With a photographer

Fushimi Inari shrine, ( Torii tunnel )

This time I was on the tour with a photographer. It was very interesting because I am interested in taking pictures. Though I am just a beginner, it was very happy to see someone who are professhional taking pictures. In each places we spent a comparatively long time getting a good shot. But it was still fun to me.

Fushimi Inari shrine,
Since I usually take tourists from a place to another, I don't pay any attention to taking photos. I just do it for this blog. Though I took a compact digital camera, I fully enjoyed taking pictures with him.

Bamboo forest in Arashiyama



This time, I didn't take a photo of the tourist, because he promised me to send me the one taken with his nice camera. When I get it, I will add it to this blog.

Fushimi Inari Shrine Torii tunnel
< Bamboo forest

Tenryuji temple
Tenryuji temple
Tenryuji temple
Rakushisha
Gioji temple

Date : October 13th
Tour ; Fushimi Inari shrine, Tenryuji temple, Bamboo forest, Gioji temple, Rakushisha, Ninnaji temple
Tourist : a man from USA

parfait and conveyer-belt sushi

Touching the food culture of the other countries is a part of fun.
I think the highlight of this tour was conveyer-belt sushi. This time I took a man from America to Kiyomizu temple. Unfortunately that day was the day for school outing. We met elementary school kids everywhere we went.
After walking from Kiyomizu temple to Yasaka shrine, we walked around Gion. Have you ever seen the movie "Memoirs of Geisha"? The story was the one of Gion. I explained the system of so-called Ochaya, Maiko and Geisha in front of the real Ochaya pointing at the wooden name plate of Geisha and Maiko.


Then we went to Kazurasei which sells hair ornament for not only ordinary women but Maiko and Geisha. He chose one as a souvenir for his wife. It was a black one with a white flower. It was very beautiful and probably she will look good with it on and I hope so.


Close to the shop, he found Japanese sweets shop. He got interested in the parfait served there.
He decided to have pre-lunch. He had chesnuts parfait, and I had maccha parfait.
We really enjoyed them and headed for Nishiki food market.
Then we had .... soy-milk doughnuts. Yummmy! He said we didn't necessarily have lunch around noon, and we put it off later.





He got another souvenir for his wife, which is a Japanese fan. The shop at Nishiki market sells hand-painted fans. He chose a fan painted Japanese maple leaves. The red leaves were vivid on the black cloth of the fan.




After visiting Nijo castle, we went to where he wanted to go. That is a conveyer-belt sushi restaurant. He had never seen one during his stay in Japan before we met. That was his first experience. I told him how the system worked. He seemed to really enjoyed it.

That was the cheapest sushi he had ever had, and he said he didn't tell the difference between the ones he had before and the ones we had at that time.

After visiting Golden Pavillion, where we met a lot of kids, we finised the tour.

Date : Oct. 5th
Tour ; Kiyomizu temple, Sanneizaka Ninenzaka, Yasaka shrine, Gion ( Hanami koji), Kazurasei ( hair ornament shop), Koishi, ( Sweets shop ), Nishiki food market, Nijo castle, Conveyer-belt sushi restaurant, Kinkakuji temple ( Golden Pavillion)

Tourist ; a man from America

A shrine was busy carrying out wedding rites

Japanese people usually set the day for the ceremonies or rites according to the recurring sequence of six days in the Chinese calender known as "Rokuyo." For example, there are certain days the funeals or wedding ceremonies should not be held. On the other hand, there are days good for wedding ceremonies. "Taian day" is the lucky day. and we avoid having events on "Butsumetu day" which is accosiated with Buddha's death.
October 2nd was Saturday and "Tomobiki day", good day for wedding.

When we were in Heian shrine, we saw 2 couples having a wedding ceremony. The bride was in the traditinal bride costume. She wore a white cloth headdress and a white coat.
I was a guide of honeymooners, we talked about the wedding ceremony and the way of wedding party for a while.
More and more Japanese young couples tend to have a wedding ceremony in the western style. When I saw the brides in Heian shrine, I realized how nice the tradition was and how beautiful the traditional costume was, not to mention the bride.

That was the last day in Kyoto for them. I took them the most of the places they wanted to visit in their list.
We went to Bamboo forest, Kenninji temple, Ginkakuji temple phylosophy path and Nanzenji temple along with Heian shrine.
Kenninji temple is not so popular among foreign tourists. However, this is the oldest zen temple. We can sit down on the tatami mats and see the moss covered garden. In addition, we can walk a part of the garden and take a look inside of the typical tea room. The painting on the ceiling of the hall was fantastic and impressive. I think it worth seeing.



