We had the opportunity to travel to Kyoto on Thursday, January 21 via the Shinkansen bullet train so that Dr. Gush (my principal), Dayle (Pre-K teacher), and I could visit Kyoto International School (KIS) to learn about the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program (PYP). Tim came along too and we stayed for the weekend.
Shinkansen
After arriving, we ate sushi in the hotel. Tim ate us out of house and home! Can you believe he ate 7,500 yen worth of sushi?! Must have been gold!
While the three of us visited KIS for the day on Friday, Tim took a self-guided bike tour of the city. He rode to the Ginkaku-ji (The Temple of the Silver Pavilion) and through the Imperial Palace. He enjoyed yakitori for lunch and then exploring some more after lunch.
Imperial Palace grounds
yakitori for lunch
KIS is a TINY school with around 70 kids and is Preschool through Grade 9. There are teachers for the following grades: Preschool, Pre-K/K combo, G1, G2/3 combo, G4/5 combo, and all of middle school are lumped together with the one high school student. They are looking for a new school but are currently in an old Japanese school. Dayle and I enjoyed chatting with the Preschool and Pre-K/K teachers. PYP seems like an awesome, inquiry-based, student-led program that I would love to implement! I already use much of what they do but it would be great to implement the full program. The elementary teachers at FIS are going to Hong Kong for PYP training in September! It will be a lot of work but hopefully worth it!
We all stayed through Sunday since it was everyone's first trip to Kyoto. Tim, Dayle, and I stayed in the Granvia Kyoto Hotel which was actually IN the Kyoto train station. It was a great hotel and very convenient! Linda stayed at a nearby hotel.
our hotel
coming out of our hotel into the very modern Kyoto train station
Since it was such a short stay and Kyoto is a massive place to visit, we took advantage of every second. Though we were tired from our visit to KIS, Dayle, Tim, and I headed to downtown Kyoto to a great street called Pontocho. Reminded me a tiny bit of Europe because of how narrow and quaint it was. There were tons and tons of tiny restaurants, half overlooked the river. We ate a great meal at ZuZu. We shared a bunch of things but my personal favorite was the spare ribs. The meat fell right off the bone. We tried to order more but they were out. Bummer!
Hurray! We FINALLY found the restaurant...and it had an English menu!
Tim, Sarah, and Dayle at ZuZu
On Saturday, Linda got up early and explored the city. She visited everything that we were planning on visiting on Sunday. We did most of the Higashiyama walking tour in National Geographic's Japan guide book. Rode the bus to the bottom of a hill and had to walk up a slope with tons of cute shops to get to Kiyomizu-dera Temple. This temple had magnificent grounds with views overlooking the city of Kyoto. The temple was first built in 798 but burned several times and has been rebuilt. The main hall has a huge veranda that juts out over the hillside, supported by 139 15-meter high wooden pillars. Just below this hall is Otowa-no-taki spring. Visitors drink the sacred waters believed to have therapeutic properties and also thought to improve school test results. I bought a cup and drank from the spring! North of the main hall is Jishu-jinja, the Love Shrine. Visitors try to ensure success in love by closing their eyes and walking 18 meters between a pair of large stones. If you miss, your desire for love won't be fulfilled! It was so amusing to watch people that Tim decided to try. He made it...with my guidance!
Kiyomizu-dera Temple
Otowa-no-taki spring at the Temple
Jishu-jinja (The Love Shrine) and Love Stones
Tim and Sarah with the main hall of the Temple in the background
After wandering through the Temple, we escorted Dayle to a taxi to send her back to the hotel. Her poor back was bothering her! :( We meandered down a narrow lane called Kiyomizu-zaka. It was lined with beautiful shops. The architecture was really quite nice.
Kiyomizu-zaka
Next stop: five-story, 128-foot high Yasaka-jinja Pagoda, built by the shogun Yoshinori Ashikaga in 1440. I'm fascinated by pagoda buildings!
