Daitokuji Temple
As I consider Kyoto to be the most beautiful city I’ve ever been to (I see it as the Paris of Japan) and Trevy loves it best of all places in Japan for its history and culture and art, it was with excitement that we took our second trip to Kyoto. We were there from Saturday May 28th to Sunday Jun 5th, and while this time with had to contend with rain, heat, and hoards of middle schoolers on class trips, and I couldn’t help but achingly long for the beauty, serenity, and other-worldliness of cherry blossom season, we still had a very nice time and experienced many breathtaking moments.
We also met with lots of animals, particularly cats. Now, I’m not sure if there are more stray cats in Japan that America, Japan is just a more cat-friendly place (as opposed to the stupid dog-loving USA), or Trevor and I just have some special ability to draw cats to us wherever we are, but many times we’d be at a famous site and find ourselves encountering a cat. And if not a cat, then deer or monkeys, though those meetings were fully expected. It is for this reason that I will let the cats (and other fauna) be the guide to our Kyoto trip.
Philosopher's Path Cat
Cats of Philosopher’s Path: While nothing can compare to the fantasy-world beauty of the Philosopher’s Path in cherry blossom season, it is still a beautiful walk in summer, lush and green and watery. It was on this famous walk where we met our first cats of the week – or perhaps I should say met again. Last year we ran into some cats along the path, beneath some bushes, and, here they still were, more than a year later! They obliged us with some picturesque poses, and when we tried to move along, one protested by jumping on Trevy’s lap. It makes the Philosopher’s Path all the more lovely that friendly cats prowl along it.
Uji Cat
Cat of Uji: Taking advantage of a sunny day, on Tuesday we made our way to Uji, a town outside of Kyoto famous for its tea and setting as the final ten chapters of the Japanese epic The Tale of Genji. It is also known for its stunning river and the Byodoin Temple, on the back of the ten yen coin. Making our way through the pretty street leading to Byodoin, we met with this friendly kitty, welcoming us to the town. She proved to be a good omen, as Byodoin, dating from 998 and sitting on a pool of water, is my favorite temple I’ve seen in Japan, and the river was, well, everything you’d imagine a perfect Japanese river to look like.
Cat and Tori
Cat of Fushimi Inari Shrine: We returned to Fushimi Inari shrine, with its endless rows of Tori stretching up a mountain, and here met with more cats. We climbed up through the tori to a little restaurant that overlooked Kyoto, and watched as a kitten and mother played outside our window. On our way down, we ran into another cat, who was kind enough to oblige us with a perfect picture beneath the tori.
Lady of Daitokuji.
Cat of Daitokuji Temple: This was our second visit to Daitokuji Temple, but last year we just took a cursory walk through the grounds, while this year we explored many of its sub-temples. I am glad we did, because on sub-temple opened on to the most beautiful garden I’ve seen in Japan, green, wet with rain, and with lovely paths leading around trees and under gates. We also found another cat, a pretty little lady who took a particular liking to me, mewing and jumping on my lap. Temples must be a welcoming place for cats to live.
Shika.
Deer of Nara: After our Disney-like experience there last year, there was no way we could pass up Nara, with its multitude of tame deer roaming its parks and temples and shrines. Unfortunately, the deer weren’t quite in the same Snow-White mood as last year, displaying a bit more crankiness and impatience, perhaps brought on by the hoards of middle schoolers screaming in their faces and their protectiveness over the little new-born babies we were able to glimpse from time to time. Several deer stomped on my feet and one even bit my dress when I didn’t feed them crackers at an appropriate pace. Nevertheless, Nara is still a storybook town that I can’t believe exists, with its 60 foot daibutsu, lovely temples and shrines, and, of course, tame deer. If Trevor had been placed in Nara, I don’t think I could ever leave Japan.
Feeding monkeys.
Monkeys of Arashiyama: My monkey infatuation was not satisfied by my one paltry monkey sighting last September, so I was greatly anticipating our visit to Arashiyama (meaning “Storm Mountain”) with its famous monkey-park. However, even without the monkeys it would have been worthwhile to visit that part of Kyoto, as Arashiyama turned out to be possibly the most beautiful place I have ever seen, with its bridge spanning a wide river surrounded on both sides by misty, green mountains. It was like the ideal of Japan, like scenery in a Miyazaki movie that actually exists in real life. After absorbing the view, we made our way up to the monkey park. And by “up” I mean we climbed a steep mountain for twenty minutes in the sweltering heat. And as we went, panting and sweating, we kept seeing signs along the path warning “Do not stare at the monkeys! Do not touch the monkeys! Don’t show food to the monkeys! Don’t get near the monkeys!” This naturally made me wonder if we were indeed struggling up a sweltering mountain just to be attacked by monkeys when we reached the top. But the monkeys turned out to be lovely. We went into a building with fence-walls, so we could feed the monkeys through the cage without possibility of biting, and it was a delight to put an apple or peanut into their out-stretched little hands. Some mama monkeys with babies hanging on them even came up to the cage, and it was an awfully precious sight. We also walked among them outside the building, watching them go for swims in a pool, hang from trees, pick nits out of each other’s fur. We descended the mountain happy to have met the monkeys and avoid attack.
I suppose it sort of seems like all we did was run into animals in Kyoto. And I suppose we did. But we also went to some animal-free sites, like Kiyomizudera with its tremendous view of Kyoto, Gion to see a Geisha performance, and of course paid another visit to the Golden and Silver Pavilions. It was a wonderful trip. But it’s Kyoto, so how could it not be?
Mama and Baby, Hanging.
Monkey by a pool.
