NARA

I've been holding off writing about our visit to Nara, Japan's first capital, hoping for inspiration that would do justice to historical and artistic treasures we were lucky to see there. I keep saying that this or that experience of our visit to Japan is the highlight, but in terms of art, this one tops it for me. Nara is a small city by Japanese standards, with a mere 300,000 plus residents, but it is monumental in terms of its imporance in the artistic history of Japan. Part of the reason is its location at the end of the Silk Road that brought new ideas, art and artifacts from China, Persia and elsewhere.

Before arriving in Nara itself, we decided to get off at a small town about an hour south called Horyuji, renowned for its huge temple complex. Time was short because we had planned to meet an English-speaking guide in Nara at 1pm, so we rushed to see not Horyuji temple but its sister temple next door, Chuguji, the oldest nunnery in Japan founded by the consort of an early emperor. There we saw the image I posted in my earlier blog and include here as well. It is Nyoirin Kannon Bosatsu, an enlightened being who, according to the brochure, is "thinking calmly about how human beings can be saved from suffering." Her smiling lips are an example of the "archaic smile" shared with other treasures of art history as the Giaconda and the Sphynx. It was wonderful to be able to enjoy this beautiful image in the quiet of this small temple while the crowds milled around the more famous neighboring temple of Horyuji.

At first sight, many Japanese cities seem drab as you emerge from the railroad station into the busy streets. But the deeper you get into Nara, the more it seems to surround and absorb you. The main attractions are mostly concentrated near a huge park where small deer roam freely all around you. In Buddhist tradition, the deer is a divine being and so the park is teeming with them and they can become quite aggressive looking for scraps of food and emit an unearthly howl during the fall mating season.

Nara has a mountain backdrop and is teeming with important historical sites, boasting no less than eight World Heritage sites, including a primeval forest and palaces and temples we unfortunately did not have time to visit. Residents of Nara like to refer to their city as "the perfume of a flower in bloom," evoking a sense of timelessness and impermanence. And time was our friend during our visit in many ways. We actually had planned to go to Nara the previous week but we delayed our visit to acommodate other trips. The main attraction for most tourists is the Todai-ji temple, which houses Japan's largest bronze buddha (16 meters high) in the world's largest wooden building. One day a year a large window at the top of the building is opened to reveal the face of the buddha. We trotted there on our first afternoon accompanied by our guide Kieko Harimoto, a housewife who had lived with her husband in Singapore and the UK. Her English was perfect as was her knowledge of the history and art we were about to see.

Seeing the Todai-ji was just the tip of the Buddha so to speak on this warm and sunny aftgernoon. As luck would have it, we had arrived in Nara the day before the opening of the annual Shosu-in exhibition of the Emperor's treasures which are displayed for only 3 weeks each year. Our overnight stay also coincided with the first display in the round in 110 years of the Ashura treasures of the Kohfukuji temple. The unforgettable statues in the latter exhibition include several by the renowned 13th century sculpture Unkei. The centerpiece of the exhibition, however, is the spectacular three-faced, 6-armed bodhisattva, surrounded by figures of monks and guardians that date back to the height of the Nara period in the 7th century.

We were not allowed to photograph the Ashura treasures but here is a link that shows some of the amazing works we saw that day: http://www.kohfukuji.com/property/photo/index.html My favorite were the figure in the first three rows (most Japanese have never seen the side faces because the display in the Nara Museum only showed the statue from the front. The face on the left is biting its lower lip but no one I spoke with could explain its significance). I also was spellbound by the life-sized statues of the two brothers in rows 11 and 12 by Unkei. Keiko's in-depth knowledge about the exhibition and the art of the 7th through the 13th centuries on display was like having our very own art historian as guide.

