Last field trip with IES!: Kyoto Edition

So last week, the entire group set out on our typical 3 hour bus ride out into the unknown and beyond. We were pretty excited about going to Kyoto because 1) Well, it’s Kyoto and 2) Kyoto kit-kats! Every large region in Japan has its own brand of Kit-kats. Nagoya’s is red-bean toast. Kyoto has green tea, cinnamon cookie, and black tea flavors.

Our first stop was at Kiyomizudera, a large Buddhist temple. The streets of souvenir shops were extremely crowded, both with tourists and people dressed up in traditional Japanese clothing, and even weddings, and the temple itself wasn’t much different. The drastic difference to this temple that we went to was that it was selling a variety of things believed to be lucky or holy, such as luck pendants ranging from luck with relationship to luck with traffic safety, and it even had a holy water fountain where you could drink from. Bonus if you had a holy silver cup.

After getting a chance to try sesame + honey, sweet potato, and chesnut icecream, we pretty much called it quits. It was a very long three hours spent there, but as last temples of the year go, it was a good one.

Next, IES group spent an evening decorating some fans in the traditional painting style. Don’t know exactly how pleased I am with mine yet, but we’ll see when I get it back in a month!

The best part of the day was in the evening when we finally arrived at the traditional Japanese inn. Over dinner, a geiko, maiko, and shamisenkata came to chat with us for an hour and a half. First, they performed, and then as we ate, they came around to all of us to talk. Eventually, by the end, they taught us a traditional sort of game that most of us lost spectacularly in, but it was a ton of fun. I lost the cards that the geiko and maiko gave to us that had their names on it, but at least the pictures came out well.

This was definitely one of those moments where you’re there and you think “Yup. I’m in Japan. Check this off my list.” It was surreal. These girls don’t even go to school anymore, this is their life and their job. It’s amazing.

The next day was another pretty busy day. First, we went to Nijo Castle, which used to be the main castle for the capital of the entire nation when the shoguns still lead Japan. It’s a place definitely still untouched by history; the nightingale floors, the original gate, the old ceilings and wall panels that were painted and designed hundreds of years ago. Because the castle was not only a place to live but also where business meetings were held, wall panels actually symbolized different things. For example, tigers and more ferocious animals were painted in the rooms where other officials were met, to intimidate, while landscapes and mountains were painted in living quarters or tea rooms to create a calming atmosphere.

Our tour guide, Miye, spoke in English and actually taught us a great deal more than we’ve gotten used to learning on trips like this. She mentioned that most of the Castle was made of Japanese cyprus, which is one of the best and strongest woods in the world, and also brought up the story behind the plum tree/bamboo/pine, and how they are revered in Japan and traditionally given at weddings. The pine tree symbolizes longevity, the plum tree symbolizes courage because it is always the first to bloom in spring, even in snow, and bamboo, which symbolizes purity because it grows straight up.

Next, we went to Kinkaku-ji, or the Golden Pavilion of Kyoto, Japan. It used to be an actual living area, but was later turned into a Zen Buddhist temple. The top two stories are actually covered in 3 layers of gold leaf! Here, I finally bought my own good luck charm. I don’t believe in luck, but I figured that a charm against bad luck would be strangely appropriate.

Finally, we crept our way up to Arashiyama. We didn’t spend much time there, as our main goal was a rickshaw ride, but it was a very beautiful area nonetheless, built in the midst of mountains and a wide river.

One interesting thing to note about all of these locations was how crowded it was. Usually, wherever we’ve gone, while there have always been a respectable amount of people, one could often find some sort of place where the people trickled away. Here, there were people everywhere and, to our surprise, quite a lot of foreigners. It was almost a breath of fresh air to see some people from the Philippines or Vietnam.

Also!

Rickshaw ride! Probably one of my favorite parts of the entire Kyoto trip, I went with Katrina and our lovely rickshaw driver was… Taro! It was about an hour of traveling, looping around Arashiyama and traveling through a bamboo forest that’s famous for actually being the site where a lot of Memoirs of a Geisha was shot.

It was a lot of fun, but we had to go through some fairly crowded areas, and that, naturally, meant staring. Which almost everyone we went by did. Some waved, some tried to take our picture, gaping, and almost everyone pointed. Eventually, someone actually called us “okaasans (mother)” and Katrina and I stopped caring and started waving back to everyone instead. That’s right, we’re foreigners in a rickshaw.

Taro actually does this as a job, apparently, which he does for his younger daughter. It’s hard work, but he was very polite and lovely to ride with. The ride itself was surprisingly relaxing. I definitely wouldn’t say no to having a rickshaw as a regular ride.

All in all, it was a lovely trip. I’m going to miss traveling with the current IES group, but either way, I hope that I can get back to Kyoto one day to explore some more.

Location: Kyoto, Japan