...Kyoto part 2 & Osaka

We decided to have a butchers at the Imperial Palace. Having got up too late for the morning tour, we ended up having to kill time in the area waiting for the afternoon slot. Midst standing around going "lawks-a-mussy, it`s hot" we popped into Rozanji.



Not the most outstanding temple we saw, but it`s easy to get jaded with temples in Kyoto. The Imperial Palace didn`t strike me as being worth the wait either, despite the lovely garden bit...





But no matter...off we went to Ryoanji,



which houses what is apparently the ultimate example of a Zen Rock Garden



The allignment of the stones is supposed to have a different meaning for everybody who looks at them...I though they symbolised conflicting sides of human nature, a separation from the Divine and the means by which to return...Matt thought they were a bunch of rocks...

Then Kinkakuji.



I was especially keen to see this having just read "The Temple of the Golden Pavillion" by Mishima Yukio, based on the events of 1950 when the Temple was burned to the ground by a deranged Zen acolyte, obsessed with it`s beauty and his own ugliness. Mishima paints a gripping and I thought, contrary to whoever wrote the introduction, moving picture of his descent into madness. Cracking read, great writer. I`m currently tackling the tetraology he left at the publishers the day he committed seppuku in 1970.

But that`s all too heavy for an entry about holidays, & monkies are cuter by far than ugly Zen psychotics.



Man and monkey live in pseudo-harmony at Iwatayama Monkey park, a sort of reservation up a mountain west of Kyoto. Amazing experience, having never been that close to the things before. Whilst stopping to take this photo



one of chaps walked past my foot. Having lived with twenty-four cats at one point, animals at my feet are nothing strange...but a monkey?! Yay!

One of the best features about this place is the shack where the monkey-careres do all their admin, and tourists can feed them from behind a wire mesh. Nice reversal of the zoo scenario, the observers being on the inside...but of course, the monkies were observing us & our tourist trap bags of sweet potatoes.





That last photo was taken with the uncanny skill and precision of Matthew John Falconer Banks, may his name be praised.

Having walked through a great deal of Kyoto and climbed a mountain, we decided our last day would be one of relaxation...we still ended up climbing a mountain though...



Kibune is the kind of area that would be described in Bristol as "gert posh". As well as a couple of temples, it`s home to a number of Ryokan that open their doors to the general public from June until September, serving traditional Japanese food on tatami covered platforms over a river.



Wow that was tasty...I read somewhere that it`s considered bad manners not to clean your plate, so when presented with a lovely ayu (FISH!), I proceeded to polish off every bit...the head was pretty tasty, but to all future ayu munchers, don`t eat the guts...

The second part of this trip, involving the aforementioned mountain hike, took us to Kurama.



Legend has Mount Kurama as home to the Tengu, goblins with red faces and gigantic noses. There was a statue of one of the beasties after the mountain walk which, sadly, I neglected to snap...those of you who know Matt can probably see the fellow.

At the very top of the mountain, as well as a stunning view of lots and lots of trees (don`t get many of those in Kawasaki) was the final temple we saw...



...no more temples! Gaaaaaaagh!

Having climbed two mountains in just as many days, we decided the time was right for an Onsen...we had a warmer at a Sento, which is like an indoor Onsen...basically, you wash yourself thoroughly before getting into a communal bath which is REALLY HOT. Then you spend your time hopping between that and one which is REALLY COLD. Hours of fun...well, two at most, as you tend to turn into pudding after a while.

An Onsen is different from a Sento in that it is outside, up a mountain, and the bath is full of mountain spring water.



I couldn`t resist it. Surrounded as I was by naked men, I thought it best to take a photo quickly and discretly. A pity I didn`t turn the flash off...

So that`s it for Kyoto. Matt was getting a plane back from Osaka,



...and I wanted to go there anyway as it`s the home of The Boredoms, so I felt a pilgramage was in order...I found nothing to suggest that it was their home, but what I did find was an alarming number of Jehovah`s Witnesses.

Osaka is pretty industrialised, as it was virtually destroyed by American bombing in World War II...this of course has keft it open to garish advertisements...



...and many an opportunity for daftness.



Having being cultured out in Kyoto, Osaka was all about ending the holiday in the way that only two Bolton boys in Japan can...KARAOKE!



As the songs line up at the same rate as the beer, I invariably turn into my mother. There we`re singing the Stone Roses "I am the Ressurection" at the top of our roaring northern voices.

Yay! My summer. What a blast. Having being financially ruined somewhat as a result, I spent the next two weeks living off a diet of rice and water & whatever I could catch with my bare hands. If anybody else fancies coming over...?

There`s probably not going to be an entry for a while, hence the inordinate fatness of this one. Thanks for your patience, and watch this space...