We all woke up around 5:30 today. We had a lot of interesting things to see today, and no time to lose. We quickly dressed, ate, and headed out the door to catch a cab. It took us about 15 minutes to get to our destination, Kiyomizu-dera.
Kiyomizu-dera / Culture
Our cab driver dropped us off at the entrance to the temple. We climbed up some stairs, and then passed under a huge wooden red gate, the Niōmon. It was very reminiscent of the other gates we had seen so far. We then walked up more stairs and walked onto a street filled with temples. One of these temples was the Zuigūdō Hall, a temple dedicated to the mother of the Buddha. After we payed a small entrance fee, we got to enter the dark basement, called the Tainai-Merugi, which symbolizes a mother's womb. In it, there is a large stone that you can spin. You can make a wish while spinning the stone. We also visited the Sanjunoto, a huge, vermillion, three-storied pagoda. Next, we visited the Jishu-Jinja.
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| Jishu-Jinja |
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| Moon Garden |
Here, two stones are placed in the ground about 42 feet apart. If you walk between them with your eyes closed, you will find true love. We all tried it out. It was actually really hard! I almost tripped halfway through, but I made it. Nolan practically pranced across it; he had no trouble at all. After we finished, we walked to the Jōjuin. It was originally constructed as a house for a priest who was rebuilding Kiyomizu after it burned down. It also has a garden called the Moon Garden, which boasts impressive and majestic nature.
After all of this, we visited the Hondo, or main hall. We were only allowed to stand in the outer area. In the innermost sanctum was a statue of the goddess Kannon, goddess of mercy and compassion. She had eleven faces and forty-two arms. The statue was made out of what looked like gold, and it really shone in the darkness.
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| The Goddess Kannon |
The roof of Kiyomizu-dera was being renovated, so a large tarp was over it. We ignored that, and headed to the biggest and most obvious part of Kiyomizu, the wooden stage that juts out from the Hondo. It is built about forty-two meters above the ground. It was built without the use of a single nail. It provided a beautiful view of the forest. Tristen almost fell off of the stage, but Nolan grabbed the hood of his jacket before Tristen got too close to the stage.
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| Kiyomizu Verandah |
From the stage, we got to see many places we already visited. We could see the Nijo Castle, and what we were pretty sure was Kinkaku-ji, the two places we visited yesterday. Malachi swore that the city on the horizon that we could see was Osaka, but nobody really believed him. After leaving the verandah and exiting the Hondo, we climbed down a set of stairs to the Otowa Waterfall. The temple was originally built on the site of the Otowa Waterfall, and Kiyomizu gets its name from the waterfall itself, Kiyomizu-dera literally meaning 'Pure Water Temple.' The Otowa Waterfall flows down in three streams. Each one symbolizes a different benefit, being longevity, success at school, and a fortunate love life; however, drinking from all three streams is considered greedy. The site of the waterfall itself is very peaceful and also a bit spiritual. You feel very calm and respectful there. It has the same atmosphere as the inside of the Hondo, where the goddess Kannon resides. We walked up onto a platform and took long-handled ladles that we used to collect the pure water of the waterfall. The streams we chose to drink from were:
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| Otowa Waterfall |
- Rohan: Longevity
- Malachi: Success at school
- Nolan: Success at school
- Tristen: Longevity
- Sirvaad: Fortunate love life
The water from the waterfall was very clean, and it was a very relaxing experience. We walked across a path to the Koyasu Pagoda. The path itself was very calm and peaceful. The Koyasu Pagoda was very reminiscent of the Sanjunoto Pagoda we visited earlier. It is also vermilion and three-storied. A visit here is said to bring a safe and healthy childbirth. We walked back to the main temple grounds, taking a different path this time. It had excellent views of the temple area, particularly the Hondo. We visited the Okunoin Hall next. This resembled the Hondo, and even had its own miniature stage! Next to it were two other temples, the Shakado and Amidado. The Shakado is dedicated to the original Buddha, and the Amidado to a celestial Buddha.
