good.

And that was solidly confirmed when earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident hit northeast Japan on 11-May-2011. Their donation to Japanese disaster was no.1 in the world. Population of Taiwan is about 22 million, less than one tenth of the U.S. When I looked at YouTube, huge TV program was set up to show support and call for donation to Japan after one week of the disaster. As I live in Kansai, I was not directly affected by the disaster, but whole of Japan was in distress in the period. I am grateful to American for their operation tomodachi, and grateful to other nations. But intensity of Taiwanese support to Japan could not be comparable to others.

Now on the topic. I found this plate in Arashiyama's local train station first in December 2011. This plate was still there in 29-Dec-2012. Arashiyama are popular tourist area in northwest Kyoto, and I hear a lot of conversation in Chinese there. I can't tell if they are mainland Chinese or Taiwanese, but I guess non-group tourists are mainly Taiwanese. I am glad that station master decided to put up this plate to show gratitude to Taiwanese people.

Mimuroto-ji in rainy season

Spring and autumn are the best season to walk around Kyoto, but these are the seasons when famous temples and shrines are packed with tourists from all over Japan. I like to walk in winter to some extent, as snow-capped temples are beautiful and Zen gardens in cold are to transport me into another world. But rainy season is hard to have comfortable walking.

Yet I found the nice place to be in this very rainy season. It's Mimurodo-ji in Uji city, just south of Kyoto city. I have never been to this temple, but it seems this place has a lot of hydrangea in its garden. Hydrangea is in bloom in rainy season in Japan, so rainy season has its own merit, after all.

Western Japan is now officially in rainy season, that usually lasts to the Gion festival in mid-July. But today, it did not rain, so I visited Mimurodo-ji. Good, but hydrangea was not so super. But I decided to buy some stamp collection book that covers 33 famous temples in western Japan. I like to visit all of these 33 temples to complete stamp collection. I used the word stamp in English, but it may mis-convey the image. It is called goshu-in(御朱印) in Japanese, red seal and comes with caligraphic writing at each sacred place. These 33 have Buddhism in common, but sect and school is different. Mimurodo-ji belongs to Nara Buddhisim, which predates Kyoto or Heian Buddhism. Other temple belongs to Tendai or Shingon from Heisan period(8th to 11th century). I found that no temple in this 33 pilgrimage includes Pure land school or Zen. I don't know much about Buddhism, but aesthetics aside, I like Pure land and Zen.