Leaving our hosts - on to Kyoto

We gathered at Nagoya station by 8:40 on Tuesday for our trip to Kyoto.  Each host family came with our students to say goodbye.  It was clear each of our kids had made a connection with their hosts and that both the students and their families were sorry to say goodbye.

We got on the Super Express Hikari for Kyoto and were in the downtown Kyoto station in 45 minutes.  We then took a three and a half minute walk (the kids timed it) to our hotel which is across from the station.  We were too early to check in so we just dropped our bags off and went in search of lunch.  There are good reasons to have a hotel close to the train station, one of which is that there are cheap places to eat all around it.  So we did a quick tour of the options open to us and  - the kids not me - settled on MacDonalds.  Sigh....

After our lunch, we wet off on our walk to Kiyomizu Temple which is 3.5 kilometers from the downtown area.  Great day for a walk - sunny and about 22 degrees.  The temple is on top of a hill and the main street up is quite busy with people going into souvenir shops on either side.  So we tried a side street going up running parallel to the main one.  Very glad we did as we began to walk through a huge cemetery.  People in Japan are cremated upon death and their ashes or memorial stone is put into the cemetery.  Like the rest of Japan it is crowded.  There were many people coming to pay respects with flowers.

Cemetery on the way to Kiyomizu.

Kiyomizu is a temple that is special for one indoor attraction, but mainly because of what it has outdoors. The temple is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon who is the enlightened buddhist saint of compassion.  The indoor attraction is one that most people don't see because it is a little spooky.  We decided to see it.  We took our shoes off and descended single file down a narrow staircase underneath the temple.  There were no lights and we could not use our camera lights - just hold the railing that led down and follow the twisting path into the temple.  Finally we came to big stone with a light shining down on it.  On the stone is carved in sanskrit the symbol for birth.  It symbolizes the birth of compassion.

Once we got outside we did the outdoor tour.  One of our stops was the 'love stones'.  These are two big rocks located about 50 meters from each other.  The idea is that if you can close your eyes and walk from one stone to the other you will have success in love.  If however you start wandering off course you must rely on a friend to get you back on course.  That is ok, because in matters of the heart you sometimes have to rely on a friend.  Everyone tried it and everyone needed a friend.

Made it!

The second outdoor attraction is the water.  A stream runs through the temple property and it is this water that is so pure.  So everyone must try to drink some.  We stood in line under a small man made water fall and used long handled cups to get some.

Getting some pure water.

We left Kiyomizu temple and went on a 2 kilometer walk back towards downtown Kyoto and visited Sanjuusangendo temple along the way.  This temple is also dedicated to the bodhisatva Kannon.  No pictures to show you here as none are allowed to be taken inside which is too bad as this is also a very cool place.  The temple was founded about 1300 years ago.  In the temple is the made statue of Kannon, but what is really interesting is that she is flanked on either side by a total of 1,000 other boddisatvas who are her helpers and protectors.  Very calming place to be in.

After Sanjuusangedo we walked back to the hotel and settled in.  Tomorrow is Nara.