A Walk In Higashiyama

--Susan, Every Other Sunday

Kyoto has eleven wards--essentially, smaller "cities" within the metropolis of Japan's former capital. Each has a distinctive character and history, and unless you have weeks to spend in Kyoto, it's virtually impossible to see them all.

Last November, I paid my first visit to Higashiyama-ku (just "Higashiyama" works as well), a mountainous ward on the Eastern side of Kyoto that's home to numerous temples, shrines, and historical sites.

A view of Kyoto from the steps of Kiyomizu-dera. 

Although it's impossible to see everything in a single day, I started early and managed quite a bit in the eleven hours and twelve walking miles that followed.

Here are the highlights.

I left Kyoto Station by bus, disembarking near 1200 year-old Kiyomizu-dera,

The current pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera dates to the 17th century.

a Buddhist temple named for the sacred waterfall on its grounds. Visitors scoop water from the falls, which allegedly has wish-granting properties. The temple is sacred to the Bodhisattva Kannon, goddess of mercy:

This small shrine on the temple grounds is dedicated to stillborn and aborted children.

Kannon is also represented on the temple grounds as Senryuu, the dragon who guards Kyoto:

Kannon: merciful ... to a point.

I could have spent all day there, but with only one day in Kyoto (due to research plans in other cities), I left the temple and strolled through Ninen-zaka and Sannen-zaka, a pair of preserved historical streets on the edge of Gion.

Sannen-zaka: three hundred years back in time.

Shops, teahouses, and restaurants line the hilly streets - and if you step off the beaten path, you can find even older teahouses and gardens:

Preserved teahouse and garden, Sannen-zaka.

You can also find some amazing treats:

Custard cream puff from ninen-zaka. The line was out the door, and it was totally worth the wait.  

At one end of the street, the distinctive spire of Yasaka-no-Ho pagoda rises into the sky. The pagoda has burned 4 times since its original construction. The current version dates to 1440:

I wish I could look this good at 500 years old.

After exploring Ninen-zaka and Sannen-zaka, I visited Ryozen Kannon Memorial, a shrine to the unknown soldiers and civilians who perished during "the war in the Pacific" - World War II.

A lovely memorial to a horrific war.

The statue of Kannon is 80' high, weighs over 500 tons, and sits in meditation atop a worship hall. After leaving a stick of incense in the burner, and a prayer that someday the world's people will finally stop fighting and learn peace, I continued on my walk -- a short one, because the Zen Buddhist temple of Kodaiji stands right next door to the Kannon Memorial:

The Zen meditation garden at Kodaiji.

Kodai-ji is lovely, particularly in autumn when the leaves of the maple trees blaze with fire. The grounds are large, and I could have spent all afternoon there, too, particularly in the lovely bamboo grove that featured an unexpected view of the Kannon memorial:

Those "trunks" on either side are actually giant bamboo canes.

The (bamboo) woods were lovely, dark, and deep, but I had schedules to keep, and miles to go before I sleep ... and so, I continued on my way. After a stroll through a nearby park, I found myself at Chion-in, headquarters of the Jōdō-shū (Pure Land) school of Buddhism in Japan.

The San-mon: originally built in 1234. This version dates to the 17th century.

The grounds of Chion-in stretch up the side of a mountain - a significant walk for a person on the ninth mile of her day, and I admit I almost passed on the climb, but the magnificent buildings at the top (including this beautiful pagoda) made me glad I persisted:

Lotuses in front, pines behind - hard to imagine a better place to meditate.

And the day wasn't finished yet.

I walked back through the park to Yasaka Jinja, a Shintō shrine constructed in 656 and the place where the famous Gion Matsuri festival originated.

One of the many shrines at Yasaka Jinja.

Ironically, my walking path led me into the shrine through a back entrance and concluded at the shrine's front gate, where I encountered a lovely pair of guardian lions.

Keeping watch for hundreds of years would leave me a little cross-eyed too.

I have a fondness for these statues, and photograph them everywhere I go in Japan.

From there, I walked a mile and a half to the subway line I wanted (more direct, and faster, than the bus at that time of day) and enjoyed a fantastic tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet) dinner at TONKATSU KSK restaurant in Kyoto station.

A long (like this post...) but thoroughly enjoyable day. If you find yourself with a day to spend in Kyoto, head for Highashiyama (and be sure to pack your walking shoes).

The Bell Tolls for Myomanji

-- Susan, every other Sunday.

