"Flowers Will Bloom" Traditional music performance on the stage of Shimogamo shrine

 Spring to early summer is the best season to enjoy various flowers in Japan.  This day I guided my guests to all around east area of Kyoto and fireflies festival held at Shimogamo shrine.

 One of the highlights of the festival was performance with traditional japanese music instruments; koto, shamisen and shakuhachi.

 On the stage of Shimogamo shrine, they played the famous music composed by KANNO Yoko. It is melody of the famous song “Hana wa Saku”  which meand "Flowers Will Bloom" in Japanese.  It is for supporting the 3.11 disaster victims.

KANNO is from Sendai city, one of the destinations of earthquake. My favourite work of her is "I do" one of the theme song of  "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex".

  "Flowers Will Bloom"  youtube vide of JSDF

It is amazing  collaboration with USAF Band.  This song takes me back the days I'd been to Northeast Japan for supporting the reconstruction as a volunteer.

 Back to the festival of shrine, we also enjoyed Japanese court-ladies kimono called "Juni-hitoe" that means "12 layers robe". The design of Japanese kimono changes according with the seasons as each sesonal flower has its own color.

 "Hotaru" Fire flies was slightly lingting up inside the gage. It added fantastic atmosphere and perfect for honeymoon trip of my guests.

My guests took nice picture just after enjoying Japanese sake at an Izakaya.  Following is some photos of the tours

Seasonal sweet called "Minazuki" . We stopped by a traditional Japanese sweet store located in Philosopher's Path .  White jelly is made of flour starch and sugar that represents the ice. The red beans on top is for getting rid of evil spirit.

Iris blossom of Heianjingu shrine garden.

We enjoyed the stepping stone of the pond garden and found some lotus flowers. 

The shape of window of Ginkakuji temple was also lotus flower.

Here is famous for Sakura blossom but the out of cherry blossom season is also beautiful!

Ninja experience in Iga and peaceful garden in Koka

 As the truth of the Ninja is shrouded in mystery, the mountains that surrounding Iga city were wrapped in mist. It was rainy day when we got to the birth place of Ninja but this made really Ninja like atmosphere.

He showed us various trick devices of ninja house. Those were for the measurements to protect the know how to produce gun powder from the enemy.

View of the city from the top floor of Ueno Castle

  My guests were staying in the hotel nearby Kusatsu station where is convenient location to access to Iga and Koka, the birth place of Ninja. Although it took about 2 hours to get to Iga, we could enjoy talking and country views such as rice field and bamboo forest. Even we were able to see the factory of the world's largest toilet manufacturer "TOTO"  from train window on the way to the destination.

 Since my guests had JR Pass, their transportation fee was free except for taxi from JR Iga Ueno St. to Ueno Park. First place we enjoyed in Iga was Iga Ueno Castle located in the park. Even though t is one of the sightseeing highlights of the city, nobody there except for the castle staff so we could occupy whole castle!

Comparing to other castles, Iga ueno castle has high stone basement for its scale. It had might been hard work to sneak into the castle even for matured ninja.

Todo Takatora, a famous lord who made the castle stronger and governed it under the regime of Tokugawa shogunate

My guest liked Takatora's black lacquered helmet.

 After the castle, we headed to Ninja museum. On the way to there, we stopped by memorial building of Basho, historical Haiku master.

It was built to commemorate the 300th birth year of Haiku master. 

Inside the building, there is Basho made of local ceramic in kilt.

 Basho was born in Iga so it is the image of him before leaving for Edo capital city. Since he traveled all around Japan to compose Haiku, it is said that Basho was a Ninja to gather the information. The truth is shrouded in mystery though, still now many people love his works.

 We headed to ninja museum and checked the time schedule of the show. While waiting for the show, we enjoyed the ninja house and the exhibitions of the museum.

You can see the schedule from the official webpage

My guests tried ninja star shuriken throwing. His girlfriend tried blowgun with long shaft and hit the target very well. She has potential. Photography and video recording were prohibited during the show.

After the show, we went for lunch to the castle town.  My guests like beef so "Iga beef" was a must to eat.

We enjoyed Iga beef with reasonable price. Marble beef is melt in your mouse! This was also only in Iga experience because most of this local beef is consumed in the city. 

After the lunch, we strolled around the town and stopped by traditional sweet store. My guest loves doubling on the skewer. Kind shop staff also served us good green tea.

