Kyoto - packed schedule with moments of serenity (part 2)

Day 8 - Nijo Castle > Ryoan-ji > Yudofuya > Kyoto International Manga Museum > Kaleidoscope Museum > Gion
This morning I met up with another volunteer guide from a different organization - Sakura Volunteer Guide Club, Nobuko-san. We went to visit Nijo Castle, which originally wasn't on my list of places to visit or at least not a "must see" but I'm glad that she suggested it because it's actually really well kept and there's the interesting nightingale floors and original paintings.

The castle grounds are split into two parts - Ninomaru Palace is where the Emperor did his daily office duties, and Honmaru Palace is where he lived. Only Ninomaru Palace is opened to the public.

You enter the grounds of Ninomaru through the grand Chinese gates - Karamon, the design was taken from the Tang Dynasty in China (below photo, but I actually don't recall seeing anything like this in China.... or maybe they have all been destroyed.)

Inside the palace you're not allowed to take photos, I think it's because they want to protect the paintings from flash photography as they had all the original paintings on the sliding doors. But it was actually really nice with the sunlight coming in through the paper covered doors.

There are no furnitures in the rooms as it was all covered in tatami mats but you can see how elaborate the ceilings and doors were. There's simplicity and elegance.

The floor were discoloured from so many years and all the visitors, but you can still hear the bird-like squeaks of the floorboards which are a distinct feature of this palace - these are called nightingale floors (uguisubari). They squeak as people walk on them warning of intruders/assassins in the past. We then took a walk outside in the gardens and got to look under the floorboard where you see that the squeaks are caused by two metal nails that rub against each other as pressure is applied from above (below photo).

That's why in the past they had to walk by sliding across the floors to avoid making the nightingale floorboards squeak.

 above photo: the wood and carving looks so well-kept even after hundreds of years.

below photo: walking up the path to Ryoan-ji

Then we took the bus to go to Ryoan-ji, this is a zen temple, where you will see the building is typical of the Zen faction.... white walls with the brown wooden grid-like design. There's also a zen rock garden and moss garden. The rock garden was one of the reasons why I wanted to come here. But I think that's also the reason why many people come here, so there were way too many people sitting there taking photos for it to be a good place to meditate.

 above right: a grasshopper before he hops into the rock garden

below: groups of students came as part of their graduation trip, here they are posing for a photo

Actually just around the corner is the moss garden which is smaller and overlooked and a better spot to sit and just enjoy being in the moment.

above: entrance to Yudofuya

After a bit, we left the temple and walked to Yudofuya, which is a restaurant on the temple grounds in the garden that serves fresh soft tofu - that's it. It doesn't sound especially enticing, but you get to sit in front of a garden.... hahaha that's the reason why I wanted to go there, more time for me to just sit and take things in.

The view, of course, was amazing, but the tofu wasn't bad either. Nobuko-san and I shared a big pot of tofu with a bowl of rice. It was very simple, but like other meals I had in Japan, I just ate slowly and enjoyed it - even savoured it although there's not much taste, but even Nobuko-san said that it was really good tofu. Don't know why.... maybe because Japanese seem to always take the time to enjoy and taste their food I found that I eat slower too to match their pace. It's good actually to eat slowly and I think it's part of their philosophy for healthy living and eating. I just wish I could continue to do that even after I left Japan.

Ryoan-ji is very close to Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion), which at first I wasn't planning to go to, but it's worth a quick visit if you have time. At the entrance into Kinkaku-ji, to the right you will see a huge 大 (kanji character for big), this is from the annual Daimonji Gozan Okuribi (Daimonji Bonfire) held on Aug 16. There are five characters on the sides of five mountains that burn during the festival to signal the end of Summer.

Afterwards I made my way to the Kyoto International Manga Museum. I am not a manga reader, I think I could count the number of comic books I've read on both my hands and these are all in English - like Asterix, Tin Tin, Archie's, Journey to the West comic version and that's about it...

below photos: looks like a college campus with all the students reading on the field

But I wanted to go and see what all the fuss is about. Well I didn't really find out why so many people still love manga now, but I got to learn about the evolution of manga and that it's not something vulgar as many people would think.

below photo: the building is a redeveloped high school,
they have kept most of the original interior including these staircases and the floor tiles

 above: manga drawings of geishas, there are over 100 hanging up all around the museum

It started off as story-telling on the streets and later became common ways for spreading information/news. There are different manga for different age groups - for young children, teens, university students, middle age office workers etc.

