So off we were on our long journey to Osaka. There I really felt the year come full circle for it was precisely a year before that I had been in Osaka for training, but as I lamented back then, there was not much time for travel when we were there. So here I was again, with a friend which made a big difference, ready to hit up Kansai! Friday morning found us waking up in a fabulous, very affordable hostel, where we prepared to go to the famous aquarium! It's one of the biggest in the world and best known for taking you up five floors by escalator so one can circle the tanks in a spiral to see different views of the same fish, it was really awesome! And they had a little whale shark, Nikki had always wanted to see one so I'm glad she got the chance! Then we saw across the street, something amazing, the King Tut tour was in Osaka! We didn't do then because the line-up was incredible long, but we did return the following morning, more on that later. We spent the afternoon at Osaka castle enjoying the late blooming plum blossom and me sipping my melon float and Nikki eating her ice cream we sat by the koi pond and admired the castle in the dusking light. Osaka castle is famous for being the final stage during a period of history called 'the warring states' in which feudal lords fought one another in order to gain the upper hand and unify Japan. It was Osaka castle where Tokugawa Ieyasu took out his last opposing force in order to ensure his title as shogun and thus began nearly two hundred years of peace with the unified nation. The memorial stone in the picture marks where his enemy and mother took their lives. Now, it's a beautiful reconstruction in a beautiful park filled with blossoming trees!
The next morning it was raining. Hard. We had to run from the station the museum and even still we had to duck under an eave for cover as the rain began to blow vertically! Anyways, slightly drenched, we did eventually make it to the King Tut exhibit and it was pretty awesome! After to warm up, we went for coffee in Namba, which is like the main hub of Osaka, and did a bit of shopping before heading south as the cloud parted to the prettiest little shrine. It was the main Sumiyoshi Taisha shrine for Japan, meaning that is the head of all other Sumiyoshi shrines. It had a gorgeous tranquil grounds and this huge steep red bridge over a little pond. I love bridges in Japan! And these gigantic lanterns and then within the complex, it was the strangest thing for an avid shrine adventurer such as myself, there was not just one main shrine with a few smaller built around it but instead there several full scaled shrine buildings located with the wall of the main shrine. The pamphlet, quite comically, described the shrine as a housing complex for the gods as several were enshrined there. It was especially enjoyable after being in the busy city for a few days. The evening was spent eating dinner, doing some shopping (I finally found jeans that fit!) and admiring the neon lights of Namba!
On Sunday, our last full day in Kansai, we boarded a train kinda southish and went to a new prefecture for me, Wakayama. There was the first of my three sacred grounds of Japan: Koya-san. I'm a little bit overwhelmed trying to find the words to describe exactly why this place was so breathtaking. The train had to travel slow as it approached the foot of the mountain and began to pick its way up in the mountains gripping to the hillside across from villages doing precisely the same thing. The area was so remote and stunning I found it hard to imagine that a metropolis existed only an hour away. The little houses and fields looked practically untouched by time and were as I imagined they once were in the Japan of old. The Japan of old is what I adore most of this land. Unlike younger countries, Japan wears its history just beneath its business suit so it is visible often enough when the fabric is brushed aside. This was the Japan I found on top of Koya-san on a chilly late winter day. There are many things that made this tiny temple town beautiful but my favourite, and this place is now on my top three, was the Okunoin temple known for its long path that weaves through an old growth forest that is scattered with hundreds of ancient lanterns growing blankets of moss and grave markers of some of the most important people in Japan's history, including my very own Takeda Shingen, but more on him later. Japan's history is fascinating because legend and fact ride hand and hand and the stories they weave are fantastical! Among the departed were Uesugi Kenchin, Takeda's rival, a memorial for Date Masamune, one of the coolest samurai ever, the mausoleum of Toyotomi Hideyori and his mother (the pair from the castle) and Oda Nobunaga, who was the first of three to attempt to unify Japan in the 16th century. There is an old anecdote about the three: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu are watching a nightingale bird that won't sing. Nobunaga says, "little bird, if you do not sing, I will kill you." Hideyoshi says, "little bird, if you do not sing, I will make you. And Ieyasu says, "little bird if you do not sing, I will wait." It describes their tactics in forming Japan. Anyway, a lot more history happened to get to where Japan is now but that was the peak of the feudal era.
