Tattoos and Temples?
Sorry for no post yesterday, we were so sleepy! Strap in everyone. This is yesterday- a long one!
We started our day by having breakfast at our hotel which was a mix of a lot of traditional Japanese breakfast items and the best matcha we’ve ever had. Conner was hesitant to eat most of the breakfast because they had poorly translated signs up saying the utensils and oil they use for the crab are used for everything else (it meant only for the tempura he was fine) I promised him the fruit was okay. After we finished our breakfast, we set out to our first stop of the day Kiyomizu-Dera which is a Buddhist temple in eastern Kyoto. Trains aren’t really a thing here so you get places mainly by bus.
We got there around 8:30 am and it was already pretty busy. We had our luggage shipped from our last hotel so we were wearing our hopefully not-too-smelly outfits from the day prior which was pretty steamy in the beating down sun and 83-degree heat. Regardless, the spots of shade from the temple and the light breeze at the top of the hill kept us cool enough to push on. It was absolutely breathtaking, as you will see in the photos, and there were many students there as well. One group of students approached us so they could practice their conversational English. Not knowing what they were asking for my New York kicked in and I tried to say no, but Conner seeing their “English talking questions” sheet of course said yes. They were very sweet and they asked to take a picture with us. Which we can now assume will be a part of some school project for them. We can’t decide if it is wholesome or embarrassing maybe both. It was pretty busy, but there were still several prayer rituals taking place- one that involved filling up a cup with sacred water that represents one of the three things they want to bring in their life (good luck, good health, and success in school) rinsing each hand, then pouring the water into one of their hands and drinking the sacred water. There were also some prayer ceremonies going on that involved kneeling to the deities and using incense, and gongs. Conner and I noticed that a lot of foreigners at these temples did not attempt to cover up their tattoos at all. This was confusing considering any general research done would show that most Japanese people find tattoos threatening or offensive. Not sure if we are missing something here, but an interesting observation nonetheless.
After wandering around the temple and watching the rituals, we headed back down the hill and caught the bus to head to our next shrine, Kinkaku-ji. This is the famous golden pavilion. This was a retirement home villa for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who was a shogun of Japan. The building is wrapped in gold foil and the garden surrounding it is beyond peaceful and so stunning. In the path that surrounds the temple there was a prayer candle ritual where you light a candle to get good luck in whatever topic you choose. Also, there is a place where you take a coin and toss it into a bowl that has ancient statues surrounding it to gain good luck. To nobody’s surprise Conner got it on his first attempt and the Japanese children that were standing behind him cheered in excitement.
After we finished walking around Kinkaku-ji we headed to Arashiyama which has an iconic bamboo forest that has hidden temples as well as a busy Main Street. We walked up the path through the bamboo forest and stopped at some temples and shrines along the way. After we finished walking through the forest, we made our way down to the main road where we got soba noodles for lunch. Conner and I both got the yam and soy sauce soba noodles- little did we know the yam was made into a jelly/goop like texture?? It tasted nice but unfortunately we couldn’t get over the snot-like texture that overtook our lunch. Regardless in order to not be rude we licked the bowls clean and headed back to the Main Street.
If you know anything about Mer. She loves Miffy, so naturally we had to stop in the Sakura Miffy cafe to get a Miffy pastry before heading back to the hotel to rest.
After some rest and relaxation we decided it was time for dinner and we were on the hunt for some ramen. After wandering for a bit, and passing a few too many tempting McDonald’s we stayed strong and found a little ramen shop where we decided to sit down and eat. We are so glad we did because it ended up being one of our favorite means so far this trip. We both got miso ramen with pork chasu and a beer. So yummy.
After dinner, we walked 45 minutes back to our hotel with happy hearts and full bellies through the twinkling peaceful streets of Kyoto <3
✧˚ · .all blog posts are written by merrick bearson and conner couture.·˚ ✧