Temple Run

Day 1

When planning my trip, I prioritized Kansai a bit more over the Tokyo area because I presumed Osaka and Kyoto would awesome to explore.

京都 (교토/Kyoto), actually, takes a lot of time to explore. The place has over 1600 temples, and I’m only counting the Buddhist ones. No, I didn’t add an extra zero. God help me. The goal was to get there early so I could do a decent job of exploring the eastern portion of Kyoto the first day and then a day of exploring the western portion right after.

Even with being a gap-year student, I held some responsibilities for Yale, where the school year is just starting back up. As the freshmen start moving in, every extracurricular group goes ridiculous with propaganda to get kids to join. I had to play my part for ADAY, the umbrella organization for dance at Yale. Being the webmaster, I had little time to revamp the site by both being in Japan and the day of freshman move-in being earlier than the day I would head back for Seoul. So exploration the first day was cut short due to the huge errors I initially made in my late night revamp.

I left about 90 minutes later than intended. Shit.

Well, I at least got to Kyoto safely. But safely doesn’t mean easily. Although getting into Kyoto and 金閣寺前 (킨가구지 전/Kinkakujimae) was easy enough, getting into my second AirBnB was momentary chaos. The site for some reason didn’t recognize my email so I had to make a new account, find my host again, email them, and wait with three bags on the side of the street. I sure know how to go from traveler to homeless.

Fortunately, the host got to me within the hour. I threw my bags in there without wasting a second as most temples close a little after 5 PM. It was already 3 PM. Luckily, I thought ahead a bit and booked a place that was right next to 金閣寺 (킨가구지, Kinkaku-ji), otherwise known as the Golden Pavilion. The temple was the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and according to his will it became a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect after his death in 1408. Although it was much more pleasant than Shitennoji, I didn’t fully understand all the monetizing that existed within the temple. It felt as though Japan had the goal of monetizing everything it could and milk the life out of any tourist that stopped by.

Kinkakuji

Similar to Osaka, walking down alleys and such led me to wonders. I passed by 3 temples on my way out of a Kinkaku-ji that actually were not commercialized. Thankfully, Kyoto could offer many such temples.

Never the less, I wanted to see the larger temples to learn of their significance. I traveled west to  仁和寺 (닌나사, Ninna-ji). Founded in 888, it remains the head temple of Omuro School of Shingon sect of Buddhism but none of the original buildings remained. As historic as the site may be, nothing within the temple gates are the original structures. Yet, as you walk through, everything seems damaged and aged enough to make you believe the structures were as original as could be.

Before the general closing time, I made it to 龍安寺 (료안사, Ryoan-ji). Home to Japan’s most famous rock garden, the pattern contained many intricacies from any angle. As serene as the rock garden was, something about 50 people hovering over on a small porch didn’t seem right. With the little time I had, I failed to reflect on its meaning there.

Well, my temple run for the day was over and I could finally grab a real meal for the day. In relative proximity on my way back to Kinkakuji-mae, I found a supermarket that had plenty to offer. I considered stocking up then for my climb for Mt. Fuji, but I knew I wanted relatively fresh bread and fruits as well as nonperishables. Instead, I purchased some matcha candy and bananas to satiate my snacking desires I knew I would have late at night. Like Korea, fruit was pricier than most other items. God damn it.

Right by the supermarket appeared a relatively reasonable outdoor menu. That was enough to drag me in. Although I couldn’t read the kanji of the place, I would say it was the Japanese for Old Country Buffet since that essentially summed up how the restaurant seemed. Although it was slightly empty, the current diners happened to be the most common type of person in Japan: the elderly. Kyoto seemed to have a relatively larger population of them. It reminded me of Florida.

Well I made it back to my room early for the first time in Japan because I was pretty tired. I took my bags to my room finally to discover that I happened to be living in a post-apocalyptic metal cell. It may have been the theme of the place with its dimly lit hallways and dead quiet stairwell. The situations I put myself into. But hey, there was free wifi! 😀

Day 2

After knocking out for God knows how long, I woke up and got dressed quickly to head to the southern portion of the city to see 伏見稲荷大社 (후시미 이나리 타이샤/Fushimi Inari Taisha). The way there took about a hour via subway. The place is historic for being dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice, but famous for people who want to take selfies with an infinite amount of vermillion 鳥居 (도리, torii gates). At the spur of the moment, I decided to climb Mt. Inari which the shrine was built around and surrounded. Along the trek up, I met a Japanese girl, Mai, and a French girl, Marion, who befriended each other when they were exchange students in Minnesota. They were also doing a temple run for the day as they were both tourists in Kyoto. We decided to go through the day together thanks to my surprisingly ability to understand Japanese maps.

