Get some culture in ye!

My earliest memory for today was of my phone going ping, with Mum sending our group a message about apple coke at 0400 local time. unfortunately it seems we’ve not completely adjusted to the new time zone yet. this was why we managed to get to the breakfast room for a bright and breezy 0800-ish, Breakfast was an interesting affair, clearly the hotel is used to dealing with western guests, but in an interesting way, such that there were sausages, bacon and eggs, but each had their own twist. the sausages for example, there were six different types jumbled together, from kabanos to cumberlad. The bacon is duper thin, and very square, more like warmed ham than bacon, then the eggs looked like they should be scrambled, but seemed somehow too vibrantly yellow and omlette like. still, happy to give it a chew, along side teriyaki fish. I think I’ll try going a bit more Japanese tomorrow and go with the rice option.

After some deliberation, we decided to take a taxi out to the Imperial palace. We were asked which entrance we would like to be dropped at and we did our best to indicate that we didnt mind, which seemed to have worked out well as we were deposited at the closest one, on the southern edge of the grounds. just inside and we felt like the whole place was incredibly sparse, we entered a little exhibition in which we had most rooms to ourselves! Now, when I say ‘entered’ this was the first time swapping out of outdoor shoes into slippers, which, once we had seen someone else do it, was easy enough to copy. Having seen this in quite a few different places I was reasonably confident that I knew how to handle it, but a demonstration and the time to feel it our for ourselves with no crowd pressuring us was much appreciated. The exhibition itself was celebrating the new age with the ascention of a new emperor by listing out all the previous names on a scroll. Attached to it were some bits of hisory specific to the palace that slotted nicely into my understanding of the history, but for me, the big thing was being in a japanese style house, with a garden sat outside. here we hat the wooden walls, and the paper screens, with the platform that encircled the building where you could sit and enjoy being halfway between inside and out, appreciate the garden, the sound of the cicidias, but be up off the ground and close to civilisation.

Having reclaimed our shoes, we made our way north, prefering the windy paths through the trees to the wide gravel roads, finding little streams to follow on our way. Even then it was warm, the sun in Kyoto still had some summer left in it so we were appreciative of the occasional strong breeze.

Finally however, we came accross the main palace, a demonstration in using space and archiatecture as a projection of power. Between the sheer volume of material used, and the craftmanship in building something as ‘simple’ as a gate becomes a status symbol, and which ones you may enter, a measure of rank or favour to be flouted in front of your peers. The paintings in the room you are received in can tell you how respected you are, but the weight of the walls surrounding a courtyard that seems to go on for miles will still remind you who is emperor.

There were some gorgeous buildings and gardens there though, plenty inspiration for stories or even a little plan or two for ones own home. Luckily, in the off season, in the middle of a weekday is a fantastic time to go and have a look around as you get some fantastic photographs.

This is the kind of think I wanted to come to Kyoto for, and having seen it in person now, any on screen representation can’t really do it justice.

Lunchtime! Having walked the gravel paths of the imperial palace all morning we decided to find ourselves some food, we were on our way to Nijou castle for the afternoon so we took to the streets (and google maps) to find us a nice place to stop. We were up for an experience and the barbeque place we found certainly offered that. The staff were freindly, and clearly used to dealing with foreigners, even helping out with a picture book for us. We got to stretch our Japanese a little, though I have to admit I’m not great in talking to wait staff at the best of times, so trying not to embaras myself in Japanese made me hesitate somewhat. The food though was seriously good. Even though we were cooking it ourselves, the cuts of meat and sauces were seriously tasty, and at a pretty good price too.

Having escaped the sun for a bit, we decided to venture out again to complete our journey to Nijou Castle, finding some interesting distractions along the way! We were however greeted by a batallion of coaches, and had concerns that the place was going to be swamped, but we were relieved to find kids swarming their way back to their busses, having already finished their time there.

I have to admit, after the splendour of the imperial palace, the castle exterior was a little disappointing, the massively ornate gates were on display again, but much of what was visible had been done to a grander design a mile or so down the road. Where it did shine however was in that we got access to see inside the palace which was fantastic to see, again more demonstrations on how to project power with space but walking those halls again fills you with interesting ideas, especially when you get to hear what might well be what a Nightingale floor sounds like. The real shame here though was that no photography is allowed, so I don’t have any to show here. On the plus side, it seems someone looking after the castle likes their carp too as the moat is teeming with them and for a couple of hundred yen you can buy them some food.

Having made our quick tour with our audio guides, the day was coming to a close for the site so we made our way out, picking up a few nice things from the shop on the way past. My bag is now adorned with a pin emblazened with the Tokugawa crest. I wonder if I could collect a few more? On our way out we snagged a quick tripple self-portait by the front gate before making our way back to the hotel. A good day, very well spent.