Went on a trip today to Miyama and after returning to Kyoto we continued to Nijo Castle. And here are the pics! This is the way a blog should be maintained, pics uploaded on the day.
The entire thing was basically a treat from Nori, our landlord. What we payed probably covered half his costs for the day. Thanx Nori! Sakura rocks!
Enrico and Justin enjoying the view over the Kitamura village in Miyama and it's super traditional Japanese mountain houses. The steep angle of the thatched roofs is there to make the snow slide off. The plant used for thatching the roofs is called Kaya in Japanese. The kaya is gathered in the fields around the village and smoked to prevent rot and mold.
This obaasan showed the traditional way of beating the crap out of dried edamame beans. Apparently it has something to do with cooking and food.
Okapi also enjoyed the trip! Our always so friendly Sakura house manager.
We went to a little museum with pretty interesting collections and free tea. I found this knife. Love it and need to make something similar after getting back to Sweden!
Yup, it is flowers. In November. I am not sure if I want to go back to the Swedish winter darkness after all...
Back in Kyoto we went to Nijou-jou, aka Nijo Castle. Rather than a castle it is a compound of parks and palace-like mansion buildings. Nijou-jou was built in the early seventeenth century by the Tokugawa shoguns as their residence when they visited the imperial capital. This is a view over the Honmaru palace in the inner parts of the compound.
Okapi, Nori, Brian and Enrico. This is basically what the entire day was like.
I remember sitting on Tioman Island in Malaysia in August, studying Japanese and wondering what kind of silly textbook I had, including words like "kouyou" in the vocabulary lists. The translation of kouyou said "red leaves; autumn tints". Is it not a little over the top to teach words that specific? How often do you use that in daily conversation? Fact is that I keep hearing it all the time in Kyoto right now. Guess all languages have some parts of their store of words that are unique but still hold a central position in the culture. Does English have any equivalents to Swedish "skarsnö" (soft snow covered by a layer of harder snow crust, caused by temperatures varying around the melting point) or "tjäle" (subzero earth temperature, causing the ground to freeze and become rock hard)? Does any other language than English have like a gazillion different words for weed? Anyway, kouyou-season has started in Kyoto now.
The entrance to the Ninomaru Palace. The building is well preserved and has stunning interiors. Absolutely marvelous wood carvings and wall paintings. The hallways are built with "nightingale floors", that actually sound like birds singing when you walk on them. It was a way to prevent ninjas, talibans, and other unruly Kyotoites to sneak up on the Shogun and his guests.
This part of the garden was totally breathtaking. Unreal. And on a computer screen it is just some nice but two-dimensional trees...
What is a castle without a moat? Nijou-jou has two (concentric).
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