A Sea of Tourists

Storm Mountain

We had originally only planned to spend a weekend in Kyoto however leaving the chicken farm early meant we now had an extra week to kill. As we had not budgeted for this extra week we decided to get ourselves a cheap Airbnb in the outskirts of Kyoto and live thriftily for a while.

Our first excursion in Kyoto was Arashiyama which Nay briefly mentioned in the previous post. Arashiyama which translates to Storm Mountain is a picturesque district to the west of Kyoto that sits at the base of Mount Arashi. The district is a protected national heritage site peppered with temples, gardens and a beautiful bamboo grove and as such has become a hot spot tourist destination.

Upon arriving at Arashiyama we were surprised to see the sheer number of tourists. We had seen our fair number of foreigners in Tokyo and Takayama but Kyoto would be something else. Many of the places we visited over the week had more tourists than locals. Instead feeling some sort of kinship with the throngs of tourists however I couldn’t help but feel a sense of dirision. When I considered this further I deduced this feeling comes from seeing myself reflected in how tourists must seem to locals; a loud, obnoxious distribution.

When we visited the massive Zen Bhudist temple complex, Tenryū-ji I was shocked to learn that there was an entrance fee. This was the first temple I had come across with an entrance fee and unfortunately it wouldn’t be the last. I could write pages on why it is the height of foolishness to profit from spiruality but charging an entrance fee to a place of worship was to me a new low.

As we explored the area I started to realise what had happened. Among the endless throngs of jaded tourists the temple had become just another Facebook wall photo. This was no longer a place of worship, there was no reverence, no faith. A place of worship is only what people believe it is and no one believed that this place was anything except some beautiful architecture worthy of a quick selfie. The monks had decided to capitalise and thereby became costumed ticket collectors and their religion a little more diminished.

Having refused to pay the entrance fee to enter the sham temple (probably an overreaction but not one I regret) we wandered down the bamboo forest.

It was a beautiful forest of endless green bamboo with neatly laid paths but again I couldn’t help but wonder what it might have looked like without the masses of people. What might have once been a quiet introspective walk among the towering bamboo had become a slow trudge through yet another sea of tourists.

I may sound a little hypocritical besmirching tourists while being one myself. I assure you reader I include myself in their obnoxious masses. I don’t begrudge them (us?) for it is only natural to want to witness and experience everything good. Tourists do however unequivically make every experience worse, myself included. They impose themselves in the very wonder they wish to witness and thereby ruin it.

At the end of the forest was the beautiful garden Ōkōchi Sansō. These gardens and buildings had once been home to a famous Japanese movie star.

After paying an exorbitant entrance fee (thanks tourists!) We were allowed to explore the pristinely manicured Japanese gardens.

The hilight of Arashiyama for me however was certainly the Monkey park at the top of a long climb. Here a troupe of Macau monkeys freely roamed amongst visitors.

We were able to feed some monkeys up close (from behind a grate). There’s nothing like watching the uncannily human behaviour of some monkeys to remind you of the innanity of your own oh-so-important preoccupations. Also they’re so cute!

A monkey chased me a little to remind me courageously unbroken eye contact meant little next to sharp little teeth.

Kobe Carpentry

Our next excursion took us out of Kyoto and to the town of Kobe. We had learned from a woodworker in Takayama that there was a renowned carpentry museum in Kobe. As I had developed a new interest in woodwork recently Nay decided to take us to the Kobe Carpentry museum. She quickly used up her newly gained brownie points by making me pose with the museum sign.

The museum was a brilliant in-depth look into Japanese carpentry. It explained in detail the process of making Japanese style rooves, the traditional methods of woodworking throughout history, building different style Japanese structures, each tool used by carpenters in Japan and much more.

Whereas I had previously been befuddled by some of the Japanese architecture I left knowing more or less how most things had been made.

One of the most interesting exhibits detailed the difference between Chinese and Japanese woodwork. The tools had developed directly in relation to the types of woods found in these areas. In China there were harder woods allowing for finer joinery but requiring more force and allowing less accuracy to cut. In Japan the wood was softer requiring less power but allowed more accuracy. I found it awesome that the traditional patterns and art we see in China and Japan are a direct consequence of the primordial evolution of plants.

We explored Kobe briefly and in that short time it seemed a rather dull and uninspired city. I imagine Kobe is the Adelaide of Japan.

Nishiki and Gion

We visited Nishiki markets and the neighbouring Gion district. Nishiki is a warren of winding market stalls catering almost exclusively to the invariable sea of tourists.

Gion which is just across the river is famously the Geisha district of Kyoto however with the advent of hostess bars the demand for Geishas have dried up. Now the few remaining Geishas seem to be a curious novelty, unsuspecting celebrities. It is difficult to know a Geisha on sight especially as many visitors to Gion choose to don the traditional kimono but I’m pretty sure we passed one in the back streets.

The main temple in Gion is beautiful but at this point we were starting to suffer temple fatigue (see: obnoxious jaded tourist) so we rushed through it a bit. The below picture is interesting; to my surprise this image is a panorama stitched together from pictures I had taken and presented by Google Assistant without requesting or even considering it. Not long now.

We also attended a musical performance of traditional Japanese instruments in the area. The musicians really got in the zone, the only requirement for a captivating performance.

Torii Dori

A trip to Kyoto wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the famous red gate shrine, Fushimi Inari Taisha. This is the Shinto shrine to Inari, the fox God of rice and merchants.

The main shrine sits at the bottom of a mountain and the path up the mountain is lined by red torii gates making for iconic pictures. Each torrid gate had been donated by a business in Kyoto.

This place had not evaded the ravages of tourism either. People waited for a break in the crowd to take their pictures, representing the place in an idealised depiction. The truth is it’s difficult to ever be alone on the several hour long winding path up the mountain.