There's a Yassan (story-teller) who re-enacts street story-telling "Kami Shibai" every day inside the museum, it's definitely worth a visit. Although it's all in Japanese, you still get what he's doing with the children. Also as a soon-to-be ECE teacher, I learned from watching his expressive story-telling technique and the use of his voice, very effective with all the children there who were shouting "Hai! Hai! Hai!" fighting to answer his question for a prize.

After that I went to the Kaleidoscope Museum which is just a short walk from the Manga Museum. The Kaleidoscope Museum is very small, the exhibit room is the size of a 300 sqft flat in Hong Kong (without all the walls). But within it there are so many kaleidoscopes. And not just one kind.

There are kaleidoscopes that are electric so all you have to do is look through the hole, there are some where the shape of the vessel is like a crescent moon and you see star dust-like shapes inside, or there are some where the material that is reflected in the kaleidoscope is actually ribbon or strips of kimono fabric.

There were also kaleidoscopes from designers from around the world and the vessel pay tribute to the country like an Eiffel Tower shaped one, or one that had colours inspired by fall maple leaves, or used dried flowers.

After that I made two kaleidoscopes as souvenirs. These I can look at over and over because it'll be different every time and also they will last long. I also plan to make these with my students in the future - as soon as I can find all the materials I need.

The cool thing about making your own kaleidoscope is that you don't need fancy beads to make a beautiful kaleidoscope. The material you use at the end that are reflected in the kaleidoscope can be a mix of items, they just need to be different colours. We even put paper clips (below photo) and chipped beads and glass in there.

above: click to enlarge photo, you can see what the paper clip and beads made in the kaleidoscope

You can spend a good hour making the kaleidoscope as you want to take your time choosing the materials you put into it. I'm glad it wasn't busy so I kept putting stuff in, taking a look, and then changing it up for others and taking a look until I was satisfied.

entrance to Yasaka Shrine

At the end of the day I went to Gion to meet up with Nobuko-san again as she had a meeting to attend after having lunch together . We walked around Gion and I met with other members of the Sakura Volunteer Guide Club, they were all nice ladies and led me through Gion streets at dusk. By the time we arrived at the place for dinner it was already quite dark. I'll have to come back to Kyoto another time to see Gion during the day.

After dinner, I did a little bit of shopping for Japanese/Kyoto sweets to bring back to Canada for my family, and then I had an appointment for a thai massage at Hiyoshido. This place came up on my google search and the photos showed the massage therapists to be dressed almost clinically.

I had a bit of trouble finding the location as google map showed you the vicinity, but they were actually located on the small alley behind what's shown. So best to call them and meet them in front of Yasaka Shine (or the Lawson convenience store across the road).


I was quite surprised at the charming reception area, it's small, but so comforting. I was quickly led into the room which was a tatami room with a nice little waterfall/garden. The environment was so nice that it really made it relaxing and special in a way. (I was almost going to call to cancel cuz I didn't want to make a trip there to get a massage and then have to take a cab back to the hotel...)

My massage therapist was very experienced and he was also really nice. His English is really good and we chatted for a while until I relaxed enough and kind of drifted off into sleep. He trained in Thailand for thai massage and goes back to Bangkok and Chiang Mai once in a while. He also has some clients who are Geikos and the appointment after mine was for one.

Actually before going to Japan this time I have never had a thai massage, not even when I went to Thailand. Most of the time it was the aroma therapy massage which are not always good. But I had another thai massage in Okinawa (Thai Traditional Massage Poism - located behind Kokusai and JAL City Hotel) as I was feeling quite lethargic and tired after the flight, and that was also really good. Now I'm really interested in Thai massage as it incorporates a lot of stretching and yoga into it, and I saw how they did it to me and it looks like the therapist also gets a workout as he/she has to counter the movement.

Great way to finish the trip..... there's just another half a day until I board the plane.