Temples, Shrines and Sore Feet July 5, 2006

We woke up to rain this morning and after breakfast we headed to the Kyoto Train Station where a man named Hajime Harooka gathers English speaking people for his walking tour of Kyoto. Mr. Harooka a.k.a. Johnny Hillwalker conducts a five hour freelance walking tour starting from the Kyoto Station that winds through southeastern Kyoto and visits some of the well known and some of the unknown sites. His only method of advertising is leaving flyers in hotels in the area, but he has become somewhat of a legend with foreign visitors here. I researched him on the net last night and got several hits using Johnny Hillwalker. He is in his 70s and full of energy. He leads his tours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday March through November.

The station is only a five minute walk and we reached it about 30 minutes before we needed to meet Johnny so we had a quick look at the mall and public area that is attached to the station. It is an atrium type building but with one side slanted and open to the sky. This side has multiple escalators that climb 15 floors to the top level and the Sky Garden. When I viewed this from the opposite side of the mall it reminded me of looking up the side of a mountain with the escalators appearing as streams cascading down the sides. You may want to look at the Kyoto Train Station on the net to see better pictures than the ones we have posted on our picture site. It is something to see.

We and 10 or so other people met Johnny around 10 and the tour started at 10:15AM. It is not unusual for Johnnie to have 30 or more people on his tours but the rain seemed to hold the number down today. The first stop on the tour was the Higashi Honganji Temple which is one of the largest Buddhist Temples in Japan and is supported by a reported 12 million people worldwide. Unfortunately the temple is under renovation and is mostly surrounded by a modern structure designed to facilitate the renovation process. We did spend about an hour inside with our guide giving a general explanation of Buddhism and the differences between Indian, Chinese and Japanese sects as well as the Shinto religion. His quick explanation of Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism is that Buddhism is for the dead, as you go to paradise when you die, and Shintoism is for the living because you can ask one of the gods for help with money, school, health etc. It seemed like a practical approach when he was explaining it. He also told us this was the largest wooden building in the world. (Those of you that read the log from July 3 might remember the temple in Nara makes the same claim. I’m not sure but this is a large building and more elegant than the one in Nara.)

We continued on visiting shops, gardens and Shinto Shrines until we came to a place Johnny called Geisha Headquarters. This was a traditional looking building that housed a Geisha school, theater and office. Johnny explained that the Geishas were started by the Shoguns but declined when the Emperor took power in the mid 1800s. There are still Geishas and lately there has been more interest, probably because of the book and the movie, but these women’s purpose is to be companions for wealthy powerful men and in Japan’s economy today it is doubtful this lifestyle will rebound.

Another interesting stop was to the old Nintendo Office. The company was founded in the mid 1800s and originally made Japanese style playing cards which are still popular to this day. In the 1970s the company added a more modern game to its catalog and the rest as they say is history. Johnny broke open a pack of the cards and gave everyone on the tour one as a souvenir as he explained how they were used. The man has a flair.

The tour ends at the foot of a hill on which is built several other shrines and temples as well as the best walks in town according to Johnny. He urges his clients to keep going and see more of Kyoto. After saying farewell to Johnny, Holly and I did just that. Up to that time I can say that I was not tired from the five hour tour, but once we started climbing the hills fatigue reared its ugly head of too quickly. I believe Holly felt the same way. Lunch is not provided on Johnny’s tour and the longest rest period is about 15 minutes, so I think we were doomed to “hit the wall” soon after leaving Johnny. Our host did stop and buy each of us a piece of inari sushi. This is vegetarian and consists of rice wrapped in tofu. We also stopped at a tea shop and had a small pastry, the size of a medium cookie, with a cup of what Holly described as “astray tea”. Holly had also made four peanut butter crackers we shared. We weren’t dying of hunger but that’s not a lot of fuel for all day walks.

We persevered long enough to see the Kiyomizu Temple which is set on the very hillside that was draining our last bit of energy and it was worth the effort. It is a large multi building complex built onto the side of the hill with great views of the city. The buildings range from small intimate structures to grand and authoritative halls.

Bolstered by this we pressed on to the Yasaka Shrine but by the time we had reached it our reserve tanks were empty and it was starting to get dark. From the shrine we had about a 45 minute walk to our hotel. A unanimous vote pushed toward a bath and bed and with a quick stop at a McDonald’s I was set with a chicken sandwich and Holly with a salad. This was followed by a shower and laundry duty.

I don’t believe that I have mentioned this unpleasant subject. When one is on the road for extended periods you have to be creative and unafraid of various forms of domestic tasks. Laundry is typically done in the sink or tub and the clothes hung to dry wherever there is space. We mostly wear travel clothing of nylon and polyester which is much faster to dry than cotton, wool etc but can still be damp the next morning. Lesson number one is do your laundry daily if possible but for sure when you are going to be in the same place for more than one night. We will keep trying to find ways to make this chore easier and faster, so if any one has any suggestions please let us know.