P.s. photos from Kyoto, Osaka and Koyan-san are up.

Naoshima an art island.

I spent friday, saturday and most of sunday on or around Naoshima. Naoshima is a small island in the sea of Harima-nada ( between Honshu and Shikoku. Saturday I rented a bike and two other women I had meet in my hostel and I road over to the other side of the island to look at the Benesse outdoor art project. Where a series of statues are placed around the coastline. We then parted ways me to look at some more of the art galerys that span the coast line. I went to three that day, all area designed by Tando Ando and it is fair to say that I was a little over his work by the end of the day. Not that it is not beautiful and impressive but boy there was a lot of concert! I wonder how Ando feels about using a material with such a high embodied energy? I wont say too much about the art galleries as one of the best things for mewas that I had no expectations and was plesently supprised with each museum just as much by the artwork as by the architecture, Chi Chu art museum expeshaly. I got to see work by Walter De Maria and James Turrell that were absolutely amazing they made me fell like I had stepped into a painting, some seriles painting or into a scienfiction novel. After riding through a beautiful stretch of countryside to get back to my hostel I went to the last art space for the day. A bath house called I heart yu ( a play on the word for for water yu). It was a working bath house with crazy decorations outside and inside and also my first experience of Japanes communal bathing. On Saturday morning I got on a boat and went across to Teshima. I rented a bike with battery assistance and with John - an sightseer that I me on the fery and was heading in the some direction as me- we road to the Teshima art galery. It is less of a gallery then a pice of artwork in its ow n right! I don't want to give much away again as I knowthere are three or so people with plans to vist japan and i dont want to spoil it. All I will say is that it was a very wonderful space. I stayed for 40 minutes and came back later in the day to sit for another hour or so. John snd i also road over to the ........ Artwork which includes people recording their hart beats. Over .... Thousand people have done so over the last .. Years. John and I then parted ways as he had to get the 2pm boat and I could stay until 4:00. By chance there was a autumn harvest festival in some of the rice fields. Thy had set up many different little stores where people were selling local produce or food that they had made. One lady gave me A plate of ..... To try and would not except money so I bought her mandarins in return these she would except. The produce on these island is ment to be extreamly good as the climate is so favourable to farming, all I can say is that the mandarins were lovely! There was a marching and that went all the way through the fields - I think one of the men ws saying it is for good luck, the funny thin was that some of that band were dressed up like shrimp, with little tiles and red helmets with inteni sticking out the top. After re visiting the museum as I said i had to ride back to the port. I should mention the battery assisted bike, it was a wonderful thing expeshaly as the island was quite steep. You still needed to peddle but it was four times easier then if it had been a normal bike. Coming down the other side of the steep sections was buckets of fun! Woshh! That night I made friends with a Japanes couple that had come down from Osaka for the weekend. We played card games, a sumo wrestling game where you had to knock the other persons figurine over and got to eat chips with chopsticks. Sunday morning I went to the Art House Project on Naoshima, a seris of houses and a shrine that have been restored and transformed into works of art. The most interesting was Minamidera by James Turrell and Tando Ando and Go'o Shrine. You will see that the quality of my photos take a turn from the worst after saturday. The battery on my good camera ran out and I have lost my double adapter so have not been able to recharge it. I hope to buy a new one in Hiroshima. Sunderday afterrnoon sore me on a ferry to Takamatsu and then a train to Matsuyama. I should mention here that my early comment about the seats on the Kyoto metro that change the direction they face. When it looks like all trains in japan do this. Te ones on the JR trains swivel around to face the other direction when you push a foot leaver. Apparently on Japanese trains you will always face the direction of the train. When a train pulls into the last statin you can see staff get on and walk down the train flipping all the seats to face the correct way. I arived in Matsuyama about 7pm and after droping my bag off at my hostel wondered down the famous Dogo Onsen to take a bath.The building itself is very grand spaning three stories in a carstel style. After a soak in the waters you can done your yukata and relax with tea and senbei - sweet rice crakers in the communal second floor tatami room.

Back agin! To fill you in on the last week...

Wed and Thursday.

