Countries Of My Life: Kyoto - Between Geishas, Maple Leafs and Shrines

This weekend I went with Taka and Oliver to Kyoto. We spent the whole weekend here and saw many amazing things. So let's start:

In the Morning

The day started for me at 5:30am. Man, will I ever sleep long in this country? This was some kind of hobby from me :D
We took the Shinkansen (Japanese Highspeed Train) at 8am and were about 10am in Kyoto. Not bad for 357km (air-line distance) ;)

The Kyoto Tower, near the main station

Kyoto and the First Steps
When we arrived, we went to our hotel first. Oliver and me thought we would be in a Ryokan (traditional Japanese Hotel), but we had misread the message from Taka. Anyway, we stayed in a modern one. When we got in, my first impression was "Expensive" :D But we didn't go into our rooms, we just left most of our luggage and started our tour :)

The Lobby of our Hotel

Our 1st goal was to visit the Kodaiji Temple. On our way, we met two women who where dressed as Geishas. Taka told Oliver and me that these women were probably private persons. In Kyoto you can get in many shops the traditional Kimonos and they help you even with the dressing. So to every women who wants to be dressed like a Geisha: Go to Kyoto :D
We also saw a bridal pair who went along the way in a Riksha. Everyone on the street started clapping when they saw them, so did we too ^^ Since today, we don't know if it is a common tradition in Kyoto to clap for an unknown pair ;)

Bridal Pair on the Way to their Wedding?

Kodaji Temple
It has a huge area. You can walk within it along a route which will lead you to all the colorful and interesting places.

What a sight!

Within the buildings we found many things which belonged or are related to the Emperor Hideyoshi. But also many masterpieces. For example, some (paper) walls of a building were painted with a white dragon who was within a white sea and black cranes were flying over the scene. Maybe I can get this as framed picture, poster (or better) as real wallpaper :)
But unfortunately, it wasn't allowed to take pictures there :(

Besides much nature, you can also see a very big Zen Garden with the typical raked sand like you saw probably in some movies before ^^ The last days we had some strong wind, so there must be a secret why it was still so perfect. My theory: Binder :D

Lunch

Finally a reasonable measurement :D

It was already midday when we left the temple, so we decided to search a proper place to eat lunch. In private: Finding a restaurant with more than two persons takes like forever in Japan oO Everytime, the people are like "Ahh ... maybe" or "I don't know ... let's search another one". Seriously, I just go into the next place with reasonable prices and eat! But this kind, I was happy that we searched longer :D

We found a Ramen Restaurant with good prices within a narrow street. The Ramen was soooooo delicious, and I know a few of them :D It tasted like homemade. The soup tasted very strong like Bamboo and the noodles were perfect! The owner were an old woman and an old man, so it looked like grandfather and grandmother made our food. And everyone knows that their food is the best ;)

Many guests seemed also to know the owners personally, even a young girl who seemed to came back after a long while. It was really a home-like atmosphere and I really enjoyed it. I promise, whenever I come back to Kyoto, I will eat here again ^^
To made sure, I also took a business card from them :D

Gingakuji Temple
This one had also a beautiful nature like Kodaiji. To be more precise, for me it looked like this whole area was a huge garden with some buildings in it :D If you look just on the map, it seems different ;) And because most of the trees got their autumn colors (I mean, it was december!), there were hundreds of good scenes to shoot ;)

Can you say me why it's so expensive?

Unfortunately, I cannot really write about this one (and the last one before). It was "just" nature and old temple buildings, so you have to see it ^^ I can just say, that you won't regret it :D

After this temple, we went into a little shop to search for souvenirs. Taka and Oliver made there a funny discovery: A piece of wood for 1.5 million Yen! And we really don't know why oO

Anrakuji Temple
Along a little rive, we went to this temple. It was a bit smaller than the ones before, but looked actually more like garden.

Enrance to Anrakuji - looked a bit like in a Fairy Tale with all the Red Leaves on the ground ;)

Inside of it was one main building in which we got (together with others) a detailed explanation about the temple. It was in Japanese, so I couldn't follow everything :( I know, shame on me ;)
It got already dark, so we hurried to the Yasaka Shrine.

Inside the Main Building / its Garden ^^

Yasaka Shrine
Within the area were many booths with food, like fried meat or Dango (Sweet made out of rice flour, very famous), so I felt like being on a little festival :D
Everywhere we saw big and little shrines, so I can just guess which of them the Yasaka Shrine is. Maybe the biggest one in the central place or every shrine here has the same name, who knows? ;)

Grilling Meat in Japanese Style ;)

In the end, besides the main places, you couldn't see many things. But it was still nice to visit a shrine during darkness :D

All over the Place, we found these kinds of Paper Laterns :)

Gion District
The last shrine was built within the old Maiko district called Gion. Maikos are the names for Geishas in Kyoto. I didn't know if they really differ from other Geishas. I just found over the internet / Wikipedia that Maikos have to learn the Kyoto dialect.

Why are these red lanterns all over the district? ;)

Despite the origin of the district, it's actually hard to see a real Maiko. The reason for this are the tourists. Whenever a Maiko is seen on the street, many of them try really hard to take a photo. I witnessed how a Maiko came out of a taxi and many people behaved just like paparazzi. So I can also understand, that you cannot come in the buildings with Maikos, like I was told. Maybe I should think about moving :D

Pufferfishes - I have to admit their look creeped me a bit out oO

By the way, please don't think that Maikos / Geishas are prostitutes, they are not. Many people think that way, but they are actually traditional performers, who can sing, dance, play instruments and so on. Of course, there are also Maikos / Geishas who have sex in their repertoire, but to think that everyone of them would do that is like thinking that every actress sleeps with anyone to get a role ;)

Ancient Building or just Ancient Style?

After visiting some shops, we went to the main station to catch up with Risa, a friend of Taka who joined us for some hours.

Just a Backyard, but surprisingly colorful :D

Yakiniku
Because it was already late and we all had a long day, we decided to search a restaurant / Izakaya (Japanese Bar) within the main station. In the end, or better said after a(nother) while of searching, we found a Yakiniku (grilled meat) restaurant. It was that kind where you grill your meat by yourself. We had an interesting combination of pork, rind and some seafood. So we chatted, drank and eat much :D

After this we brought Risa to the station and Taka, Oliver and me went to the hotel. We had planned to go into the Onsen (Hot Spring) of the hotel, but it was already closed. No wonder when you get there at 11pm :D

The Crew ;)

So I took just a shower and went sleeping. Maybe I also watched a bit of Japanese Television ;)
Good night :)
And here some of my pictures in my dreams :D