Last Day in Japan

Today is our last day in Japan, which our group spent with sightseeing some of the (few) sights in Osaka. First, we went to Shitennoji temple. Shitennoji is the oldest state temple in Japan. It was founded in 593 by Prince Shotoku, who supported the introduction of Buddhism to Japan. Although the temple's buildings burned down several times throughout the centuries, they were always carefully reconstructed to reflect the original 6th century design. At the entrance to the temple is a stone Torii gate from the 13th century. At the side of the Torii Gate in front of the Great West Gate, there is a stone monument which reads : " The Buddhism arrived here for the first time in Japan".On the picture you can see the 5 storey Pagoda and a little dragon statue. Water is very important for the agriculture in this area – so when you touch the head of the dragon, rain will come. You can see that it is well used. We actually get to see a few more cherry blossoms in this area than in the rest of Japan. It is typically the eight blossom cherry tree that still flowers. But there are not too many around. You may be able to try some Sakura Green tea when I am back (Cherry blossom green tea). Supplies are limited but you can join me for a tea tasting upon completion of this trip. Details to follow.

Afterwards, we went to a Bunraku Puppet performance. While it was interesting to see, it was a bit of a stretch for our group. We seemed to be all very tired and the performance is (obviously) in Japanese. We only attended one hour of the show – it is scheduled to start at 9 am and runs until 10 pm (all day!!). Bunraku is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre. The puppets are moved by three people. The puppet masters are all dressed in black (even their face is covered). Apparently, one master moves the right arm and head of the puppet, another the left arm and the last is moving the legs. Interesting concept. You might want to get headphones with an English translation though. The people in our group that wore headphones did enjoy it better than the rest of us.

A little surprise was waiting for us after the show  – Tomo, our spontaneous translator from Wazuka was there to join our group for a few more hours. Her English is quite impressive and maybe she will visit us some time in Canada. You can tell that she is really enthused about tea.

After lunch we went through a couple of shopping arcades. There were so many people – it was really crowded. Eventually I learned that traffic in Japan is on the left side. It helps when you try to avoid collisions in pedestrian areas. I did expect that many people in Tokyo (but there weren’t many). Mandi, if you read this blog…I wasn’t able to get to the park in Tokyo where the kids in fancy outfits are hanging out. But here are a couple that I saw in Osaka.

Our last stop was at Osaka castle. It was built in 1583 and is one of Japans most famous castles. The central castle building is five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, and built atop a tall stone foundation to protect its occupants from sword-bearing attackers.

                

Aside from the view, I enjoyed a couple of other items at the castle. One being the golden tea room. The original is no longer in existence but they have a replica in the castle. For our taste it was a bit too much gold (the walls were coated with gold and the same goes for the tea utensils (except for the matcha whisk and the bamboo spoon). I thought the interesting part was that you could dismantle the tea room and set it up at a different location. We were not allowed to take any pictures but there wouldn’t be much to see on it anyway. The tea room was sparely decorated (3 tatami rooms and one alcove, that’s all).

My favourite sight at Osaka castle was the time capsule. In 1970, Osaka was the site for the world expo. They created a time capsule which is scheduled to be opened in 5000 years (in 6970). The capsule consists of 2 levels – the first level is to be opened at the beginning of each century, the second level in 6970. Upon the first opening of the capsule in 2000, pine tree and Japanese cypress have been retrieved and planted. I would love to know what else they placed in the time capsule.