Shopping at Teramachi and Shinkyogoku shopping arcades, Nishiki market and tonkatsu dinner at the Katsukura Shijo Higashinotoin

23 November 2016

After a late lunch following a morning of autumn leaves viewing at the temples along the Philosopher’s Path in Kyoto’s Northern Higashiyama area, we took a short subway ride from the Keage Station and alighted at the Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station at about 3.40 PM. Our PASMO prepaid smart card that we bought a few years ago in Tokyo could be used on the Kyoto subway.

Underground mall at Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station.

The station is linked to an underground mall. Walking westwards, we left the mall at the start of Teramachi-Dori. Teramachi and Shinkyogoku shopping arcades are two parallel running, covered pedestrian streets, packed with shops and restaurants that sell day-to-day clothes and goods.

Walking southwards along Teramachi, we came to a junction where there was the famous restaurant called Kani Doraku. This restaurant originated from Osaka’s Dotonburi Street and there is no mistaking what this restaurant is good at. A giant mechanised red crab with waving claws and legs were beckoning visitors outside. We would be visiting Osaka later in our itinerary so we gave it a miss for now.

Some of the things to buy in Japan are the local beauty and medicinal products. We have previously visited the Matsumoto Kiyoshi store and this is a good store to get these items. The store offers tax free shopping for foreigners if the total purchases are above 5000 Yen and the goods are to be used outside of the country.

We just need to show our passports to the check-out counter staff and the value-added tax of 8% will be deducted at the shop. The receipts and forms were stapled to the passports and we were to hand this to the customs officer at the airport when we leave. The staff will packed and sealed the items in transparent plastic bags that we were supposed to show to the custom officers but there was no inspections done at the airport.

We actually packed all this items in our checked in luggage when we leave Japan. The customer officers were just collecting the receipts and forms. No need to see the goods, based on a trust and honour system that the products would be taken out of the country. I think this is a good system that eliminated the “penny-wise pound-foolish” process used in many other countries. What could be simpler than that? No need to go through complicated processes and long queues at the airport to claim back the money.

Nishiki Market, a busy, crowded and narrow food market street runs off in a perpendicular direction off the Teramachi-dori right where the Tenman-gū Shrine is located.  This was our second time at the Nishiki Market and it was crowded as ever.

We took our time to browse through the stores. Many local and fresh produce were being sold and would greatly interest those who likes to cook.  Many of the dried seafood products like dried scallops, cuttlefishes, fish and laver looked interesting.

There were also a few good restaurants in the vicinity. For ramen, there was the Ippudo, Ichiran (we tried this previously – see here), Kyoto Gogyo and Ramen Sen No Kaze. There was also a Tonkatsu (Fried Breaded Pork Cutlet) restaurant at the western end of Nishiki Market called the Katsukura Shijo Higashinotoin, This restaurant is a branch of the same restaurant located at the Kyoto Station. See post of our visit to the Katsukura located at the Kyoto Station here. Since Katsukura serves one of the best tonkatsu in Japan, it was a simple decision to try this restaurant again.

We were early for dinner and the restaurant was not crowded.

We had to make our own dipping sauce for the pork cutlets. Clear instructions were provided at the table. First grind the roasted sesame seeds into a powder. Then add the sauce of our choice – Katsukura Original or Spicy.

Tonkatsu (Fried Breaded Pork Cutlet) dinner at the Katsukura Shijo Higashinotoin. The meal came with miso soup and free flow of steamed rice.

Once again, Katsukura lived up to its reputation and did not disappoint.

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Yasaka Shrine, Gion Shirakawa and Pontocho Alley at night

23 November 2016

Yasaka Jinya Shrine, also known as Gion Shrine, is one of the most famous shrines in Kyoto. Founded over 1350 years ago, the shrine is located between the popular Gion District and Higashiyama District and we walked pass it a few times already over the last 2 days as our hotel (APA Hotel Kyoto Gion Excellent) was less than 100m in front of it.

