Japan Day 15

©Wolfgang Kaehler

Tenryu-ji Temple (UNESCO World Heritage Site)

Photos © Wolfgang Kaehler, phototours.us

By Michelle Alten

A man is poling a boat on the Katsura River in Kyoto, Japan.

1The Tenryu-ji Temple (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and garden in Kyoto, Japan.

A Moso bamboo grove at the Tenryu-ji Temple (UNESCO World Heritage Site)

The Zen Rock Garden at the Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto, Japan.

Today we visited Kyoto temples and gardens and then ended with a visit to Gion, known for the Geisha culture. At the Tenryuji Temple, sweeping tiled roofs framed a serene Japanese garden with twisted firs, blossoming camellia and a tranquil koi pond. At the Ryoanji Temple, 15 rocks were meticulously placed in a Zen garden where raked stoned radiated like ripples in a pond. If the cathedrals of Paris inspire prayer and awe through mystical colored light, depictions of pious saints, and soaring vaults, the Buddhist gardens of Kyoto inspire meditation through the calm voice of nature. A walk through these temples and gardens guides you to contemplation with each step. The Golden Pavilion, with its gilded façade glistening in a still pond, drew throngs of admirers. Still the gardens, designed with rocks, trees and bushes transported me back to my childhood, when my father created small Japanese-styled gardens using naturally sculpted rocks he brought back from hikes and spruce and fir, with twists and bends formed by nature. Creating his garden was his own form of meditation.

The Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan.

1Detail of a gate at the Nijo Castle in Kyoto, Japan.

Detail of a gate at the Nijo Castle in Kyoto, Japan.

When we met a group of high school students at the Nijo Castle, I was brought back from my thoughts of Zen philosophy and my father. “We are doing a survey for our class,” they explained. They asked us if we had played any Japanese sports and knew any Japanese athletes. Judo and table tennis, we responded, and everyone thought of Ichiro, the baseball player. In the streets of Gion, we passed Japanese girls who rented kimonos and dressed up like Meiko, the young Geisha in training. They laughed and smiled at all the attention from our photographers. At the temples, vendors sold us hot chestnuts. One asked me and Franci to try seaweed tea; it was like a delicious salty broth. Maria Rosa treated us all to sweet peanuts, while Cherie passed around green tea truffles.