"Oshimon" literally means press thing. Tile fish is a typical gift for auspicious occasion such as graduation ceremony of school but Iga is inland country and it was hard to get it. So people makes auspicious fish with sweet by using mold. 

  We really enjoyed Iga city that is not only for ninja but also other traditional Japanese culture and townscape.  On the way back to Kusatsu, we also visited the other ninja associated city, Koka.

The garden of Daichi-ji temple depicting treasure boat by the hedge of azalea. It was so tranquil and what we could hear was only bird sound. What a peaceful place!

Amazing pine tree that has so long branch welcomed us. 

When I was around the age of 2 years old, I was living nearby here and brought here by grandma and mother. So the temple gave me some nostalgic feeling. Kindly priest of the temple explained about the temple and I translated it for the guests.

 As the last destination of this tour, we went back to Kyoto and enjoyed the illumination event of Nishihonganji temple. It was so fantastic and worth to visit there.

Mifune festival and Ninja dojo anniversary party; Elegant and cool expterience

  21th May (Sunday) 2017, Mifune festival was held in Arashiyama. There were so many people so it was hard to watch it. Fortunately I had made reservation for lunch so we could enjoy the festival procession from the second floor of restaurant.

 The woman on the palanquin played the rule of Sei Shonagon, a famous author who lived around the year 1000. She was wearing “jūnihitoe” which means "twelve-layer robe” in Japanese. Considering the hot and humid weather of that day…wearing so many layer robe and keeping smile face during the festival must have been hard work. 

 My guests enjoyed Tenryuji-temple and bamboo forest. After enjoying Arashiyama, we also went to Kinkakuji temple. It is also elegant place of Ashikaga shogun who loved aristocrat culture. Iris with the back drop of golden pavilion was so beautiful.

 As the last destination of this day…maybe you expect other elegant place but we went to an ordinary building located in business district. Ninja training dojo!

 Ninja costumed staff showed us how to throw “Shuriken” ninja star. What a cool man he is!

 One of my guest could throw ninja star so elegantly. She has potential to be professional ninja. Unlike her my skill of throwing shuriken was really bad…it hit the floor and bounded into the target. It can be tricky skill but it was just an accident.

 We also experienced drinking Ninja sake. One of the label is “Hanzo”, the name of  famous ninja from Iga. Actually this sake is produced by local company of Iga city, the birth place of ninja.

 But how is sake associated with ninja? I read a guide book of ninja and it says that ninja didn’t enjoy drinking. So sake was for making the enemy dead drunk to carry out the mission. Also ninja used sake as a disinfectant on an injury. That reminds me the movie scene of Ramboo.

Snowy "Ume" Blossom; Seasonal Sweets Making Class

This is "Ume" plum blossoms that bloom first during the year. Although the flowers were topped with snow in this cold and snowy day, "Ume" tells us the spring is on the way.

My friend's cheek turned red like the color of plum blossoms because she was not accustomed with the cold weather. So we headed to warmer place.

Just before we enjoyed "Ume" blossom, we had been sweet making class that is held in traditional confectionery store located in Higashiyama district. One of the confection that we made was formed into shape of "Ume".

 She is making “Kinton” by using chopstick very well. Green colored mushed paste represents the leave of pine tree. Pine is the part of “Kadomatsu” traditional Japanese decoration of the New Year placed in front of homes. Actually we could see it at the entrance of the confectionery store.

We also stopped by Toyokuni Shrine located nearby the store. Whole shrine was covered with snow. When I visited here last spring, magnificent cherry blossom was bloomed besides the torii gate that you can view in my FB page. Still now they are waiting for upcoming spring.

This shrine is associated with the historical figure of late 16C, Hideyoshi Tyotomi. I have already written about him in the other article.

September 19, 2016 Relics of the tycoon Hideyoshi

Here you can see magnificent gate that is the relic of Hideyoshi’s castle. Nearby the shrine, there is also the relic of Toyotomi family, the historical bell of Hokoji temple.

In the Shintoism shrine, you can find wooden tablet called "Ema" and each shrine has its own shape. Here you can see tablet shaped with his symbol "hyotan" kind of gourd. The other tablet is the shape of "Zori" straw sandal that is related with Hideyoshi's life story.

It was a cold and snowy night, Hideyoshi warmed up straw sandals of his master Nobunag by putting them inside his cloth. Nobunaga appreciated his effort and Hideyoshi successfully showed his loyalty and warmth to his master. Unfortunately I didn’t have warmth to put my friend’s shoes inside cloth as well as Hideyoshi. What I could do for her was to find some warmer and comfortable places.

