Afterwards, we hopped another couple of buses to get to a more rural area of Kyoto called Arashiyama. Arashiyama is home to one of Japan's remaining large bamboo forests as well as Iwatayama Park...where the monkeys are supposed to be. By the time we got to Arashiyama, we decided we needed to pick one or the other--bamboo or monkeys--as we had a 1:00 appointment at the Koinzan Saiho-ji (a.k.a. Kokedera, or Moss Temple) and we did not want to run the risk of us being our usual 15 minutes late and missing out on the moss. Tough choice. I love bamboo. I love monkeys. Ultimately we decided that we can see monkeys at the zoo, but there is no huge bamboo forest in Milwaukee. (Besides, we've kinda given up on monkeys after they went out for an extended lunch the last time we tried to visit them.) So we walked up the main street in the center of town and took the first left according to our instructions. And there it was. Just a few steps off the main street was an enormous bamboo forest with 75-100 foot tall bamboo stalks swaying in the breeze. We spent an hour or so walking through the forest and listening to the bamboo knocking together and the leaves rustling every time the wind picked up. I read a Japanese proverb about raising children to be strong and flexible, like bamboo. I think that's a neat sentiment. The bamboo forest was amazing. (Along with a glacier, I think Milwaukee needs a bamboo forest.)
At 12:15 we started our trek to the bus stop to catch the bus to the Moss Temple for our 1:00 appointment. MOSS! Whoooo hooo!!!! Anyway, along the way to the bus stop we started walking toward a huge group of single-filed elementary school kids when one of them courageously looked at us and said, "heddo." We said "hello" back and he smiled with such pride. And then it kept going. Every kid we passed in that line said, "heddo" and we replied "Hello" every time. This went on for at least a couple minutes. The line was 100+ kids long. It was sooooo funny.
But back to the moss... The bus climbed up a hill into a more remote area and dropped us off within steps of the temple. This temple is fully walled and gated. A man met us at the gate, checked our permit, and sent us through. After paying our relatively hefty admission fee of 3000 yen ($30) each (most temples are $5 or less), we were sent through to the main hall. The hall was full of other people who apparently also had a 1:00pm appointment... Lots of other people. Like 50. Maybe more. So much for feeling all special with our appointment. Tee hee.
The hall was filled with rows and rows of low lacquered writing desks on red felt-topped tatami mats. There was an ink stick, ink stone and fine paint brush beside each desk. One of the monks quickly spotted us as needing help (mostly everyone else was Japanese) and sat us down with a barely understandable instruction to trace all of the characters on the sheet of paper we were given. We knew in advance from our research that we would be asked to trace a sutra before gaining access to the moss garden, but we had no idea just how much tracing we'd be doing. As we knelt and traced...and traced and traced, the monks chanted sutras, sounded gongs, lit incense and apparently told us all about the sutra we were tracing and the temple's history...not that I understood a single word of it. Anyway, as D and I were about two thirds through our tracing, a monk came over to us and gave us the pass. He says, "You not trace whole sutra if tired. You tired, you stop." Puh-leeeeeeease. D and J are not quitters. We finished the whole thing and wrote out our wish, our name and address as instructed and placed our "little project" at the altar. I wish I had a photo of this, but photos are strictly prohibited in the temple. We were given a take-home copy of the sutra we traced and I'll include a photo of it below so everyone understands how freakin' long the thing was.
Anyway, FINALLY, after months of anticipation, we walked through the gate into the moss garden. And what a sight to behold. 120 varieties of moss just covering the place. It was AMAZING. And very difficult to photograph in a way that does it justice, but we tried. It was so magical in that garden...all the sound was muffled and the light was filtered in such a neat way...and it was just so GREEN. Apparently the moss looks its best in May and June. Yay for us--good timing! We spent an hour or so following the paths around the heavily wooded garden. And no, I didn't steal any moss. And no, they don't sell moss plugs in a gift shop. Drat.
