Day Nine - Kyoto Sightseeing

Last night, we arrived at the Ibis Styles Hotel in Kyoto, opposite the very extensive railway station, to find that our suitcases had arrived earlier, and as we were not there to greet them, they were sent away. So the Takyubin system failed us. This time we were not able to pay on sending from Hakone, which was our preference, so no money, no bags! We were cross that the hotel personnel who knew we were coming did not keep them until we arrived. C'est la vie.
Fortunately we had our backpacks with some clothing and our toiletries.
The room was very comfortable and the view of the station at night

was quite spectacular.
This morning, Friday, we caught the train to Nara to meet up with Lesley's friends, Haruko, Margarita, Fidelis and Yoshii from the Nara Good Samaritan Community. It was a wonderful reunion with much hugging and smiling and chatting about the old days when Lesley lived and worked in Tokyo and Sasebo. We shared cups of tea and coffee and cake at a nearby cafe. By chance, a Japanese friend of Jacinta's, whom we all knew, happened along and came over to say hello so that was an added surprise.
Afterwards, Haruko took us for a drive to see some of the local sights. We saw the Kofukuji Pagoda rising high beyond the trees and Sarusawa Pond which is a beautiful lake near the shopping district of Nara and within the precinct of Nara Park.
We could see the entrance to the big Buddha Shrine in the distance and the dozens of deer roaming in the park. The deer are very tame

and would even venture very close to the shops, ignoring the people passing by.
We roamed around Nara Park along with other visitors and groups of Japanese school children on excursions. Lesley remembered the time when she was involved in an excursion to Nara with five busloads of schoolgirls from Seiwa Girls' College in Sasebo. That was in 1988. Everywhere they went during this five-day excursion, the teachers received personal gifts from restaurant and hotel owners, no doubt as incentive to return there with more excursion groups.
In Nara, all the teachers received a personalised engraved large knife from a company famous for its cutlery and especially knives. The Kikuichi Cutlery Company dates back to 1267 with a history of bladesmithing going as far back as the days of the Samurai. Emperor Go-toba in the 13th century chose their family ancestors to be one of his swordsmiths. Lesley still has her engraved knife today with her name in Japanese katakana on it.
We took the slow train back to Kyoto because we planned to stop at the station nearest the Fushimi Inari Shrine. We walked a short distance to the shrine and basically followed the crowd of Japanese visitors and foreigners.
The Fushimi Inari Shrine is a shinto shrine dating from 711 A.D. It

features a cobbled path with hundreds of red traditional gates. It sits at the base of a mountain, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines. The whole area spans about four kilometres and it can take two hours to walk through.
We were happy to follow the tourist pathways and Lesley was delighted that there were so many Japanese dressed in traditional kimono - men and women. We heard that it is today's fashion to hire a kimono for the day, as kimonos are very expensive items to buy. So many beautiful photos to take.
We came upon a couple of girls in traditional dress sitting down on the steps for a break, both checking their smartphones. Today's Japanese millenials. Lovely to see. We also kept our eye on what seemed like a professional young photographer, his assistant carrying the umbrella, and a young model wearing Western dress.

Our next experience was to take the JR (Japan Rail) bus to the Ryoanji Temple Garden which is the site of Japan's most famous rock garden. It attracts hundreds of visitors every day.
Ryoanji, 'the temple of the dragon at peace', was originally an aristocrat's villa during the Heian Period (794-1192), but was converted into a Zen temple in 1450 and belongs now to a Zen Buddhism sect. It was threatening rain but we kept on as we had come so far. The gardens including a park area with ponds and the moss gardens are amazingly beautiful.
The rock garden is considered one of the finest surviving examples of dry landscape. It consists of a rectangular plot of pebbles surrounded by low earthen walls, with 15 rocks laid out in small groups on patches of moss. It is said that from any vantage point at least one of the rocks in always hidden from the viewer. The garden is daily raked into linear patterns and this is meant to facilitate meditation. These

gardens are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We took our shoes off to walk into the Hojo, the head priest's former residence. We could see the spacious tatami rooms on the inside and the sliding doors (fusuma) which separated rooms. From the platform at the side we could view the garden. Most people sit down at the edge of the garden to contemplate quietly. There was very little noise or chat happening when we were there.
Some believe that the garden represents the common theme of a tiger carrying cubs across a pond or of islands in a sea. Others believe it represents infinity.
Around one side in another garden area is a round stone trough which incorporates its square water basin into a Zen inscription which students of kanji may be able to appreciate. Lesley was given a heavy metal one of these many years ago as a paper weight.
In the evening we found a little Japanese restaurant where we could relax and chat and rest our weary feet.