Yasaka-jinja Pagoda
After a quick look at the pagoda, we passed a huge statue of the Buddhist deity, Kannon, on our way to Kodai-ji Temple. We only had time to walk up the beautiful bamboo lined walkway to the entrance and then we had to turn around. The extensive grounds supposedly include gardens, teahouses designed by the renowned master of the tea ceremony, Sen no Rikyu, and a little grove of bamboo trees which are supposedly "positively otherworldly" when illuminated at night. I would like to visit when we go back in March.
Kannon statue
prayer rolls outside of Kodai-ji Temple
outside of entrance to Kodai-ji Temple
Tim outside of entrance to Kodai-ji Temple
bamboo lined walkway to Kodai-ji Temple
From there, we strolled through Maruyama-koen Park. I bet it is spectacular when the cherry blossoms bloom! On the other side of the park, we found Chion-in Temple. Unfortunately it had just closed. However, we did get to see a group of monks leaving the Temple. That was pretty cool! The outside of the temple is huge and very impressive. It was built by a monk, Genchi, in 1234, on the site where his mentor, Honen, once taught and eventually fasted to death. It is still the headquarters of the Jodo school (school of Buddhism). There is a two-story gate at the main entrance that is the largest in Japan. It is supposed to prepare visitors for the massive scale of the temple. Supposedly there is a gold altar, gardens, and a huge bell. The bell was cast in 1633, measures 2.7 meters in diameter, and weighs almost 80 tons. It is the largest in Japan. 17 monks are required to make the bell budge during the ceremony to ring in the new year. I hope to go into this temple in March as well!
entrance to Chion-in Temple
monks
"It was finished in visit time. Entrance prohibition."
Love the translation for CLOSED!
Just past Chion-in Temple was Shoren-in Temple. There are giant camphor trees growing just outside the walls. There is a garden as well as sliding screens with paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries. We were just able to see the trees and the wall before turning around to head to Yasaka-jinja Shrine. The shrine was a nice place to walk through to get to Gion but other than that there was nothing special about it, in my opinion. I would like to do back to Shoren-in Temple, though.
walls outside of Shoren-in Temple
My personal tour guide...He's a keeper!
camphor tree
entrance to Shoren-in Temple
camphor trees
looking out from Yasaka-jinja Shrine to Gion
found...girls in kimonos, but no geishas!
streets of Gion
geisha spotted earlier in the day in Higashiyama...close to Gion!
the geisha and her sugar daddy
Green Tea ice cream for dessert!
Linda, Dayle, Tim, Sarah
Thank you, Dayle and Linda, for finding this restaurant!
On Sunday, Linda explored Gion, Dayle went to see the deer in Nara, and Tim and I went to Kinkaku-ji, The Golden Pavillion. It is only second to Mount Fuji as Japan's most famous sight. We took a rather long bus ride to the temple. It was a most spectacular, sunny, blue sky day; perfect for making the pavillion shine! The temple truly is stunning. It has a dazzling gold-covered main hall which sits out over a pond. The three-story pavilion is covered in bright gold leaf and features a bronze phoenix on top of the roof. The temple is beautiful when it reflects in the pond. In 1930, a young monk was so obsessed with the temple that he burned it down. It was totally reconstructed in 1955. Quite impressive place to visit!
Kinkaku-ji
Sarah and Tim with Kinkaku-ji in the background
delicious Chai Tea Latte at lunch with a sugar cookie spoon!
Kyoto Handicraft Center
The Shinkansen got us home quickly! Can't wait to go back and explore more of Kyoto with Tena and Nate in March!!! Such a WONDERFUL city!
Kyoto photos...
Why is it every time I read your blog I get hungry? Oh right - because you talk about Japanese food, which I loooove. . . :)
ReplyDeleteJane,
ReplyDeleteYou are too funny!!! We eat constantly! And...really good food! I just saw your hilarious diagram of your new place. Wish I could be a planner like that!!!!!
Sarah