I will keep the posts in cronological order although they have been writen at different times over the last week. 

koyaSan 

Wednesday morning soar me off on a 9:01 train to Koya-san.  The start of the train journey was uneventful music was listened too, scenery and suburbs were looked at as they dashed passed the window. The last hour of the journey was fascinating. The train slowed down as it started to ascend the mountain. the suburbs turned into town and the towns into pine forest as we climbed higher and higher. Through the gaps in the trees we could see views of the valley and of the mountain rangers around us. Our final stop by train was Gokurakubashi were the air was fresh and the temperature had dropped 5-8 degrees form Osaka. It was then time to get on a cable car to  ascend the last kilometer to the top of the table lands the last form of public transport was a bus for that last six kilometres. I was staying in temple lodges overnight so had to such for my temple. A very pleasent monk took me to my tamin.... mat ans paper walled room. This is the first traditional style room I have stayed in. It was very pleasant . Once tea was served  I got to sit in my room and look out into the garden. 

For the rest of the day I walked  to Okuno-in cemetery and spent time in the forest/graveyard leading up to Kukai mausoleum. An inviting path side lead me to out into a field and a new graveyard. I was very creepy as there were not many people who were berried yet so it was very bare. Waiting for people to die to fill it up. It was more creepy then the old full graveyard.

I think I sould take you through the 101 of Koya-san so ti makes a little more sense. Koya-san was f founded in 816 when founder of the Shingon school of Esoteric Buddhism, Kukai AKA Kobo Daishi, establised a riligous comunity on the table lands. Followers of Shingon believe that Kobo Daishi is not dead but in eternal meditation, waiting  for the next Buddah - Miroku. Then he will be able to interpret the Miroku's message for humanity. Thus it  has become very popular for followers of Shingon to leave some of their remains near the mausoleum so as to be  ready for the next Bhuddah.

 Before the musilium is the lantern house where hundreds of lanters have been donated twoare belived to have been burning for over 900 years. In the lanten hall there was a big gathering of monks be cause they were praying for all throughs that were effected by the earthquake last year......? It was such an amazing sound! Eighty or so monks all chanting the crackle of the fires as more fuel is placed onto them by careful monks. When the prays had finished all the monks  go t up an filed out of the hall, there were attendants helping then put on their shoes when it got to the last monk though there were no shoes left! the monk had to waite for an attendent to bri ng another pair, but  they were children sized and the monk had to walk back with his feet hanging off the end of his shoes. Luckily for him another monk ( with smaller feet) swapped with him. The sound off all the monks with their ceremonial shoes walking down the path was like rain on a wooden roof. I was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time to see so many  of the heads of the temples all coming together- apparently it doesn't happen very often. It was then back to my lodgings walking  through the graveyard as the sun set. After changing into my robs I was brought dinner and got to taste Shojin- ryori (Buddhist vegetarian cuissine) for the first time. The food has no meat, fish, onion or garlic. It was a fantastic exprenece!  There were about seven or eight different small dishes the ones I recognise were miso soup, tempura, different seaweed and pickled vegetables. There were also two different tofu dishes one where the tofu was made out of sesame seed and the other of soybeans. I got to read a collection of Buddhist stories and while they are beautiful passages about  how to live well and be the best person you can be; I was a little un-nerved as to how many times men would kill there wives and sons because a daemon had tolled then to ( it was ok in the end because they were brought back to life ) but it was still a little upsetting.  Then it was time to lay out the futon, put my head on a rice filled pilo and my feet on a japanes hot water bottle- which was shaped like a half an egg so I felt that I had my feet on a hot  turtle.  

Thursday morning I was awake bright and early to make it to morning pray at 6am. Then breakfast in my room once again consisting of Shojin- ryori. For the rest of the morning I got to wonder  through the pagoda and temple district of KoyaSan- Garan. I also got to see a monk on a mobile. Without quite meaning to I managed to walk the three kilometre women's pilgrim path- I thought I may be going over the mountain to a bus stop but the 1.5km on the sign was just to the top of the mt! A lovely suprise hiking lead me up an mt and down the other side to a bus stop. I had to get do my Aragon impression as I had to run the last 600 through the forest so as not to miss the next bus that would take me back to my temple. It was then time to head off the table land and head back to Osaka. 

I will now add in something the I wrote at the end of thursday:

"With three minutes to spare I managed to got on my train to Okayama it was a very close call. As I said previously the internet at my hostel in Osaka was very bad and it didn't support the web sight that helped me plain my travel. So I left for Koyansan without a timed plan to get to Naoshima I know I had to get a train towards Hiroshima and get at O.... But the timeing was up in the air. So when I got to Shin-Imara I had to get the help for a JR booking agent and he reserved me a seat on the 3:22 Shin Sakura. With just over  45 minutes to get to Shin-Osaka the race was on! I believe I out of the two directions on the Osaka loop line I must have chosen the slower of the two because I didn't get to Osaka station until 3 I then hade to wait  for the 3:10 train to Kyoto so I could go the one stop to Shin-Osaka. Only 7 minutes until the train left Saw me doing a mad luggage dragging dash to platform 20 ( with the main theam song to Indiana Jonesplaing in my head- ready to leap through the closing doors of the train!  After stowing away my luggage and finding my seat within seconds the train was off. I was a very fortunate traveler today.