We also enjoyed Maiko's Dance Performance held at Miyako Messe. It was nice place to avoid the coldness and attract with traditional Japanese culture. Maiko, apprentice of Geiko was wearing ornament and Kimono designed with “Ume” blossoms. Wearing seasonal costume is one of their work. This cold and snowy day, we had enjoyed “Ume” many times in different places.

Maiko Café Art that we enjoyed when we took breakfast at the station.

Rickshaw and Sukiyaki; Japanese inventions to catch up with the West

 "Sukiyaki" is traditional cuisine consists of thinly sliced beef and vegetables simmered on sauce pan. It was the great among all dishes that I've enjoyed with my Argentine friend. Her country is famous for its large amount of production and consumption of beef. Also Argentine has traditional beef dish called "Asado" that literally means "grilled" or "barbecued" in Spanish. Maybe she would enjoy the different cooking style of beef. That's one of the reason why I had chosen Sukiyaki for the dinner.

 One thing I was concerned about Sukiyaki is that it is served with bowl of raw beaten eggs. After it was well cooked, we picked some pieces of beef and dipped them into the bowl.

How was the verdict?

¡Qué rico!
I'm happy because she really liked it. Actually the mixture of Sukiyaki sauce with beef and raw beaten eggs is melt in your mouth. That also made my face melt like above picture. I have to admit I was so relaxed with enjoying Sukiyaki in traditional Japanese room. Japanese Sake also goes well with Sukiyaki.

This Sukiyaki restaurant uses only soy sauce and sugar as seasoning. As the sugar melt and mixed with soy sauce and oil from beef, it produced the distinct aroma. It gave me the sense of nostalgia that took me back to good old days of Japan.

Sukiyaki was invented in the time when Japan opened its port to the West. That dates back to late 19C. Originally we didn't have the custom to eat meat because of the Buddhist teaching. As western people brought their meat to Japan, people were influenced by their food culture and then Japanese invented own way to enjoy beef dish. That was the origin of Sukiyaki as we know it today.

Not only food but also veichle was also invented in that period. That was Rickshaw, veichle pulled by a man. It is called "jinrikisha" in Japanese, "jin" means human, "riki" means force, and "sha" means vehicle. So it literally means "human-powered vehicle" and the English word "Rickshaw" is derived from Japanese word "rikisha". We tried it when we visited Arashiyama after enjoying Studio Park in Uzumasa.

It was perfect transportation for us to enjoy the views of Arashiyama efficiently. Olden days, Arashiyama was one of the resort for aristocrat to escape from daily life and they trip to there by using Ox-Cart. For Samurai lord or ordinary people in feudal Japan, there was the other human forced transportation “Kago”, kind of palanquin but it took place for rickshaw in late 19C.

Rickshaw was faster than Ox-Cart and “Kago” palanquin and it spread rapidly just after Japan open its door to the West. Maybe Japanese needed faster transportation to catch up with Western civilization. For that purpose, we also needs nutritious food such as meat so “Sukiyaki” was encouraged by cultured people, for example, Yukichi Fukuzawa, the man you can find on ten thousand yen bill  recommended Japanese meat consumption to be stronger. Maybe “Sukiyaki” contributed for Japan to make its military and economy stronger.

Although we spent a "Yukichi" ten thousand yen for the amount of Rickshaw and Sukiyaki, it was worth paying.  We could save and gain out energy by taking rickshaw and eating Sukiyaki for the next day activity!

Snowy Studio Park

I have an Argentine friend who is studying Japanese in Tokyo. She came to Kyoto on her school days off and we enjoyed snow all around the city!

At first, she'd like to go Universal Studios Japan (USJ) where you can enjoy some attractions of Hollywood movie and modern culture. It is not so bad idea but we had only 2 days and the entrance fee is expensive for us. That's why I suggested her to go Japanese movie theme park located in Uzumasa instead of USJ. Despite of some negative reviews, it was a perfect place for us to experience traditional Japanese culture.

It was a cold and snowy day like above picture...As soon as we got to the theme park, it started snowing. There are a lot of snowy scenes on Japanese movie, for example, the final act of "Forty-seven Ronin (Chūshingura)" takes place on a snowy night.

