Monday, November 4
We got going early, knowing that we had a longer than usual ride out to Arashiyama, a town perched above a river in a deep, green valley west of Kyoto. The town and the slopes deeper into the Valley have inspired Japanese literature for more than a thousand years—important scenes from the Book of Genji are set near Arashiyama.
We saw some interesting things as we walked toward the town from the station.
Our first stop was the large Zen temple Tenryu-Ji. Founded in 1335 by the Shogun Ashikaga Takauji, the temple was once the largest and most important in Kyoto, with 150 subtemples and enormous grounds. It was particularly hard hit by the anti-Buddhist reforms of the Meiji era: it lost 9/10 of its grounds and subtemples. What remains, though, is extraordinary: the Sogenchi Garden (Pond of the Wellspring of Happiness) and the Hojo. The garden is designed to be viewed from the veranda of the Hojo; the Hojo itself is a huge tatami room that can be subdivided using sliding panels.
The garden was innovative in its use of ‘borrowed scenery:’ it uses Mt. Arashiyama and Ogura in the background. The pond is a masterpiece of miniaturization; it gives the strong sense that one is looking across a vast expanse of water at a mountain landscape.
After seeing the stroll garden that lies above the pond, we sat down to yet another memorable meal. Shigetsu is a restaurant in the grounds of the temple that serves shojin ryori, an extravagent version of the Zen vegetarian cuisine served to the monks at midday. We were led past a number of large rooms in which other guests were seated in long rows at low tables; we left the main building and were shown into a lovely tatami room that opened onto a garden with a stream flowing through it. The meal consisted of more small dishes than we could count, and just when we thought we were done, the young women who served us brought in another trayful. There was an abundance of vegetables cooked in different ways; tofu in many guises; several soups, each one wildly different from the others; and fruit and bean paste confections to finish. Not to be missed if you visit Kyoto. Thanks, Tom H., for the tip!
Just past the temple grounds lies a bamboo forest famous throughout Japan for its size and density; it was like nothing we had seen before. Some of the bamboo is over 60 feet tall and as much as eight inches in diameter.
Even out here, far from the center of Kyoto, crowds surged through the bamboo!
We had a long circuit through the Arishiyama hills planned, but Vladimir decided that town living suited him better and headed back. Although we took in a couple of shrines and lots of lovely scenery, the highlight was Okochi-Sanso, the estate of a 1920‘s film star.
The estate’s crown jewel is a circuit garden that takes you high up on the slopes of the mountain with sweeping views into two different valleys and over most of Kyoto.
The whole property is beautifully landscaped, and we were thrilled to have seen it.
Back at the hotel, we found that we were, against all expectation, hungry by mid-evening. We were too bushed to go out, so we picked the least expensive of the hotel‘s restaurants, which happened to be Italian! We were amazed at how Italian the food tasted: pastas, pizza, everything was very good. We found out why the next morning: we met the chef, who comes from San Remo and has lived in Asian with his Chinese wife for many years.