"Boku no Natsu Yasumi" (My Summer Vacation - 7 of 14)

Dec 022009

On day seven of our Kyoto expedition the summer rainy season showed no signs of giving us a reprieve so we rolled up our trousers, popped open our brollies and got on the subway. We headed to Keage station on the mountain between Kyoto and Yamashina and from there cowered under our hopelessly outclassed umbrellas as the lashing rain bounced up from the pavement and darkened our clothes from the shins up.

Nanzen-ji was understandably quiet given that it was a weekday and the heavens were hemorrhaging. I showed dad around the well-known nooks and crannies of the beautiful temple; the aqueduct, the bell, the gate from which legendary thief Goemon is said to have marveled at Kyoto’s beauty. From there, however, we searched the depths of the temple for the small, muddy mountain track that would lead us to the tiny Kotoku-an shrine, nestled into the foot of the mountain. Built under a waterfall there’s a prayer spot at the rear of the shrine that bathes pilgrims in Kyoto’s mountain water. With no-one around I took the opportunity to free myself of my kecks and get under the torrent to pray. In the humid summer heat it was refreshing both physically and spiritually. The impact of that privileged little mountain would later come to symbolise for me a kind of psychic turning point and thus will remain a cherished memory of the greatest summer vacation I’ve ever had.

We then walked past Eikan-do and headed onto the Path of Philosophy where we talked about like, love and happiness while enjoying the views. Stopping briefly to refuel on sando and green tea we sat down and enjoyed the Kyoto vibe for a while.

Most food and drink is seasonal in Japan and without being asked we were served two bowls of chilled, powdery green tea. The perfect refreshment for a hot summer’s day in a traditional corner of Kyoto.

On the way to Ginkaku-ji we noticed a tiny shrine named Honen-in so we decided to duck in and see what we could find.

It was a peaceful and fascinating little corner of zen and interesting artefacts and I kicked myself for having overlooked it for 3 years.

After seeing a gang of schoolkids on a PE jog almost get run over by a syphilitically angry truck driver, who pushed the definition of that label to breaking point, we moved on to Ginkaku-ji (The Temple of the Silver Pavilion).

The Temple has a fascinating zen garden featuring the ubiquitous Kyoto “monk mound”, the tell-tale sign that a holy man has too much time on his hands. There were wasps burrowing in and out of the zen garden to eggs they’d laid under the bright white gravel.

Ginkaku-ji was intended to be coated in silver leaf but it was never finished and, unlike Kinkaku-ji which was coated in gold leaf, the temple was left alone. It’s still a beautiful and world famous landmark, but if you work for trades descriptions you might want to give this one a miss.

Tsukubai, meaning “crouch”, are small purification fonts at which pilgrims clean themselves up before praying.

On the way home we found “thick, drinkable vanilla pudding” in a cup. Lawks.

Sugary in Sanjo is a favourite among the Kyoto ladies, so imagine my surprise when I found another branch of the chain on the way back home featuring ants crawling up to a cupcake in which a genius designer had embedded a spotlight. Sugary indeed.

Approved of yakiniku. You can’t go wrong with animal flesh over flames. The restaurant was in Nagitsuji where I used to live so I showed dad my old apartment and its environs. It was nice to give dad a little taste of one of the most significant years of my long but colourless life.

Bellies full and fuzzy from fizzy pop we headed home for a well earned movie break. Feasts and fire go together rather well, we decided.

We took the advice of the subway signs and felt our growths on the way home. It was hard to do so and not be thrown off the train however.

Finally a can of Okinawa’s local brew Orion, pronounced “o-ree-on” for the road to sleepy town. A little blog editing was in order before my eyelids drooped, but it wasn’t to last long. It had been a moving and satisfying day and we’d earned ourselves a good kip.