The next day we stood in line to view the imperial treasures. You needed binoculars to make out the details in some of the prized objects, which included intricate marquetry on the backs of mirrors and tiny pen knives with decorated scabbards. But the crowds soon overwhelmed us and the works in the Shoso-in show, while striking, simply could not compare with the impact we felt from the previous day's Ashura treasures. So we headed away from the crowds to enjoy the natural beauty of Nara by touring Insuien, a small Meiji era (1868-1912 or so) garden. Our guide that day was Yoko, a retired high school English teacher who narrated our walk with wonderful details about the three happy trees found in many Japanese gardens (the pine for longevity, the winter-blooming plum for courage, and the heaven-seeking bamboo for purity) and the three man-made objects (lantern, bridge and pond). The entire garden, front and back, was created in the shape of the Chinese character mizu, which means water (looks something like this: >I<). As we walked the back garden, we came across a summer house fronting a pond, with a backdrop of fall-colors in the trees, with the great south gate of the Todaiji (great buddha) temple peeking through. Three mountains in the background seemed to complete the garden. Yoko told us that this was an example of the Japanese concept of "borrowed scenery" in which the surrounding scenery is incorporated in the design to add depth to the garden. Our stroll was accompanied by the sounds of running water, the grinding of the gravel under our feet, and the chirping of the birds in the trees. A very peaceful end to well-timed visit to Nara.

OUR LAST TWO ADVENTURES

Three days ago we set off without our beloved guide to Himeji, where of all things the Himeji castle is located. It is a most imposing fortress and because when it was restored it kept the original design and detail, it was the first World Heritage site in Japan. We started by going to an outer wall and walking the inside corridors where we saw the slits and tiny openings for arrows, guns and, of course, throwing stones and boiling oil.

While walking what must have been a 1/4 mile corridor we saw the women's quarters and a separate tower built by the Princess with her dowry. It was the only space that was filled with tatami mats that showed the relative comfort she lived in. We then continued to the tower and it was most impressive. We climbed up and up from the basement and through five floors to reach the top and impressive views of the modern town that grew between and beyond the three moats of the castle. There were a number of wells and store houses within both the outer walls and tower so a long siege could have been withstood.

The most impressive part for me was the size of the beams that held the structure upright though all the years and earthquakes (in fact, all of the 3, 5 and 7-level pagodas in Japan have survived intact to this day). The two main beams were at least three feet thick and supported 200 tons (yikes)! There was also a model showing all the wood used in the construction and to say amazing is so inadequate. A number of years ago they took it apart piece by piece to replace any rotted or defective wood and rebuilt it exactly like the original. From the looks of it they must have used 100 acres of forest to obtain all the posts and beams and flooring necessary. My guess is they could have manufactured 100 billion billion set of chopsticks and an equal number of match sticks, but this looks like a better use of the wood. The architectural feat gets a 5-star wow rating from the Clara and Ron team!

The next day we traveled with Sawako to a temple in Kyoto for a vegetarian cooking class. The temple complex was most impressive and looks like a university campus with lots of programs, walking and bike-riding monks and activity amidst the narrow paths. It is not a tourist destination but a working educational center. We arrived a few minutes early for the 10 a.m. class. Sitting in a room were 9 Japanese housewives waiting patiently kneeling on tatami mats. Oh no, say it isn't so! I chose to sit on an elevated step just inside the main entrance, the place where the changing of shoes into slippers takes place, to wait as my stiff-as-board legs could not tolerate sitting in the floor. Remind me to tell you the fun I have had sleeping on the floor 3/4 of this trip -- like camping but at least it did not rain on me and there were hot showers and delightful green tea every morning. I could already see myself standing throughout the entire 3-hour class.

But my divas were with me and we were led into a very large kitchen that was fully equipped with stools to sit on at two tables. We were divided in three groups of four. In our group were the three of us and one of the other ladies who probably cursed the day she was lumped in with the back-benchers. We sat facing another row of four smiling middle aged housewives. On the table were all the ingredients we needed to prepare 3 of the dishes we were going to have for lunch.

Then the main man- a lively Zen Buddhist monk came in and greeted us. We were served the ceremonial tea to help form a bond. He asked if Clara and I understood Japanese but when Sawako translated his question to us the answer was obvious. He then began his 30-minute introduction in the most rapid-fire Japanese I have ever heard and I sat there with my eyes closed in meditation, sensing my body in the hopes that something might be absorbed. It wasn't!

