Stone civilization of 6th century Asuka in Nara

On sunny day of September 22nd, I visited Asuka village in Nara prefecture first time in my life. Kyoto city and Nara city are often called ancient capital, but Asuka is at least 2 centuries older than Nara city as capital of Japanese Yamato court. Recommended way to explore Asuka area is to rent a bicycle, so I obediently followed the recommendation.

Fist stop was Takamatsuzuka area. Takamatsuzuka is famous for its wall paintings from Manyo(万葉) era. The meticulous reproduction of wall paintings were exhibited at Mural Museum. I can not tell the historical and cultural value of these paintings, but Japanese must have seen these in school textbook. So I see them as one of the root of Japanese civilization. Also, the scenery around this area was very rural and beautiful. Kyoto and Nara has famous temples and shrines, but still they are cities with convenience stores. On the other hand, Asuka is village with no convenience store. Thus I think this scenery is preserved.

Beautiful landscape near Takamatsuzuka area

Takamatsuzuka tumulus(tomb)

After Takmatsuzuka area, I bicycled on automobile road and small walk path. And I arrived at this very small spot with Tortoise Stone. The legend has it that when this Tortoise Stone faced west, heavy rains poured and the surrounding area was submerged. There was a rest place around this unique spot.

The Tortoise Stone

Short bicycle ride from Tortoise Stone got me to Tachibana-dera temple. This is said to be the birthplace Prince Shotoku, who became Regent and governed the court instead of Emperor. He had played pivotal role of introducing Buddhism to Japan. There were a lot of legendary stories associated with Prince Shotoku, and he was the face on 10,000 yen bank note until 1984.

Inside Tachibana-dera ground, there was another stone spot called Two-faced stone. North side represents Good and the south side represents Evil, meaning "Works of good and evil stem from one another". The surroundings of this temple was also very beautiful and rice paddies seemed to be near harvest time.

Tachibana-dera temple

Two-faced stone at Tachibana-dera temple

Walk path just outside of Tachibana-dera temple

To me, biggest mystery in Asuka village is Ishibutai tumulus tomb. I took Cliffs of Moher and Burren bus tour in Ireland, and saw dolmen there, which is I guess stone tomb from very old time. So this Japanese stone tomb and Irish dolemen may have some similarities. At least from the look of it, I feel so.

Ishibutai tumulus(tomb)

Entrance to Ishibutai tumulus

I continued bicycling among the rural surroundings. It is refreshing to see no tall concrete buildings at Asuka village. I got to Ishibuki-no-miya court ruins. There is said to be court house at this place. Now only stone foundations of old court house are seen. It itself is not impressive.

Rice paddy

Asuka Itabuki-no-miya ruins

Sakafune stone ruins was excavated around 2000. You dig, and you may find the ancient ruins. That is the beauty of Asuka.

Sakafune stone ruins

Soga-no-Iruka was noblemen and had strong influence in court in 7th century in Japan. Actually he and his family dominated the court and tried to limit the Emperor's governance. So Taika Reform of 645 took place spearheaded by pro-Emperor groups. In this incident, Soga-no-Iruka was assassinated and legend has it that his head flew to this place, Tomb of Soga-no-Iruka' Head(首塚). It can not be imagined that such a bloodshed took place in this rural place.

Tomb of Soga-no-Iruka's Head

Walk path in rural background

Final stop of Asuka bicycling was at Asuka temple. This temple was build by Soga-no-Umako, grandfather of Soga-no-Iruka. The statue of Buddha at this temple is 2.7m high and the oldest in Japan. You can listen to the storytelling of the temple monks, and you can take photos inside the temple, including statue of Buddha. There was restaurant-like establishment where the food from Asuka era is served, with prior bookings. I did not try, but still quite interesting. It must be quite different from Kyoto's haute cuisine or monk's all vegetarian meal(精進料理). Asuka beat even Kyoto and Nara when it comes to "ancient".

Asuka Buddha in Asuka temple

Sake tasting in Nada in Kobe

A strong typhoon hit Kansai on Sunday. Weather forecast is accurate on this occasion. So I took Sake tasting walk in Nada, Kobe yesterday on Saturday. I have been to Kobe more than a dozen of times, but I had just visited the central part of Kobe, so this is my first time to visit this part of Kobe.

Kobe was directly hit by a terrible earthquake in January 1995. I felt the big jolt in Kyoto in the early morning of that winter day, and transportation was disrupted even in Kyoto. Most of the Nada Sake breweries suffered great damages and their old buildings were crushed. But the area I visited yesterday is mostly reconstructed and shows no image of those terrible events except the panels showing the area immediately after the earthquake.