These were the last places we visited, and we exited out of the Niomon Gate.
Yasaka Shrine / Culture
After a quick lunch at the Okonomiyaki Katsu restaurant, we hailed a cab to take us to the Yasaka Shrine, our next destination for today. The shrine was founded over 1350 years ago, in the year 656 AD. It is the shrine which the festival Gion Matsuri was created after, which we will be celebrating soon. It respects mostly the Japanese god of Summer, Susanoo. After our cab dropped us off at the entrance to the shrine, we entered past the gate. It was very thin, in the same style as previous gates we had seen. We passed it, and met another gate. This gate looked almost exactly like the Niomon Gate we saw at Kiyomizu; it was vermilion and built in the same style. In front of the main hall, there was a big dance stage. Unfortunately there was nothing going on, but we were pretty sure that someone would be performing in the evening for the Yoiyama festival. We walked into the shrine's main hall. The main hall, unlike the Hondo at Kiyomizu, was built into a single building. Since it was the eve of Gion Matsuri, the shrine was packed.
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| Main Hall Of Yasaka Shrine |
Once we actually got out of the shrine, we went and visited a nice garden nearby, the Maruyama Park. On our way, we passed the Gion Weeping Cherry Tree. It is about 80 years old, and its branches of the tree are bent over like it is crying or weeping. The Maruyama Park itself was very nice, with rolling hills, ponds, streams, and a giant assortment of cherry trees. The park was peacefull, adn we stayed there for a while before exiting.
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| Weeping Cherry Tree |
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| Maruyama Park |
Yoiyama Festival / Festival/Celebration
After leaving the Yasaka shrine, we went home to relax; we were going to need our energy if we wer going to participate in the Yoiyama festival in the evening. The Yoiyama festival is part of Gion Matsuri, Japan's biggest annual festival. Gion Matsuri is held annually to keep away disease and disaster, and is held over the whole month of July. On the 17th of July, there is a huge procession of floats in the morning called the Gion Parade. However, the eve of the parade (the 16th), there is a big gathering of people in the evening. People wear traditional summer kimonos called yukata and come look at the floats that will be used the next day. Families come out to have a fun time, and street vendors set up stalls selling multiple things, including chicken, beer, fried octopus and trinkets.
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| Yoiyama Festival Street Party |
We each dressed up in yukata we had bought previously and left to the festival. We had to walk most of the way, as automobile traffic is closed for the festival. When we got to the festival area, the festival was already in full swing. Music had filled the air, and people were moving around everywhere. We bought some food; I found more of the takoyaki I loved when we went to the Kuromon Ichiba Market! You can probably guess what
my dinner mostly was. There was also chicken, beef, and more. We went around, celebrating and dancing. Nolan tripped over his yukata while trying to dance, and we all laughed at that. As we walked around, we got to see each of the huge floats that would be used tomorrow. There are two types of floats: hoko and yama floats. Hoko floats are huge floats supported on wheels as large as men. There are about ten hoko floats, and they are pulled by ropes. There are about twenty-three smaller yama floats, each suspended by shoulder posts. We got to visit each of the 10 hoko floats. They were magnificent; there is no other word to describe them. Unless you see them, it is hard to understand the grandeur of these august creations. Hopefully this will help:
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| Float At Yoiyama Festival |
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| Float At Yoiyama Festival |
Being near these floats at the Yoiyama festival really gives you a really unique feeling. It is as if you are looking at the result of human evolution itself; it is a felling that makes you mentally take a step back and see us differently as a species. I choked up a bit, being near these things. It was a great experience. The entire festival was, in fact, probably the best thing I experienced so far in our trip. The music, food and celebration, along with the feeling and atmosphere of happiness and acceptance, really makes this an one-in-a-lifetime activity. It was probably not until late night that we left to go home. By that time, our stomachs were stuffed and our legs felt like jelly. We got to our hotel and slept the rest of the night away.
Written By Rohan
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