It took me a total of 7 hours and twenty minutes, to get to Naoshima. I was very fortunate for my ipod and sketchpad that kept me occupied."

photos

The internet in my hostel in Osaka is very bad and I am unable to load photos there are six up but that it is. Sorry about that. It is quite frustrating but there it is. I am off to Kyoa-san tomorrow which should be fun, and then down to Naoshima. I am not sure when I will have internet again maybe not until Matsuyama on sunday or monday. Have a wonderful week/ weekend.

A.B.

It takes 40 minuets to circumnavigate Osaka on the osaka loop line.

Since the last time I posted I have had four very full days. On the friday I rented a bike at road to lots of different sights around Kyoto. The weather was the best it has been yet, warm yet not humid and sticky! First I went to a Ryoan ji where there is a lovely rock garden consisting of fifteen rocks placed among racked gravel, from every vantage point along the viewing platform you can only see - or more correctly distinguish  that there are fourteen rocks the fifteenth is often hidden or looks like it could be  part of another rock. A rather nifty property of the  design of the garden. There is also a was basin used in the tea ceremony, it another clever  little trick the kunji around the outside doesn't make sense unless you add in the [] then it read  "what one has is all one needs". I spent lots of time just stilling and walking through the gardens in the temple area is it was so nice to be in the shade and be in such lovely  gardens. 

The next stop was Kinksku ji whe the golden pagoda sits. It really is a amazing sight, wit the sunlight reflecting of the gold leaf. I got there at the same time a over one-hundred school children thats was an experience like no other. One-hundred kids posing for photos with their friends, making jokes with one another. I saw one poor kid getting told of by his teacher, i'm not sure what for but gosh I wouldn't want to be that boy, it looked like the teacher was really giving it to him.  I have had a couple of students and teachers come up to me and precise their english on me which is always fun.

From the golden pavilion it was  off to the silver pavilion but not until after a big detour which involved riding through the northern suburbs of Kyoto. Riding along the river and coming across another Tando Ando work near the Kyoto Botanic gardens. It is a garden for fine art and there have a few reproductions of works by Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Seurat, Renoir and Van Gogh. Along with these reproductions of European paintings made on ceramic tiles, there are some representations of Japanese art from the Edo period (1603 to 1867). It was a rather strange setting for art work but I liked it. The building expeshaly the way it criss-crosses in on itself and has a layers that flow into each other. I the road along a channel where all the locals were having a lazy afternoon in the sun  by the water.

 Ginkaku ji and the  gardens of the silver temple are lovely. The design of the stone garden is very elegant and I want to know how they manage to keep the con for falling down! After watching the sun sent for a view point above the temple it was time to return my bike. I took a detour via the path of philosophy which is a path  next to a small channel that runs north south between the silver temple and a great thing to do in the twilight. After returning my bike it was time to go to my favourite udon store for dinner. At this store you have to stand up to eat and they prepare the noodles right in front of you. It is good fun standing there slurping noodles and listening to the Kyoto-ites chat to one another after work. 

Saturday I decided to go to Furi-Inara for a walk and to look at the hundreds of Torii. It was quite spectacular to see all the gates lined up one after another. The quality of the light was perfect and illuminated the red/orange gates in a magnificent  manner almost and if the gate themselves were emitting the light. There is something very attractive about a shape being repeated over and over again. The gates curved up the mountain like a orange set of dominos. When I got to the popular look out spot about 30-45 minutes  walk up the path there was a great view of kyoto. There were also lots of other walkers catching their breath and having a drink. My to favourite people that a saw  was one the lady that walked up the path with high heal should on ( when there were hikers there with day packs and hiking boots ) and second was the older man that gout out his lunch of takeaway susis and a can of Asaki beer and drank it while looking at the view and eating lunch.  

Alter a little more of a walk I headed back down the mountain as I still had to get the train to Osaka that day. Before I left Kyoto I went for went for one more wander around and came across another Tando Ando building called the times building. It is wonderfully situated right next to a channel and the outdoor deck sits only a foot from the water. It was then time to grab by bag a get the train to Osaka. After dong boring things like checking in and washing cloths I went out to explore Osaka. The district that I am staying in very lively and has a big nightlife. The main street  is full of neon signs and looks like something out of  bald runner. They were lots and lots of people out at night eating, playing video games just walking. It was a bit of a sensory overload.

