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When we rented bikes in Arashiyama we road up to Adashino-Nenbutsu-ji (化野念仏寺) in Sagano (嵯峨野). The above photograph was the view from where we parked our bicycles right across from the temple entrance. The thatched roofs in this area of Kyoto really take you back.
Tetsugaku no michi (哲学の道) is the walking path that runs between Ginkakuji (pictured on the upper-right portion of this page) and Nanzenji. There are several other beautiful temples and shrines that run up the hill from this path too. Unfortunately, the SD card in my camera malfunctioned, and I lost those pictures. That gives me a good reason for going back though. 😉
Some of the trees were in full bloom, but most still needed another few days. This was on the 1st of April, 2007.
Nishida Kitaro, a philosophy professor at Kyoto University in the early part of the 20th Century, walked this path on a daily basis. Hence, the name–Walk of Philosophy. In English you also hear it referred to as the Path of Philosophy or the Philosopher’s Path.
Perhaps the best day we had in Japan was the day we road the train to Arashiyama. Near the station we rented bikes and then spent the day exploring north-eastern Kyoto on bicycles. I’ll show you some more pictures from this part of town and Sagano in future entries.
The above photograph is what things looked like during the first week of April. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Unfortunately, we had overcast skies so the picture isn’t that spectacular. The sakura tree was so large that I couldn’t get it all in the frame. Notice the posts that hold up the tree.
On a Sunday morning in Kyoto I woke up well before my family and went for a walk. I found myself walking around Nishi Honganji (西本願寺) and Higashi Honganji (東本願寺). I went in Higashi Honganji and sat in on 10 minutes or so of the chanting. It was very moving. I think I like weekend mornings in Japan the best. The streets are virtually empty and everything is at peace.
The Seibu Lions are about to win the Pacific League in Nippon Professional Baseball for 2008. Last year, when I saw them last, they didn’t even make the playoffs. This year they seem to be headed toward their former glory years (of the late 80s when I lived in Tokorozawa and early 90s). Hopefully they will keep it up next year when I return.
My favorite player, Kiyohara Kazuhiro, is retiring this year. He recently made his retirement announcement while playing against Seibu.
Less than a week after starting The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama I have finished reading it. The book isn’t short at over 400 pages, but I found it hard to put down. That, coupled with having to wait for breakfast in bed on father’s day for three hours 😉 , allowed me to finish The Street of a Thousand Blossoms in little time.
As mentioned in my prior blog entry on the subject, I really enjoyed the Yanaka setting. I felt like I could connect with more than just Yanaka though. For instance, I spent a day in the late 80s watching Sumo at Ryogoku Kokugikan. The highlight of the day was witnessing the great Chiyonofuji’s bout in person. So all of the Sumo dialogue in this book brought back pleasant memories. I’ve always been fascinated with Japanese masks (check out this blog daily for some outstanding photography and discussion) so Kenji’s story held my interest. And, of course, there is the trip to Hakone which I have also made. Basically everything felt familiar and resonated well.
The story is compelling, drawing on the themes of renewal and hope. I don’t want to give away too many details for those of you who haven’t yet read The Street of a Thousand Blossoms.
The occasional errors in Japanese are my main criticism. Although Tsukiyama has a Japanese name, she doesn’t understand Japanese. This won’t be noticed by readers who are in her same shoes, but those who can speak the language will cringe at times. One example is her use of hai. She uses it far more frequently and in situations in which Japanese would not. Another is her use of the unconjugated verb hairu (to enter) as a command. She should have said something like haitte kudasai or o hairi kudasai instead of just hairu. A final one (there are others) that I’ll offer as an example is the Hakone Lake which she calls Ashino. In English it should be called Lake Ashi. In Japanese it is called ashinoko (芦ノ湖). The “no” indicates it is the Lake (ko) called (no–shows possession like ‘s in English) Ashi. Put another way, one could translate Lake Tahoe as “tahoe no ko” in Japanese but you would never call it “tahoeno” in English or Japanese.
She gets Japanese culture and customs wrong on some counts as well. For example, she has the school year starting in September like it does in the U.S. In Japan, though, school years, company fiscal years, etc. start in April–not September.
These minor critiques aside, this book is very enjoyable even if you haven’t been to Yanaka, Sumo, Hakone, Nara, or even Japan.
Here are a couple more pictures I took last year from areas mentioned in The Street of a Thousand Blossoms.
This is Lake Ashi with Mt. Fuji, mostly shrouded in clouds, in the background. The place on the right may be where Tsukiyama envisions Hiroshi and Aki staying.
This is another picture from the ferry on Lake Ashi. The kanji say 箱根神社 or Hakone Jinja. “Jinja” means Shinto Shrine or Temple.