1/28/06: Nanzen-ji, Sanjusangendo, and Nijo Castle

There was a man staying at Utano Hostel that had the best mullet in the world. He had a brown fro like Bob Ross, but with dredlocks coming down the back. So amazing. After gawking at that for a while, I headed over to Nanzen-ji, home of the famous painted sliding doors. They were beautiful. Golden paintings of tigers and storks on the walls of each room. And as you first enter, you walk through this darkened hall lit at the very end, which actually creates a very neat effect [photo]. Their rock garden, although much like Ryoan-ji, was much more medative and breathtaking, as monks were chanting in the background and it was an infinitely more serene atmosphere (few tourists) [photo]. Also, the regular garden, although small, had that same holy/peaceful feeling [photo]. I had originally wanted to try out the tearoom, thinking that it would be a whole tea ceremony experience, but it turned out to be an empty room for drinking tea [photo]. The view, however, was quite amazing. After Nanzen-ji, I made my way over to Sanjusangendo. I couldn't get any photos of the 1001 buddhas, since it is still an active temple, but it was absolutely spectacular. There were 1001 golden Kannons in rows. Dispersed throughout the length of the hall in the front row were wooden guardian dieties, such as the Thunder and Wind Gods. The sheer length of the hall needed to hold all of these statues was impressive, and they actually had English descriptions of each guardian god. After Sanjusangendo, I went to downtown Kyoto where the restaurant and shopping district is. So crazy. There are just hoards of people milling around and every store is brightly colored and incredibly loud in their attempt to attract people. I even saw this taiko drum game, which is like DDR, but using a drum instead [photo]. Next, I sauntered on over to Nijo Castle. Kind of cool, but not on par with Himeji Castle, in my opinion. Although I have to admit that there was a bit about nightingale floorboards (floorboards designed to squeak to warn the shogun of approaching ninjas/danger- the squeaks actually sound a lot like nightingales) that was cool.

Stephen's read in the newspaper recently that whale sales (acquired by "scientific whaling", the biggest load of crap I've ever heard of) are going down. However, whalers are increasing their efforts to catch whales, despite the falling market. So what is their new and amazing strategy? They are going to send whale meat to schools to try and breed a new generation of whale lovers. After all, they say, whales are a menace; they eat all our fish. So amazing.




Fun/Strange Picture of the Day: Nijo Castle Women's bathroom with a Press in case of emergency button... what kind of emergencies do people have, exactly?