Since we had an early dinner, we decided to spend the night exploring the area around Gion and Yasaka Shrine was our first stop.

View of entrance to the Yasaka Shrine from Shijo Dori.

Just after the entrance gate, there were stalls of street food vendors hawking their wares. Further down, there was a dance stage with hundreds of lit lanterns in front of the main shrine building. Each lantern bears the name of a local business in return for a donation.

 

Hundreds of lit lanterns in front of the main Yasaka Shrine building.

Visitors making a prayer in front of the main shrine building.

There is also a night market with stores selling food and snacks in the shrine’s premises.

 

In our last visit to Gion, we had explored the more famous Hanami-dori area where there were plenty of exclusive and expensive of Kyoto's restaurants where guests were entertained by geishas.

Another scenic part of Gion is the Shirakawa Area which runs along the Shirakawa Canal, parallel and north of Shijo Dori. We went to this area after seeing the Yasaka Shrine. Some would claim that Shirakawa Dori is one of the most beautiful streets within Kyoto. On both sides of the street, there are beautiful wooden restaurants and inns.

The Shirakawa Canal or stream ran along this street with shops, restaurants and tea houses on one side of it.  This is a nice place for an evening walk. This was a quieter and less touristy place compared with other parts of Gion.

 

On the other side, there were willow trees, cherry blossom trees and Japanese maple trees. The majestic willow trees were the trees that caught my attention.

Their long strings of green willow leaves, lit by the streets lamps, were a nice contrast to the traditional Japanese houses along the street.

We saw a couple doing their wedding photo shoot in the night. The poor bride must be feeling very cold, dressed in her thin wedding gown while waiting for the photographer and team to get the equipment, lights and camera ready.

Shirakawa Canal or stream with shops, restaurants and tea houses on one side of it.

There are about 3-4 bridges along the stream leading to the shops and restaurants on the other side of the stream. These bridges over the Shirakawa stream made nice photo-stops.

From Shirakawa Dori, we walked southwards, passed by the Issen Yosyoku restaurant where we had our okonomiyaki lunch on our first day in Kyoto. We crossed over the Kamo River at the Gion Shijo Station to the Pontocho Alley. Pontocho Alley is a narrow alley running from Shijo-dori to Sanjo-dori, one block west of Kamogawa River.

Street musician or buskers playing outside the Gion Shijo station. 

View of Kamogawa River from the Gion Shijo Station. Restaurants along the Pontocho Alley lined the opposite bank of the river.

Pontocho Alley at night.

Pontocho Alley has restaurants on both sides. As we already had our dinner on this night, we were just “window shopping” and checking out what was on offer.  None caught our fancy, so we would probably not be back here for dinner while in Kyoto.

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Exploring Arashiyama and Sagano (Part 1)– Bamboo groves, Okochi Sanso Villa and Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street

24 November 2016

The Arashiyama and Sagano districts are located in the western part of Kyoto. Getting to Arashiyama from our hotel in Gion (APA Hotel Kyoto Gion Excellent) was easy. We took the Hankyu train from Kawaramachi Station, got off at Katsura Station and then took the Hankyu Arashiyama Line to Arashiyama Station for only 220 Yen and the journey took about 30 minutes.  The Arashiyama Station is located south of the Togetsukyo Bridge and we had to cross this bridge to get to the central Arashiyama area where most tourist attractions were located.

There is a small park called the Arashiyama Park on the south side of the river. The park is actually a small island on the river, accessible by short bridges.

View from the small bridge that we had to cross to get from the Arashiyama train station to the Arashiyama Park, actually an island on the Katsura river.

Arashiyama Park at the south-side of the Togetsukyo Bridge.

We took some time to enjoy the views from the south-side riverside park before crossing the Togetsukyo Bridge. The view from the riverside park, south of the river, was stunningly beautiful in autumn.

The Togetsukyo Bridge (literally means the "Moon Crossing Bridge") is Arashiyama's most iconic landmark.

