Posted under Japan
Our first night sleeping in the dorm was pretty rough. There was a Japanese guy snoring relentlessly about three feet from my head and my bed dipped in the middle. As the events of the day continued to spin my wheels, I couldn’t sleep; then I got a scolding from a bed-faced Bear who peered down from his top bunk penthouse to find me playing online at 2am. I’m sure that I responded with a muffled, snide remark but I knew I was busted. I resigned myself to the fact that the next day would be impossible without a steady flow of caffeine coursing through my body. Hi. My name is Tina Young and I am hopelessly addicted to caffeine: the means of doing twice as much on half the sleep.
I managed to drag myself out of bed around 8:30 the next morning, mostly because the Bear was already dressed and shuffling around impatiently. We fueled up with a cup of free instant coffee from the hostel kitchen and set out on another day of exploring, starting with Kinkaku-ji (Golden Temple) in northwest Kyoto. The three-story temple was plated in gold and set on the edge of a tranquil pond. It was originally built in 1937 as a retirement villa for a Japanese Shogun and later converted to a temple by his son. The grounds were secluded and buffered from the noise of the city; the sublime gardens were so serene that we felt as if we had stepped into an oasis of tranquility.
After walking the perimeter of the temple grounds, we took a break from temple-viewing to check out Nishiki Market – a long, covered alley lined with stall after stall of local handicrafts and colorful arrays of raw fish, bulk spices, sweets and other specialty foods. We are continually intrigued by food markets around the world. The colors, smells and crowds overwhelm our senses as we walk from one shop to the next, checking out the merchandise on display. What is unique about Japanese markets is geometric precision employed by the various proprietors in displaying their wares. Rarely do you see even bulk items in a pile but rather fish, spices and produce are neatly arranged in rows and geometric shapes. The individual shops are small and personal, usually attended by the owner.
As we walked through the market, which spanned several city blocks, all of the food displays naturally sparked our hunger so we stopped at a kaiten-zushi restaurant – a sushi bar in which individual servings of sushi, tempura and sashimi are rotated on a conveyor belt passing by each table. Patrons pull the plates that they want and, at the end of the meal, a waitress tabulates the bill based on the number of plates stacked on the table. We ordered some drinks and watched a few rotations before grabbing one little plate after another, accumulating a respectable stack. The sushi was of mediocre quality but we were tickled by the conveyor belt experience.
Our last stop of the day was at Nanzen-ji, which is one of the finest temples in all Kyoto. We walked the beautiful, expansive grounds and through a few of the historic buildings in the temple complex, marveling at the architecture and gardens. The Japanese have definitely mastered the art of tranquility. The dark wood inspires a feeling of engulfing softness, despite the straight, clean lines incorporated into all of the interior designs. The rooms are simply decorated with tatami mats on the floor. The walls are most often plain though occasionally adorned with muted paintings or lattice screens. Sliding panels of wood or rice paper invite the breeze on a summer’s day. My favorite room in the Nanzen-ji complex – the Hojo Hall dining room – had a simple, elegant dining table over a pale pink, floral-design Oriental rug; the exterior wall encased a floor-to-ceiling window framing a seemingly mythical view of an idyllic Japanese garden. It looked like paradise.
The Japanese gardens are brilliantly designed to invoke relaxation, meditation, prayer and contemplation. They all seem to incorporate a water feature – you always find the calming sound of trickling water in the garden ambience. Many also include a rock garden with a wave-like design raked into it, which strangely inspires you to sit and stare across it, allowing your undeterred thoughts to flow. As I walked the grounds of Nanzen-ji, I was overcome with feelings of contentment and harmony. Amid the chaos of endless distractions that dominate our normal daily lives, an oasis of quiet solitude often seems impossible to find. Centuries ago, the Japanese perfected the art of creating that oasis and, while the modern Japanese population seems to have succumbed to the Western frenzy of work more, do more, buy more, I hope to bring home the wisdom of the early Japanese architects. It is admirable to create something aesthetically beautiful – like a finely furnished room – but it is endlessly rewarding to create or find an atmosphere that inspires prayer, reflection, and manifests the beauty within the beholder.
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