I hope the tour with me will be one of the nice memories of their honeymoon trip.







Date : Oct. 2nd
Tourists : a couple from Italy

Tour : Bamboo forest, Kenninji temple, Ginakuji temple
Phylosophy path, Heian shrine, Nanzenji temple

Byodoin, Ujigami shrine, tea room

If you have one more day for sightseeing in Kyoto, visiting Uji is one of the choices left. Open your purse, do you have 10-yen coin in it? Please look at the back side of the coin. You will see Byodoin temple on it.
Byodoin temple is very old and it was not renovated. The buidling itself is very old and not gorgeous. However, in the old days, it was painted with colorful paint, mainly red. The people in those days believed the paradise in Pureland was in the west. When you stand in front of the pond, you will see the main hall called phoenix hall in the west. They wanted to make something like the paradise in pureland there, and it was what they thought Paradise. The face of the buddha image in the hall can be seen through the round window. As you see, the architecture represents a phoenix with its wings spread.
The images and the pictures which used to be in the hall are exhibited in Byodoin museum in the precinct along the original colored main hall using computer graphics. Those are very impressive and worth seeing. They make us feel something. I can imagine how beautiful they were and how the hall stood there.


A little walk along the path between the temple and the river brings you to the city information center. There you can enjoy Tea ceremony at Taiho-an tea room. (500yen)




If you have a little more time, how about visiting another world heritage site, Ujigami shrine?
This shrine has the oldest shirine building in Japan. It is not so showy. But please imagine this building has been there down the old ages. It has never been changed, just standing there. You will surely understand why this shrine was resistered as a world heritage site.

Uji is one of the major tea producers. There are many tea shops selling various kinds of tea. The oldest tea shop gives a service of making tea. ( Kanbayashi tea shop, and Fukujuen)



Transportation ; Uji station ( JR Nara line) 10min. walk. Uji station ( Keihan line ) 5 min. walk

Byodoin ; ( Admission 600 yen, The main hall 300 yen)
Temple 8:30 AM - 5;15 PM
Museum 9AM - 4;45PM
The main hall 9:10 - 4:10

Ujigami shrine : no admission

Taiho-an tea room : open Jan. 10th - Dec. 20th 10AM - 4PM 500 yen

Ninnaji temple

Kyoto is an old city and the old capital in Japan. That's why there are many world heritage sites. And some of them are very famous and popular among not only foreign toursts but Japanese tourists. Kiyomizu temple and Kinkakuji temple are always very crowded, and sometimes you have to wait a little while just to take a simple photo.

In Ninnaji temple, you don't worry about waiting to take pictures. When you get off a bus, the old gate will come into your sight. It is not gorgeous, but I am sure you will be impressed. This temple had been relationship to Imperial family untill the end of Edo period.(1868). Imperial family had been sending one of them as a monk to this temple. So, the building of this temple has an imperial style and atmosphere.

Walking on the corridor, you may notice it has two tiers. The upper tier is for a person in a higher position, the lower one is for a person in the lower position, and the ones in the lowest had to walk on the ground. A white sand garden opens up in front of you. There is a cherry tree on the left, and a mandarin orange on the right. You can see the same style in the Old Imerial Palace. Go on walking, and the beautiful garden will be waiting for you.

Just sit down and view this garden. Spend some time here. In the distance, the Pagoda will join this sight. Pay attention to the window. Usually the buildings in temples have sliding doors and windows. The window of the building in this temple is different from those in other temples. You also see the same ones in the Old Imerial Palace. Yes, this is the Imperial style.

Let's take a look at Pagoda in the back. The pagoda was built by the Edo method. What is Edo method? I wil tell it to you at the site. Next to the Pagoda, there is Golden hall ( Kondo). It used to be the main hall of Imperial Palace (so-called Shishinden). It was moved here.

As I said above, you can fully enjoy this temple. Why don't you put this temple in your visiting list of Kyoto? You should not miss it!One thing must be added. Cherry blossoms in this temple is very famous and full crowded in middle and late April. During this period, you have to see a lot of Japanese tourists and it is very crowded.

Admission 500yen
The nearest bus stop : Omuro Ninnaji
From Kyoto station :City bus No. 26
From sanjo keihan : City bus No. 59
From Kinkakuji or Ryoanji : City bus 59

Time : 9AM - 4:30PM(Mar. - Nov.)
9AM - 4PM ( Dec. - Feb)

During the cherry season, they take an additional admission to see cherry blossoms.

