For The Love of Travel

Crowds swarm to see the legendary Kenroku-en garden which has 6 attributes of a perfectly designed landscape garden: spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, watercourses and panoramas. Originally the outer garden of the Kanazawa Castle, it’s morphed into its present configuration after the efforts of a few local lords, Harunaga, Naringara and Nariyasu between 1759 and 1874 – who added a waterfall, teahouse, and winding streams with stone bridges. Gorgeous! It takes about 1 1/2 hours to stroll through the garden’s featured areas. Got up early and started perambulating at about 7.30am. I was so glad I did, within an hour…busloads started arriving, ugh.

I don’t know how this took off as a craze, but gold-leaf encircled ice cream cones are the latest ‘buzz’ in Kanazawa….after my stellar walk this morning, felt like a bit of brekkie was in order….

Gokayama…has a World Heritage listing, so I thought I’d visit…at around 2000 metres, its in an alpine valley with mountains arising. Famous for being one of the villages in the area with ‘gassho-zukhuri’ farmhouses (wooden beams combined to form a steep thatched roof that resembles 2 hands together), they are ‘invaded’ daily with bus groups wanting to stroll through. Income generation a positive for the village, certainly.

Decided to travel to Takaoka to see the Great Buddha, said to be one of Japan’s 3 largest. Impresssive! It was completed in 1933 after 3 decades of work, utilising bronze casting techniques. It stands at 15.85 metres, and weighs 65 tons.

Running through the centre of Toyama city, is the Matsukawa river. Its lined with 500 cherry trees stretching over 2.5kms, and their blossoms should be out…unfortunately not. Boo hoo!

My final stop for the day was the Toyama Glass Art Museum, to see some of Chihuly’s work on exhibition from Seattle and that of Ohira Yoichi, a designer from the 20thC, who was exhibiting some of his Venetian glass designs….inspired by Picasso and Chagall paintings and Murano glass blowing traditions.

Kennin-ji temple is just south of Kyoto’s famous Gion entertainment district and serves as one of the head temples of the Rinzai sect of Japanese Buddhism. It was founded in 1202 by Eisai, the Buddhist monk who introduced both Zen Buddhism and tea cultivation to Japan after returning from study trips to China. There are several large halls exhibiting paintings from modern artists; a fantastic mural of twin dragons painted on the ceiling of the Dharma hall, commissioned in 2002 to commemorate the temple’s 800th anniversary; and a beautiful gilded screen adorned with images of the wind and thunder gods. There are a variety of gravel and moss gardens too.

I enjoyed the walk to Gion Corner and hung around for about half an hour to just people watch….and got rewarded with a view of 3 ‘Maiko’s’ (Geisha’s-in-learning) walking quickly from a cafe past me.

I was up at sparrow’s fart to see the Kiyomizu (‘Pure Water’) temple, halfway up Mt Otowa, one of the peaks in Kyoto’s Higashiyama mountain range. There were LOTS of people climbing the steep street with me on the approach to the temple complex even at 8am.

Founded 1244 years ago, its best known for its wooden stage that juts out from its main hall, 13 metres above the hillside. The stage offers nice views of the cherry and maple trees below that erupt into a sea of colour (not for me today though, doh!) as well as of the city of Kyoto in the distance. The Otowa waterfall has 3 separate streams and visitors use cups attached to large poles to drink from one of them – for longevity; success in education and have a fortunate love life. To drink from all 3 is considered GREEDY! The temple grounds are extensive with various halls, pagodas, and shrines.

Jishu shrine is dedicated to the deity of love and matchmaking. Lots of couples making their way to the 2 stones in front of the shrine, 18m apart. Successfully making your way from one to the other with your eyes closed is said to bring luck in finding love. This lovely couple “made it”, auguring well for their future. Hahaha!

I was excited to see the Marc Riboud photography exhibition @ the Museum of Contemporary Art, a french photojournalist I had heard about, whose work spanned half a decade of iconic and politically charged moments across the world, post WW2. I particularly liked his “Painter on the Eiffel Tower, 1953”; “Hommage to Anouk Grinberg 1991” and “Ho Chi Minh, 1968”.

Righto, I thought. Up earlier than ‘sparrow’s fart’ this morning @ -1 degree, to arrive by 6.30am and avoid the busloads! Yay! Wanted to see the Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine, with 10,000 gates winding up the Inari mountain, creating the impression of a long (4km) tunnel. I was not disappointed. Stunning! one of my favourite visuals so far this trip. There were a number of cute fox statues around the shrine, called ‘komagitsune’, messsengers of the harvest god, Inari. There was an ’ema’ you could purchase as well, a wooden plaque on which people write their wishes and leave on display.

Sayonara Kyoto! Loved visiting again.

Walked along the very pleasant 2km Philosopher’s Path, which follows a canal lined by hundreds of cherry trees which explode with colour (in early April). Great day for a stroll on a balmy 20 degree day, listening to the flowing water and birdsong. Only one cherry blossom tree in bloom. Stopped off at a cute little store selling carved statues.

Sanjusangen-do temple is famous for the 1001 statues of Kannon, the goddess of compassion and the other 28 sculptures of Buddhist guardian deities featured in the front row.

There are willow trees outside, their low green branches hanging low to the ground, used to purify those who come for a blessing during the annual Rite of the Willow. Its not often you’d see 2,000 20 yr old women decked out in kimonos participating in an archery competition….you do at the annual Festival of the Great Target, held on temple grounds, where young women display patience, self-control and celebrate reaching adulthood.

The Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine was first built in 947 to appease the angry spirit of the bureaucrat, scholar and poet Sugawara no Michizane, who had been exiled as a result of political manoeuvres of his enemies in the Fujiwara clan.

The grounds are filled with Michizane’s favourite tree, the red and white plum blossom…and there was an early blooming to behold when I visited. Also a cute couple getting married and an entourage of their friend photographers.

The Sogenchi Teien landscape garden @Tenryu-ji temple (Temple of the Heavenly Dragon) is one of the oldest in Japan, designed in the 14thC by Muso Soseki. Delightful to stroll around, the lake with koi, and you get the edges of the Arashiyama bamboo forest to photograph as well.

The Saihoji moss garden I first saw when Monty Don did a special on TV on ‘Japanese gardens’….I was hooked. Booked on line to make sure I got a 10am entrance reservation. You are treated to a very zen experience ….firstly you are sent articles on Buddhism to read before you get there; then spend a few minutes clearing your mind and practicing some Japanese calligraphy writing ‘sutras’, before then commencing your journey of discovery walking around the moss garden. Delightful morning.

The beautifully golden Kinkaku-ji Shrine is a Zen temple…also built in the 14thC and part of the Kitayama palace complex used to welcome Emperors of Japan and trading partners from China. Each of its 3 floors has a different architectural style, with its top 2 floors being completely covered in gold leaf. The structure overlooks a large pond and the effect of the sun’s reflections makes for a lovely photo.

I treated myself to a French lunch at the “Bistro and wine -en” just down the pathway from my hotel, along the canal, a 3 course lunch for $3,200yen (or $32). Absolutely delicious ‘amuse bouche’, salmon salad, beef cheek in red wine jus and a teenie tiny slice of cheesecake – perfect! Its run by a delightful couple who take great care with presentation of the food and of their customers.