There are so called three very good Sake brewing areas in Japan, which are Saijo in Hiroshima prefecture, Nada in Hyogo prefecture, and Fushimi in Kyoto city. Nada Sake breweries stretch from Kobe city to Nishinomiya city, both of which are in Hyogo prefecture, running in parallel of inland sea coast. And Nada Sake breweries are further divided into five areas, which consists from west to east of Nishi-go, Mikage-go, Uozaki-go, Nishinomiya-go, and Imazu-go. The first three are in Kobe city and I only covered these three on this occasion.

In Fushimi, I learned that good quality water is a deciding factor for quality Sake. But Nada seems to have much more factors. Nada has good water, good rice especially suited for Sake called "Yamada-Nishiki", Sake making masters from Tamba area called "Tamba-Toji", and cold winter wind from Mount Rokko located to the north. I was surprised by the fact that winter wind contributes to the quality of Sake. By the way, this "wind from Mount Rokko" is called "Rokko-oroshi" and this is the name of a song that professional baseball team Hanshin Tigers adopts. Hanshin means Osaka-Kobe, and this baseball team is loved by people of Kansai.

First stop is Sawanotsuru Sake Museum in Nishi-go. This place is designated as "important tangible folk-cultural property"(重要有形民族文化財).  This is a two-storied building, and shows the sake making process from the beginning to the end. Also on display is model of cargo vessel from Edo era, which lasted from 17th to 19th century. Nada's sake seems to become very popular at Edo, modern day Tokyo, where Tokugawa shogunate sat. Nada took advantage of its good port to transport quantities of sake to Edo, enhancing its reputation further.

Sawanotsuru Sake Museum in Nishi-go

Mockup of Edo-era's cargo vessel on display at Swanotsuru Sake museum

Next stop was at Kobe Shu-shin-kan Brewery. On the map, the distance between two places seems not far, but it I felt I walked quite a distance. I learned that Fukuju brand sake from this brewery was used at Nobel prize awarding ceremony in Stockholm. Sake served at prestigious Western ceremony sounds strange to me, but the quality of this sake must be transcendent, rendering cultural difference meaningless. That sake was sold-out so nobody can not get hand on this until November. This place consists of four buildings, and I tried sake samplers at shop area. Tasting three different sake is a fun experience, but my novice tongue can not describe the character of each of them.

Entrance to brewing area at Kobe Shu-shin-kan Brewery

Large wooden vat on display at Kobe Shu-shin-kan Brewery

Sake samplers at Kobe Shu-shin-kan Brewery

After sampling sake, I walked further east to Hakutsuru. Hakutsuru means "white crane". Hakutsuru was established in 1743. It sounds not so old to me. This place prepares pamphlet not only in Japanese but also in English, Chinese, and Korean. I am not good at biology and chemistry, so how many times I see and hear sake production process, I can not memorize nor understand. I left Hakutsuru to walk further east to get to Uozaki-go.

The Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum in Mikage-go

Signpost of Uozaki-go 

I seldom drink sake, but this Kikumasamune brand must be famous as even I recognize this name. This establishment is also designated as "important tangible folk-cultural property". I feel the black wall of this wooden building oozes the atmosphere and history of sake brewer. This neighborhood has museums, but it also has actual facilities that produce sake in quantities. That atmosphere reminds me of my visit to St. James gate, Dublin, where Guinness Co. has museum and production facilities both in one neighborhood.

Kikumasamune Sake Museum building at Mikage-go and Uozaki-go border

Watermill can be seen at Kikumasamune Sake museum ground

Even though I took some amount of sake at Kobe Shu-shin-kan, I minimized my take of sake as I had to walk quite a distant. Due to combined effect of late summer heat and distance I walked, I was quite tired at the point when I entered Uozaki-go. At Hamafukutsuru, 9 minutes of video was continuously played in the panel and exhibition course. The old fashioned story-teller explained the history of this brewery, and it was very funny. So I sat and watched, but it seemed I fell asleep at some point. But I saw only a couple of visitors when I was there, so I was not embarrassed by my falling asleep.

Large wooden vats at Hamafukutsuru Ginjo Brewery and Shop in Uozaki-go

My last stop of the day was Sakuramasamune, which is located a little walk from Hamafukutsuru. This place has two restaurants. One is ordinary restaurant, but the other seems to offer sophisticated and traditional course, which in turn means expensive. And that one is open after 5 PM. I expected that all the museums and related facilities are from 9/10 in the morning to 16/17 in the evening. Anyway, the expensive is not for me, so I just saw and appreciated the old wooden tools on display and exhibition room.

