TokyoTomo Travel Guide

April is the very season to enjoy sakura in Kyoto. While many tourists visit Kyoto from inside and outside Japan, Kyoto actively hosts spring festivals in various places. This time, I participated in two festivals held in the middle of April.

Many shrines and temples in Kyoto are famous for its cherry blossoms, but in this article I would like to focus on Hirano Shrine. The shrine is located in Kita Ward in Kyoto City, usually in tranquility except for sakura season when it becomes crowded with tons of tourists. Four hundred cherry blossoms of about 55 species are planted in the precincts, famous for its “Night Sakura in Hirano.” Various types of cherry blossoms can be enjoyed from late March until early May. Every year, “Sakura Matsuri” is held on 10 April, which derives from the provisional imperial festival by Emperor Kazan of the Heian era first held in the year 985. From the afternoon, parades of people dressed in Heian costumes, horse soldiers, and Orihime (weaver princess) visit the areas where shrine parishioner lives. Among them, I was overwhelmed by the knights on the horses. The charm of the parade is we get to walk right beside the parade and take an up close look at the participants in different costumes.

In the precincts, there is a Japanese sweets only available in this season. “Hirano-ouro,” a sweets made of a ball of red bean paste coated with sugar, is served with “Sakura-yu,”a hot water with “Kaiun-zakura,” i.e., salted sakura that has been used for prayers. From late March to mid April, classic music and ancient court music are performed in the worship hall. You can take a break appreciating the sakura and enjoying the music with a sense of spring in Kyoto.

The following day, I participated in “Yasurai-matsuri,” one of the three unusual festivals of Kyoto. This is a festival that continues from Heian era with various theories of its origin. In the past, it was said that deities of plague and evil spirits come down together when spring flowers fall; the festival is a “Hana-shizume-no-matsuri (flower calming festival)” to appease these deities. During the festival, parade of people with red or black devil costumes walk and dance around the parishioner’s area with flutes, bells, drums and calls. At the same time, a huge red “hana-gasa (literally translated as flower-umbrella)” decorated with flowers is carried along together. By the dances in the parade, the deities of plague and evil spirits will be sealed off inside the umbrella, and it is said that you will be healthy with no disease for the year if you go under the hana-gasa. Sometimes, I saw people rushing into the umbrella in the middle of the festival.

Currently, Yasurai-matsuri is hosted by four organizations in Kita Ward in Kyoto City; Imamiya Shrine, Genbu Shrine, Kawakami-daijingu, Ota Shrine and Kamigamo Shrine. The parade from Ota Shrine to Kamigamo Shrine is the only one held in May, but other shrines have the festival on the second Sunday of April.

“If the weather in Yasurai-matsuri is fine, all events in Kyoto will be sunny for the year,” goes the legend, but unfortunately this year was a bad weather. There are two parts in the festival, a dance within the shrine precincts and a parade in parishioner’s area, but many parades were called off this year due to drizzling weather. However, I got to chase after Genbu Shrine’s parade as I heard that they will still have them on though it will be a simplified version. The town was soon filled with devils in scarlet costumes, fiercely bouncing around with the rhythm of flutes, drums and calls. The children dressed up as little devils were adorable, greeted by the locals with a smile on their face.

Yasurai-matsuri in Imamiya Shrine started from the precinct with a little devil’s dance performed by children, followed by eight big devils in two groups forming a large circle dedicating their yasurai-dance to the deities. Ringing the bells and beating the drums, the devils overwhelmed me by changing its movement from vibrant jumping movement to slow circular dances that seemed vibrant enough to chase away the deities of plague. The dancers also received applause by the observing tourists.

After enjoying Yasurai-matsuri, fill in your stomach with “Aburi-mochi” in front of the shrine. This is a baked rice cake sprinkled with soya bean powder in small skewers, tasted with white miso paste. Two aburi-mochi stores are in front of the shrine, and surprisingly, one of it has been in business since Heian era. It is also nice to try both stores as the taste is slightly different between the two.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.

