One of the areas that I did enjoy the most was the Hojo, which is famous for its rock garden.
The rocks resemble tiger mother and three cubs, crossing a river. We didn’t end up paying much attention to some of the other sites such as the aqueduct and surrounding buildings.
It was raining so heavily that we were glad to be back in the bus.
Next we went to Kounji temple for a Zen meditation class.
We did receive a brief introduction from one of the monks, and had a couple of meditation practices for 10 minutes each. I did get away without the traditional “slapping” by the monk, which is supposed to encourage the student to reach his/her next level. Currently, there are about 30 monks residing at the temple.
It was still pouring rain when we went to the Fushimi Inari shrine. The shrine is sitting at the base of a mountain also named Inari. Walking up the mountain, you will be walking through over a thousand Torii.
The number of gates grows even today, since businesses continue to donate (Inari is the god of business).
The afternoon was available to us to shop for little treasures in the area around Ninenzaka Street. The area has lots of little streets and shops where it makes fun to linger around.
Once I was soaked sufficiently be the rain, I enjoyed some sweets (mochi and sweet red beans) with a nice cup of matcha.
On the way to our meeting place I ran into a real Scottish man – his pants got soaked and he had to switch into his traditional outfit…
Last but not least - my favourite sweet is currently the Matcha Baumkuchen. I picked some up just at the end of our shopping spree.
Kyoto is a beautiful city with so many areas to discover that you could easily spend a week or so in this city alone. But tomorrow we’ll be leaving for a tea garden in Wazuka.