Sawako did the best she could to take some notes as he talked far too fast for her to translate and it was difficult for her to write many notes. He wanted us to be mindful to the origin of our lives and to be aware of the foods we were going to eat. We were to eat the appropriate amount with mindfulness. He also advised us to use all parts of the food that we prepared (including much of the water that we cooked some of the vegetables in). If we need to peel, don't throw away the skin or roots but stop and think if there is any way to use them. To do this we must sharpen our sensation/feeling and be mindful. There are five ways of cooking (Sawako did not write them down) and try to use at least five colors. Eat without much seasoning to savor the flavor of the food and get the entire nutritional value of it. Be mindful of what you are doing and what you are working with. Eat seasonal foods (within a 30 km radius) and enjoy each season with locally grown foods. Obviously he has not lived in Baltimore and especially the inner city.

After his talk and my meditation it was time to prepare our lunch. We were in three teams of four and would be making our own food, so we'd be eating our mistakes as well. The kitchen became a flurry of activity and with all the chatter and movement I am not sure how much mindfulness was being practiced.

My first job was to grind sesame seeds, I did not know what the end result was to be but eventually, with much pointing and gesturing from a helpful classmate, found out I was to make a paste. I used a Japanese-style mortar and pestle and set about my task. One of the ladies in the other team coached me to put the bowl on a cloth and then to grind and grind and grind some more (at home I will be buying sesame paste in a jar!!!). I thought many times I could not grind it any further but each time was told by her and the leader of the kitchen to keep going and going and going. We then needed some daikon radish and ginger grated so I took a break from my grinding. With the grating completed I again resumed my grinding. As I was doing this the rest of my team members were cooking the other ingredients on one of the four stoves.

In one hour we all had cooked and plated our dishes. The temple staff had made a number of other cold dishes, such as pickles, soup and rice. The seven or eight plates were placed on a tray and we carried them to the dining room -- a tatami dining room. Thankfully, my dear friend Sawako made sure they had a little tiny seat for me and I became the lord towering over my harem (OK, wishful thinking) and we proceeded to devour our meal after a few more words of wisdom from our monk/teacher.

It was a vegan feast and the second we have had in a Buddhist temple. I could get used to eating like this and I am sure my body would jump for joy also! Lunch was over in the allotted time and the monk came back to ask if we enjoyed it. Of course, his laser-beam gaze detected that I had left one of the two pieces of cold/sweet tofu and wanted to know why I did not eat it. I had asked Clara if she had wanted it but unfortunately she declined and now I was on the spot. Through Sawako I told him quite simply it was too watery and sweet.

We then all marched back to the kitchen where we cleaned up the dishes, kitchen and put everything in its proper place. The monk spoke to us one final time as we had our last cup of tea together. More words of wisdom that I am sure were received telepathically. We finished exactly on schedule (just like the trains), bowed and said our goodbyes. A wonderful time was had by all-- I think!

I am not sure how much I learned as I just did pieces of each dish as the recipes and instructions were in Japanese but Clara and I intend to look for a Japanese cookbook so we can create our very own 10-course meal while having a glass or three of sake. That is another story.

By the time we post this entry we will have begun our 30+ hour journey home from Sawako and Nao's condo. It will include a taxi, two trains (the first one being the Nozomi, the fastest of all the bullet trains), three airplanes and a ride from the airport in the wee hours of Saturday morning by our dear friend and neighbor Jerry. By the time it is all over, we will be certified sherpas.

May all your journeys be happy ones!

ODDS AND ENDS

We are down to the last day of our wonderful visit to Japan. We have been amazed, surprised, enthralled, tickled and so much more. I am sure we are going to miss telling you so many things that are so very different here but in a good way. I thought I'd jot down some impressions of odds and ends I didn't get to include in prior posts.


One day we were on a train and I sat next to this terminally cute young man (age 8 or 9), dressed in his school uniform and cap, feet dangling from the subway seat. Amidst the crowd, he sat engrossed reading what looked like an illustrated textbook. As with many other children, I surprised him by greeting him with "Konnichiwa" (hello in Japanese). After getting over the shock of why this giant with a moustache would be talking to him, Sawako told him we were Americans. Feeling more at ease, he started showing us the very scary pictures of fire and people suffering which I thought was some sort of horror comic book. This and a companion textbook he pulled out of his school bag was part of a unit he and fellow students were studying on the use of the Atomic Bomb in WWII. I immediately said "Gomen nasai" (I'm sorry). He then sweetly turned to me and said it was okay as all of his family were living in Osaka and were not hurt in the war. What an encounter!


