Lessons in Comparative Religion

Kyoto is considered the cultural capital of Japan. It’s a busy tourist destination with dozens of Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, palaces, gardens, and well preserved neighbourhoods from the Edo period. On Saturday we took the train from Osaka to Kyoto and set out in the heat to check out some of these historic sites. We did not see any Geisha wandering around but did see many tourists dressed in traditional costume being photographed. Mike was tempted, but it way too hot for me to be wrapped up in heavy brocade robes. After a few temples and lovely gardens we retreated to the air conditioned hotel. Sunday Mike, Helen and I joined a bike tour and visited the famous bamboo forest outside of Kyoto. In BC bamboo can be an invasive scourge but in this setting the bamboo forest was very majestic and peaceful. Brenda and Ian chose a Kyoto walking tour that turned out to be about 18 km in length and more akin to the Grouse Grind. So glad I dodged that bullet. On Sunday evening we met our Walk Japan fellow hikers for dinner. There’s a young family from Australia with a cheerful 13-year-old son - who has been assigned IT support, a friendly couple from Singapore and an Australian lady whose husband flatly refused to do the walk with her. Our two guides are very friendly, informative, and quite open about answering our questions. We’ve quickly become oriented to the many customs and etiquette of traveling in Japan. A lot of shoes on , shoes off. The Japanese greatly respect what is best described as boundaries in all parts of life. There’s a great deal of value placed on courtesy and consideration for those around you. Mike got into trouble in knee temple when he sat down on a fence to put his boots back on. A security guard firmly, but politely shooed him off. We got the answer to the “no garbage can” question. Seems that the Tokyo terrorist attack in the 80s led to the removal of most garbage bins there, which resulted in much cleaner public spaces and so this approach was adopted everywhere in Japan. We’ve learned that there are garbage cans in the train stations. Other than that you have to schlep it back to the hotel. Yesterday we trained away from Kyoto and visited an Edo period castle and the the site of the battle of Sekigahara - a seminal moment in Japanese history which led to the unification of clan factions and the start of the peaceful Edo period. The Shogun’s ( Commander in Chief) clan home was in Edo,now known as Tokyo, and he built a number of major roads in Japan, so that the other regional Commanders could move back-and-forth from Edo to Kyoto and beyond. The Nakasendo Way was a major route in this trail network.
Last night we had a very unique experience staying in a very old guest house. We slept - on tatami matts on the floor. There was one shower room that we took turns using after being briefed on that etiquette. Lots of rules about what towels to use and where to step. The group sat down to dinner in yukata robes and we cooked hot pot in the centre of the table. It was a bit like having dinner in pyjamas with a group of, relative, strangers. The beer and a bit of sake lightened the mood. The biggest challenge of the stay was getting up off the mats!! Something like an airborne roll was required. Boy those matts are hard on the knees.

Our walking starts in earnest today and everyone in the group is concerned about the continuing heat and humidity. Even the folks from Australian & Singapore are feeling it so imagine how we poor Canadians are feeling.

That’s it for now.
Love Heather/Mom/ GrandmaRead more