Patrick: Misc. Pictures and Festivities

On Monday, Brian and I took the Uji Keihan line down to the last stop.. Uji City. Uji is known as the Town of the Tale of Genji, the glorified womanizer of the Heian era who represents the pinnacle of courtier society. Uji is also famous for it's green tea: maccha and sencha. I don't know much about teas but my host family was telling me that the plot of land outside of our house produces the best tea in the area and now is the season the leaves are harvest and stir fried (itameru)...

At Uji, we visited Byodoin, a famous nobleman's estate later transformed into a famous Pure Land Bhuddism temple. It really was built to be paradise on earth. The building is so famous that it is present on the back of every 10-yen coin in Japan. We arrived too late in the day to go into the main building... actually we would have made it but we decided to splurge and enjoy a delicious dessert at a local kissaten (cafe).

Yesterday, there was a major festival in Kyoto, the Aoi Matsuri. The festival involved a parade starting from the present-day Kyoto Imperial Palace at 10:30 am to Shimogamo Shrine and then to Kamigamo Shrine. The festival involves an offering of aoi, hollyhock, to the gods. Aside from that, the average citizen is not expected to no any more... I was at the Imperial Palace a little before the start of the procession, since Doshisha University is right across from the compound in the northwest. The place was packed with people from all over Japan as well as tourists from all over the world. It really was a grand procession... at least until you've seen the first versions of everything. It was a very repetitive parade, with people wearing practically the same thing. It was also a rather solemn procession devoid of music. I was expecting taiko drums and shamisen. By far the most interesting part of the parade was the princess that rode in a little house-like box escorted by numerous servants. The Aoi Matsuri is one of Kyoto's three major festivals. The other ones are the Jidai Matsuri and the Gion Matsuri. The latter of the two will be held in mid July and is one of Japan's largest and most famous festivals. I expect that one to be way more fun..

05142007

05152007