On sunday I took the train out to Ashyia To visit Yamamura a house designed by Frank Loyed Wright. I then went  to visit the church of light which I believe is one of Ando's greatest works. The use of light to make the cross is the chapel is wonderful as well as the way he doesn't always join up walls but leaves gaps which you can look through. He also leaves a gap between the roof and the walls so the roof seams to float. They had great financial difficulty when building the chapel and at one point it looked like they were not going to have a roof, but the construction company donated the roof in the end. 

After spending the day successfully navigating the train network it was about time that I had a train misadventure. Everything was going well untill I found myself back at Osaka train station! After changing trains once and 45 minutes later and changing t rains once I found myself at the same station as were I was 45 minutes earlier. i had managed to circumnavigate osaka via their railway system. I was quite disheartened as i was very tired and all i wanted to do way take a shower and grab some dinner. But back onto the train I went and with some guidance form some lovely commuters i found myself at my hostel.  

Monday I took a train back to Kyoto to meet up with my Japanese friend Taishi. We  went to the big historic parried that they hold once a year on Kyoto's birthday. The procession is about two kilometres long and and goes for 2:30 hours. We only watched for about 40 minuets, but it  was  interesting. Over 2000 volunteers dress up in historic costumes from different eras of Kyoto's time of being the capital of japan. Thy funny thing is that some of these people dressing up at layers and big businessmen of Kyoto ( they are the ones that get to be lords and dignitary while the uni and school children get to be the foot soldiers and servants).  After lunch Taishi and I walked to Yofuku ji, now I would say that Taishi suggested we walk  but Taishi would Say that I suggested walk. I think it may have been a communication errors on both our behalfs as English is Taishi's second language and maybe I was not very clear when I asked if it was close enough  to walk. At any rate we ended up walking the eight kilometres  on a very hot day ( which with the lack of water is the reason for my very big dehydration headache last night). It took us an hour and a half to walk but eventually with one hour  before the temple closed we made it. The rock gardens are pleasant but not as refined as that of  Ryoan ji, these gardens have been designed by modern gardeners. We also went to a much smaller garden with a very lovely tea room. 

Then it was of to have a cool apple  juice at Kyoto station and climb to the very top of the building to watch the city lights. The Kyoto train station is quite new and built in a postmodern style, I usually don't like post modern architecture generally but at least it made to station interesting. One side of the station slopes upwards all the way to the roof, there is even a amphitheater like space halfway up where a stage is set up for public concerts. Onto of the building is a tiny garden and a good view  of the lights of Kyoto and you can see Kyoto tower lit up like a space rocket. We then went out a had dinner together in an underground restaurant where Taishi ordered a few dishes that I might like  with the clear instructions that I would only eat seafood and would NOT eat it raw - I don't think I  can stretch my acceptance of eating meat while traveling that far! Then it was back chaotic Osaka where I travel the by now when know rout of osaka station to  shin-Imara, Shin-Imara to Namba JR station, Namba JR statin to my hostel. I was very tired by the time I got home so I am sorry because I was meant to spend time up loading photos and publishing my blog but I will now have to do that when I get back from Kobe tonight. My apologies.

today

I got up very late today as my poor body had had a battering the day before  with its lack of water and too long in the sun.  I then spent the morning trying my patience with the internet connection in my hostel. It is not very good so it took me two hours to do a few things that should have only taken 45 minutes! After yesterdays wonderful weather the balance needed to be made and today it has rained all morning. The rain is quite miserable in a I have decided that I may as well watch the rain fall form a cafe in Kobe then form my hostel in Osaka so with umbrella in hand I braved the train system and went to Kobe for the afternoon. I walked around the  port and ended up at the Kobe maritime museum which had some interesting models and also had the .... Good time  ..... An exhibition funded  by the company showing its inventions. I got to see and industrial robot in action, as it placed 12 coins in different patterns a third of the time i would take a human and with better precision  I also got to go inside the drivers cockpit of one of the first shinkansen trains. There was a simulation game where you got to drive  train, the aim was to get it there on time, in the correct position -so the doors line up with the lines on the platform- and for the ride to be comfortable for the passenger. Even with the help of a Japanese man translating the instructions I didn't do very well, first arriving  late and the second time overshooting the station by two meters. I then walked back around the port and watched the big leisure ship set off for its sunset cruse. I then had dinner while watching the sunset and all the lights start to turn on around the port. Then it was time to get back to Osaka. 

I miss your beautiful faces and your hugs. 

With love, 

acushla. 