"226: THE FOUR DAYS OF SNOW AND BLOOD" depicting the coup d'état in Japan 1936 was also taken on snowy day. Both of them are based on historical incidents. Fortunately we couldn’t encounter any revenges and military incidents.

There were some shows and attractions and we avoided heavy snow inside the theater. One of them was “Street Performance Re-Enactment”, an actor played the role of a mysterious oil vendor from the Edo period.

He cut folded paper with oil pasted sword to prove the effect of it. As small pieces of white paper flying, it was like snowing. Olden day, Japanese movie studio used the device of scattering paper to depict snowy scene.

The quarters of the Shinsengumi who policed ancient capital Kyoto. I wrote about the Samurai Show of Shinsengumi held at the Nijo Castle on my blog.

November 5, 2016 Castle witnessed rise and fall of Tokugawa Shogunate

Because of bad weather, we could not take "Samurai Sword Fighting Lesson", but we enjoyed souvenir picture with actors of studio.

Not only historical movie sets but also you can enjoy some funny devices. Suddenly Nessie surfaced off the pool of studio with her screaming sound. Seemed like that Nessie also had enjoyed snowy day.

In spite of additional fee, Trick Art'Museum was also fascinating attraction. We took several funny shot like following pictures.

Castle witnessed rise and fall of Tokugawa Shogunate

 Today I guided my guest to Nijo Castle and we enjoyed the festival to commemorate the 150th anniversary of “Taisei Hokan”, the return of  the sovereignty to the Emperor by the Tokugawa Shogunate.  If you visit Nijo Castle, you would stroll inside the Ninomaru Palace consists of 33 rooms. One of the biggest room is historical place where the last Tokugawa Shogun  announced the plan to give the power back to the Emperor. 

This historical picture depicts the moment when the Shougun announced the plan and his follower was listening the shocking announcement. 

You can enjoy virtual walking tour in Nijo Castle from following link.
http://www2.city.kyoto.lg.jp/bunshi/nijojo/nijoujou0930amana-p/nijoujou0930amana-p/tour.html


 Around that time of the end of Tokugawa shogunate, there were a lot of revolutionaries in Kyoto city to change the Samurai regime. To prevent their revolutionary plan, Tokugawa shogunate organized the special police force called "Shinsengumi". In the show we enjoyed today, Vice Commander of "Shinsengumi" defeated some outlaws.

 The show was held in front of Ninomaru palace. Blue uniform wearing man is the role of Hijikata Toshizo,  Vice Commander of "Shinsengumi". 

 They are actors from Toei Kyoto Studio Park. The Japanese swords they are using is well made imitation so even sightseeing people can manage it. 

 Nijo Castle was the symbolic building of Tokugawa Shogunate in Kyoto to show off his power. It had the castle tower but it was burned out because of lightning. You can browse the tower from the following link.
National treasure "The area in and around the Kyoto city (Funaki-version)"

 This folding screen was painted around 1615. It was the time of "Siege of Osaka", Tokugawa Shogunate attacked the castle of his rival Toyotomi. Following historical drama depicting the scene that Tokugawa Ieyasu taking the enemy's former vassal into his side.(Around 0:35) 
"Historical Drama “Sanada Maru”"

Nijo Castle was used not only for military purpose but also for diplomatic purpose by showing off magnificent folding screen paintings.

 Talking back to the folding screen that I showed with link address above,
it is called "rakuchū rakugai-zu" in Japanese and that means  paintings of the area in and around Kyoto city. I really like it, actually my blog title is inspired by the name of the folding screen. And it is interesting to note that "Rakuchū ", inside the Kyoto city was surrounded by rampart wall. 



GFDL, Link



 After visiting Nijo Castle, I guided my guest to the oldest building inside the above former  rampart wall.  The main hall of Senbonshakado was built in 1227. It was almost 800 years ago and the main hall has survived war fire and fire incidents. It also holds interesting "Six Kanon statues" carved in that time and they are designated as National Treasure. I would write about them in other time.

 On the way to back to the hotel, we talked about their next destination "Uji city" famous for green tea production. I told them a well known joke about tea is that "Green tea flows out instead of water when you turn on a faucet in school located in Uji city."
 They also talked me a joke. They have watched a  Japanese anthology horror film "Kwaidan " consists of four separate stories and one of them was "Hoichi the Earless". The thing was my name "Koichi" is similar to "Hoichi" and they were relief to know that I am not "Hoichi the Earless".