After a relaxing time in mossland, we hopped on another bus at 3:00 to take us to the other side of Kyoto. We had tickets to Kamogawa Odori, a famous show performed by the geisha from the Ponto-cho district of Kyoto only a few times a year. We also had tickets for the traditional tea ceremony at the theater before the show. Our tickets said we needed to be there by 3:30 for tea, with the show starting at 4:10pm. (Odd start time for a show, eh?) Ummmm...I should know how slow buses are. Buses are slow. They stop a lot. Long story short, we got to the theater at 4:00. We missed our tea time. But when we walked in, they ushered us upstairs to the tea room where a geisha prepared matcha for us and delivered it with a bean paste confection. Thankfully I had just brushed up on my matcha drinking etiquette and I performed like a champ. 90 degree turn, 3 gulps, the whole nine yards. We finished up in 5 minutes and went downstairs to take our seats for the show.
The show. Oh my gosh. What a sight. The stage was filled with white-faced geisha who performed a love story followed by a a second act about confections. At one point, the geisha opened up a huge folded screen and enormous Japanese confections popped up...like a pop-up book. Hilarious. The whole show was an auditory and visual spectacle. I didn't understand a word...and the singing is that crazy, warbly, Chinese opera kind of singing...but I was in awe of the sight and sound of this show. Again, no pictures allowed, but I will include a picture of the show poster below to help with the visual.
After the show, with geisha on the brain and being in the geisha area of town, we went on the hunt trying to snap at least one good photo. We walked the back alleys and had a few sightings, but they move really fast and it was dusk and raining...so between managing the umbrellas and fumbling qickly for the camera, we have lots of blurry geisha shots, but I think a couple are clear enough to post. (Though I must say, seeing the geisha walking down the street does freak me out a bit...the make-up is just kind of...well, scary. Seriously. I guess I didn't really think that the geisha still existed...but they do. It's real. I saw them walking with clients. It's really something, isn't it?)
Because of the rain, we quickly decided to take shelter in the covered open-air street malls in the Gion district. We wandered around window shopping drinking iced matcha lattes. Yum. We couldn't help but notice all the t-shirts with various U.S. city themes. We laughed our butts off when we saw one that read...get this...Fish Creek, Wisc. on it. A Door County t-shirt for sale in Japan. Cracks me up.
We stopped for dinner at a hole in the wall. And I do mean hole in the wall. Had I peeked in before deciding to stop there, we probably would have kept going. It was...worn. That's a good way to describe it...really, really worn. In any event, the food was good and cheap. I had beef udon noddles and D had something unidentifiable again. Such an adventurous soul he is. And now we're back at the hotel preparing for tomorrow, our very last day in Japan. We're planning on walking the Philosopher's Walk that follows a cherry tree lined canal from one temple to another. Then we're just relaxing before trying to cram all of our purchases into our suitcases without exceeding the airline's weight limit. (Seriously, shopping in Japan is super fun.)
A few photos of Tuesday in Kyoto: Rock garden at Ryoanji Temple... Traditionally dressed women waiting for the bus... Wooden bridge extending over the Katsura-gawa (river) in Arashiyama... D goofing around at the bamboo forest... Self-portrait at the bamboo forrest... bamboo "trunks"... Bamboo high into the sky... The sutra we traced at the Mos Temple (Yes, we traced that entireeni thing)... Me petting one of the 120 varieties of moss... Self-portrait in the moss garden... Moss garden view... Another moss garden view... And still more moss (look at how clumpy it is)... Not done yet--more moss!... The steps leading out of the moss garden... Geisha traveling by rickshaw... The poster from the geisha show we saw (Kamogawa Odori)... Street view in the Ponto-cho district... Geisha walking toward us with her client... The same pair from behind... Geisha out to an appointment... Same geisha closer up... And again (we're like the Geisha Paparazzi)... Fish Creek, Wisc. shirt for sale at the Sanjo shopping arcade...
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