Kyoto Day 3

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On our final day in Kyoto, Hugh and I got up early for some everyday shooting.  This is one of my very favor parts about vacation!  I get up early and watch the local residents prepare for their day.  I am fascinated by how different people, because of where they live and how they live, approach their day differently.  I also love the light just before sunrise.

My favorite street to walk down in Kyoto is Teramachi dori.  Now I don’t know other streets like I know this one, so that maybe my prejudice for this particular street.  I felt this was my farewell walk as I don’t see my returning to Kyoto.  I have been very fortunate to have visited three times, but I don’t see a fourth.  I am open to another answer.

Some things that catch my eye – are how different something is from Phoenix.  The picture below is a small piece of land in front of each shop, and each resident does something different with that 3 by 3 plot. The photo on the right, outdid the neighbors as they also had a huge tree. Wouldn’t it be nice to see some green on our city streets?

  • Everywhere I go in the developed world, bikes seem to play a larger role in commuting and transportation than in the US.  I find how the Japanese store or park their bikes uniquely “Japanese”.  (The last three photos are from my 2016 trip.)

 

Double Decker Parking

 

Won’t want to get this down daily

The bike feels like part of the design element for the front of this home.

 

Parking lot for bikes

  • About three years ago in Germany I came to an ah ha moment when I realized how much I love to photograph things whose color has changed because of time.  I called in my “color of time” series.  This seems to be a theme I come back to regularly, especially in my early morning walks.  Many photos would interest no one but me, but i still love the graphic nature of these photos.

Hugh had to cut his photography time short as he wasn’t feeling well.  He was also unable to join Tim and I for our final day of sightseeing in Kyoto.  The day offered little photography as two of the main destinations, prohibited photos, and the third was crowded with tourists.  They were still incredibly interesting sites.

The first one we visited was Sanjūsangen-dō, commonly referred to as the 1000 buddhas. . Actually there are 1001 and they are called  Kannons, as they are representations of the Goddess of Compassion Kannon.   There are also 28 standing attendants.

The temple was founded in the 12th century for the cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa,  He was considered cloistered because he abdicated and chose to live a monastic  life. The original temple area included other buildings but a fire in the city in the early 13th century destroyed most of the temple buildings.

Only the hondo or main hall was reconstructed in the mid-13th century and still stands.  Of the original 1000 buddhas only 124 were saved.  These are designated by special plaques at the foot of each original.  In the reconstruction the additional 876 were added to replace the ones burned in the fire. The buddhas are sculpted by out of cypress wood and covered with gold-leaf.

During the Edo period the temple held archery tournaments.  Currently in January there is a Rite of the Willow festival which includes a modern version of the archery tournament takes place.  I am unclear if this continued from the Edo period or was just restarted. About 2000 archers take part.  One part of this tournament is to see how many arrow you can shoot in a period of time.

Originally the archers stood in the garden and shot at targets close to the temple.  But within the temple is a piece of the building frayed by arrows that missed their target.  So frayed it had to be replaced. So now the archers stood away from the temple.

In the gardens behind the temple.

 

Also in the gardens is the “Spring Crying in the Night”.  Parents visit this spring to calm their fussy babies.

After our visit to this temple, we walked across the street to visit the third of the blood temples.  Again no photography was allowed inside.  Thankfully we had our guide with us and the tours are conducted exclusively in Japanese. This temple had the most graphic body prints, with the guide pointing out the hands, feet and head of the warrior (s).

From the temple visit we went to a market in Kyoto.  I had been at off hours and enjoyed it but during lunchtime it was crowded mostly with tourists.  Tim purchased a set of chopsticks which were engraved in Japanese with his name, and I purchased some tangerines.

We then walked up  Teramachi dori window shopping.  Tim was looking to buy a couple of brushes to finish up special painting he is doing on our baseboards.  Sitting side by side on the street were two  shops that exclusively sold brushes.  The brushes in the first shop were made from mink, the second horse hair.  Who knew that there could be so many brushes that it required two different stores! Not me!!!

We ended our touring enjoying a local meal with Tomoko,  then headed back to the hotel to check on Hugh, and had an early night.  Tomorrow it is Tokyo!

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