Up early this morning to catch the train to Kyoto to meet Peter Boylan, an internet friend I met on the Aikido mailing list and from whom I ordered my iaito. We figured out which train was the shin-kaisoku to Kyoto without any problems and got into Kyoto about 9am. We were planning to meet Peter about 9:30 so we wandered around a bit and came back to the meeting place about 9:20 and Peter was there holding a big sign that said "Hi Susie". That and his red beard (and general non-japaneseness) made him really easy to spot. We all then headed out to the Higashi Honjanji temple, a beautiful working temple. Right next to the temple is the Abbot’s Residence which has the Shosei-in Gardens, one of Peter’s favorite places and a beautiful place full of winding paths and ponds and trees and teahouses and other pretty little buildings. Very peaceful and beautiful. Then we went to a shrine for women (shinto I believe) that was exquisite also. I can’t remember for sure, but we might have just happened onto it. In one of the rooms a teacher was teaching his students to play the japanese flute. We rang a bell outside and (if memory serves me right) clapped twice, bowed and clapped once more. I’m sure there is some significance to this but I’m not sure what it is. I think the bell and/or the claps wakes up the spirits, the bow is more of a prayer or quiet time and I don’t know what the last clap is – maybe to tell them you are done. I’ll have to look it up or ask someone. And at each place we went was a fountain with bamboo water dippers for cleaning your hands and mouth. You hold the dipper in your right hand and pour the water over your left, then reverse it (left cleans right), then pour some water in your hands and rinse out your mouth (except at one place that said the water was not for drinking so we didn’t do it there) and then rinse the bamboo dipper out and put it back.
On the way, we picked up some sweets. We got green and white bean paste pasteries that were were folded in a rice paste dough. I think the green may be green tea flavor, not sure about the white. Anyway, they were very yummy. We got these little rice paste balls on a stick (white, pink and green) that were also tasty! We’d liked to have gotten more to bring back with us but had a hard time finding ones just like the ones we got in Kyoto.
Then we took a taxi to the Kyimizu Temple. (Note: taxis start at 640 yen – about $5 and go up from there so it can get pricey quick). The Kyimizu Temple is gorgeous! Up many stairs (as they all are) and with a lovely view of the mountainside. This too was a working temple and I got to hit a bell (bowl) with a mallet while kneeling in front of it and praying? Contemplating? In front of it. We picked up some charms/amulets at a few of the places. Sean got me one from the shrine for women that is for protection of women (wife specifically, I believe). The day before I’d gotten a fortune stick and my fortune basically said that my fortune would be good or bad depending on what my actions were in the future. Geez, I just wanted something that said I’d be happy and healthy or something like that. It did say that travel was good though.
At the Kyimizu Temple were springs that were special in some way and were very, very pure, coming directly from the mountain springs. It was lucky or healthy or something to drink from them so of course we did. The whole temple complex was almost unearthly, it was so peaceful and beautiful and serene.
Next another taxi to the Omen restaurant, a beautiful japanese restaurant with tatami mats to sit on and incredible food. We ate and ate! We had all sorts of interesting dishes, including bamboo shoots. These are very tasty and a spring treat. We also had sake and beer. I took several pictures of our table overflowing with food. We were very full, but felt good after dinner. It’s a great restaurant (although expensive – it came to about $75 for 3 people) and there is one in New York as well so if you are in NY, look it up – I highly recommend it.
Then it was off to the Meirin Budo Store, right next to the Budo Center. Sean and I were in hog heaven. We had our hearts set on cotton, indigo-dyed hakamas from Japan and here was our chance. We fiddled around trying to decide which ones to get and settled on the more expensive ones that were not supposed to shrink (which is good since they were on the short side to begin with) but not the even more expensive ones that didn’t bleed. I’m writing this after we are home so I can report that getting the dye rinsed out and set on these is quite a chore. I rinsed my about 10+ times in the bathtub in cold water and the water was still coming out blue. Then I let it soak in some vinegar and water to set it and then hung it up to dry. I was smurf-city. My entire hands and nails were bright blue and even scrubbing didn’t get it all off (although it wore off pretty quickly). We will be blue for a while (along with everyone who trains with us and the mat) I am sure. Supposedly, you are supposed to set it by sweating in it and letting the salt from your body set the dye but I don’t think we’d be very popular in the dojo if we did that. While we were there I found a magificent blue kendo gi top that I just had to have. It was the top-grade top and was quite expensive, but it was beautiful and so soft it felt like terrycloth. I fell in love with it. I’d wanted a kendo top (they are longer and have a slit in the back instead of the side) and this one felt soooo good. To be honest, I’d planned to wear it as a jacket too, not just for training, but I didn’t want to say that there, I’m not sure if it is considered appropriate to wear training clothes as regular clothes. That helped justify the higher price too. We also got a discount because Peter gets one as a middleman/supplier. Thank goodness for that! It was nice of him to get the discount for us. I also got some sword oil for myself and our teacher to oil our swords with (makes them slide out of the saya (scabbard) easier and I think protects the blade.