Closer shot of the colourful trees across the river.

This place would also be nice to visit in spring during the cherry blossom season as there were many cherry trees in the park. These trees were bare in autumn.

Some pigeons perched at the top of the bare tree made a nice picture.

There were boats offering visitors a ride on and across the Hozu River on the western side of the Togetsukyo Bridge. Visitors could also hire small boats to row on the river while enjoying the autumn leaves of forested mountainside on the river banks.

The autumn leaves of forested mountainside formed a nice backdrop for a boat ride on the Hozu River.

 

A pair of cormorants perched on wooden stakes across a weir on the Hozu River. Traditional river fishing using trained cormorants can be seen on this river in summer time.

A cormorant drying its wings as seen from the Togetsukyo Bridge

 

After crossing the Togetsukyo Bridge, we walked passed the entrance to the Tenryu-ji Temple. This UNESCO World Heritage temple is definitely a “must-see” for first time visitors to Arashiyama and it is reputed to have nice autumn foliage within the temple along with Jojakkoji, Nisonin and Gioji temples in this area. We had visited this temple in June this year and decided to give this temple a miss this time.  Our plan was to visit the Okochi-Sanso Villa instead.

Okochi-Sanso Villa is the former villa of the popular Japanese actor Okochi Denjiro (1896-1962) who starred in many old silent movies. He constructed this unique garden villa on the south side of Mount Ogura over a 30 year period. Okochi Sanso Villa consists of several different gardens and buildings, including living quarters, tea houses and gates. This place was recommended for garden and nature lovers and was reputed to be extremely nice in autumn.

To get to the villa, we had to walk through the famous bamboo groves of Arashiyama. This was our second visit to the bamboo grove and it was still as enjoyable to walk through the bamboo forest in the morning despite the crowds and groups of school kids.

The admission fee for the Okochi Sanso Villa was relatively high at 1000 Yen per person but it included a cup of matcha green tea and a snack at the tea house inside. 

An impressive tree with red and orange leaves was the first thing that caught my attention upon entry to the villa. The tea house was located just behind this impressive tree. Low benches cum tables were set up outside the tea house and it was a perfect setting for a late-morning tea break before setting out to explore the massive 20 thousand square meters villa.

Traditional Japanese sweet and matcha green tea.

The start of the walking course through the villa was just next to the tea house. The beginning part of the path was stone steps leading us uphill to an open area where the main building of the villa was located.

Open area in front of the Daijo-kaku or main building.

 

Low benches, clad with red cloth, served as picnic tables and this was a nice rest area to soak in some morning sun, enjoy the views and the surrounding autumn colours.

Daijo-kaku or main building where the actor used to live

 

The Daijo-kaku or main building is where the actor’s bedroom used to be and it also housed a tea ceremony room. The buildings can only be viewed from the outside. 

Near to the main building, there is a lookout point where the view of the surrounding mountains is supposed to be most impressive.

A sign explaining the names of the mountain in the distance as viewed from the area near the Daijo-kaku or main building.

Leaving the main building area, we continued along narrow paths, sometimes walking on stepping stones, to see the other buildings within the villa.

 

 

One building was opened for us to look inside.

Sat on the terrace to relax and imagine what it was like to live in this villa.

The villa was not crowded, despite being in the middle of the autumn foliage season.  I must say that this is one of the nicer place to enjoy autumn leaves and the beautifully designed Japanese garden without the crowd.

 

 

We got a view of the Hozu gorge, with the Hozu river below and a colourful temple on the other side of the gorge.

We then came to a pavilion and probably the highest point within the villa. This was another good place to rest our feet and take in views of the city from a vantage point.

We then headed back downwards. Along the way, there were many trees with birds calling and red autumn leaves. Some of the trees were past their peak but still beautiful with their red leaves against the blue sky.

The path round the villa brought us back to the starting point where the tea house was located. We had another chance to take more photos of the trees with autumn foliage at its peak.

