Day 8 - Geisha spotting in Gion

Kyoto is known as the City of Ten Thousand Shrines and was once the capital of Japan for over a thousand years. I was eager to get a taste of traditional Japanese culture and what better way than to start in Gion, one of the most well-known geisha districts in Japan! Geishas here are commonly referred to as geikos. When we stepped into the district our first encounter was not with a geiko but rather a heron contemplating whether it should stop for some lunch.

Pickled Vegetables

At the end of Gion, we came across a shrine that had boars everywhere.

Just outside of the Gion area, we thought we saw some geikos but it was actually two foreigners dressed up in geiko attire. But we did manage to catch a glimpse of two geikos in a taxi, possibly hurrying off to their next appointment. Or at least we thought they were real geikos... in a city with this many tourists, sometimes it's hard to tell.

On our way to Kiyomizu-dera, we pased by a small temple, Rokuharamitsuji Temple, featuring Buddhas and Jizo statues. thought to protect travellers, women and children. Many of them seemed to have eroded over time but were easy to spot because of their signature red bib.

 

Statue of Kannon with eleven faces

We took an alternate route to Kiyomizu-dera, keeping ourselves as far away from tourists for as long as we could. Our path took us through a quiet cemetery.

Past the cemetery at the top of the hill, we stopped for some lunch. Hot and cold soba!

Kiyomizu-dera is the temple of the Goddess of Mercy and was established before Kyoto became the capital of Japan. It had been burned down and restored since its establishment. The entire building was constructed without using a single nail, a technique common to traditional Japanese buildings. We snuck in through the back entrance just to take a peek of the place. The temple was way too packed that I didn't even want to go inside.

Some senbei to keep us going

Restaurants and bars along the river in downtown Kyoto

 

In Japan, you should expect to find anything.

Walking through the train station, we spotted a 100 yen store and went in for a stroll. A couple of minutes later, I see Will the Botanist walking towards me with a package in his hand. And that's how Graham the Dinosaur came to join our team.

For dinner we met back at Masa's place and he drove us to a local restaurant near his house. The lady that owned the place was friendly and very excited that there were foreigners in her restaurant for the first time ever! This is as local as it gets!

Curry katsudon

Oyakodon

Masa didn't let us grab the bill at the end of the meal.
"My home town", he said proudly.
Then he recited, once again, "Welcome to Kyoto".