There are so many neat things (gadgets) in this country. How would you like to sit on a heated toilet seat in winter not just at home but in restaurants and train stations? Press a button and the lid goes up, another button and the seat goes goes up, and for all you women who hate when the man in your life leaves the seat up, you can now train him (good luck) to press a button and the seat goes down and press it again and the lid follows. On many toilets there are buttons so it acts as a bidet and another button that will focus a stream to clean your bottom. I love these toilets and hope they make it to the U.S. one day. Then there is Nao and Sawako's bathroom in their condo. There is a jacuzzi tub and then the area right outside acts as a shower, a sauna, and a clothes dryer. Life does not get any better than this.


Then we have the talking and beeping gadgets: appliances, traffic lights, emergency vehicles, vending machines (thank you for buying).


And then there's my case of sticker shock -- an easy way to spend a small forture quickly. The drop in the value of the dollar from around 100 yen/US$ to 86-88 yen/US$ has added an additional 15% to all our costs today. But even if the dollar were stronger Japan would still be the most expensive country I have ever visited. It is much more expensive then NYC in many ways, and makes prices in Baltimore seem like a real bargain. When I was in the Army in Okinawa the ratio was 360 yen/$ but when I was medivac'ed to a hospital in Toyko the prices, even with that exchange rate, were still expensive. Here is a sampling of some of the prices we have paid this past month for everyday items:

Small bottle of water-$ 1.25 to 1.75
Small draft beer-$ 7-8
Lunch-simple bowl of noodles with a little veggie-$ 9-11 and with some seafood $ 11-15
Mister donut donut-$ 1.65-2.30
Inexpensive bottle of wine-$ 20 to 45
Dinners were always at least $ 35 per person and some went as high as $ 100 or more
Dinner roll in Bakery-1.85
Small coffee $ 3.5 to 5 (no refills)
Fuzzy tiny toy stuffed squirrel-$ 17 (no, we did not buy these but saw them in a hotel gift shop)
Small fuzzy toy fox-$ 90
60-minute massage-$ 85
Water bottle with simple holder-$ 35


Transportation is also much more expensive than in the states. In San Fran you could ride for 3.5hrs with unlimited transfers for $ 1.50. In Baltimore you can ride from the East side to the West side for $ 1.55 but here the same rides would be $ 20 or more. Just to go one stop maybe 3 blocks is over $ 1.60 and even the subway costs much more than in the states.


Please don't get me wrong. We are loving our trip but a monthlong stay even when we have stayed with our friends for two weeks will cost more than any other vacation we have ever taken except for an Insurance company junket that I was given which included First class around the world air ticket with stops in Bali, Thailand, Nepal, India and Italy where we stayed in many 5 star hotels, dined as kings and greeted by elphants to take us to our hotels in India, Nepal and Thailand


I checked and found wages in Japan are comparable to the U.S. so it is quite perplexing how the average Japanese person can make ends meet. The restaurants and bars are filled with lots of people. It is a real puzzle!


We are so glad we came and had the oportunity to be guided in many places by our dear friend Sawako. There are few signs and menus in English so she was a giant help to make us feel comfortable in a very alien environment. With her guidance, we ventured out on our own quite a few times and SURVIVED!

INTIMATE KYOTO

We had passed by Kyoto on the train several times before actually entering this vast repository of tradition and history last Wednesday and Thursday. Founded in the late 7th century after Nara's 75-year-term as the first capital of Japan, Kyoto remained the capital for the next millenium, the stage for one of the most refined courtly eras of this ancient country.

After the tall concreteness of Osaka and Tokyo, this city feels much and intimate than one might expect from its population of 1.4 million residents. It helps that it is surrounded by mountains and criss-crossed by a river and several wide boulevards that lead into the narrow paths of what remains of old Kyoto, much of it actually reconstructions from repeated fires over the centuries. The huge park surrounding the Imperial Palace complex boasts 50,000 trees, each one numbered and the whole a refreshing respite from the surrounding traffic. It is also much easier to get around Kyoto because its design was based on Chinese urban planning; the streets are fairly parallel in a checkerboard (or for us newbies, chessboard) pattern. The buildings also are much lower to the ground, not sure if by government decree so as not to dwarf Kyoto's spectacular pagodas, or because it thankfully was spared bombing during WWII and was not rebuilt with wall-to-wall skyscrapers like Osaka and Tokyo.

