Shopping day in Kyoto

It was still raining pretty steadily when I woke up and I had to think about what I wanted to do today as the forecast indicated it was probably going to continue for most of the day. The internet was not entirely helpful, but I figured that if a shrine or temple has a flea market because that's the day of the month they have special religious observances, it might still be on. Besides, that's the day they tend to open their treasure houses so you can see their special collection of art and artifacts.

So I grabbed the obnoxious orange plastic loaner umbrella out of the stand in front of Kyoto Hana, figuring it was the one I'd be least likely to leave someplace, and caught a bus across town from Kyoto Station. (I found myself inwardly snickering at the canned bus announcements of upcoming stops. Clearly computer generated, the preferred female, English accented voice invariably mangled pronunciation of Japanese landmarks.

Pretty easy: the bus stopped right in front of the entrance to Kitano Tenmangu, a shrine site for over a thousand years.  (Hit that link for a nicer overview than what Wikipedia could come up with.) Despite the rain, the flea market was definitely on, and it's good that I got there early-ish, because it got busier as the morning went on.

You can clearly see in the photos posted to this entry just how much rain was coming down. It didn't seen to slow down shrine visitors, vendors or shoppers. The vintage kimono people were mobbed and I really can't rationalize buying more vintage stuff when I don't do much with the stuff I already have at home.

In addition to visiting the main shrine and making an offering - I owed one for the lucky shot of a Shinto priest darting past a doorway - I went to the treasure hall, which was doing some sort of themed exhibit associated with an anime called "Sword Arts Online." (Don't look at me, anime is not my geek, but it's popular and it gets visitors in the door to pay admission fees and that's fine.) The priest (I think?) at the admission desk spoke good English, regretfully informed me that the only things I could take pictures of were the "Sword Arts Online" swords and a flower arrangement, so I put my camera away and feasted my eyes on the good stuff. You know, like the huge mirror with the 16th c. map of Japan embossed on it. The glorious picture scrolls, including two Tosa school versions of the Kitano Tenmangu emaki. Swords, armor, even a complete set of horse's tack. (No photos, and I can't seem to find much about the treasure holdings online at the moment, or I would include links).

Back out into the rain again, I decided that (a) it was time for a snack and (b) there was more flea market to see, so I wandered around looking at things and virtuously reminded me that if I bought it, I had to carry it around all day. I was slightly tempted by a lovely tsuba (sword guard) with an inlaid monkey and handler on it, but the grumpy puss wanted about $100 for it, yet could not give me an idea how old it was. "Edo?" "Showa?" And do I really need it? 

I did look at some men's obi (they work for me for fighting),  but didn't love anything enough to buy. I did buy a small portion of deep fried Satsuma-imo (Japanese sweet potato), which appeared to be sprinkled with salt. It turned out to be sugar, which was also nice, but salt would've been great. (Last night's ramen left me pretty full and I'd skipped breakfast, so this was a good snack for the morning.) 

Finally feeling like I'd "done" the flea market, I had to decide where to go next. Consulted Google Maps again as it seemed to be able to deal with spitting out the correct bus numbers and decided to go over to Nishijin. The Textile Centre is touristy, but it would get me out of the rain for a bit, and if memory served, there had been a shop pretty close to it that had brocade bolts for sale. The bus dropped me in front of the little Shinto shrine we'd seen a kemari game at during my last trip. The Textile Centre is a tall, black pile close to the intersection, plus, the first character in Nishijin (西陣) is "West," which is also the first character in Saionji (西園寺), so easy to remember for me. (Apologies to the non Japanese language savvy. Basically, some characters have Japanese readings and Chinese-based readings. "Nishi" and "Sai" both are "West." It's complicated.)

Sure enough, I struck gold. Right there, right next to the Textile Centre was the shop with the bolts in a rack, as well as pouches, eyeglass cases and other small items. The English sign out front read "Nishijin Kinran." 

A young lady offered a pair of slippers and motioned to remove my shoes and set my umbrella of orangeness aside by the door, because inside there was even more. Prices ranged from 650 to 1050 yen per meter ($5.99 - $9.67). Considering this stuff is metallic thread brocade of famously high quality, I had a very hard time deciding and took my time. Of course the bolt I picked up was ten meters and they wouldn't cut it, but I will use at least 5 to 6 meters for something and if the rest gets turned into an insane cocktail dress or something, who knows? (I'll try to remember to take a picture later and post it in tomorrow's batch.) So I bought it. The sales lady realized it was going to be a transport pain, so she took the fabric off the roll and folded it into a nice plastic bag and then into a brown paper shopping bag.