Overall, we took about 1.5 hours to explore the villa. Leaving the villa, we headed northwards towards the Sagano area. We went past the entrance to the Jojaku-ji  Temple. This temple was another good place to enjoy autumn leaves but we had enough of viewing autumn leaves for the day. Our next destination was the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji and the best way to get there is on foot and walk through parts of the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street.

On the trail north of Okochi Sanso Villa towards the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street. Nice cool autumn day for exploring the area.

Autumn is a nice time to explore Japan on foot as the weather is between 15 to 20 degree C and the humidity is not too high.

We went pass the Sagano Doll House (more formally known as the Kyoto Japanese Folk Dolls Museum) and there were some eerie looking dolls in the garden outside. Any one looking for Chucky?

We stopped by a craft store to browse the potteries and clay figurines.

Many cute stuff on sale in the store but we usually don’t buy souvenirs on our travels.

The side road from Okochi Sanso Villa joined up somewhere near the mid point of the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street. This street is a historic street lined by traditional townhouses (machiya) and handicraft stores. 

Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street in autumn.

Traditional human powered rickshaws ply the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street looking for customers.

We stopped by a small simple eatery called the Komichi. It is perfectly located along the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street for a simple lunch break and the menu included a variety of noodles, desserts and hot drinks.

Local Japanese dessert of mochi with red bean and coffee.

We continued down the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street until the end where there was a red torii gate.

Red torii gate at the end of the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street.

 

We continued along the path, passed the torii gate. It merged into a main road after a few hundred meters. We continued along the main road till we reached the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, on the left side of the main road.

More about our visit to the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji in the next post.

Note: there is another temple called the Adashino Nenbutsu-ji located near the torii gate. The Adashino Nenbutsu-ji has 8000 Buddhist statues placed in memory of those who died without kin whilst the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji has 1200 stones statues of Rakan (disciples of Buddha) and was a more interesting place to see in my opinion.

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Exploring Arashiyama and Sagano (Part 2 )– Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street and the Kimono Forest

24 November 2016

The Otagi Nenbutsu-ji is an interesting but not so well known place in Arashiyama and Sagano that is worth a visit, especially if you like taking photographs and enjoy seeing something out of the ordinary.

This Buddhist temple has 1200 stone statues of Rakan (disciples of Buddha), each unique and interesting to see and photograph. 

Rows and rows of stone rakans at the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji in Sagano/Arashiyama, Kyoto

 

This is the story behind these statues.

The original temple was founded back in the 8th century, in the Higashiyama area. The old temple was relocated to its present location in Sagano after it was hit by a few natural calamities and rebuilt. It was again hit by a typhoon in 1950 which caused severe damages. In 1955, a new head priest called Kocho Nishimura was appointed to this temple and he took on a task to renovate the temple. This head priest was also a good sculptor of Buddhist stone statues. He had the idea of getting visitors to carve their own statues for the temple under his tutorage. Hence, 1200 statues were produced, each with different pose and expressions, as all the statue creators were different individuals. The statues were found all over the grounds of this temple and there is no other temples with such numbers of stone Rakans.

Otagi Nenbutsu-ji is located on the outskirts of Arashiyama and not too many people knew of or visits this place. Although one can take a rickshaw, taxi or public bus from outside one of the Arashiyama train stations, we found that it was easier to just walk to the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji after visiting the bamboo forest and Okochi Sanso Villa via the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street. 

A small fee of 300 yen was charged per person to enter. Once inside, an air of peace and tranquillity was felt. No crowds of tourists but crowds of stone and silent statues. These statues were created about 30 years ago but most were already moss covered and showed signs of wearing by the weather.

The students of the head priest had done a great job.  There was a wide range of themes, facial expressions, actions that made the statues so fun to see and photograph. 

Stone rakans at the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji in Sagano/Arashiyama, Kyoto.

A penny for your thoughts.

