Visiting Kyoto: By Hush, By Rabble

“How much grander would the world be if all of us too the same care in preservation as the nation of Japan?” – Old Sean

The Cultural Capital

Due to a fit of coughing from my next door neighbor, I unfortunately didn’t get any sleep on the night leading up to my trip to Kyoto, Japan.

Despite my heavy eyes and frequent upright naps on the railway to my destination, I managed to get to Kyoto with minimal trouble and a nice seaweed-wrapped rice-ball to hold me over.

For those of you who are unaware, Kyoto is widely considered Japan’s cultural capital. As such, boasts a significant amount of temples, Shinto architecture, imperial palaces, specialized gardens and traditional wooden neighborhoods.

What you may not have heard is that the majority of Kyoto’s main attractions are, unfortunately, paid entry.

Now on the surface, this isn’t much.  Most of the locations only require about five or six USD to enter, but all of the popular icons add up. Furthermore, Kyoto is absolutely blanketed in points of interest.  So if you’re heading to Kyoto, be very careful to specifically pick the parts and places that actually call out to your heart.  Also keep in mind, if you happen to miss a temple or rock-zen garden, it doesn’t take much walking around to find a similar structure for free elsewhere in the city.

A Day Astride

I managed to arrive in Kyoto very early, walking in behind numerous uniformed children on their ways to school.  I had arrived before some of the more popular temples opened up, but I managed to fortify myself with some Starbucks coffee before ducking into a few temple areas that were open.

The air was brisk and the sun was constantly shuttered weakly behind a thin veneer of clouds.  Guardian statues popped up randomly on street corners and roped off areas were often covered in grey pebbles, meticulously raked into even lines.  Shrubbery was supported by pillars allowing trees to continually expand widely, their unnatural trunks lashed to rods to facilitate their growth.

My little tour around the city allowed me to see Kyoto Tower, Yogen-In Temple and the Imahie Shrine.  None of these places really stand out, but they were cool enough to glance at in passing.

On a side note, I always imagined the Torii gates of Japan to be a strong red hue, a gate of vermillion.  However, the majority I’ve seen so far lean towards a kind of glowing orange color, similar to that of a macaroni.

Major Temple Grounds

Regardless, I continued to hike along, eventually reaching the Sanneizaka shopping streets and alley-ways.  Kyoto is filled with modern buildings, but most of the old stone-and-wood neighborhoods are intact and look quite beautiful. 

I arrived in the wee hours of the morning, which means I got a few good photos without civilians in the background, but things were mostly closed in the beginning.  However, when wooden sliding shutters began opening, Sanneizaka has a pretty cool list of items to consider.

Traditional kimonos, fans, umbrellas and ribbons alongside calligraphy tools, customized chop sticks, mediation facilitators and, of course, a lengthy collection of tea.  These were punctuated by more modern items, like anime figurines, basketball posters and trinkets that didn’t really seem to go with the theme. 

However, it’s a really beautiful area and Nineizaka, a stunning wooden pagoda gazes over the majority of it.  Sanneizaka is also the gateway to the Kyoto Ryozen Gokoku Shrine and Kodaiji Temple, where I was instructed on proper Japanese Shrine behavior:

Place some change into the big red (or orangish) box at the entrance of the honden (main building).

Ring the bell, which is usually tied to a thick rope (the bell sounds a bit like metal being dragged on concrete to me).

Bow to the alter (or deity) twice, then clap your hands twice to signal your presence.

Have a moment of silence (where a person can presumably pray or request luck in their endeavors).

When exiting the temple grounds, it’s advisable for a person to turn around and bow once more.

My bowing muscles have gotten an unusually strenuous workout today.

Alley Journeys

Following my little walk through the west side of Kyoto, I started moving a little more centrally, specifically checking out other shopping alleys (such as Pontocho) for food and snacks.  Nishiki Market is also worth a visit with nice soy doughnuts and interesting ceilings.

It should be noted that a lot of Japanese shopping streets are semi-interior corridors that extend for miles, with people walking through the center to browse shops on either side.

I next made my way to Sento Imperial Palace, which I highly recommend.  It’s free and lovely!  There are two such Imperial Palace grounds.  The first is usually without easy access, but a person with a passport can go on a first-come-first-serve tour of the interior at 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30 PM.  If one is pressed for time, they can do a personal tour of the secondary Imperial Palace (a 3 minute walk) and enjoy the emperor’s living and ceremonial grounds.

The Monster Avenue

Now, at this point I had put some serious miles on my shoe, but I really wanted to see a special street known as the Yokai Monster Street. 

This shopping street was supposedly decorated with all sorts of odd creatures.  It took me quite a bit more shoe-rubber to get there, but when I did I was mildly disappointed.  There are perhaps only a couple dozen statues here.  And while they’re unique, interesting and downright humorous, I’m not sure they have a strong enough presence to name an entire street.  That being said, Daishogun Hachijinja Shrine is also located in this area, and I found that to be one of the quainter, best-cared-for structures around.

Shoes battered, I headed south until I found a concerningly large bowl of pork cutlet ramen for myself and promptly cleaned the bowl.  I next got on a train that would take me to Kyoto East.

If you have JR pass, you can make it around most of Kyoto without any trouble at all.  It was over on the east side of Kyoto, I saw more foreign, non-Chinese tourists than anywhere else so far.

Kyoto East

On this side of Kyoto, the first thing to check out is the splendid Sagano Musical Bamboo Forest.  This dense jungle of bamboo, boasting the Bamboo Path and numerous offshoot trails leading into residential areas (or more temples) is pretty stuffed with tourists. 

But if a person just keeps plugging on, they’ll eventually leave the crowds behind to see some nice areas around.  The bamboo in mid to high winds clatters musically against one another over the rippling sound of numerous leaves toying in the wind.  The sound is considered a sort of treasure or icon in Japan, though the tourist that relayed that info to me was not entirely clear.

If a person has a bit more gumption left in their feet, they can climb into the mountains, specifically enjoying Arashiyama. Or, they can just browse the numerous temples and shops in the lower portions of the city.  There are some fine tea places and a really interesting little café filled with felines and owls.  It costs seven dollars to enter, but still, worth a peek.

More interesting, and something tourists really strive for is a glimpse of Arashiyama Monkey Park, located right past Togetsu-kyo Bridge. 

It’s an easy climb to the monkeys, only taking about 20 minutes.  These are free-roaming wild creatures that are accustomed to humans, so expect a fairly interesting dynamic as they goof and screech around on the low mountaintop. These are macaque monkeys and in my experience they’re fairly chill and not too grabby.

That being said, it’s still recommended that a person packs away any food or plastic bags the monkeys might nab.

Wind Down Kyoto

Heading back down the mountain, I was utterly winded.  My feet made a strange, unpleasant tingling sensation with each step and I was delighted to finally find a couple of places to sit down. 

I made one last stop at the very pretty Kimono Forest, a series of pillars around some trams, decorated in traditional Japanese clothing patterns and glowing softly.  I lounged around here for a while, spending a bit more than necessary on chocolate ice cream.

Finally, it was time to go.  There’s a lot of Kyoto I didn’t see and a lot I just couldn’t’ afford.  But it was an eventful ten hours tour overall.

I’m trying to keep pushing and check out another portion of Japan tomorrow, but following that, I’ll need to take it easy for a day and do some laundry, as my body odor requires.

So until then,

Best regards and excellent trails,

Old Sean

Written January 22nd, 2020

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