We thought we would be templed and shrined out by the time we arrived in Kyoto but we found renewed energy, inspired by spectacular sights such as the Imperial Palace, Kiyomizu temple that provides great views of the city, and the huge Higashi Honganji temple that is the headquarters of the Amida buddhist sect, the largest in Japan probably because it promises that everyone, no matter what their deeds or inclinations, will ascend to heaven.

Ron and I ventured on our own for our first day (by commuter train, the trip from Osaka takes about 45 minutes to the northeast). We had gotten a tip from our Lonely Planet guide about a 5-hour walking tour led by an English -speaking Japanese guide who goes by the name "Johnny Hillwalker." He turned out to be a delightful 80-something gentleman who guided our group of 10 through the backstreets of old Kyoto, stopping every so often for brief lectures on Buddhism, Shintoism and geishas, and breaks for vegetarian sushi and green tea and a pastry in a sweets shop. We did visit Kyoto's largest temples at the beginning and end of our tour but mostly we walked the back streets, traversing artisanal neighborhoods, one street specializing in ceramics, another in fan-making, another in tofu products, etc. We picked up a couple of teacups left in baskets outside some of the shops for self-service purchasers.

The next day we returned to Kyoto with Sawako, who graduated from the women's university that borders the grounds of the Imperial Palace and knows the city's back streets as well as Johnny Hillwalker. For most of the year, only foreigners are allowed entrance to visit this national treasure --- residents of Japan can apply months in advance if there is space or may come on one of the two designated dates a year that the palace grounds are open to the general public. Ron and I put on our best "We don 't know anything and we need Sawako's help "look and so they let her come in with us. We trotted the grounds with a guide who herded the 150 or so foreigners like a four-star general leading a bunch of unwilling conscripts.

Earlier in the day, Sawako had arranged a treat for me: a visit to a weaving workshop specializing in silk obis, the sash that secures the kimono at the waist. What spectacularly detailed and delicate craftsmanship, a world away from the simple navajo style I practice where all you need are two trees and some wool! The owner of this shop, which has only been in operation for 80 years (some of the ceramics workshops have been in continuous operation for a dozen or more generations), took us to the top floor where a dozen weavers, men and women, worked in rows of looms amidst a racket of thump-thumps, air conditioning, and other noises. Since the weaving is done from the back, the weaver uses a mirror placed beneath the warp so actually see the emerging design, hopefully catching any errors early on. In ancient times, the patterns were documented in large charts that indicated color changes, number of rows for each color, etc. Now it is all done by computer but the weaver still must insert the silk by hand, responding to the beeps and lights that tell him or her what to do. The owner explained that this shop has a special license to make obis for the Emperor and showed us a basket that held the colors of silk yarn that can only be used for objects woven for the royal family.

Some more walking in the back streets took us to Kyoto's huge market, an arcaded pedestrian walk that spans at least 5 blocks. Everything from tofu makers, produce, fish of every kind, seaweeds, tea, mochi balls, rice crackers of every variety imaginable .... and countless items we could never hope to identify were on display. You had to be careful about trying some of the free samples, though - it might be sweet, it might be sour or salty. We've had this experience a few times - what looked like a tasty breakfast pastry turned out to be filled with pork or fish!

Our day ended with a visit to a pickle shop where Sawako had worked during her college years. While she caught up with her friends there, we were given some samples of radish, eggplant and another type of pickle to savor, finished off with a clear broth. Sawako's friend also handed us a postcard of a beautiful Buddha image. At the time we did not know what to make of this, but a day later it all became clear during our visit to Nara, Japan's first capital and a rival to Kyoto as one of the most beautiful and treasure-filled cities in Japan. But Nara deserves its own blog. I leave you now with just the image.

LUNCH IN HEAVEN

We met Sawako's mother two years ago when she traveled to Baltimore to see her daughter in her home and to meet her friends. At the time she told us how good she felt that Sawako was well taken care of. Now we are the ones being well taken care of, and it was such a pleasure to see Minato-san once again in her home territory. She and Sawako had debated what would be the most fitting gift for her friends visiting from Baltimore. Well, Minato-san's choice of a lunch in a Buddhist temple in the mountain-top town of Koyasan was heaven-sent.

