Walking Kyoto History - May 14

Kinkaku

Kyoto - To me, it used to mean a lot of UNESCO temples and sites. I have tried to use the tourist map to catch as many temples as I could during my last solo trip to Kyoto. I ended up visiting some key ones - just like trying to see all the exhibits in European museums. This time, we decided to see a few UNESCO temples and try our luck to meet any Geisha. 

The first temple was the "Golden" Kinkaku. During my last trip, it was under restoration. I told my dear this was one of the temples I liked. The reflection and the surrounding. Of cos, as we were in the start of the Golden Week, we didn't have lots of space. Bumped into a Russian couple and a Russian guide who helped take a few of our photos with the Kinkaku in the background. One of the photos became our iMAC wallpaper.

With the Kinkaku, we moved off to the silver Ginkaku. 

Ginkaku

This Ginkaku, a bit "moody" as compared to Kinkaku. It still worths a visit. We climbed up the slope to get a panoramic view of the temple in the forest. Wondering how it will look like in the flowering season - Autumn. Wow.

It was drizzling the day and we managed to cover the outdoor sites before heading down to the Old Streets. It should be interesting like the old streets in old japanese shows/movies with Samurais walking around and Geishas moving quickly for appointments.  

We saw quite a few ladies in kimono but they were not Geishas of cos. Walking through the old streets, we chanced upon a theatre where we could pay to see a performance by a real Geisha! Without much hesitation, we queued and used up our fund (No visas/masters allowed for payment). Gosh, lucky we were not very hungry then. The queue was relatively long with a lot of tourists from tour group. I can't rem the amount per person but the theatre looked like the one in Hanoi showing water puppets. Free seating and we took the second row.  Dunno why I just dun like to be in the first row, be in exam or performance. 

There were a series of shows including "imperial" dance, performance by a young geisha. Initially, we thought the focus was on the geisha's performance. However, the last show involved a very skilful puppet master who played his puppets skilfully. This one really attracted my dear who had put 100% attention. 

I didn't realise she was enjoying the "art" so much. For me, my attention span was dropping as hunger was kicking in slowly. When she told me it was superb, I decided to do some imitation of the moves to entertain her - obviously she wasn't impressed. 

Though some "arts" may have lost their attractiveness, we understand that the Geisha's lifestyle is still being pursued. They are a mysterious group who would only show up by appointments and it isn't easy to secure an appointment unless you have some acquaintances. Hmm. This makes them mysterious. The Geishas' training is not easy too as shown in the documentary in the queuing area. Tough work. I told myself maybe next Kyoto trip, we can try to see if we could have an appointment to understand more about the Geisha's life. 

We wanted to dine along the river with the backdrop of old japanese streets.  However, many of the "shops" were in Japanese and seem to be fully "booked". We ended up eating grilled food in a small restaurant before catching our bus and train back to Osaka. 

Beppu has onsen, Kyoto has geishas and temples. Maybe that's why we like to travel to Japan with its richness and uniqueness.