Tuesday, October 22nd - Day 42 - Arishiyama's Bamboo Forest and the Tenryu-ji Temple

We had decided to follow the guidebook's advice and set off early to see the Bamboo Forest to the west of the city of Kyoto.  We set our alarms for 6am and were at breakfast when it opened at 6:30am.  We got to the train station and bought round-trip tickets on Japan Rail to the village of Arishiyama. Note:  There are MANY rail lines.  Choosing the right one can be challenging.

View Inside the Train

Of particular interest to Munroe was an opportunity to view local electoral campaigning in action. At one stop along the 30-minute train ride, we caught sight of a local candidate campaigning by standing atop the roof of a flag-covered van and speaking - to no one in particular - through a microphone that blasted his message out.  Obviously, they were trying to reach the commuter crowd but by the time we were there the rush hour had largely passed. As the guy spoke, an aide (I assume) wearing white gloves was standing beside him waving and smiling broadly at anyone and everyone - and sometimes at no one!  After a while, they broke down the set and headed off to another stop. 

Bamboo Forest. - a trip worth taking
After we arrived we basically joined a growing crowd of people doing the roughly 15-minute walk to the beginning of the Bamboo forest.  Also, Deb had found someone's detailed description on the web, with photos that pointed us in the right direction.  Actually, the crowd was not too bad at all when we arrived at 8am.

There is something ethereal about walking through a forest of bamboo, swaying gently in the breeze.  The color of green is unusual, and the trunks of some of the trees were almost blue in color.  Things got crowded - especially as the morning wore on - but we enjoyed walking through the forest.  We stopped to see a couple of temples and shrines along the way. You could understand that contemplative religious types would be drawn to this area.

Beautiful Bamboo Forest

 

As we strolled down through the surrounding park, with quite a few small shrines, we encountered a lovely river, cut deep into the mountains.  We followed it for a while and came to a spot where you could rent a row boat.  We decided that looked like fun so we took one out for an hour - 2,000 yen (about $13 US).  It was nice, though it turned out that you couldn't proceed far in one direction due to rapids, or in the other due to a waterfall.  But it was lovely to be out on the water and away from the growing crowds for a bit.

Tenryu-Ji Temple
As we wandered back up the paths we stopped at a couple of Buddhist temples - the most significant being the Tenryu-Ji Temple (Temple of the Heavenly Dragon). The temple was established in 1339 by a shogun and it has become the head temple of the Tenryu-ji branch of the Rinzai Zen Buddhism.  This sprawling campus has many buildings, and the temple itself is large and imposing.  But the highlight of the spot is its beautiful gardens, which are planted with many different flowering shrubs and bushes (a list of the ones currently in flower was displayed at the entry).  A nice stream flows through part of the garden, and there is a gorgeous pond filled with large and colorful koy.  You could just see the beginnings of the autumn change in color of the trees around the pond - making for a glorious scene. 

According to the elderly gentleman who was tending to this temple (one of the smaller ones near the entrance to the larger temple complex), Japanese dragons have 3 heads; Korean dragons have 4 heads; and Chinese dragons have 5 heads.  You can't see it from the picture below, but the oval in the ceiling of the temple has a drawing of a 3-headed dragon.  He encouraged us to spend some time appreciating the site - assuring us that the cameras were ok!  He was a great ambassador for one of the lesser temples in the complex!

                                                                                  

Along the short road to the temple are small shops, etc and we tasted a sample of some very tasty "Chili" herbs.  We would have purchased a package but New Zealand is out next stop and absolutely NO food of any kind is allowed to enter.  Hopefull we can find this back home.

We had a lovely lunch in the village of Arisiyama - a tuna rice bowl, miso soup, and a beer - just outside the main temple complex.  Delicious!  Then it was back to the train station and the return to Kyoto city.

By the time we got back, we were pretty tired, so we returned to the hotel room for a brief nap.  We read for a while and watched CNN on the TV - unfortunately, they overdub the English with Japanese, so you can't hear the commentary - and when you turn on subtitles the only options are Japanese!  So we watch the headlines and extrapolate to get the news!

We set out around 7pm to find dinner - a real challenge in an area dense with large hotels and short of many restaurants.  We didn't enjoy our Chinese food meal on the 11th floor of the shopping mall at the train station (the only one of the seven or eight restaurants on that floor with a free table - there were waiting lines at the others) from the night before, so we were determined to find Japanese food!  So we took a chance on going into the hotel right next door - and found a large restaurant with plenty of space!  We ordered a 'set' plate - beef sukiyaki and rice; veggie tempura; wheat noodles a delicious broth soup, and a couple of sides.  It was beautifully presented and delicious! We ordered a bottle of Chilean cab sauv, which came chilled with frosted wine glasses!  All for under $45 US!  Japan used to be thought of as hideously expensive.  While it is no Thailand, it is now a bargain destination, far cheaper than the US.  And tipping here is not expected.

So we turned in early and had a good night.