Posted in art and photography, travel and places, temples, kyoto on Apr 5th, 2007 No Comments »
Many times I have been in the East Temple, Toji, to experience its mystic three-dimensional mandalas and enjoy its other wondrous statues. It is a temple of esoteric anger and benevolence at the same time, a temple as old as the city in which it stands. Unfortunately, it lies on the wrong side of the […]
Posted in calendar, museums, temples, kyoto on Apr 4th, 2007 No Comments »
It is spring, so many Kyoto temples that are usually closed will open their doors - some only briefly. Here is a selection:
Anrakuji: weekends from April 7 to June 2 as well as the last part of Golden Week (May 3-6). Anrakuji is named after a disciple of Honen, who was executed with his colleague […]
Posted in food, kyoto on Apr 3rd, 2007 No Comments »
Kyo-yasai:
Vegetables cultivated in Kyoto since the Edo period or earlier. Most of these came originally from China or Korea (Japan has very few indigenous vegetables, mainly mioga (a sort of ginger) and seri (dropworth). The rest was introduced from the Asian mainland between the fifth and twelfth centuries and afterwards “domesticated” in Japan. These vegetables […]
Posted in calendar, religion and philosophy, temples, kyoto on Apr 1st, 2007 No Comments »
One of the nicest festivals in the Buddhist calendar is April 8, when the Buddha’s birthday is celebrated. The official name is Kanbutsu-e (”the bathing of Buddha”), and popularly its is called Hana Matsuri or Flower Festival. It takes place just as the sakura and other flowers are in full spring bloom. Many Buddhist temples […]
Posted in travel and places, kyoto on Mar 27th, 2007 No Comments »
Last weekend in central Kyoto we came across a stark white wall with black metal lanterns hanging in front of it. It appeared to belong to the dining bar and Japanese restaurant Rebirth. Unfortunately, we had no time to try it out…
Posted in travel and places, kyoto on Mar 26th, 2007 No Comments »
Yesterday at the end of the afternoon, when the weather all of a sudden became bright after a rainy day (something which reminded me of Holland), we climbed up to Suwayama Park above Yamamotodori, on the flank of Mt Rokko. The park was not much as there was nothing in bloom yet - it is […]
Posted in travel and places, temples, kyoto on Mar 20th, 2007 No Comments »
Now overrun by young crowds, the Shinkyogoku area originally was temple land: in the late 16th century Hideyoshi, in his remaking of the city, moved two temples, Seiganji and Konrenji here (Konrenji has since moved again). The area became a “town in front of the temple gate”, with theaters and teahouses and that is how […]
Posted in culture, history, kyoto on Mar 6th, 2007 3 Comments »
Do you know the difference between the Three Sen Houses of Tea, the inheritors of the tradition of wabi-cha from Sen Rikyu?
When in 1591 Sen Rikyu was killed by Hideyoshi, his heirs dispersed to seek refuge in the provinces. Hideyoshi was however persuaded by his generals to restore the house of Sen Rikyu and […]
Posted in writing and poetry, history, travel and places, kyoto on Mar 5th, 2007 No Comments »
During my New Year visit (hatsumode) to the Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto, I also walked into a sort of sub-shrine, that stands to the side at the beginning of the path leading to the main shrine. It is neglected by most people, for me it was also the first time to visit.
Aptly called Kawai Jinja, […]
Posted in books, culture, architecture, anime, museums, kyoto on Feb 23rd, 2007 No Comments »
The Kyoto International Manga Museum rides the high tide of interest in Japanese popular culture, and is housed in a beautiful old school building, but curious visitors will not find much to see inside. Unless you want to observe how blissfully quiet kids can become when they sit reading manga books…
The walls of the long […]