Kyoto e-Bike Tour

Today’s e-Bike tour around NW Kyoto was outstanding, thanks to our guide Henry, a relocated Brit who fell in love with Kyoto (and a Japanese woman) 10 years ago. He has such a love for Kyoto & its history, sharing stories that really brought the places we visited to life.

We started at Kitano Tenmagu shrine, a Shinto shrine that every schoolchild in Japan visits at least once to pray for academic success (and there were A LOT of kids there). Built in 947AD, it was the first shrine in Japan to enshrine an actual person as a deity—Sugawara no Michizane, the “god of academics.” Where Fushimi Inari has donated gates, offerings here take the form of golden lanterns.

Up next was our first Zen temple of Kyoto, Rukuon-ji (aka Kinkakuji or the Golden Pavilion), originally built in the 14th century as a party house (or “retirement villa” in other sources) for shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who declared that it be converted to a temple upon his death. The gold leaf symbolizes purity in Zen Buddhism and just so happens to also reflect the extravagant Kitayama culture of the time. The temple burned down in 1955 and was entirely rebuilt, so it’s still super shiny.

This is also where I learned that shoguns, political & military leaders, were MORE powerful than the Emperor, a figurehead whose only power stemmed from the support of shoguns. Even though the Emperor was believed by most Japanese to be a direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, shoguns called the shots.

After checking with the group, Henry took us up a super steep street (thank all the gods for the e-bike assist!) before a nice leisurely cruise downhill to Imamiya-jinja shrine. We weren’t there so much for the shrine as for a little break for charcoal-roasted mochi skewers (tasty!) & green tea at the nearby shop, which has been serving visitors of the nearby shrines & temples for over a thousand years (25 generations by their count).

Henry explained these shops have been around for so long because this area would have been countryside when the temples & shrines were first built, so worshippers needed sustenance before continuing onward or returning home.

Our last stop was nearby Daitoku-ji, a huge 25-temple complex founded in 1315 and one of the most important Zen temples in Japan. We stopped in to see a gorgeous traditional Japanese garden, its stones quite aggressively raked to resemble waves around rock islands.

Henry shared that the particular style of Zen Buddhism meditation practiced here isn’t the “close you’re eyes and clear your mind” type, but focuses more on koans (KOH-ahns)—enigmatic riddles or paradoxical statements. By trying to solve the unsolvable koans, one is forced to abandon dependence on reason and open the door to a more intuitive, mindful awareness of the present and the true nature of reality.

“Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?”

“Two monks are arguing about a flag. One says, ‘The flag is moving.’ The other, ‘The wind is moving.’ A third walks by and says, ‘Not the wind, not hate flag; the mind is moving.’”

After returning the gear, we stopped for lunch at a soba place on Shinseicho street, an area famous for tea houses and sighting geiko (geishas here in Kyoto) and maiko (geiko apprentices). You can tell a shop is a tea house because it has a white lantern with little red circles on it, representing the sweets that are offered with the tea.

Unfortunately we didn’t spot a single geiko during our time in Kyoto—they’re quite elusive. Guess we’ll just have to come back someday and try again! Czytaj więcej