Deep interest in Japanese culture and history

If someone shows interets in my story and listen to me carefully, it will be my pleasure. This time I felt so very much. The day before we met, they visited Golden Pavillion, Ryoanji rock garden and Ninnnaji temple by bike. Before meeting, I heard that they had planned to visit Nara and Uji the day before. Secretly I planned to take them to the same area on our tour.
I replanned the tour along with their request after meeting, which made us take an unusual tour course.

The first leg of the tour was phylosophy path. I suggested visiting Ginkakuji temple before walking the path. To tell the truth, I like Ginkakuji better than Kinakuji. Of course, Kinakuji is very gorgeous and worth seeing. However, I can feel oldness and authentic beauty of Higashiyama culture in Ginkakuji. In addition, you can see the sand garden depicting the moon and the lake and the ground covered with moss along with the pond.


After vistiing the temple, we walked along Phylosophy path. This path is beatiful in cherry season and autumn colored season. It was not in such a season, but just taking a walk was enjoyable.
We talked a lot waking along the path, and they listened to the topics in variety.

The day before, they missed Nijo castle due to their late arrival. The second leg was Nijo castle.
I explained how Samurai appeared, why Shogunate system started, why the last shogun of Tokugawa decided to return the power to the Emperor and so on. They really listened to my story with interests. At the private section of Shogun in the buiding, I talked about the system of so-called O-Oku, the women's area of the castle,and the wives of Shogun.

Then, we headed for Arashiyama to see and walk in Bamboo forest. When we entered the forest, they said it was a different world. Just before that, we were walking in the crowd. The atomosphere was quite different.






We took the course to Gioji, which has a small moss garden. A few days before it rained much, so it was more beautiful than when I came last. We taked about the sad story of Gio, and we thought about how she felt at that time.



Then we visited Rakushisha. When we arrived here, I explained it is a second house of Mukai Kyorai, a student of the great poet, Matsuo Basho. To my surprise, he knew about Basho and Haiku. Haiku is a kind of Japanese poems. It consists of 5 moras(syllable) and 7 moras and 5 moras. It is not long, and a deep meaning or feelings must be in this short poem. When we read the poem, we imagine how the poet felt, what the scene is like and secret meanings in it. It is hard to understand but if we can know the world of poems, I think it is more interesnting.


This time, they asked many questions and paid attention to various things like our culture, history and usual life. Sometimes it is hard to explain all of them. But it was very fun to me.




photos : Ginkakuji temple, Phylosophy path, the garden in Nijo castle, Dango, Bamboo forest, Gioji temple, the tourists

Tourists ; a couple from Spain

Date : Sep. 26th from 9 AM to 5 PM
Tour ; Ginkakuji temple, phylosophy path, Nijo castle, Bamboo forest, Gioji temple, Rakushisha

With an amateur photographer

Some of the toursts I have guided enjoyed taking pictures during the tour. She was one of them. She brought three kinds of lenses and a single-lens reflex camera. She used each lense according to the scenes and the objects. In addition, this was their honeymoon!

We started the tour from their hotel, Mume hotel, in Gion. As they had walked and walked in the eastern area the day before, we decided to start our tour from Nijo castle. I like taking photos,too, and I have a CANNON single-lens reflex camera( though I usually don't take it because it needs more space in my bag) Just seeing someone taking photos with such a camera is much fun to me.

When we got out of the garden of Ninomaru Palace(Nijo castle), I heard the music usually used for the Shinto style wedding. So, we changed the direction and went to Seiryoen in the palace. This was the second time to see the wedding.
She took many pictures using telephoto lens. Thinking that this was her honeymoon trip made me feel a little funny - a honemooner takes a photo of a wedding...
Later we talked about their wedding and her beautiful wedding dress. I took a look at the pictures of her wedding dress stored in her camera! The dress was very very long, gorgeous. It was the very dress that she had dreamed of. That was the first dress she saw at the shop, and at the momonet she saw this dress, she decided without hesitation to make it her wedding. Yes, it was really a wonderful and beautiful dress.

Koto-in in Daitokuji temple was their request. The next leg was Koto-in, one of my favorite tempels. It was as beautiful as usual. I especially like the path to the entrance.



I came Ryoanji rock garden and Golden Pavillion so many times as a guide. But this time, I was impressed lotus flowers on the pond. It was most beautiful this season.
a lotus flower is said to be a flower of truth in Buddhism. That's why there are so many lotuses here.

After that we went to walk in Bamboo forest and along the riverside of Hozu river.


Date ; Sep. 19th
Tourist : a couple from Italy
Tour : Nijo castle, Koto-in (Daitokuji temple), Kinkakuji temple, Ryoanji, Bamboo forest and Hozu river