Once again, Japan has enthralled us. It’s Day Whatever, and we’re in Kyoto, a smaller city than Tokyo and one that is much older, its origins dating back to the Sixth Century. Our first full day here took us to an area outside of the main city called Arishiyama where we stepped into the magical bamboo forest. It’s hard to describe and the photos don’t do it justice. There is a certain sound in there as the bamboo leaves high above your head rustle in the wind.
We continued through the bamboo into an arboretum/garden area that overlooks the Oi River. The garden in the Tenryuji Zen Buddhist Temple (a UNSECO site built in 1339!) is also absolutely gorgeous with koi ponds, and cherry trees blooming everywhere, as are rhododendron and other spring flowers
At the temple, we indulged ourselves in a gourmet vegetarian meal at Shigetsu. Mostly, we had no idea what we were eating, but I did recognize a variety of mushrooms, eggplant, mochi, fiddlehead fern, taro and goma tofu, which is the white square. It’s not soy-based, but made of sesame paste and kudzu and it a specialty of the Wakayama region.
In case you were wondering, the meal was apparently prepared by monks, but it’s not what they eat every day, which is more of a bland diet of a bowl of rice gruel, a salted plum and pickled radishes for breakfast, a bowl of barley rice, soup and a simple cooked vegetable for lunch and leftovers for dinner.
A final activity to highlight from Arishiyama was a boat ride on the Oi River, guided by a man using a bamboo pole much like the gondoliers use in Venice. The mountains on both sides of the river abounded with cherry trees, and everyone was out enjoying the spring sunshine.
Life is good.