Fushimi Inari Taisha

After summiting and descending, we walked out way over to 東福寺 (토후쿠지/Tofuku-ji), just north of Fushimi Inari Taisha, a principal Zen temple in Kyoto. The place was small so we got to relax easily and enjoyed resting our feet for a moment. Although they originally planned to go shopping around the time, they decided to trek over to another temple with me. We headed east.

And we headed east.

And we continued to head east somehow for more than twenty minutes. I actually followed the directions accordingly but I guess I really didn’t understand the actual distance. No matter, the trek was pretty fun as the by streets took us to what appeared to be a tori graveyard.

Dozens of toris made of various materials rested there. Although a bit sullen, it gave the trail a more exploratory vibe. Shortly thereafter we came to 悲田院 (히덴인/Hiden-in), right before the entrance to 泉涌寺 (센뉴지/Sennyu-ji). From Hiden-in, we got a spectacular view of the Kyoto.

Kyoto

Visiting Sennyu-ji topped all the other temples I had visited in Japan. Since the burial of the Emperor Shijo in this temple in 1242, the mausoleum of several succeeding emperors were built in this area, with this temple playing the role of the temple of mourning for the Imperial family. The place seemed surreal. Outside of the interior, nothing was restored. We actually time travelled to a by-gone era. The place also didn’t appear to be a tourist trap.

We split ways after a dropped them off to a bus stop so I could visit 三十三間堂 (산주산겐도/Sanjusangendo), a temple they had visited earlier in the day. We planned to meet up thereafter.

At Sanjusangendo, I arrived to a tremendous garden. The temple is home to 1001 statues of Kannon, the Buddhist god of mercy. Once inside, it would be hard for someone to not get awestruck. Deity upon deity, the temple held an endless sea of statues. Each held a mystic aura, but in combination, their presence overwhelmed all visitors. Even more humbling, each descriptor for the various artifacts elaborated both the Hindu root and Buddhist adaptation. A must-see if you ever stop by Kyoto.

By the time I exited, it was closing time once again for all the major temples. I planned to meet Mai and Marion at 祇園四条 (기온시조/Gion Shijo), Kyoto’s most famous Geisha district. Lights upon lights, it reminded the city part of Kyoto actually exists. However, since it was just around the end of 盆 (본/Bon), we still saw the multitude of people in town with cultural garb and items. The sidewalks were parades of kimonos. It seemed there wee always many more sweet shops than there were restaurants as my eyes looked lustfully at all the sweets around me. But I had self control and decided that dinner should come first. We went through the older part of the district were the store fronts took you back in time and trailed our way to 鴨川 (카모강/Kamo River). We sat there and saw the river reflect the sun as it set and painted the city shades of orange, red and blue. The night seemed enchanted as we talked about our travels and the peculiarities of languages we encountered.

Kamo

But alas, out stomachs weighed in their minds and we went searching for food. We decided udon felt right but as I said earlier, finding a restaurant, or at least one for a reasonable price seemed to be a challenge here. (To be frank, finding a restaurant for a reasonable in Japan means you’ll often end up at one that uses those ticket machines.) We were recommended one by an eyewear vendor but we ended up going to a shop that was actually right across from the one he directed us to. Nevertheless, I got my udon fill and we went back out in search of the one thing I desired most in Japan: mochi.

Mochi is very similar to Korean dduk, but the Japanese also fill it with ice cream to make a cold treat. However, for some reason, I wasn’t able to find a shop easily enough until arriving in Kyoto, a Haven for those sweet desires. Although we saw one a bit earlier, our trail back led us to a matcha shop. Everything green tea everything. Greatest of all, the even sold matcha mochi. It might have been an overload for the faint of tongue, but I took on the challenge and conquered to discover it was triple matcha madness, matcha mochi with matcha ice cream with matcha mochi cream center. Thank the heavens!

With my sweet desires satiated, it was time for us to part. I had a long climb ahead of and they had another day of temple running ahead of them. We bid farewell and I returned to my dungeon to pack for the mountain I had been waiting to conquer for a while: Mt. Fuji.

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