Kyoto… what else??
Domingo Junio 14th 2009, 16:06 pm
Archivado en: Around the world ...,How far Japan...

Well, some small chronicle about Kyoto. Short statement: it’s just impressive. I saw more Unesco sites in 2 days than in my whole life… let’s start from the beginning:

I arrived on Sunday, in the bullet-train or Shinkanken. In 2.30h i was there, from Tokyo. I saw many rice fields, several cities and… Fuji-san covered by clouds! (Mt.Fuji) When i arrived there, i roamed around to see To-ji, a temple with a nice pagoda, the highest in Japan, and i realized that was too late to go to another one, so i went to the Seifu-Kaikan (residence of Univ. Kyoto). The next day i attended a mini-MHD course, little boring, but ok. After that i escaped to the Philosophy path, and wanted to see temples, but all were closed by 5pm. Little bit disappointed, i went to prepare my talk for the next day. On tuesday, my talk was ok, and after some discussion with professors and students, i tried to see the Golden Pavilion and one zen garden… didn’t arrive on time, closed again. So, disappointed again, i went for dinner with those Kyoto guys, very nice people. They carried me for typical dinner and also we did some blind tasting of sake… they’re really different!! After, i just went to the Philosophy path again to watch ‘hotaru’ or fireflies…so many years that i didn’t see one! On Wed, i went to see the Golden Pavillion (Kinkaku-ji),absolutely crowded,and the most famous Zen garden (Daitoku-ji), that is smaller than i thought… but i enjoyed matcha (green tea) there, was soooo relaxing, as was raining and it was empty. I stopped for lunch when it started pouring, and i went in the afternoon to see Nijo-jo, the castle where the shogun used to live, and i went to the institute again for another meeting. At night, i got the bus and went to Gion (red light district). I could glimpse a real geisha entering into a taxi, all was empty as it was pouring again. Heavier rain started in Yasaka temple,very cool at night. After roaming for that area and became totally wet, i went to the residence. On Thursday, was my travel back, i tried to see *all* the rest and was also exhausting. If the previous day i walked 10h, on Thu i walked 7, not so bad. I went to Chou-jin, close to the residence, and Sanjusangen-do… and it’s sooooo impressive!! 1001 estatues of Kannon (buddhist mercy goddess), with 40 arms each, made in bronze and with 28 buddhist guardians, also so nice, every of them was National Treasure of Japan. After that i went to Kyomizu temple, walking in a crowed street full of shops,  tourists and women (japanese and gaijin) in jukata, kind of typical fake kimono (actually a light kimono for summer). This temple is also very big, has about 8 pavillions, and full of narrow interesting streets around, as Sannenzaka and Ninnenzaka (it is said that if you stumble here, you’ll have 3 and 2 years of bad luck, respectively), and some roaming in Gion again, to the station to get the Shinkansen to Tokyo. This time i didn’t see anything through the window, just slept by exhaustion, like the average japanese, in the Shinkansen…

Today Sunday i went to a short film festival in Tokyo. I liked more the european section than the asian one…

Y ahora en español, que luego os quejáis (y no os falta razón, es verdad). Bueno, para ir a Kyoto cogí el Shinkansen o tren-bala, que en 2.30h te deja allí. Está muy bien… vi el Monte Fuji entre nubes, arrozales, ciudades …. hasta llegar allí. Al bajar del tren, me fui directa al templo To-ji, con una pagoda que es la más alta de Japón. Es lo único que vi ese día, porque ya era tarde, los templos los cierran pronto. Así que me fui al Seifu-Kaikan, a la residencia. Al día siguiente, cursito de MHD,un poco rollo, pero pude escapar al Paseo del Filósofo, un paseo muy bonito lleno de templos y santuarios a los lados, pero todo cerrado para las 16.30h. Me fui a preparar la charla, que era al día siguiente. Fue bien, y después de currar un rato, me escapé de nuevo a intentar ver 2 templos,pero no llegué. Decepcionada otra vez, los chicos de Kyoto me llevaron de cena. Una cena muy rica y tradicional, e hicimos cata ciega de sake (por lo visto, los ‘gaijin’ somos buenos en esto, jeje). Como la cena acabó pronto, volví al paseo del Filósofo a ver ‘hotaru’ o luciérnagas. Hacía tanto que no las veía… es la época de salir a verlas en esta ciudad. El miércoles, turismo salvaje: Kaikoku-ji, el templo Dorado, impresionante;Daitoku-ji, el jardín zen de grava, también…me tomé un té en esos jardines y fue muy relajante… por la tarde, el castillo de Nijo, y por la noche, al barrio rojo de Gion y al templo de Yakasa, pero llovía de lo lindo, así que vueltecita y a casa. El jueves ya tenía que irme, así que quise terminar con ‘todo’ el resto de Kyoto…el templo Sanjusangendo, IMPRESIONANTE, con sus 1001 estatuas de la encarnación de la piedad budista, Kannon; el templo Kyomizu, en las callejitas llenas de tiendas y turistas, los pabellones del templo,  japonesas y extranjeras en los kimonos de verano (jukatas…), las cuestas Sanninzaka y Ninnenzaka, cuestas de los 3 y 2 años (de mala suerte si tropiezas allí)… paseando, casi llego a la estación; monté en el Shinkanshen, donde dormí, por agotamiento, como cualquier otro japonés.





     
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