Entrance of Sakuramasamune "Sakuraen" in Uozaki-go

Sakuramasamune building has its pond inside premises

Now I covered Kobe part of Nada breweries more or less. Next I like to walk Nishinomiya part of Nada breweries. One of the fun is to sample sake at the location where it is made of course, but I have to moderate the quantity of consumption if I like to cover many of them in a day as I have to walk a lot. Besides actually drinking sake, I like to learn the history of ancient and recent. Ancient history of sake brewing, and recent history of recovering from the deadly earthquake of 1995.

Japan's modern capital to host 2020 Summer Olympic Games

Tokyo is chosen as the host city of 2020 Summer Olympic Games today. It was Sunday's early morning around 5:20 AM Japan time when IOC announced the voting result. It is encouraging to many Japanese, but maybe a bit of nuisance to certain people.

I am simply glad to hear the news. But two of the Summer Olympic Games in Japan to take place both in Tokyo is not a good idea to my cynical Kansai mind. Almost everything, from parliament and headquarters of big companies to Emperor's residence, are in Tokyo. There are great cities in Japan, from Sendai, Hiroshima, to Fukuoka, all of which has population of more than 1 million. They are big enough to host the games.

I like Japan's modern capital of Tokyo, which means "Eastern Capital". But I love Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto, which means "Capital". Kyoto was devastated when Emperor moved from Kyoto to Tokyo after Meiji restoration, closing 1200 year's Imperial residence here. Kyoto faced the existential crisis at the time in the late 19th century. Many of the craftsmen worked only for the need of Imperial family and noblemen. Those needs suddenly evaporated. Kyoto became just old, ancient, waiting for declining fortune and slow decay.

That's in mind, I walked on my regular path in philosophical mood around Kyoto in light rain.

In the last 19th century, a bold measure was conceived and tried, to successful implementation. That was Biwako canal(Lake Biwa canal). Lake Biwa is the largest lake in Japan and important transportation hub. Kyoto city does not have water transportation route, limiting transfer of large amount of goods. Kyoto municipal government tried to usher in the modern culture and technology in this very ancient and perhaps conservative place. The tunnel engineer of early 20s was in charge of the challenge of making canal. It was the biggest such endeavor in Japan at the time. After tremendous difficulties, the canal was made. Transportation became convenient, but also they came up the idea of making Japan's first sizable hydro-electric power plant using the water of the canal, which in turn lead to Japan's first "electric" train. This paved the way for Kyoto to industrialize and reverse the declining fortune.

These modern legacy can be seen in one of the most ancient place. Roman aqueduct in Nanzenji temple ground. This modern structure exists in perfect harmony with the ancient architecture.

Roman aqueduct of Biwako canal can be seen in Nanzenji temple ground

The water from Biwako canal made new waterway that is philosopher's path. I don't think this path is so impressive, but seems to attract many tourists. This path is named so because philosophers at nearby University of Kyoto walked along this path, thinking about the philosophical issues.

Water from Biwako canal makes philosopher's path north of Nanzenji

You can find tranquil place a short walk from the philosopher's path. It is called Honen-in temple. Honen is the founder of Pure land Buddhism of Japan in 12th century. So Honen himself was a philosopher, opening Buddhism to ordinary people for salvation. Buddhism in Japan was just for monks and noblemen at the time. This temple is located in secluded place and very quiet, which is perfect for contemplation.

Honen-in is a few minutes walk from philosopher's path

Walk further north and you will see the slope leading to Ginkaku-ji temple. But skip this too touristy a place and turn left, and keep walking. Then you see the campus of University of Kyoto. I heard that purpose of University of Tokyo is to produce 999 highly brilliant persons out of 1000 students, while purpose of University of Kyoto is to produce 1 genius(or insane person) out of 1000 students. I don't know the truth and I am not bright enough to go to this prestigious university. I don't take statistics, but I think majority of Japanese Nobel prize winners studied or researched at University of Kyoto.

On the street facing University of Kyoto, some establishments stand to feed the students and researchers. Shinpuku-saikan(新福菜館) may be Kyoto's most famous ramen restaurant. There is a branch of Shinpuku-saikan near university. The broth looks thick, but taste is plain.

Ramen broth at Shinpuku-saikan looks thick, but tastes plainly simple

I repeated that Kyoto is ancient city, but somehow bread in quality has been made in quantity in Kyoto. Arguably rice is Japanese staple from ancient times, but quality bread has been produced and consumed in this city. One of these bakery is Shinshin-do and it has cafe bakery near University. I have never entered the inside, but I guess it's very atmospheric cafe suited for philosophical or scientific discussion.