During my research trip to Japan last summer I visited Kyoto Seika University, an art college in the northern part of Kyoto (most of us would consider it "just north of Kyoto" but given Japanese city lines, it's technically within the boundaries of Kyoto-shi). When I arrived in Japan, my son had just completed a 15-week study abroad program at Kyoto Seika, and wanted to show me both the school and some of his favorite nearby sites.

One of the places he wanted to visit was "this really cool little temple and monastery" about a fifteen-minute walk from the university campus. He said "it's not really crowded, or famous, but it's special to me"--and given my love for Japanese shrine and temple architecture, I gladly went along.

The temple measures about the size of a small city block, and has no English-language signage. The entrance identifies it as "Myotzan Myomanji" - a name that initially rang no bells for me. (Pun intended...you'll understand when we get there.)

"Myotozan Myomanji"

On first impression, Myomanji is a lovely, quiet temple approached along a wide stone bridge that spans an enormous, decorative koi pond:

It's even more idyllic in person.

Directly inside the gates, I noticed a beautiful--and very large--bronze bell, which reminded me of the famous bell in a Japanese Noh play called Dōjōji.

The bell itself is almost ten feet high.

In the play, a monk named Anchin goes on a pilgrimage and meets an innkeeper's daughter, Kiyohime, who falls in love with him. Although Anchin promises to marry the girl, he tricks her and returns to his monastery via a different route. Enraged, the girl transforms herself into a giant snake, and pursues Anchin to the temple, where he has hidden himself inside the temple's giant bronze bell. Kiyohime wraps her body around the bell, and the scorching heat of her anger burns Anchin to death inside the bell - after which, Kiyohime flung herself into a nearby river and drowned...and her spirit possessed the bell. In the final act of the play, the monks exorcise Kiyohime's spirit from the bell, restoring order to the temple.

Remember this...it's going to be relevant later.  

Inside the temple grounds, a large, Indian-style stupa rose up near the center of the temple, directly in front of the worship hall.

One of these things is not like the others.

It seemed out of place in a Japanese temple, and also strangely familiar, though I didn't place it immediately. In fact, it was weeks later that I remembered where I'd seen it: the stupa is a replica of the one a Bodh Gaya (in India) where Buddha originally attained enlightenment.

Myomanji Stupa

After paying respects before the altar, my son and I paid the small admission fee (300 yen - about $3) that allowed us to tour the monastery, including the abbott's hall (filled with art) and the lovely monastery garden, called Yukinoniwa.

This is where I'd normally put a photo of Yukinoniwa; however, it felt like a very sacred space, and I respected it far too much to take any photographs. 

(Sorry / Not Sorry )

While we sat and appreciated the garden (and waited out a light summer rain that started falling while we toured the monastery) one of the monks came running through the hall with a paper in his hand. This was rare, and unusual, because most of the Buddhist monks I saw in Japan moved peacefully about their business. When he saw us, the monk lit up with delight, bowed, and presented the paper to my son (who thanked him in Japanese).

To our surprise, the paper contained an English-language print out telling the history of the temple. The monk had printed it out because he worried we wouldn't understand the temple's history based on the Japanese-language signage. (He was correct...most of the Japanese was technical enough that neither my son nor I could read it well.) 

Here's what we learned:

Looking through the entrance gate toward the main hall.

Myomanji was established in 1389 by the founder of the Nichiren school of Buddhism--a monk named Nichiju.

Myomanji's greatest treasure is a bronze bell, originally dating to 828, under which the monks of Dōjōji Temple sheltered a monk named Anchin when he attempted to hide from the wrath of an innkeeper's daughter whose love for him transformed her into a dragon. According to legend, the dragon's wrath made the bell so hot that it burned poor Anchin to death, and melted the bell.

In 1359 the bell was re-cast (from the melted bronze of the original). During the inauguration ceremony for the new bell, a beautiful but unknown woman appeared among the dancers, circled the bell, and disappeared beneath it. Thereafter, disasters occurred every time the bell was rung, and the monks became so terrified of the haunted bell that they buried it in the mountains.

In 1585, a samurai dug up the bell and brought it to the monks of Myomanji, appointing them to act as its guardians. Since that date, the monks have guarded the bell and held an annual ceremony for the souls of Anchin and Kiyohime.

Please Do Not Ring Bell.

And no...they still don't ring it.

The bell at the monastery gates is a bronze replica, cast from a mold of the original bell, which is kept away from public view in the heart of the monastery.

I had so many takeaway lessons from this "cool little temple" my son wanted me to see.

-- Don't turn up your nose at humble things - they're often more important than they seem.

-- Be kind to strangers - your actions may transform their understanding.

And, finally,

-- Don't ring strange bells. You might accidentally summon a really angry dragon from the lake.