We attended a class on meditation that Taka lead. He talked to us about the importance of meditation and the recent studies behind it. Taka and others currently work with companies, such as Google, to help them teach meditation to employees.
After two 15 minute sessions of meditation, we got to see into some of the rooms at the temple. The rooms we saw were where weddings could take place. He talked about the ornate walls. The art was all low on the walls because at the time they were done, people sat on the floor, so that was eye level. He had us view the walls by sitting in the rooms, It really was a different perspective. He also talked about the use of gold in the paintings. Since the light in these rooms was from lanterns at the time, the rooms were darker. By using the gold it helped to brighten the rooms and the art.
The gardens were beautiful. Taka explained how Japanese gardens don't have one main focal point. The view from each window was different and each was beautiful.
Then we had tea. There were two sugar cookies that the young man explained were made of only rice and sugar. He said we were to eat them first. Then the tea was served. The cups were presented with the design towards us. We put the cups in our left hand, turned them twice, so the design was facing out and then we drank. This way we didn't touch our lips to the design.
We were glad Joe knew about this meditation class and temple.
Then we walked. If I lived in Japan, this would be my deck area.
Elly got one with matcha (powdered green tea) on it and the red bean inside.
I got a beautiful one with mandarin oranges on it.
Joe is ready to document his day with a negative on the bottom of his shoe.
Ninna-Ji Temple, Old Imperial Palace
Guarding the gates
Aunt Carol... more daisies!
Haha! Take a picture of them from the back, like they do to us.
For lunch we went to a place Elly found on her first trip to Kyoto. The man was making homemade buckwheat noodles. It was a very small cafe, 18 seats. The owner/chef told us the noodles would take an hour to be perfect. We told him we were not in a hurry. He was very good to us. I think he enjoyed talking English with us. He rolled out the dough, then cut it with what looked like a paper cutter. After they were boiled, we each got a big plate of the noodles that we dipped into a sauce that we had each already mixed up.
The man told us to crack the egg in the bowl first and mix it up with our chopsticks. Then we added some mashed white Japanese potatoes, and soy sauce. You could add the Japanese onions for your taste as needed. The bowls had to stay in these places in front of us.
After we finished this, he brought us a bowl of rice to pour the rest of our sauce over. He said we needed to eat it all. Joe got every last piece of rice.
Ryoanji Temple
Each temple had you take your shoes off and leave them outside. You could go in wearing your socks or barefoot.
The Gold Pavilion Kinkaku-Ji
Fushimi Inari Shrine - Thousand Torii Gates
You could write a prayer on paper and tie it onto the wires between the posts. I saw a few of these at different temples.