Atmospheric Shinshin-do cafe bakery near University of Kyoto, providing time and space for study

Conclusion. Congratulations for Tokyo to host 2020 Olympics. Tokyo is the attractive modern city. But Tokyo is just one aspect of Japan.

Mount Yoshino is refreshing even without cherry blossoms

Mount Yoshino in central Nara prefecture is famous for its cherry blossoms. I like to see them once in my lifetime, but I expect it's too crowded in that season to appreciate the beauty of floating nature. Recently I have been to Nara prefecture several times, Nara city where cosmic Buddha sits in Todai-ji temple, Ikaruga town where World Heritage Site Horyu-ji temple stands, and Hase where sacred Hase-dera is located. But I have never been to Mount Yoshino, so I took the day trip to Mount Yoshino on late summer holiday on September 6th.

It took about 2 hours from Kyoto to Yoshino by Kintetsu railway. The landscape from the railway south of Kashihara jingu station is really beautiful. It's very rural, a lot of green and large plot of rice paddy. Time seems to be very slow in this part of Nara.

From Kintetsu Yoshino station, ropeway ride of a couple of minutes get you at the entrance of Mount Yoshino. As this is not cherry blossoms season nor autumn foliage time, the area is deserted. Actually the whole area is designated as World Heritage Site of "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range", but it seems that does not attract many visitors aside from high season.

Just a short walk from ropeway station, a couple of gate appears and then Kimpsen-ji temple comes to your eyes. This is the place of mountain Shugendo training, mixing Buddhism and Shinto. It is said to be the 2nd largest wooden building after Todai-ji. When I arrived, there was some ritual or ceremony under way. But don't be afraid. It is not of so mysterious nature.

Near this temple, there is Yoshimizu shrine. In 14th century, there was two emperors in Japan for a brief period. One was in Kyoto called Northern Court, the other was in Yoshino called Southern Court. This Yoshimizu shrine is dedicated for Emperor Go-daigo of Southern Court. But the attraction of this shrine is not history but view of mountain. As this is early September, the mountain is covered with refreshing green. I guess the entire mountain would be covered with cherry blossoms in spring. It must be superb.

From there, slope becomes rather steep. I managed to get to Chikurin-in where nice garden is maintained. This is the only place to pay admission fee (300 yen) in the day. There are other spots further up, but I don't go further and start to return. There are many shops to sell "sushi with persimmon leaf" and "kuzukiri". Nara is famous for both of these speciality foods. Yoshino is especially famous of "kudzu" from which "kuzukiri" is made. Most of the shops are deserted. I entered one shop and no shop clerk was seen even after I called. But I managed to find one shop where shop clerks were there. By the way kudzu is some kind of plant, which I don't know much, and kuzukiri is translated as "clear cake of boiled kuzuko cut into noodle-like strips and eaten with kuromitsu". If you like to try yet another type of noodle after ramen, this may be it.

World Heritage Site Kimpuse-ji temple Zaodo, Mount Yoshino

Mount Yoshino would be filled with cherry blossoms in spring

Yoshino is famous for Kudzu plant, from which Kuzukiri is made

Ise shrine under reconstruction at its 20th year

Finally, the heat wave in Kansai is subsiding. I took a late holidays, though it was just a couple of days. The most important Shinto tradition is now taking place in Ise shrine that is the most sacred in Japan, so I took this opportunity to take a day trip to Ise city on September 5th. Using Kintetsu railway limited express, it is about two hours from Kyoto to Ise city. 

I have been to Ise shrine only once in my lifetime. And it was a school trip when I was at elementary school. My memory of this sacred place is vague at best, non-existing at my worst.

Anyway, what I called the most important Shinto tradition now under way at Ise shrine is called Shikinen-Sengu(式年遷宮). I looked for the translation of this, and one on-line dictionary translates "construction of a new shrine and transfer of the enshrined object from the old to the new, occurring at a regular, preordained time." Every 20 years all the buildings of Ise shrine is reconstructed and deities are relocated to new buildings. And this has been ongoing over 1300 years, beginning int the reign of Empress Jito in 600s. A bit away from main topics, but you may be surprised that there was an Empress in the Japanese history.

There is said to be two reasons for this tradition. The first is that all the buildings of Ise shrine are built with woods, so it can not stand for long years. The second is that reconstructing all the buildings every 20 years can transfer the technique and knowledge of shrine building from one generation to the next. I think the second reason more important. I can not compare my day to day job to this Shinto tradition, but nowadays I think this kind of activities are rather neglected in workplace as redundant.

Entrance gate of Ise shrine Naiku (Inner shrine)

Isuzu-gawa river runs in Ise shrine Naiku (Inner shrine)

Main hall of Ise shrine Geku (Outer shrine)