Day 11: The god of rice and his foxes

As usual, before Masa went to work, he left us with a little surprise. Casper greeted us on the way out this morning.

When we were at the Malaysian airport on our way to Japan, we met an American guy who claimed he had visited 80 or something temples and shrines in Kyoto. I'm not sure how he did it because by day 11 I was being a bit more selective, especially since many temples and shrines had an entrance fee. I was half expecting Sanjusangen-do to be another one of those touristy places that I'd have to pay and be disappointed in but the attraction was actually quite spectacular. This Buddhist temple's name translates to "thirty three spaces between the columns", a name to describe the architecture of the main hall.

The main hall

"Sanjusangen-do"

In the temple lives the Thousand Armed Kannon. Actually, it houses 1001 Thousand Armed Kannons but only one spans from the ground to the ceiling. On her left and right, 1000 smaller identical statues stagger themselves in 10 rows. Each statue has 11 heads and 42 arms. If you minus the two regular arms and multiply by the 25 planes of existence, you get 1000 arms! 28 guardian deities, originating from Hinduism, are spread along the hall in front of the kannons. I was caught in huge groups of students and other tourists but managed to snap a sneaky blurry photo between the "no photo" signs.

Thousand Armed Kannons

A short train ride took us to Fushimi district in Southern Kyoto. Mount Inari stands 233 metres above sea level and has a network of trails running through. The main shrine is called Fushimi-Inari and is one of the most important shinto shrines dedicated to Inari, the god of rice. As rice was a measurement of wealth and status back in the days, many merchants would come pray to the Inari. Within the mountain grounds, there were as many as 32,000 smaller shrines. Many of these shrines had statues of foxes around, animals that were believed to be Inari's messengers. The most impressive sight, however, were the thousands of orange torii gates that straddled the trails, each donated by a business, that led us into luscious bamboo forests.

Our special bamboo forest

Small torii gates could be purchased from shops along the path.

Someone offered a Kit Kat to Inari. If Inari knows what's good for him, he better accept it.

We stopped for lunch at an Udon restaurant with a beautiful view of the bamboo forests. Please note my extreme tan lines after 11 days in Japan.

Back at Kyoto station, we stood in front of a donut shop deciding what we wanted when an elderly Japanese man came up to us. He spoke English well and welcomed us to Japan. After a couple minutes of rambling he took out a piece of paper and started reciting sentences written in English. At first it was some pretty dark stuff, something about people getting cancer and we thought he was going to ask us for money. But then the sentences became random and irrelevant. He left us with a smile and asked us nothing more but to enjoy ourselves. When we finally sat down with our coffees and donuts, we saw him approaching a foreign couple and attempting to perform the same act again. The couple waved him off, unfortunately.

THERE IS A FOUNTAIN IN KYOTO STATION THAT RAINS PAGODAS.... along with Japanese and English.

Masa's mum invited us to have dinner at their place again. This time, she made tempura! I just texted Mason telling him that we need to tempura everything when I get back to Vancouver.

Day 10: It's not every day you witness monkey sex and eat raw chicken

It's been a while since I've woken up to breakfast all laid out for me on the kitchen table. Every single morning before Masa's mom went to work, she prepared breakfast for us, something that she didn't even do for her own son. She even bought snacks and left a little note for us. Talk about good hospitality! Will the Botanist replied back in Japanese while I copied his writing and added my own "arigato gozaimasu", nothing but cute squiggly lines to me. We had a new guy waiting for us when we went to put our shoes on this morning.

After a train and tram ride, we arrived in Arashiyama, a district just west of Kyoto city. We hiked for ten minutes up a forest trail and arrived at the monkey park, Iwatayama. Here, macaques had become habituated, roaming fearlessly among the tourists and at times even demanding for food. To feed them, tourists had to go inside a little shack with caged windows for their own safety. The monkeys would reach between the bars, waving their human-like hands while kicking competitors off. Warning: the following photos contain some sexual content.

Photo Credit: Will the Botanist

Lonely Monkey

Arashiyama is a pretty touristy place and to get away from it we had to walk off the main area. Skipping the biggest temples in the city centre, we strolled through the famous Bamboo Groves and past the traditional homes in the rural neighbourhoods. Our first temple was Gio-ji, a moss-covered temple with a modest entrance, shaded by a scattered collection of maple trees. Will the Botanist was happy. He really likes moss.