From March to April, Japan is in the middle of sakura front, and the cities are colored pink by the somei-yoshino cherry blossoms. Arashiyama and Sagano in Kyoto is tinted red with beautiful crimson leaves in autumn, but during this season, the area will be covered with light pink veils in the spring haze. It is a completely different atmosphere from autumn. Let’s stroll around from Arashiyama to Sagano on a rickshaw, the most popular area of Kyoto to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

These days, the perfect way to enjoy sightseeing in well-known tourists areas in Japan is to take a rickshaw, and numbers of rickshaws are in operation in Kyoto, mainly in Higashiyama and Arashiyama Area. The difference from other transportation is that passengers can feel the air and smell, just like moving about like walking, as well as having a very pleasant feeling of having a higher level of eyes and enjoying the conversation with the rickshaw man.

The hour-long trip starts from Togetsukyo Bridge, the starting point of Arashiyama-Sagano sightseeing. This area has been the theme for various sightseeing photos, and cherry blossoms was at its best at the time I visited the area, packed with many cameramen with their cameras in their hands. I had an experienced rickshaw man who has been in business for six years, who seemed to know exactly what I was looking for and what I would be satisfied from his service.

Tenryu-ji Temple, registered as one of the World Heritage site, had its sakura in its best, but I decided to go to pass Tenryu-ji to go to the famous bamboo forest as it would be less crowded in the early morning time. It is soon the harvest season for the specialty of the area, bamboo shoots, but the current tranquility of the bamboo forest has an atmosphere of Kyoto’s subtleness and simplicity, a contrasting ambience from the gaiety of sakura. I went pass places related to the Tales of Genji including Nomiya Shrine and Seiryo-ji Temple. The tour is already half way through after passing Seiryo-ji Temple which was previously a mountain villa Seikakan where Minamoto-no-Toru, the model of Hikaru Genji, the leading character of the Tale of Genji used to stay.

Up north by Seiryo-ji Temple is “Hokyoin.” This is off the beaten path, a temple known to those with discerning taste. The temple was built by the orders of Emperor Shirakawa to pray for the protection of the state and prosperity of the imperial family. Its dry rock garden gained moss, surrounded with outstanding sakura and Japanese globeflower during this season. Needless to say, the garden has its best view in autumn with crimson leaves. Facing my back to the wooden statue of eleven-faced and thousand-armed bodhisattva in the main hall, the garden looks as if it is a piece of artistic painting. You can tell that this garden was designed on the premise that it will be viewed from the main hall. The tomb of a head of Masatsura Kusunoki, a warlord in Southern Dynasty era, lies in this temple. The second shogun, Yoshiakira Ashikaga of Muromachi Shogunate decided to bury him in the precincts to extol him for his distinguished service, and the shogun himself is also buried in his will. Travel around Kyoto, you’ll bump into these kind of historical connection everywhere you go.

After that, the rickshaw ran down the sakura blooming Arashiyama down to Sagano, the final stop of the short trip. There were even more people around noon, but being on a rickshaw did not make me bother about the crowd at all.

A hill called Ogura-yama stands as if it glances down the whole area of Arashiyama and Sagano. This is where the mountain villa “Shigure-tei” was, the place where Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Waka Poems of Ogura-yama) originated. Ogura Hyakunin Isshu is a private collection of waka poems selected by chronological orders by Sadaie Fujiwara, a poet of Kamakura Era, well known to Japanese being used in karuta card games. A building to enjoy Hyakunin Issue through games and exhibition is built in the center of Arashiyama. That, is, “Shigure-den,” a facility which seems to pun the word “Shigure-tei.” Operated by the world famous game manufacturer Nintendo with its headquarters in Kyoto, it has the state-of-the-art exhibitions with its high technologies. Here, you can enjoy a walk in the sky of the city of Kyoto and experience card-grabbing games.

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NHK period drama on Sundays is on air throughout the year, and naturally, the regions highlighted in the drama has high chance to gain nationwide attention. Last year, Niigata and Yamagata came under the spotlight as the leading role of the drama was Kanetsugu Naoe, the warlord who showed presence in the area. Ryoma Sakamoto is featured for this year; his birthplace Kochi Prefecture, and the associated places such as Edo (Tokyo), Kyoto, and Nagasaki, will be the center of attraction. Many historical incidents took place in Kyoto during the transition from Edo to Meiji period, and it is interesting to walk around the town taking a glance at the history of the last days of Tokugawa Shogunate. Kyoto has been an inevitable place for Japan’s history since the transfer of the capital to Kyoto 1200 years ago, with many architectural and cultural heritage from those days, but thanks to Ryoma Sakamoto, this year people are giving more than a passing thought to the history merely 150 years ago.

