Next morning we met to begin our tour. On the way to the bus station and through the Kyoto Train Station, we explored food options including a huge food hall (depachika) in the Department store basement. DJ’s, move over! Here we came into contact with Japan’s favourite takeaway, the bento box lunch. We were able to collect our Japan Rail passes inside the train station. Thus armed, we took off by bus to explore Kyoto’s offerings.
The temple is a vast complex of shrines and pagodas built into a hillside with wonderful views across Kyoto. Kiyomizu means “pure water” and many Japanese visit to take the sacred waters of the Otowa-no-taki Falls that flow through the complex.
We were lucky enough to catch site of some maiko in beautiful traditional costumes amongst the madly flowering azaleas. It was too late in the season for that burst of sweet pink cherry blossom (sakura) though.
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| Maiko with their red collars |
Gion,
on
the eastern bank of the Kamogawa River is Edo era Japan and was developed to
suit the needs of travellers and tourists in medieval times. It became known for its tea houses (ochaya), famed for its geisha (geiko), and popular for
its auspicious temples. We learned that
apprentice geisha are locally called maiko and their quarters, okiya. Sadly I can’t remember a lot about this museum, however I have a couple of photos of some delightful silk fabrics that were on display. Many silks are only woven in Kyoto and some are still loomed by hand.
Perhaps one of the best references I have for Japanese textiles is the book written by Sunny Yang and Rochelle M. Narasin "Textile Art of Japan" (2000).
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| Silks from the Museum of Traditional Craft & Industry |