So the purpose of Koya-san as a temple town is that it's one of the important temples founded by Kodo Daishi, the monk who is responsible for spreading Buddhism throughout Japan, and it's also his final resting place where he is enshrined. Although devout followers believe he just entered eternal mediation with Okunoin temple. So aside from the magnificent cemetary, there were also many beautiful temple structures dotting the mountain. Or final stop of the day as the sun sank was a secondary mausoleum for Tokugawa Ieyasu and his son, his main one being the extravagant Tosho-gu in Nikko, just north of Tokyo.
The day came to a pleasant ending as they always do when they end as the sun slips over the mountains right before casting that perfect golden glow on the reflections of the day. It was bliss sharing Nikki's music and watching the beautiful countryside slide back into history. We spent our last night out for dinner and packed preparing to head home the next day. But not before stopping in Hikone, a city north of Kyoto, which is quiet and famous for its original castle and little cat mascot named Hikonyan; which was terribly adorable! We caught it at the tail end of the plum blossoms which was nice to see a bit of colour. Overall it was a nice castle, and while not as impressive as some massive fortresses it was nice because it was remote atop a little mountain in the center of the city and formidable with it's long stone staircases and famous bridge that if burned down took away any easy entrance to the castle. Our ticket also got us into a little garden behind the castle which had quite a few bridges, I love bridges, and pretty reflections of the castle. We wandered the street of the little castle town and ate some green tea icecream and finished off by heading back to the station for the remaining eight hours of the train trip!
Thus our five days in Kansai came to an end but it was wonderful and I really enjoyed being able to return to Osaka and explore it this time and with Nikki! Koya-san and Hikone-jo had been on my list a while and both did not come anywhere close to disappointing. I must return to Koya-san some day, if not before I go home next spring then on another trip here later in life. It was too captivating to be lost only in the past.
So the purpose of Koya-san as a temple town is that it's one of the important temples founded by Kodo Daishi, the monk who is responsible for spreading Buddhism throughout Japan, and it's also his final resting place where he is enshrined. Although devout followers believe he just entered eternal mediation with Okunoin temple. So aside from the magnificent cemetary, there were also many beautiful temple structures dotting the mountain. Or final stop of the day as the sun sank was a secondary mausoleum for Tokugawa Ieyasu and his son, his main one being the extravagant Tosho-gu in Nikko, just north of Tokyo.
The day came to a pleasant ending as they always do when they end as the sun slips over the mountains right before casting that perfect golden glow on the reflections of the day. It was bliss sharing Nikki's music and watching the beautiful countryside slide back into history. We spent our last night out for dinner and packed preparing to head home the next day. But not before stopping in Hikone, a city north of Kyoto, which is quiet and famous for its original castle and little cat mascot named Hikonyan; which was terribly adorable! We caught it at the tail end of the plum blossoms which was nice to see a bit of colour. Overall it was a nice castle, and while not as impressive as some massive fortresses it was nice because it was remote atop a little mountain in the center of the city and formidable with it's long stone staircases and famous bridge that if burned down took away any easy entrance to the castle. Our ticket also got us into a little garden behind the castle which had quite a few bridges, I love bridges, and pretty reflections of the castle. We wandered the street of the little castle town and ate some green tea icecream and finished off by heading back to the station for the remaining eight hours of the train trip!
Thus our five days in Kansai came to an end but it was wonderful and I really enjoyed being able to return to Osaka and explore it this time and with Nikki! Koya-san and Hikone-jo had been on my list a while and both did not come anywhere close to disappointing. I must return to Koya-san some day, if not before I go home next spring then on another trip here later in life. It was too captivating to be lost only in the past.
No comments:
Post a Comment