This winter, Kyoto holds special exhibition of unpublicized cultural properties for a limited time until the end of March around the spring holidays, with array of cultural assets from the late Edo period. This time, I visited Sokushuin and Taikoan in Tofuku-ji Temple where it is famous for its autumn foliage. Sokushuin was established about 620 years ago as a temple for Satsuma clan (current Kagoshima Prefecture), and it is said that Atsuhime, a princess featured in the period drama two years ago, had stopped by on the way to Edo before she got married to the shogun in the late Edo period. It was also a place where Takamori Saigo, the clan member of Satsuma, and Gessho, a monk in Kiyomizu-dera Temple, discussed the plan to overthrow Tokugawa Shogunate. After that, during his six-month stay in Sokushuin, Takamori Saigo built a monument to commemorate the souls of 524 clan members killed in the battle of Toba-Fushimi. The monument faces westward to the far land of Satsuma, but just as if it represents the Satsumas losing power in the central government after Seinan War, the gravestone is ruined as if it is showing how mortified they have been. This area is usually not opened to public, and this was my first time I noticed a contrasting spot in the colorful Kyoto; this may be one of the place where the history of modern Japan really started.

Taikouan is another cultural asset seen in Tofuku-ji. There is a rock garden covered with hair moss, and tea house where Juji (leader monk of the temple) Ankokuiji Eikei and Mitsunari Ishida conspired to defeat Tokugawa before the battle of Sekigahara. During the battle of Toba-Fushimi, this area was the headquarters of Choshu clan, another leading party of Satsuma-Choshu alliance. Tofuku-ji was a site where the drama took place at that time by becoming the temple supporting the clan members. Though it looks as if it completely has nothing to do with the conspiracy and conflicts, the rock garden is actually the witness of the history. Ostensibly, the garden silently express the world of zen with wabi-sabi; the seriousness of the history can be sought deep inside the tranquility of the garden.

Less than five minutes by car from Tofuku-ji is Sennyu-ji, a temple where Emperor Komei rests in peace. He was the 121st emperor who was tossed about in the turbulent days of the end of Edo period when the anti-foreigner movement was on the rise. The temple is famous for being the family temple for the imperial family, entombing emperors of Edo period from Gomizunoo to Komei. Even nowadays the temple is visited by the imperial family, and the rooms are decorated with screen paintings that reminds us of the court life back then. The temple edifice impresses the visitors with its magnificence being the royal temple. Not many people visit the temple as it is located southeast away from the center of Kyoto. I also wouldn’t drop by unless there is a chance like this, but Kyoto has witnesses of history here and there around the town.

After being exposed to the upheaval of the late Edo period, for a change I took a stroll to view plum blossoms. End of February is the season of plums, indicating the coming of early spring in the ancient capital. Kitano-Tenmangu Shrine is the very spot to view Kyoto’s plum blossoms, about 30 minutes northwest by car from Sennyu-ji. Enshrining Michizane Sugawara, the god of academic achievements, many young students visit the shrine around this time of the year during the entrance exam season, but on the other hand, the precinct is filled with beautiful plum blossoms of white and red. I feel plum blossom is a suitable forerunner before the time of cherry blossoms when Kyoto bear a resplendent atmosphere. Plum blossoms is a perfect flower to enjoy in early spring, signifying the coming of spring to the old capital.

In night like this in early springtime, I would recommend a restaurant that serves exquisite Italian food in a Japanese atmosphere. “Higashiyama Sodo,” a private residence of a renowned Japanese-style painter Seiho Takeuchi, was built in early Showa period near Kodai-ji temple in Higashiyama at the east of the Tower of Yasaka. Keeping its original condition, the personal residence has now become the restaurant with a splendid Japanese atmosphere called “The Garden Oriental Kyoto.” After spending a day learning about the twilight years of Edo period, it would be a chic way of enjoying the night in the air of pre-war Japan. Drinking wine touching the aesthetic feeling of Japanese-style artist.

Kyoto always surprises me with its deep insight.
Winter in Kyoto chills me up to the bone, but gives us a luxury to indulge in a historical walk like this.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.