All Over the Place

On Friday I was feeling better, so I decided to go to lots of temples. First, though, I had to upload my most recent blog entries, which I went to the Kyoto Tourist Information Center on the ninth floor of Kyoto Station to do. Since I was near the top, I decided to go out and look down on the city. The top of the station is about eleven stories high, and offers the best panoramic view of the city other than from Kyoto Tower (which is expensive). Here’s a picture looking back down into the guts of Kyoto Station.



Believe it or not, I recognized the Kyoto Station right away on my first visit here because the giant turtle Gamera fought his foe Iris here in the station in a monster movie. Tatsuguchi Sensei thought it was pretty funny when I told him this.

I got on my bike and headed east over the river. Next to Sanjusangendo, a large temple that Kristen and I visited in 2005, I saw a little Jizo shrine. The kesho Jizos inside caught my eye, their painted faces were either spooky or endearing depending on how you viewed them.



Since I was nearby, I decided to go back by Karasudera, the Crow Temple, and get some better pictures. Here’s one of the crows on the roof of the building; remember, the temple is named after two talking crows who foretold the death of a prominent Buddhist priest.



Up the street from Karasudera is Toyokuni Jinja, a Shinto shrine dedicated to Hideyoshi Toyotomi, one of the great Japanese warlords who helped unify the country (through military conquest) in the 16th century. There was a path made of torii, the gate-like structures associated with Shinto, that struck me as picturesque.



As I stood there, a semi (cicada) landed on the first torii. They are everywhere calling in the summer heat, so I took his picture. He was pretty patient with me. There are actually five distinct different species of semi here in Kyoto. The Japanese can tell them all apart based on their calls, and have a different name for each. I tried, but frankly, they all sound like bugs to me. Ignorant American. . .



This is the Karamon, the gate that leads to the actual shrine for Hideyoshi. It is a national treasure from the Momoyama age. As I gazed at it, I noticed a white crane flying by overhead. Then I read a sheet given to me by someone that said that the gate is carved with crane sculptures. They are called “cranes without eyes” and it is believed that they were not given eyes so they wouldn’t fly away. Just one of those strange moments in Japan.



The gate was lined with gourd-shaped ema that people had purchased and hung there. This was interesting to me because ema are usually sort of rectangular.



Nearby was Hokoji, a Tendai temple with a gigantic bell.



In the shadows of the temple was a mysterious statue of Dainichi Nyorai, the Great Sun Buddha who represents the ultimate principle of the cosmos. It was way too dark for me to get a picture in there.

Next I went to a temple named Juenji. It is dedicated to Arai Jizo, a form of Jizo I didn’t know about before. There were lots of Arai Jizo ema on display there. This was near the Gion District. As I stood on the street pondering my next move, a geisha came right down the lane and passed by me. Then, a door opened right next to me, and a geisha came out leading a maiko (apprentice geisha). They went down the lane, and yet another geisha passed them coming the other way and went into a largish building. Inside, I could see other geishas moving about, and I could hear traditional drum music. I did not try to take any pictures, it seemed too rude. But maybe another time I will ask a geisha if it is OK to take her picture. One sees many women in kimono here, but the geishas are unmistakable, with their white make-up, formal hairdos, and a certain air about them.

Moving north, a saw yet another little Jizo shrine. I thought the Jizos here were so cute they were worth sharing.



I was in the vicinity of Kenninji, a major Rinzai Zen monastery. First, though, I went into a Shinto shrine associated with Kenninji that is dedicated to a buta kami: a pig-god. I’ll have a separate blog post with the pictures of all the porkers.

Across from the entrance to Kenninji was a small ukiyoe (woodcut) museum. The sign was amusing.



"UKIYOE SMALL MUSEUM OPEN WHEN I WAKE UP AND CLOSE WHEN I MUST GO TO SLEEP WHEN I’VE HAD ENOUGH THE STORE IS CLOSED"

Yet another Shinto shrine near Kenninji is Ebisu Jinja. Ebisu is a god of fishermen and the official protector of Kenninji.



I went to many other temples on Friday, though many were closed by the time I got to them so I only took exterior shots. I also walked through the Pontocho, a former red-light district near the river that is now a long narrow alley crammed with restaurants, shops, and exclusive geisha teahouses.




Here I found an establishment named “Cabbages and Condoms.” It is a Thai restaurant. Here is their menu. I’m glad to know that it is safe now.



Nearby was an actual red-light district full of “health salons.” Their signs were pretty explicit about what was available inside. Jittery young men or creepy old guys were milling around in front trying to entice passersby inside. It was kind of like being back in parts of New York. I went up the street to a temple, Zuisenji. I thought maybe its proximity to this seedy side of Kyoto might make it a good candidate for mizuko kuyo. The door was already closed, though. Just when I was thinking how nice it was that there was at least a temple near the red-light district to balance things out, I read an information plaque about Zuisenji. It said that Hideyoshi had adopted his nephew since he didn’t have any sons of his own to carry on his legacy. But then they had a political disagreement, and his wife gave birth to a son. So he had his nephew’s head cut off. He showed the head to the nephew’s wife, concubines, children, and attendants. Then he proceeded to cut off all their heads too, and they were all buried in the ground. Zuisenji was built on the spot to placate the souls of the dead.

Hideyoshi is also the guy who cut off the Koreans’ ears and pickled them, which then ended up in the ear-stupa I already blogged about. So it seems that not a few temples around Kyoto are basically dedicated to his victims. Nice guy, that Hideyoshi. Needless to say, I didn’t bow at his shrine.