That about did it for our purchasing, so we headed out again. We had intended to stop by the Kyoto Handicrafts store which was just up the street, but ran out of time. I guess they have used hakama and stuff there that I’d love to browse thru. Well, next time! Anyway, we headed off to the subway for our next stop which was the Kurama Onsen. The onsen had a couple of prices. It was about 25,000 yen for the indoor and outdoor baths and relaxation room (we don’t know what that was exactly) or about 11,000 yen for just the outdoor baths. We went the outdoor baths only since that was what we’d come for and since we were running out of money and needed to save enough to get home on. You can really blow a bundle in Japan quick and they don’t take american money anywhere and they don’t take credit cards at a lot of places either (fortunately the martial arts store did, although pretty infrequently it appeared).
An onsen is a japanese hot springs bath. On our way there Peter filled us in on the etiquette involved in going to an onsen. Some onsen are for men and women both and some have separate areas for men and women. This one had separate areas. First you take all your clothes off and then using a little hand towel they give you for modesty (basically just covers your lower parts), you go into the bath and sit on a stool next to a faucet and fill a bucket of water and use the hand towel and soap and shampoo to thoroughly clean yourself. I guess they complain that westerners don’t wash good enough in these so we were careful to get very, very clean. Then you rinse very thoroughly so there is no soap on you that would get in the tub and then you wander over to the big hot springs filled tub and get in. Peter and Sean were together, but I was by my lonesome with a couple japanese women who tried to talk to me but realized I didn’t have a clue of what they were saying so they said "country?" and I said "America" and they nodded and smiled at me and went on chatting. It was very relaxing and peaceful. The water felt great. It was a lot like our hot tub at home except our hot tub always seems to be broken… I think the japanese would like our hot tub. It’s outside and has a beautiful view of our garden and cherry blossom tree and ponds. They might be a little disturbed at getting into water that people got into before bathing thoroughly though. Different strokes for different folks.
Actually, I found that at least on the women’s side, they were much more informal than I’d been lead to believe. Some women came and just showered standing up (which I’d heard was a no-no) and several rinsed pretty lightly before getting in. There were all sorts of ways of washing before getting in. It didn’t seem as ritualized/formal as I’d expected. I don’t know about the men’s side. I didn’t rinse off after the tub, which I found out later you normally do, since it mineral springs to wash the minerals off. It never occurred to me. Heck, I felt pretty darn clean after all that! And Peter was sort of freaked out when he saw Sean’s tattoo. I guess tattoos are bad in Japan and mostly mean Yakusa (japanese mafia). I guess some onsen even have signs that say that people with tattoos are not allowed. He said Sean should have told him, but heck, he didn’t ask and how would we know that? Anyway, it didn’t seem to be a problem. I’m sure they just figured we were ignorant gaijin. You can get away with a lot if you aren’t japanese.
It was getting late so we had a beer (they have beer in vending machines!) and then took the next bus (they have courtesy busses to and from the subway) to the subway. It was a long ride home with lots of transfers but fortunately Peter knew where we were going. We split up at the Kyoto station and Peter headed one way and we went the other.
When we got home, Sean was hungry so he went out to get something to eat. We’d stopped at the department store to get something, but they were closed. He just wanted a snack so he asked the information desk where he could get snacks. They didn’t understand what he meant by snacks. So he said "candy bars" and they still didn’t know so he said "convenience store" and they said "oh yes!". It’s funny trying to find the right words that a non-english speaking person will understand. Sean headed out, but took a wrong turn so he got a nice long walk around the block, but he did find the store and found some really nice styrofoam packaged bowls of noodles that you just add hot water to. Since we had a hot water pot in our room, they were perfect. Sean had the first bowl that night and it was delicious. He ate the second bowl for breakfast and it was even better than the first. We saved the wrapper so we could get more. Unfortunately, Sean couldn’t find them at the oriental store here in town. He’ll have to look in San Francisco when he is there. If we’d have known, we’d have stocked up on them in Japan!
All in all a really great day with lots of fun things that we got to do that we would never have been able to if it wasn’t for Peter. It was great to finally meet him in person and get to hang out with him, especially in Japan! It still blows my mind. We have to go back! We made plans to meet in Kutsatsu the next evening at 7:30 so we could go with him to his dojo. That will be a blast! Well, another day, another great adventure.