I did poke inside the Textile Centre for a bit and came away with a nice graphic tee shirt and a tenugui (printed towel) which weren't too pricy - with all the wet, I figured an extra tee couldn't hurt to have.

What next? It was still earlyish. Time to hunt down the Secret Needle Shop, which, thanks to the internet isn't so secret anymore. Another bus got me to the Sanjo Teramachi shotengai (covered shopping streets) at the correct end of Sanjo, and sure enough, there was the palmistry sign and the corridor that led into a postage stamp sized garden and there was the tiny shop. I bought packets of needles for myself and a couple of friends who had requested them, plus a nice little pauwlonia wood sewing box. The proprietor was very sweet and was able to help me choose needles based on size and what they'd be used for. He handed me a pen so I could mark the packets as to whose needles they were, packed them into the box and then wrapped it beautifully for me.

I figured I'd walk down the shotengai for a bit and window shop because it was out of the rain. I looked in a couple of shops at some things and then stopped at Sir Thomas Lipton's because it was time for a sit down and a cup of tea. We'd stopped here on the 2014 trip and I knew it would be a nice pot of decent tea and a nice dessert selection. I got a pot of a pretty ok Darjeeling and decided to try the matcha tiramisu. That might have been a mistake in hindsight, because matcha is kind of strong and Darjeeling is subtle, but the other ingredients in the tiramisu mellowed the bitterness of the matcha. It was a nice treat.

As tonight is my last in Kyoto, I headed back to the hostel, got a load of laundry done and am about to head out in search of dinner. Then it will be time to pack what I can for the evening.

Assuming the weather forecast is accurate, tomorrow is the Jidai Matsuri parade. My plan is to check out, dump my luggage in a locker at Kyoto Station, go to the parade, come back to the station, collect my stuff, jump on a train to Nara, check into the guest house, then head straight for the Nara National Museum. Gonna be a bit of a long day, but should be worth it!

EDIT! Photo album has been updated to include some shots of the neighborhood at night and a picture of the fabric from the kinran shop.

Photos are up at https://www.flickr.com/photos/70104978@N00/albums

Walked around the neighborhood in search of food, ended up in a tiny, sketchy looking place called Kyo Chabana for beer and a white cheese and shrimp okonomiyaki grilled by a scowling cook who cracked the faintest Yojimbo smile when I said, "Gochiso deshita sama,"* as I left. (Literally, "It was a feast." Though the silence with which I plowed through the entire thing probably convinced him as well.)

Marilyn on one wall, Audrey Hepburn on the other, French dude with two sons chainsmoking their way through dinner, two Japanese girls at the other end of the counter. I am stuffed to the back tonsils with beer and cheesy, pancakey goodness. And the shrimp was perfect - which is hard to do at high heat unless you time it just right.

A long day on my feet: Jidai Matsuri and the Shosoin Exhibition

Bade goodbye to Emiko-san and the gang at Kyoto Hana Hostel. (She was floored when I handed over a bag containing four packages of Jelly Bellies and a card for her and the rest of the staff, but tipping is just not done in Japan. Small gifts called omiyage, however, are and since it was my longest stay, I came prepared.) Not a bad way to spend a few days in the city: clean, simple amenities and a useful location within a couple blocks of the train station and bus stops.

I dumped my suitcase and backpack in a coin locker at Kyoto Station, then went to the nearby central post office with a shopping bag full of stuff I wanted to ship. I had to visit the counter three times because the explanations of what I had to do in terms of describing the contents and value of what was in the box had not been clear the first time. They wanted each thing itemized separately and I had a pretty random assortment in there. However, I finally got the shipping label sorted to the satisfaction of the lady at the desk on my third shot back in the line and hopefully my package will hit Alameda Central Post Office in a couple of weeks.

I had originally bought a ticket for reserved seating for Kyoto's Jidai Matsuri (Festival of the Eras) online, but they'd given me a back row in a reviewing stand at the middle of the route. This meant (a) I was likely to be stuck behind people who wanted to take pictures on tablets and (b) I might not get down to Nara early enough to hit the museum exhibition I wanted to attend. So I decided instead to take a loss on the ticket, catch the subway to the Imperial Palace, find a spot to stand and watch before noon, Then back onto the subway, grab my stuff out of the locker and take the train to Nara after.

