Day 10 Thoughts
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My trip to Kyoto was one of the highlights of my stay in Japan. It provided me with what I had expected to see in Japan - ancient temples, old homes, a glimpse of geishas, and an overall sense of Japan's ancient history. Kyoto is also a city of fashionable stores and resaurants, though. Because of these contrasts, I feel Kyoto captures a real essence of Japan -a mix of modern and traditional. We began our adventure in Kyoto by exploring the Zen Buddhist Daitokuji area which is made up of a main temple and 23 smaller temples. Fortunately for us, we were practically the only people exploring the grounds when we arrived. What a thrill it was to see Zen gardens. The items in Zen gardens are symbolic. I have read that in some Zen gardens rocks represent mountains, sand represents water and the flow of life and the few trees and plants in the garden represent man's journey through life. Some rock gardens consist of only raked gravel and small boulders. The patterns in the gravel and the position of the boulders can be representative of natural occurences such as mountain islands in an ocean and mountain tops rising above clouds. We also read that rings that extend outward from a big rock may represent the circles that extend outward when a rock is dropped into water. These gardens almost force one to calmly wonder. After exploring the temples and gardens we enjoyed a tea ceremony while kneeling on a red carpetted "porch" which overlooked a zen garden and a small bamboo forest. At the tea ceremony we were served foamy green tea and a delicious treat which was wrapped so exquisitely that I was tempted to carefully place it in my purse to bring home as a reminder of this special day. The tea and sweets were served to each of us individually by a young woman who kneeled and bowed before us before and after she served the tea.
Flowers and incense are left in Buddhist cemetaries to honor those who have died.
Name:
Anne O'Brien
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