 

Statue with a mask and a cheeky tongue out of mouth.

 

Birdman statue.

The moss on this statue looked like his natural hair-do. I wonder if this was intended by the sculptor.

Many statues were those expressing love and devotion. 

Mother and child.

Lovers.

Kid with his teddy bear.

Grinning old man.

 

These were the sportsmen – tennis player, boxer and baseball player.

As we followed a path up the hill to the upper part of the temple grounds, we passed a pavilion with 3 golden bells.  This are the bells of the three treasures: the Buddha, the dharma (law) and the priests.

Bells of the three treasures: the Buddha, the dharma (law) and the priests.

Then we came to an open area where there were a few buildings, each surrounded by many more stone statues.

The main hall of the temple that houses the temple’s principle image, Senju Kannon (Thousand-Armed Kannon Bodhisattva that protects against evil). 

A peek inside the main hall building.

Building housing the Fureai Kannon, where people pray to this Kannon by touhing it with their hands.

Rows of stone rakans in front of the main pagoda.

No crowds, even during peak Autumn season in Arashiyama.

I enjoyed my visit to the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji and a chance to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. While we were there, there was only a few small groups of visitors. Many were photographers, having a good time shooting photos of the stone statues.

I hope this temple remains one of Arashiyama’s best kept secrets, where only individual travellers come to visit and the temple is not swarmed by big and noisy tour groups. Otherwise, the thing that draws us to this place would be lost.

We spend about 2 hours at the temple and walked back to the main touristy area of Arashiyama via the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street. We passed by the red torii gate with the moss covered thatched roof restaurant again on the way back.

There is another temple called the Adashino Nenbutsu-ji located near the torii gate. The Adashino Nenbutsu-ji has 8000 Buddhist statues placed in memory of those who died without kin. We had chosen not to visit the Adashino since it would have been a depressing place to visit.

 

Continuing on, we passed many traditional Machiya townhouses along the Saga road. Many of this houses had been converted to craft stores and restaurants, although many were still residential.

Cute figurines in contrast to a fierce looking face of a roof edge tile placed outside a residential unit.

There were so many interesting things to enjoy while walking along the preserved street i.e. autumn foliage, flowers and cute decorations in front of the houses and also many stores with interesting craft on sale.

There was a unique little shop selling handicraft art made from silkworm cocoons that one should not miss.

Shop selling handicraft art made from silkworm cocoons along the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street. Diorama of everyday scenes in Japan were displayed beneath those lanterns.

Examples of the diorama of everyday scenes in Japan displayed.

This little figurines were made using the “shell” of silkworm cocoons.

We arrived back at the central Arashiyama area at about 4.30 PM. The 2.8 km walk along from the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji had taken about 45 minutes. We took time to enjoy some coffee and cakes at the Tully Coffee inside the Randen Arashiyama Station. The Randen Line was operated by a private railway company. The small trains on the Keifuku Arashiyama Line ran from this station to the Omiya Station in central Kyoto.

By the time we finished our coffee and snacks, the sky had turned dark. It was the perfect time to see the display of “Kimono Forest” inside the station. Kimono Forest is a collection of gorgeous cylinder-shaped pillars, wrapped with Kyoto Yuzen kimono fabrics, framing the lane way along the Randen station. There are about 600 of them installed all over the station grounds, with 32 different kimono patterns on display. At dusk, each pillar was illuminated by the LED lights installed inside.

“Kimono forest”  framing the lane way the Randen Arashiyama Station.

Walking down the Kimono Lane at dusk.

 

After a few minutes walk down the “Kimono Lane”, we came to a small fountain and the station’s so-called power spot, the Ryu no Atago or Pond of Dragon.  The water springs from 50 meters below ground and comes from the underground water sources of the sacred mountain Atago. People come to this area to pray and to dip their hands in the cold water, which is believed to relax, restore and fill one with happiness. 

The Ryu no Atago or Pond of Dragon along the “Kimono Forest”.

 

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