WIDOMSH - Kyoto, part 1

Apologies to all those expecting an entry yesterday (or the day before)...blogger`s being weird of late...

So, disillusioned with 21st century Tokyo with its pollution, noise, MILLIONS OF PEOPLE and seven quid beers, we ventured into Kyoto for a more cultural experience of Japan. We stayed in Yuhara Ryokan, a Ryokan being a traditional Japanese guest house - cue lots of posing in Yukatas...



Yuhara being the name of the sweet (and slightly shrivelled) old lady who runs the place, and her slightly neurotic, but undoubtedly dedicated-to-his-work son.

So yay! Kyoto, once the capital, is the heart of historic Japan. Miraculously, it was spared American bombing in World War II (unlike neighbouring Osaka which was virtually destroyed), so HERITAGE is the key word here. From what I`ve heard about Yokohama-ites from other Japanese people, they sound like people from Bath, or Canterbury, or Oxford, York, Cambridge, or anywhere else in the world with a bit of historical prestige that attracts lots of tourists...you know the people I mean...

Kyoto is home to Gion, famous as a Geisha district - Geisha aren`t strictly prostitues (that`s at the discretion of the Geisha & her clients). Geisha are trained in music and dance, cultivate a sense of humour and keep up with current events - they are hostesses (sort of) for the absurdly rich. We went to Kyoto hoping to spot at least one - bless our Blighty boots if we didn`t see four of them wandering around within two hours of arriving...didn`t see any more since then...

Kyoto`s all about temples, and we saw a fair few of those. The first one, Heian Jingu, was OK, notable for it`s lush garden bit



but really, there was not much else to it. Just round the (very big) corner was the Budo Martial arts centre, where pugialists gather to do cool stuff...like judo, sumo or archery



Then onto Nanzenji...it`s named after father Nanzen, a priest in the Zen parable, "Father Naznen kills a kitten". Basically, two groups of Zen acolytes found a kitten mooching about, and began arguing over who had ownership.. Nanzen stepped in, held the kitten aloft, his sword against its throat, saying
"If anybody can say one word, then this kitten will be spared."
Nobody said anything, so Nanzen killed the kitten. The next day, the Zen acolyte Choshu, who wasn`t present during the incident, comes to Nanzen and puts his shoes on his head. Father Nanzen then says
"Ah, if only you had been here yesterday, then that kitten would still be alive."
Make of it what you will. That`s Zen for you.

Sadly all my pictures of note there were taken with my SLR...no chance for weblogging there...Nanzenji was great, lots of room to wander about, unlike one of the BIG temples that everybody goes to see...



Now, that`s lovely, but there were too many tourists & the place seemed cordoned off a tad...never mind...

Despite an 11 o`clock curfew, we still managed to find a cheap cocktail bar. Cultural Japan or not, we were two Bolton boys on our Jollies.

Although I promised you monkies, time will not grant me this boon...I had internet time coming out of my ears in the Library...now when I actually have stuff to do on it...watch this space.