Week 33 and three weeks to go to settlement! Hello and welcome to my world – Kyoto – and a wrap of my 33^rd week here. Summertime, and the living is easy…actually, it’s hot and humid, which means that when I go out to attend to various tasks I have to recover on my return home. Some days, of course, are somewhat hotter than others, particularly when the sun is out (where is that umbrella with the fan in it????). Most of the recent days have been 34+ and high humidity, generally over 80%. We are also still getting the semi-regular thunderstorms and the kids still aren’t enjoying them, unlike me.

From the start here in Kyoto, my forays into the outside world have revolved around the weather since I have to walk to most places. This is even more so the case at the moment, however, when it is hot and humid every day, as it has been for the last few weeks, then it is a case of getting out and back as fast as possible. Sometimes it appears on the forecast that it will be slightly cooler/overcast, then when I do go out the cloud clears up, the sun beats down and I melt. I am just not good at coping with humidity (have I said that before?).

This week I decided to visit the other temple complex here that is in some ‘top 10’ lists but I had never been to. As with many of these places, the best times to visit are spring and autumn for the respective blossom and colours, however, I do think it is important to see what they are like when the proverbial icing is not on the cake. Also, this temple is fairly close to where our new home will be and I am making it my business to check all these places so that I can talk to our guests about them, as necessary.

Anyway, the weather looked like it would be reasonable, so my plan was to catch a train there and walk back so I could drop in at the supermarket for a few items. This, I reasoned, would mean I was fairly fresh when I got there and make it a little more pleasant for me looking around. By the time I reached the temple area, however, it was starting to clear up, the temperature was rising, and the humidity was gradually increasing, prior to an evening thunderstorm. I hoped it was going to be worth it!

Well, I can only say I can’t believe I had never been to Tofuku-ji temple before and that it isn’t one of the top destinations in Kyoto. It was a huge complex, with three separate garden areas, one rock garden slightly away from the main complex and another rock garden within the largest garden area. As you walk up to the temple from the train station, you pass a number of small, unassuming gate entrances. Me being the curious type just had to go in (if there is no barrier or sign saying no entry, then I go in). Within the first gated area was a small hall and a path leading to some other buildings, which were all closed. Inside the small hall, as it turned out, was a wooden carved seated Buddha which was over 3 metres high. It looked old, but there was nothing there to say how old it was, nor any other information, except no photos to be taken.

(one entrance that was blocked)

Some temples and shrines allow photos to be taken of the inside of the halls, and some do not. Disappointing sometimes because the statues and decorations in some of them are amazing and the only way to see them again is by returning to the temple/shrine (I don’t have the ability to visualise things in my brain, so no visual memory, unfortunately). The next stop was a small temple called Hosho-ji which enshrines a Senju Kannon-zo (a “thousand-handed” statue of the goddess of mercy). No photos of that, but I took some in the courtyard.

Next was Reiun-in, a sub-temple of Tofuku-ji, and which has the most beautiful rock garden I have seen in Japan. Others may disagree but for me it was mesmerising, even with the sound of trains in the background. Very few people actually went into any of these temples before entering Tofuku-ji, so apart from myself there were few people inside any of them, and the only other people at the rock garden was a group of three French tourists who were respectfully quiet, which made it even better just being there.

The Reiun-in temple was set up in 1390 but the garden was ruined some time ago and the current garden was re-created in 1970 from an old image. The centre piece is a stone called an Iai-seki, which symbolises Mt Shumisen, the holy mountain where Buddha lives. This stone was given to a famous Buddhist monk in the 1600s. I could have stayed there and just sat and contemplated life, the universe and everything but I had to move on to the main complex.

There’s so much in the main complex to look at I could keep writing, but luckily I have photos. A couple of highlights there; I was taking a photo of one of the halls from the garden below and two monks photo-bombed my shot (!) and a beautiful lizard which was about 15 cms nose to tail tip and was coloured like a rainbow, starting from a brown lime colour through green, to blue and then purple. The photo doesn’t show the colours as well as I would have liked, but I couldn’t get any closer without it moving. Suffice it to say that it was worth the half hour recovery period I had to have when I got home!

(guilty parties)

Some of you will be aware that July in Kyoto means it’s time for the Gion Matsuri. The festivities last most of July and there are two festival processions during this time; the main one on the 17th and the other on the 24^th. Two types of floats are used in the procession, 23 yama and 10 hoko. The hoko are the biggest floats, being up to 25 metres tall and weighing up to 11 tonnes, have huge wooden wheels and are pulled by between 20 and 30 men. These wheels make it interesting when they have to turn corners, which is a spectacle in itself. Last year, when we were here, we placed ourselves on a corner so we could watch this process. It really is amazing and very hard work for those involved, especially considering the heat and humidity.

I decided to go down a bit later this year for a quick look and actually got there to see the last four of the hoko and the same number of yama passing down Shijo street. Interestingly, the floats were moving in the opposite direction to last year, so the turns they had to undertake were in the opposite direction this year. To keep them on their toes, or to even out the wear on the wooden wheels???

One thing I hadn’t noticed last year is that all the traffic lights, which are on a pole on the sides of Shijo street, hanging across the street, had been moved out of the way and we’re talking around ten sets of lights. As it turned out, the lights actually pivot on the poles they are on, so after the last floats went through there was a mad rush of cherry-picker trucks moving down the street and returning the lights to their normal positions. Japanese efficiency.

On my way back home, I was walking down Kiya-machi dori (previously talked about canal street) and was very near the Gojo street bridge corner, when I heard a didgeridoo being played! At first I thought it must be a recording, but when I reached the stairs that run down to the river’s edge, I saw a guy there playing a didge!!!! I had to go down and see who it was, so I went down and asked him if he was from Australia. He thought I was asking about the didge, at which he said yes, it was a proper didgeridoo from Australia. He was very proud of it. I am no expert in didges, but to me it did look authentic; made by a traditional custodian. It had a beautiful sound and he played it very well. Amazing what you find here…

This week there is nothing in particular to report from the tv, except the Nagoya Basho is on and it looks like there is a good chance that Hakuho (my favourite rikishi) will achieve the all time record of wins. Ganbatte Hakuho!!!

On a final note, yet another icon has passed this week – George Romero, the creator of the best Zombie movies, starting with Night of the Living Dead and also all the ‘rules’ about zombies. Vale George.

I wonder if he will come back…?

Cheers