September 11, 2014 Arashiyama

 

 

Returning to Arashiyama was like returning to an old friend. Just outside the city limits of Kyoto, it is a leafy suburb ringed with Temples. All of my criticisms of Kyoto melt away when I arrive in Arashiyama. Granted the main street feel like a tourist trap, but there is an elegant charm about it, that reminds me of other cities that originally served as escapes from the city before being absorbed as a suburb of the larger city. In some ways Arashiyama reminds me of Bath England. It has the quality of being precious and yet real, because people actually live here and the preserved quality of its architectural attraction fits seamlessly into the everyday rather than some hyper preserved moment in time.

We grabbed lunch at the train station. Like most Japanese Cities there is a maze of shoppinag and food under the train station and we found a really nice Korean place that had a lunch set for 910 yen (basically $8.00) The set consisted of a salad, cold noodles (oishi) and a small bi bim bap.

I wanted to take the bus from Kyoto station. Mostly because on my other trips I took the train and it felt disconnected. Stopping at all the spots along the way in Kyoto made it seem much more connected to the city than I previously thought, but the trip took nearly 35 minutes and was not as comfortable as the train.

That being said you are dropped right in the middle of town into the bussle of the area. We wandered into a little shop mostly because the advertised restrooms, but it actually turned out to be a little community center that included a photo gallery and shop that sold stuff for Disabled Adults. J bought some mugs and I bought some fabric tea cup holders that were folded like origami. These might come in handy when holding a hot little tea cup!

 

The first stop was the bamboo grove. It is in the back of Tennoji Temple that I visited the last time. Although the Temple has a nice garden and is a world heritage site, I felt like this trip it was the bamboo grove I was after. This is another of those times that memory elevates thing. The grove felt smaller and less sublime than my last visit. Regardless it is still impressive! I was not able to replicate the impressive picture I took five years ago (see the J4 09 blog). It was nice to be back and be able to share this place with J. The filtered light through the bamboo danced in the warm day. As the breeze picked up the bamboo clicked against each other creating a hollow rhythmic cadence for us to wander through.

Today was about wandering. On my last visit I stopped in at a bunch of Temples, but this time it was about walking through the city and enjoying a quiet day. Arashiyama is perfect for that and the day was cooler than we have had in a while. Given that when we boarded the bus from Kyoto station it was raining, the perfectly clear sunny day was a special treat.