Our daytrip began as we arranged to meet Minato-san, who lives in Nagoya, at the Namba subway station in Osaka at the near peak of the choreography of rush hour -- I keep fearing that one day we will witness a humongous crash of bodies but it never seems to happen as hundreds of people skillfully avoid any contact whatsoever. While Ron and Sawako went in search of a bathroom, I stayed behind, rehearsing the phrase "Matta aete ureshii desu," ("I am glad to see you again") in my mind. And then there was Minato-san coming up the escalator. After a very un-Japanese hug I managed to blurt out my little greeting to her great delight, expressed in a deluge of incomprehensible Japanese. And then, as Sawako and Ron reappeared, she tentatively said, "I am glad to see you" in English. We laughted as we realized that we had been practicing the same expression in anticipation of our seeing one another again.

We thought our trip a few days ago to the Kii Hantoo peninsula had been the most gorgeous scenery we had seen thus far, but this trip seemed even more spectacular as we climbed even higher mountains by train to Gokurakubashi, literally "bridge to heaven," to reach the village of Koyasan by a tram that took us even higher up the mnountain. Koyasan is a Unesco World Heritage site, home to many temples, Koyasan university, and a huge cemetery that is the burial place of shoguns and emperors. The higher our little commuter train went, the slower its speed, the greater the silence, punctuated by the screeching of the rails that resembled some ancient flute greeting us into this lofty atmosphere.

Our goal was lunch at Sojiin temple, renowned as a place of retreat and meditation but also for its vegetarian cuisine, known as shoujin-ryori. Ron was truly in vegan heaven! It was clear the temple was quite prosperous as we were ushered in to a waiting room furnished with wooden chairs inlaid with mother of pearl. Not the ascetic buddhist ambience we had expected. After a short wait we made our way in our stocking feet and slippers to our tatami dining room, set for four with two long tables facing one another and short-legged chairs, another answer to Ron's prayers not to be asked to sit cross-legged on the floor. The meal was not just a feast for the palate but also for the eyes, as some of our photographs attest. We realized quite a while ago that we definitely lack the visual and oral pixels to appreciate this rich culture fully, but we are doing our best to take it all in.

After our sumptuous lunch served by one of the monks, we toured the rooms and gardens of the monastery. We seemed to be the only ones there, so it was quite peaceful and we delighted as we meandered down corridors that revealed vistas through shoji screens into interior ponds and a garden that was layered in corrugated gray gravel, the greens and reds of the trees, and the silvery ripples of a pond.

We then headed down the main street of the town and found ourselves at the Koyasan cemetery, which has monuments dating back more than 1200 years and is still in use today, even by corporations touting their wares in burial plots that tout their claim to fame, be it electronics, coffee-making or rocket engineering. As we stopped to examine one particular burial plot belonging to Ishida Mitsurari, a skilled administrator for the 16th century shogun Toyotomi, Sawako and Minato-san stopped to chat to a lady who was emerging from the complex who revealed that she was a descendant of Ishida. It took us at least one hour to walk along the cedar-lined path and the graves extended as far as we could see on either side and up the hillside.

It was chilly up in the mountain, but our hearts were warm with gratitude for this special experience, and for being in the company of two gracious ladies, Sawako and Minato-san.

ENCOUNTERS WITH OSAKA

Having spent over a week exploring the natural beauty of Northern Japan we now find ourselves in the middle of a large, urban, bustling city of 6 million people. We are taken by our guide extraordinaire Sawako to her and Nao's 29th floor condo with panoramic views of the city including the mountains and the rebuilt Osaka Palace. What a sight both day and night high up in the sky! This is living at its finest.

Our first day is supposed to be a relaxing day but who wants to sit around when there is so much to see and experience. So off Clara, Sawako and I went and our first stop after a stroll through the narrow streets of the city was the Osaka History Museum, the finest, most complete and imaginatively displayed collection of dioramas and artifacts I have ever seen, bar none. It only deals with the history of Osaka which is quite separate from say Toyko or other areas of Japan. You start at the top (10th floor) and work down for four floors, beginning with the archeological remnants from the stone age and endings with the modern era at about 1930. You can easily spend a few days and gain a very complete understanding of this area's people and history.

