Kyoto Excursion

'

     I had the opportunity to go to Kyoto during orientation week, an opportunity that I eagerly accepted! We were divided into groups and accompanied by Japanese Kansai Gaidai students. Luckily, Kyoto is only about an hour train ride from Hirakata-Shi Station, and relatively cheap as well. I've always thought of Kyoto as the land of the geisha, a hub of old Japan. I was more interested in shopping than hiking up a billion and one stairs to an old Buddhist temple. But my group had decided on going to Kiyomizu-dera and I wasn't going to be the Debbie Downer. So somewhat reluctantly I agreed, and I don't regret it. Japan has pushed me into doing things that I might not have tried elsewhere (good things don't worry). Just like I've only had a glimpse of Kyoto, I've only had a glimpse of Japan. And I'm constantly finding new things that inspire, amaze and surprise me. 

Another part of the temple

 

The pagoda of Kiyomizu-Dera was under construction

The old and new living in harmony is something Japan does marvelously well. And so far I've found the best demonstration of this wonderful harmony in Kyoto. It's a place where one moment you're here and the next you're some place else, suspended, and ethereal, in some sort of  transient limbo of time. You get lost in the wafting earthy smell of temple incense, the small winding streets crowded with shops and food stalls, the the hum of visitor's voices, snapping of cameras and feet on concrete steps. All heading forward up the Otawa Mountain towards Kiyomizu-dera, an Heian period Buddhist temple.     

Inside you can make an offering, ring the bell and say a prayer

     When we reached the temple I felt like a bystander. I watched a mother teach her son how to bow, she fixed his socked feet tucking them under his tiny legs and bent his head down to the floor beneath the Buddha statue, visitors drank and washed hands in the Otawa Waterfall for health, luck and longevity. And there was me, fumbling my way through, not knowing when to bow, to take off my shoes, to make an offering, or to pray. But the thing was, I was okay with it of just observing. That was what I loved the most about Kyoto. To me it was like a story book read to me by someone else, elegantly distant and hauntingly present.

Do you like my artsy natural lens flare?