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Arriving in Kyoto on the morning train from Osaka (a thirty minute ride), we lugged our load for what seemed like an hour in search of the Kyoto Cheapest Inn. Kyoto, a former capital city of Japan, is one of the nation’s richest cultural cities and a definite hotspot for tourism. After several fruitless attempts to secure private accommodation, we agreed to try a dorm-style hostel room. The eighteen-bed dorm room was on the second floor of a converted office building. Our designated bunk beds were situated next to the single sink and toilet. Each bed had a privacy curtain made out of a bed sheet. The small kitchen area and shower stalls were located on the ground floor and the only stairwell was outside, like a fire escape. We had booked in advance for four nights, planning to use Kyoto as a home base for day trips via train to the surrounding cities. The accommodation was pretty awful but it would encourage us to stay out longer, seeing as much as possible in our two-week sprint through Japan. With our packs stowed snugly under our lower bunk, we headed out for the day.
The macro-level cityscape of Kyoto is quite drab and unimpressive but the city is full of cultural treasures, including seventeen UNESCO World Heritage sites. We rode the city bus to Southern Higashiyama, Kyoto’s premier sightseeing district, and set out on a walking tour, as recommended in our guide book. From the bus stop, we walked up Chawan-zaka (Teapot Lane), a pretty, narrow lane lined with food stalls and souvenir shops. At the top of the hill lay an ancient Buddhist temple called Kiyomizu-Dera with a large pagoda and beautiful blossoming cherry trees. We paid 100 yen (about $1) to descend into the Tenai-meguri, which is a narrow, pitch-black stairwell and corridor descending to a dimly luminated stone engraved with Japanese characters. In the blackness, we had only a strand of rope strung with large wooden beads to guide us; it was disorienting but I found that, when I closed my eyes, I became more steady and sure. When we reached the stone, I gave it a gentle spin, as is the custom, and made my humble wish for healthy babies, healthy babies, healthy babies.
Back in the light of day, we continued on, stopping for a soft serve ice cream cone of green tea and cherry blossom swirl. We walked down Sannen-zaka and Ninen-zaka, two charming streets lined with traditional wooden homes, teahouses, and shops. We then took a brief detour onto Ishibei-koji – arguably the most beautiful street in all Kyoto – which was a cobbled lane lined with elegant traditional inns and restaurants. There were many people out for a casual stroll and many of the women donned the traditional Japanese kimono. The atmosphere felt a bit like stepping back in time in some exotic place, almost nostalgic but a familiarity existing only in our imagination.
The narrow streets led us to the Kodai-ji Temple, renowned for its beautiful design and exquisite craftsmanship. The extensive grounds around the temple include two sixteenth-century teahouses and a Japanese garden designed by famed landscape architect Kobori Enshu. We followed a narrow stone walkway around the grounds. The landscape was utterly breathtaking with old, twisted trees protruding from moss-covered mounds of earth, glassy ponds bordered with boulders, soft flowering shrubs and a small bamboo forest. A narrow wooden bridge crossed over the pond to the Kaisan-do (Founders Hall). In the center of the bridge was a four-pillared pavilion with a Chinese-style bark roof, designed to allow viewing of the moon’s reflection on the pond. The entire temple complex was peaceful and exquisite. One can easily envision Buddhist nobles of earlier centuries contemplatively traversing the garden and attending elaborate tea ceremonies.
From Kodai-ji, we continued on to a beautiful city park called Maruyama-koen. We crossed a bridge that arched across a large carp pond and walked along the meandering path to the upper reaches of the park. A young, shirtless martial artist exercised in a grassy clearing while two giggling girls looked on. Picnickers and casual strollers smiled in the sunshine. We walked happily, taking in the scenery that spread out beautifully in all directions. The pond fed a shallow brook, speckled with tall swamp grasses and contoured stones, which curved through the park. Dreamlike Maruyama-koen would have been the perfect place to take a rest but the excitement of all that we had seen fueled our momentum; our legs carried us on as though the Energizer bunny was pounding out the beat of our stride.
We found our way to Gion, a famous entertainment and geisha district with modern architecture and crowded sidewalks. We were getting hungry and cold and walked along bustling Shijo-dori in search of dinner or a hot coffee to sustain us through the sunset chill. We stumbled upon an interesting side street with traditional buildings, the two-story facades dimly lit with Japanese paper lanterns. Since entering Gion, we had considered ourselves to be on a “geisha safari”, determined to catch a glimpse of the notoriously elusive icons of enchantment and elegance. As we would later learn, our coincidental detour was the street where geisha are often spotted on their way to and from appointments.
“Behind the closed doors of the exclusive teahouses and restaurants that dot the back streets of Kyoto, women of exquisite grace and refinement entertain men of considerable means. Patrons may pay more than $3,000 to spend the evening in the company of two or three geisha – kimono-clad women versed in an array of visual and performing arts, including playing the three-stringed shamisen, singing old teahouse ballads and dancing.” (Lonely Planet Japan 2007)
Your first glimpse of a geisha or maiko (apprentice geisha) on the street stops you dead in your tracks. Swarmed like Hollywood celebrities by fascinated tourists and their flashing cameras, the geisha walk with their eyes downcast in short, quick kimono-restricted strides. Their powdery white faces and brightly-colored kimono stand out among the crowd. At one intersection, two young maiko stood on the corner, posing for photos and creating a diversion for the more senior geisha to slip away in the back seats of chauffeured black sedans. As the cars passed, the maiko and geisha gracefully bowed to one another, as evidence of their artistic respect and flawless etiquette. The whole experience was surreal and we glided away giddily to resume our quest for sustenance.
Our first day in Kyoto was richly diverse and immensely thrilling. There is so much to see here, so much intriguing culture to absorb. We are like two kids at Disney World for the first time, amazed by everything we see.
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