Two fun and unexpected aspects of our visit. First, as we walked in, they handed us a 12-inch wand that contained an audiotour in perfect English in which you punch in a number from 1 to 52 to hear the narrator explain the exhibit in front of you. The second was stunning: as a very high-tech animated film describing the archaeological digs, city plans and findings made at Osaka Castle and other nearby ruins was being projected on the entire upper wall of the exhibit space, suddenly shades covering the lower half of the wall rise up, exposing massive windows that actually look down on the site today, with Osaka Castle as the centerpiece of the panoramic view. Should you ever find yourself in Osaka and love history, plan to spend a day or two going through this spectacular museum. I am so glad that I only had to learn 200 years of American history (not the easiest subject for me) and was not born here and had to learn over 1500 years of a very complicated history with Shoguns, Emperors from many eras, etc.

We then walked a few blocks to walk the grounds of Osaka Castle's walled fortress, built by the shogun Toyotomi, who was the first shogun to come from the peasantry instead of one of the powerful families. It was built, burnt down, was rebuilt, then destroyed, and now lives on in a perfect replica of the original. It is an imposing multi-storied structure complete with a very large moat.

While there we had one of the cutest experiences so far. As we walked the park, which was filled with tourists and school groups, we saw some young school girls run up to an obviously Western couple. I commented that it looked like they had some sort of an assignment and was sorry they did not run to us. We had not travelled more than 50 ft. when a different group of young girls ran up to us and with little pieces of paper in their hands started by saying "Hello!" with great enthusiasm and then asked if they could ask us some questions in English. They were terminally cute and we loved the little quiz: "What country are you from?" "Do you like Japan?" "What do you like most about Japan?" "How long will you be here?" We had another similar encounter in Kamakura from an elderly gentleman riding a bicycle who stopped to ask if he could practice his English with us. He only kept us for a few minutes and then handed us a letter in English telling us a little about himself and his family, and asking us to write to him when we returned home as his greatest wish was to receive a letter from the United States. (It's interesting that whenever a Japanese person has asked where we are from, if we answer the United States there is little reaction but then if we say America there is great excitement and this has happened on numerous occasions. People here seem to like us! We also found it interesting that little girls seemed much more outgoing and friendly but the boys of the same age never approached us or said hello.)

That evening we went to see the house and future surgery/medical education center that Nao and Sawako are building in the outskirts of Osaka. It overlooks the moat of another Emperor's tomb and even by American standards it is quite palatial; by Japanese standards it is off the scale. My words will not do it justice -- suffice it to say that the design, construction and materials are of top quality and their home will be even more stunning once Sawako has completed the design of the garden surrounding the building. It is open and airy with all the comforts of a beautiful home. It even has two dining rooms -- a modern area off the open kitchen next to the living room, and an enclosed tatami room in the traditional Japanese design for entertaining honored guests. There is a separate wing for visitors like us and I think there are at least 3 1/2 bathrooms including the wonderful large bath tub for long relaxing soaks. On the first floor will be the clinic complete with operating rooms and staff space for Nao's ophthalmology practice. Maybe I will have my next eye surgery here!

And then came the coup de grace, Nao took us to his favorite Sushi restaurant near his current practice. I do not remember when I have had a more delectable meal from start to finish. I did skip most of the raw sushi but Clara, Nao and Sawako had the works. And even though I skipped one course I did not feel I missed anything. We started with a beer and some edamame. We then had a dish called Denaku, made with seitan and absolutely delicious. This was followed by a soup called Dobin mushi which had among other things mushrooms (costing 7000 yen each), ginkgo nut, lily bulb and fish. I have got to find Ginkgo nuts, which taste a little like potato but sweeter -- they are delicious and my IQ was raised considerably. This was followed by Puffer fish (yes, the very one that if not prepared correctly by a licensed sushi chef will take not just your money but your life). Fortunately our chef and owner was certified so we all lived to talk about it! As we were eating all of these dishes we had two different types of sake, the rice wine that is drunk most often in Japan, along with shouchu, a potato-based liquor. Very tasty! The three carnivores were served sushi consisting of red snapper, flounder, squid and fatty tuna (tuna cheeks that were no longer smiling). I was given a heart-healthy natto (fermented soy beans) maki roll. I love Natto and have had it four or more times since I have been here. Google it or get the supplement nattokinase as it is very good for the heart.

