Mt. Koya: Our Stay at the Eko-in Temple

Maura & Kara in cable car

From Kyoto, we took several trains to get to Koyo-san (also called Mt. Koya), a holy site for practitioners of Shingon Buddhism. The site was established by Kukai (Kobo-daishi) in the late 700s as a training and practice center. Monks still inhabit and work in the 100+ monasteries here, and the only way to get to the top (besides hiking) is to take a cable car.

Dinner at the temple

Temple Rituals
We stayed at a shukubo, a temple lodging for people making a religious pilgrimage to Mt. Koya (Note: We're tourists, not pilgrims. But we did run into some people on pilgrimage during our stay.) We made it just in time to join the ajahn meditation.The monk who led the meditation encouraged us to keep our eyes half open and half closed so that we're neither completely of the world nor  removed from it (deep stuff!) We sat in meditation for about 20 minutes--the kids did great, but our old(er) legs kept falling asleep. It was challenging and made us very aware of how little time we spend in silence during our regular days.

Goma fire ritual

The monks served a traditional vegetarian dinner of rice, mountain root vegetables, tofu and miso soup, which hit the spot after a long day of travel.  At night, we made use of the onsen (public bath). We’ll cover this in our blog about Kinosaki. For now, suffice it to say that it's an incredibly beautiful and social experience once you get used to it.

Kara demonstrating feats of strength at Oku-no-in

Next was a 6:30 am service led by two monks in the main hall. They do this every day in appreciation and reverence for the work of the buddhas and bodhisattvas in the world. We were in darkness except for the candlelight. The monks chanted sutras (Buddhist text), supplemented with regular drumming and the use of bells.

Scene from our walk through Oku-no-in

Immediately after, we went to the Goma fire ritual led by two different monks in an adjacent hall. We sat with about 15 other people in a 10 x 10 room with a central altar and fire pit. The ritual involved more intense chanting, drumming and the building of a fire offering (with wood & oils) to the buddhas. It definitely woke us up!

Oku-non-in
Breakfast was at the temple, then we walked to a massive cemetery of the Oku-no-in. It’s said that this is where Miroku Buddha (the next appearance of the Buddha) will manifest, so hundreds of thousands of people’s remains are interred there with the hope of having front-row seats for the big event. At the front gate, as instructed, we offered prayers for deceased family members and friends.

Meditation garden

After a really long walk up to the temple, we saw the place where, legend has it, Kukai has been meditating for 1,150 years. (And we thought a 20 minute meditation was difficult!) We stopped at Kongobu-ji (the headquarters of Shingon sect of Buddhism), shared tea and spent a few minutes enjoying the meditation garden.

We walked through a light rain in Mt. Koya, popping in and out of shops before boarding the cable car that would take us to the bus that would take us to the train station. Next stop: Nara!

Hall of Lanterns

Walking sticks for pilgrimage

Kyoto Part III: Shrines and Monkeys and Geisha (oh my)

We’re only mentioning a few highlights here. Of the three thousand shrines in this city, we visited two-thirds of them. (Kidding. But it sure felt like it at times.)

Chion-in

Chion-in is a Pure Land Buddhist temple, which is the headquarters for the Jodo sect. Pure Land Buddhism revolves around a belief that if one calls on Amida Buddha, he/she will be reborn into the Pure Land (a good thing). You just gotta repeat “Namu Amida Butsu” over and over again. (I’m simplifying; Mark's work centers on this form of Buddhism. Just ask him about his dissertation sometime and you’ll get ALL the details.)

Purification before entering Kiyomizu-dera

Kiyomizu-dera, a Hosso Buddhist temple, is a famous landmark in Kyoto. There were about a hundred groups of middle school

The walk from Kiyomizu-dera

students at the temple, and we were interviewed by several of them so they could practice their English. (We tried to practice our Japanese, too.) They always asked if they could take our picture at the end of the interview, and we started insisting on taking their photos, too. There were lots of fun and funny things to do at the shrine. You’ll be happy to know both girls have ensured success in finding true love by walking with eyes closed between two stones set quite far apart. We told them to wait until they’re 30.

Bodhisattva Kannon (Bodhisattva of Compassion)

There’s also this really amazing walk under the temple that we highly recommend--it’s completely pitch black, and you’re descending down a ramp until you get to a stone with light emanating from it where you get to make a wish and rotate the stone.  The walk symbolizes traveling through the womb of a female bodhisattva and the light is birth. It would have been a lot calmer--and a lot scarier--had there not been forty thirteen year olds experiencing this at the same time we were.

Family fun at Arashiyama Bamboo Grove

As in most cases, the walk to/from the temple was lined with restaurants, street food stalls, gift shops and ice cream. (Note: You will not believe how many temples these kids will visit with the promise of ice cream during the day. Truly incredible.)

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove

Arashiyama Monkey Park

Arashiyama Monkey Park

Tenryu-ji temple

World War II Shrine, is dedicated to Japanese who lost their lives during the Pacific War, especially those whose remains were never identified. There’s also a memorial for foreign soldiers who lost their lives on Japanese soil during the war. If you have a relative who died during that conflict, his/her name resides on an index card in a card catalog in the shrine. There’s also a small shrine where people ask for a healthy marriage, which we made use of. Not sure why it’s in a location with a war shrine, but that question didn't translate easily, so we didn't ask. 