Bamboo Groves

Gio-ji

Our next stop was Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, a hidden gem 3.5km from the Arashiyama station. The temple was nestled in a forest and was home to 1200 stone rakans representing the followers of Buddhism. The statues had been carved by amateurs from all over the world and each featured a humourous face.

Otagi Nenbutsu-ji

There were about three others in the temple while we were there but we saw a tour group of about 50 seniors hiking to the temple just as we were leaving. Perhaps not so hidden after all! But at least we dodged the crowd. We crossed the train tracks and made our way back to Kyoto to meet up with Linda and her boyfriend, Pontus. When I was in grade 8, Linda was my science teacher's student assistant and was in the same year as my brother. After completing an internship last year, she returned to Kyoto to do her masters. 

We went to a place that offered all-you-can-drink. We talked about Canada and caesars and Clamato. I had raw chicken for the first time in my life. It was actually pretty good once I got past the thought that I was eating raw chicken. 

Me, Will, Masa, Linda, Pontus

I almost expected some sort of physical change after eating the raw chicken. But still alive with no symptoms of illness! The boys made silly faces all the way home. I'm not sure if I can ever get Masa's funny face out of my head.

Day 9: A guest post from Graham the Dinosaur

Hello everyone! My name is Graham and I'm a dinosaur from the 100yen store in Kyoto station!

I can't tell you how happy I am to be out of the plastic wrapping. It was getting a little bit humid in there. Today you will get to see a bit of Kyoto from a dinosaur's perspective. Trust me, it's better than from a human's.

Last night I slept in a flower pot outside Masa's house. It's no Jurassic Park but it was definitely better than spending another night in the brightly lit 100yen store. This morning when the humans went to put on their shoes, they discovered  this frog thing! Did Masa also own figures that could come to life?

Nijo castle was on our itinerary for today so we took a little hike over to the subway to get our tickets. I had to run to keep up with the humans.

Riding the subway

Easy ride up the escalator

Nijo castle was built in 1603 for Tokugawa leyasu, the first Shogun of the Edo period. This place is massive! To protect the people inside, the floors of the castle were built in a way that every step would make the nails in the floorboards rub against a jacket or a clamp, producing a chirp, kind of like a nightingale's call. Thus the floors are nicknamed the nightingale floors. Isn't that just absolutely splendid!

Posing with the Shogun

Will the Botanist tried to tiptoe along the corridor but made a racket. If the Shogun and his men were still around, he would've been slayed right on the spot. I, however, had no trouble slipping past unnoticed.

 

Spotted: a branch sticking out of a well-groomed shrub. Damn Japan, you slackin'!

After Nijojo, we were off to Nishiki market. But first.... let me take a selfie!

Nishiki is a narrow supermarket selling all things food-related. It spans 5 blocks long and is lined with more than a hundred shops and restaurants! We bought little things here and there and tried all the samples for lunch.

Chocolate croquette

The Kyoto Imperial Palace requires an advanced booking to get in but we didn't think to do so. So we just bummed around the castle grounds.

Dinosaur photobombs.

After a long day of walking, my dinosaur feet were getting tired so I hitched a ride on Will the Botanist.

Praying for my family back at the 100yen store

Sitting on a turtle-shaped rock in Kamo River with Fiona the Animalogist!

Masa messaged us to say that his mom was preparing dinner for us. I overheard him saying something about saba (mackerel) last night but had no idea that he was telling her what our favourite fish was!! Will the Botanist and Fiona the Animalogist were ecstatic. She prepared saba sushi, fried rice, pasta salad, raw scallops and prawns, and this steamed egg broth. The meal was unbelievable!

For dessert, we had Yokan, a thick jelly thing traditionally made with red bean paste, sugar and agar. The one we had was made with white bean paste with matcha powder mixed in. Yum!

Followed by matcha and raspberry kit kats!



I had a couple of drinks as well.

And studied some useful Japanese phrases.

After watching crazy Japanese shows on TV, we retreated to Masa's dimly-lit room. We opened a couple more beers, turned up the music, and then I smoked until I was high above the clouds.

Goodnight, world. It was a pleasure being a special guest for your entertainment.