We were then all given Anago (grilled snakey fish -- hey, I don't make up these names) and Yamagobo maki roll. Finally this feast concluded with Daikon pickles, green grapes and green tea. Nao most graciously paid the bill and I can only imagine how much it cost, Thanks again Nao and Sawako, for one of the most memorable meals/feasts of our lives!

I might mention that the chef/owner was a delight. We sat at the counter as he prepared much of the food and we have enclosed his picture as part of this blog. He was so warm, kind and friendly, as was all of the staff of this tiny three-table and one-counter restaurant. Words cannot express how wonderful the entire experience was. It will be remembered and cherished for a long time.

WALKING THE WALK

We are back in Osaka after a weekend in the hinterlands of the Kii Hantoo peninsula, about 1 hour 45 minutes east of Osaka by train. After riding along the coast with spectacular views of the Pacific on one side and the mountains on the other, we boarded a bus for another 90 minutes to get to our inland destination: Younomine Onsen, a sleepy village that has about 4 small, family run onsen and the oldest hot spring destination in Japan, dating back to 23 A.D. The whole region is very mountainous and mysterious. Japanese folklore says that these forests are inhabited by many gods, called Kami in the nature-worshipping Shinto religion that preceded Buddhism in Japan.

But for me the main attraction of this overnight trip was to walk part of the Kumano Kodo, the ancient road that for more than 1500 years has connected Kyoto, Osaka and Nara; Nara was the first capital, for 75 years in the early 8th century, before Kyoto and then Edo (Tokyo). Not much is left of this hilly path, but to my delight, one entrance was immediately across from our ryokan.

We arrived on a rainy day and the village was partly hidden by the mists that were trapped in this little crag of mountain. After a lunch of udon with mochi (stick-to-your-ribs stretchy rice cakes), we decided to brave the weather and try climbing the stony path for a bit. We wanted to reach a temple at the top of the mountain. But after a half hour of careful stepping, the rains won out and the allure of another onsen bath beckoned. But not all was loft because the next day we would be traveling to another section of the Kumano Kodo.

Although we had stayed in large hotel-like ryokans before, this was our first experience in a small, family-owned one. Many of these small ryokans are renowned for their fine cooking, and the folks at Yoshino-ya Ryokan did not disappoint. Ron was graciously offered a small stool to sit on and Sawako and I sat on cushions with our legs to the side. In addition to fish, sashimi, and rice, Sawako introduced us to various roots, plants, seaweeds, and radishes -- this cuisine really takes advantage of almost everything the land has to offer so there is an immense variety. We slept in our corner second floor room with windows wide open to hear the hot spring rushing by. The guide books say you can actually boil eggs and vegetables in one section of the hot spring. We didn't indulge in this rite but we found a hot-spring-boiled egg in our breakfast the next morning.

Ron and I agreed that this would definitely be a place to come back to and spend a few days in a future trip, but our schedule was tight and we headed out early the next morning (a sunny one!) to catch another bus and then a train to cross back to the coast at Hongu and meet Nao, Sawako's husband, who joined us on his one day off. We skipped lunch and decided to move on with our day, thankful for the great weather.

The bus dropped us off at the beginning of another section of the Kumano Kodo that is much wider and easier to climb than the previous day's section, and is lined with 800 year-old evergreens. But it still ended up being an arduous climb. As we climbed, I kept thinking of the many royal and lowlier souls that have traversed this path over the centuries. For many the destination was the glorious temple and shrine complex at the top of the mountain that affords a spectacular view of the entire valley. One retired emperor was said to have made the pilgrimage 33 times with an entourage of 1000 men and 200 horses each time. (About temples: they generally are not very peaceful places, as I had hoped; many are overrun with visitors and little shops selling trinkets, incense and the like. But the architecture is beautiful and the settings, like this one, often are as well.)

All in all, a glorious weekend and a great dip into the wilds of Japan.