For this to work, I needed to get there early enough to stake out a spot, and I was there some time after 10 AM. Attendees were already gathering, vendors were selling all sorts of souvenir sweets - the trade in edible gifts is huge in a country where people tend to live in small homes and apartments. Not surprisingly, the press area had the best spot, with the palace framed at the top of a gravel drive, but there was a nice stretch along the curve leading to the gate out to the street that was facing a row of trees, so I picked a spot behind some people who were already seated on polythene mats right next to the ropes and waited.

I took a few test shots and decided I would use the 55-200mm zoom. The sky was overcast, which I tend to like for photography because you don't get weird shadows or blown out images if it's too bright. (That said, I just spent an awful lot of time adjusting contrast on the photos I downloaded because the light level kept changing!)

I even managed to snag a few pre-parade shots of the equestrian participants heading for the staging area, and a couple of mounted police officers in pastel robes and kanmuri (court hats) who would be leading the marchers out into the city. People filled in around us quickly. Behind me were a group of young Japanese guys who looked like students, to my right was an old man in a bucket hat armed with a point and shoot camera, who was soon crowded in upon by a couple of Chinese girls, one of whom evidently was going to loudly live-blog the whole shindig while waving her selfie stick around in as many people's way as possible while shooting it with her cell phone. I was just trying not to step on the woman immediately in front of me or the one sitting one rank back reading a book. The Japanese are pretty inured to crowds and no personal space, but I'm not and I really didn't want to be That Tourist.

Even with the Chinese chick and bucket-hat man leaning out as the parade approached, I managed to take over 500 photos of the costumed figures representing 1000 years of Kyoto's (and Japan's) history. I also managed to ignore Selfie Stick Girl and her companion who finally got up from where she was sitting on the ground and banged her head into my arm in the process. Didn't even act like I was there, much less apologize.

Finally, it was time to follow the crowd out the palace gates and down into the subway and onto a packed train back to Kyoto Station. I grabbed a sandwich and water from a convenience store after collecting my bags and dashed for the Kintetsu train line to Nara.

Note: In addition to Japan Rail, there are other private companies running rail routes throughout the country. JR and Kintetsu both have service to Nara, and because I was heading to Ise on the Kintetsu line in the AM, I had selected a hostel near THAT train station.] I ended up on a slow local train instead of the faster Limited Express, but that gave me a chance to sit after standing for nearly four hours.

Takama Guest House was three blocks from the station and I arrived about 4:30 so I could check right in. The proprietor served me a cup of chilled tea as I filled out my registration and that was a nice touch on a humid day. I was in a tiny 4-bunk  female dorm this time, shared toilet and sink right outside, shower on the ground floor.

I took a bus to the Nara National Museum instead of trying to walk there - it's only about a kilometer, but I was already footsore enough. There was no wait for admittance, so going late on opening day of the exhibition worked out nicely, especially since they had extended hours.  I still had to queue to see things, but that's normal, and frankly,  there's something pretty nice about how much interest the Japanese have in their history.

Note: In 756 CE, the Emperor of Japan died. His Empress donated his favorite things to Todaiji Temple in Nara in a series of bequests beginning in the year he passed. Over 9000 objects and more than a millennia later, the Imperial Household and the Nara National Museum get together each year and decide which artifacts will be displayed to the public that fall. This year's exhibition included beautifully carved ivory rulers, furniture, fittings and beads from what survives of the "crowns" worn by the Emperor and Empress, a belt covered with lapis lazuli plates, ornate boxes, a set of beautiful paintings, furniture, documents, and other artifacts. Well worth seeing, and I'm glad I could fit it in.

On the off chance that it might be lit up, I figured I'd walk up to Todaiji. It was not - I jumped about a foot when one of the sika deer who roam loose through parts of the area let out this noise. Even realizing what it was, it's unnerving on a dark street.

I was tired enough that a walk around the neighborhood near the train station left me unable to decide where I wanted to eat. I grabbed another convenience store sandwich and ate it at the hostel.

There are two French women in the room with me. One of them has finally shut up and gone to brush her teeth, so maybe sleep will happen.

I took some Advil. Tomorrow's Ise. The train takes a little under two hours, and again, I'm staying someplace near the train station, so getting around shouldn't be crazy if I pace myself.

www.flickr.com/photos/70104978@N00/albums/72157711508234763