Jizo at Nanzen-ji

Torii gate at Heian Shrine

Geisha sighting in Gion

Tenryu-ji, a temple associated with the Ranzai school of Buddhism, is a beautiful and much more subtle place to visit.

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove and Monkey Park included a hike up a mountain to get to the monkeys. The bamboo grove is truly majestic --it's the photo on the front of our Lonely Planet book that's been our "fifth wheel" on this trip. Fun to walk through it in person on our way up the mountain to see the...monkeys! The park boasts 160 monkeys, which will eat from your hand. There are lots of rules when it comes to these critters--the girls found a great sign that said they don't like: (1) to be touched roughly; (2) to be stared at in the eye or (3) to have rocks thrown at them. (We have a lot in common with these little guys.) They also don't like when you don't pay attention to them, as Maura and Mark found out after having a little monkey business thrown their way.

Heian Shrine has the biggest torii gate in Japan and is the grandest of shrines in Kyoto. 

Nijo-jo is a castle built in the early 1600’s, when shogun had overthrown the emperor and were ruling various parts of the country. This particular castle housed one of the shogun, and has “nightingale floors” that are designed to squeak every time a foot touches them--very useful in guarding against ninja!

Gates of Nijo-jo

Kyoto Part II: The Human Side

As you probably know, Mary will talk to anyone. That being the case, we've met plenty of Japanese natives and foreign tourists (like us) from all over the world -- Pakistan, Bulgaria, Taiwan, China, France etc. However, having what she'd characterize a "real" conversation has been a challenge.

We're now pretty adept at “pass the dictionary” and charades when meeting people, ordering food, etc. As you’ve read, Mary’s communication skills have been reduced to intense bowing while bungling even the most basic Japanese words. We have hope for Maura and Kara, although everything they say is met with "Kawaii!" ("cute!"), so they haven't had to work too hard other than to smile and say "konnichiwa" in their most endearing voices.

Some people we've met speak beautiful English. Others have a few words that they probably learned years ago in school. (This is much like our French vocabulary--we can count to ten and Mary remembers some weird poem about cherries from freshman year. That's about it.) But many people have worked really hard to communicate with us -- and vice versa.

Temple in the mountains of Kyoto

New Friends

A friend in Greensboro (thank you, Winston!) put us in touch with her brother who has lived in Kyoto for 24 years. We connected via Facebook several months before our trip, reconnected when we arrived in Kyoto, and Angus graciously agreed to meet the four of us for a dinner on our second evening in the city. This led to some of the most fun and interesting parts of our trip to Japan.

Kids on the deck

We don't want to embarrass Angus and Kayoko-- or drive a flood of tourist traffic their way -- but this is one cool family who made Kyoto a much richer experience for us. They're both great storytellers who love to laugh and are fully engaged in their community. Both were willing to share their experiences and answer a barrage of questions we had about living in Japan. They were so kind to our children that it still brings tears to Mary's eyes. 

Our family with Angus & Kayoko

They also invited us to tag along with them to several things we otherwise wouldn't have experienced -- from a party at their friend's home where Yale University's senior women's a cappella group kicked off their world tour (seriously), to visiting a countryside farmer's market and Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Kyoto. They graciously invited us to lunch at their gorgeous home. And, after a four-hour soccer practice, their 14-year-old son joined us and was equally kind to our girls.

We were having so much fun that we completely forgot to take a photo of the delicious lunch. But we did capture a few photos of our walk to their neighborhood shrine -- the oldest in Kyoto, which is also very beautiful -- where the kids cooled off in the river while we watched a tea ceremony and a few wedding processions.

Whim 'N Rhythm show

Words rarely fail us, but they have. All we can do is say “thank you” and pass along the hospitality shown to us during our stay.

Our family + Proffitt family

Boulder Connections 

We also met up with Aaron, one of Mark's former students at CU-Boulder who is part of the Fulbright Program in Kyoto as he finishes his dissertation. After lunch with Aaron, Claire and their 11-month old daughter, we walked around Nijo Castle and the gardens. They filled us in on history of the castle, and we pretended to be ninjas trying to sneak into the castle. It was a fun afternoon for all of us--especially for Mark who loved comparing notes with Aaron about all things related to Pure Land Buddhism.

"My Name is..."

Post-interview picture

Everywhere we go, we run into packs of Japanese middle schoolers on field trips. Most are in uniform and have a common mission -- to interview a tourist so they can practice their English. "What is your name? Where are you from? How do you like Japan? What is your favorite food in Japan?" Usually, there's a teacher nearby, and the interview always ends with a request to take a picture with the group. We've also started asking the teacher to take a picture with our camera, too, which the students find entertaining.

Meeting Other Westerners

Rule in Japan: If you’re a westerner, you should ignore other westerners you see along the way. Or maybe they just ignore us. We can’t back this with data, but maybe it has something to do with having a lot of luggage. Or children. Or possibly being a little loud and embarrassing. We’d like to test our hypothesis with a trip for two to Japan after the children leave the nest.