Kyoto Trip

On Friday afternoon was a trip to Kyoto. Even though it was optional, it seemed nearly all the international students showed up to go. We split into groups and each group paired up with a group of Japanese students who would be our guides. My group consisted of me, my roommate, my two English friends, two other people from my Seminar House, and then the four Japanese students.

We walked from campus to the train station, which was a ways away. Getting a train ticket was fairly simple, but figuring out which trains you needed was considerably more difficult so it was good to have the Japanese students leading the way. I think we changed trains about four times. We took a restroom break in the last train station before heading out into Kyoto and oh my. The restroom was one of those where you squat over the toilet-thing in the floor. It was so awkward! And there was no soap. Hand sanitizer to the rescue!

It was a long walk uphill to our destination (Kiyomizu Temple), but all along the way were cute shops and restraunts. It was a very interesting mix of more traditional buildings and modern buildings. Just before we reached the temple we stopped into one of the shops and had a free cup of green tea. There were also samples of the Japanese sweet "yatsuhashi"--it was delicious (oishii)! I will definitely need to buy some at some point.

Kiyomizu Temple was absolutely amazing. It was so beautiful and even as I stood there and touched the wood I couldn't believe I was there. The temple is made up of many buildings and shrines and the area is really quite large. Before entering the main complex, visitors had to pour water over their hands to purify themselves. There were more fountains within the complex as well, though my group only used the first one.

The buildings varied in size and design and to take pictures of all the different ones would have used a lot of film! For the most part, each shrine had at least one statue of the god (one was of wealth) and a box you could put a donation in and then pray and the god would answer your prayer. Many of the shrines also had a bell above the statue of the god and you would swing the rope to ring the bell. I believe traditionally one is supposed to give the offering, clap twice, pray, then ring the bell, but the practice has become very much a tourist thing, even for the Japanese that were there. I did see a few people who seemed serious about it though.

There were a lot of other traditional activities to do too. There were places that sold fortunes and if you got a bad fortune you could tie it to a post or string and the fortune would stay there rather than following you. You could also buy a wooden tablet, write your wish on it and then leave it there and it was supposed to come true (see below). There were also many charms for sale for everything from happiness to traffic safety. At the love shrine were two love stones set about 20 meters apart. As tradition goes, a person can try to walk from one to the other with his/her eyes closed and if he/she successfully makes it to the other stone then they will find love. Two people from my group tried it and one of them made it without any help.

At Kiyomizu Temple is the Otowa waterfall which is three channels of water that fall into a pond below. Visitors may use a cup on a long pole to gather water from one of the channels and drink it. The water from each channel is supposed to bestow different fortune, intelligence, long life, and love, as I was told. It was hard to choose between the three!

After wandering about Kiyomizu Temple, the group headed back down the hill and got on a bus to go get dinner. The bus works like this. You get on near the back and pull a ticket. The ticket has a number on it--ours had a six. A screen at the front of the bus shows the amount of the fare for each number, and the fare goes up as you ride. We weren't on long so our fare stayed at 240 yen. As you exit at the front of the bus, you throw your yen and your ticket into the collection box. There is a money changer there at the front too in case you don't have the right change.

We went to a sushi restraunt for dinner, 100 yen per plate (a little over a dollar). It was one of those places where the sushi travels around on a conveyor belt and you just grab a plate of what you want as it goes by. You can also use a screen to order some thing particular and it will arrive at your table via a little tram. I had Unagi again and then just tried something random, which turned out to be a mistake. Thus I lost my appetite after the second plate. Some of my colleagues, however, had ten plates worth!

After dinner we went shopping at a local complex which was very high end. We then went back to Hirakata City by train (it only took one train this time, it was an express train) and got back to our dorm by taking the bus. We got back just after 10 o'clock after our 8 hour Kyoto adventure!

*pictures courtesy of Victoria O'Regan