The need for a long sleeve shirt

In ground breaking news it has become cool enough in Kyoto that have needed to put on not only a jumper, no!, but a long sleeved shirt as well! I know exiting stuff. Haha! With the weather threatening rain again I set out for Atashiyama as were would you rather be then in a forest temple if it may rain? Ill put here something that i wrote during the day ( having an ipad has made the timeline of my blog posts a little funny as I write when I'm out and about as well as at night.) Ill put the post in here:

•  I thought i would stop and write a note about the temple I am in at the moment. Today I have court two trains out to Atashiyama to visit the tenryu-ji temple and gardens. At the moment I am still in the temple  and have yet to explore the gardens. I am so fascinated by the architecture of this temple it has all the wonderfully classical Japanese features, roofs that turn up at the corners, a veranda two feet off the ground, plain wooden floors and grass mate with paper sliding doors. It is the layout of the rooms combined with the half open half closed nature that is brought about by the sliding doors that i like the most. The way the building relates to the garden surrounding it. Inviting you to look again at the garden as doorway or a column will frame the garden presenting a different prospect. I also like how you can look through many different rooms of the building as they are all open. How as you walk door ways or columns or the lines on mats will line up then, not, then line up again. Always changing but governed by the strict sense of geometry. Almost like a kaleidoscope always changing but yet fixed. I don't think i am explaining myself very well but there is something about this  architecture that I take pleasure in.
• 
  

Ok the rest of the day I spent walking around just wherever I felt like it. I went to the famous bamboo grove which while beautiful is not quite how the photos would leave you to believe. It is very small 150m stretch of road with bamboo on either side, Cars can drive up the middle  and one will every fue minuets. It is interesting to reflect on the differences between what the photo can look like and what the reality is. I have come across two traveler in the couple of days that when I asked how their day has been they have been quite disappointed as what they expected was not what they experienced, both said to me that it was not like the photo.  I cant help but think of cause its not like the photos! The people that take travel photography wait longer, come back at just the right time of day and may not have to share the location with other sightseers, in order to get that glossy photo.

I was confused when yesterday I went to the Gion area. Reading that a lot of the buildings are heritage listed and that you can often see Gashes walking about I formed a image in my head of streets full of old wooden houses and women walking about in their platform sandals. From what I could see most of the architecture is modern except for two very lovely streets and - maybe because of the rain- I didn't come across any Gashes. As you already know I have very nice day yesterday but I think the most important thing is to not get too fixed on what to expect when you travel  then you cant be disappointed as everything will be its own with out expectations getting in the way.   



On the train on the way back to Kyoto I sore something extremely cool. In a triumph of great design the chairs in the trains can change from facing one way to facing the opposite way! No sitting facing the back of a train for the residents of Kyoto! Oh no sir-re! The chair backs lift up move across and drop neatly into place. very neat!


I will be uploading some more photos tonight I hope you like them, the low quality ones are from my phone. Like the one of the frog blokards and the man drawn cart. Yep that's right  you can pay for a nice Japanese boy to pull you around between the temples. I saw a few of these men throughout the day an boy where that fit.

i hope you are all well,

xxxx AB 

Kyoto in the rain.

With umbrella  in hand I went out to explore Kyoto. I headed west through the Gion area to maruyama park to wonder through some shrines. The gardens and temple buildings are just beautiful. The rain just meant that it was even nicer to take cover from the rain in the overhang of a temple roof. I didn't go into any as I just feel rude, as Im not sure what I am meant to do. 

I spent the hole day walking around gardens, temples, parks and back streets. When ever the fancy took me I would stop and sit either just listening to the rain and the birds or taking out my water colours and painting. 

I was meant to walk over to the silver pavilion but I got side tracked when I come across the Murinun gardens. The sign said they were a place of exceptional beauty which I scoffed at but when I went inside the walled garden I was pleasantly surprised as it is wonderfully well designed garden. I spent over an hour just wondering through the garden watching the two herons stalk dish. After talking to the lady at the entrance I found out that that it was designed by Aritomo Yamagata in 1894-1896. Aritomo was not only a kick ass minister of the military but was twice    Prime Minister of Japan, oh and in his spare time he dabbled in garden design- as you do. 

I also got to sit in the tea house and have green tea served to me. Absolute wonderful with the rain at this  point poring down outside. 

As it was four in the afternoon by this time I decided to abandon my trip to the silver pavilion to another day as most places close by five. I write this to you while sitting in a cafe  watching people rush about trying to get out of the rain. 

I hope you are all doing well!

With love, Acushla.