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.