Kyoto with Chris

Chris and I went to Kyoto this weekend. It was such a nice trip because we decided to visit only four sacred places--Sanjusangendo, Kyomizu-dera, Fushimi-inari, and Nanzenji.
here are a few pictures from my phone




Nanzenji.
Fushimi-inari
Kyomizu-dera
Sanjusangendo
Kyoto Station

As always, Kyoto exposed to us her naked stone canals and soft moss gardens, only this time she was covered in a layer of Chris Romain. I got to see Kyoto through his eyes, and that was absolutely breathtaking.

Sanjusangendo floored us both (as it would anyone with an Asian art history book). Just one of those sculptures would be the highlight of any museum in the West, and Sanjusangendo has over 1000!, all lined up like a choir behind music deities playing drums, biwas, and flutes. This is still by far my favorite temple in Kyoto.

We then walked to Kyomizu-dera, which, despite being the second most popular temple in Kyoto, was nearly empty! Our cab driver said there`s a 90% decrease of tourists this year due to the pig-flu scare. Lucky us.

Fushimi-inari in the evening was extraordinary. Spiders built webs around the lights, gnats ate rotting gates, cats played in the shadows, distant claps and shrine rattles shattered space, and we saw a couple with their son searching for insects in the black-green forest. Their flashlights reminded me of frogging with my dad.

After Fushimi-inari shrine we ate ramen, drank sake, and then followed some friends from the hostel to Sam and Dave, a huge, hopping dance-club with two floors each playing different kinds of music. I almost cried when the 80's DJ played classic MJ.
The next morning we went to Nanzenji (chosen because it was featured in Lost in Translation).

Holy Christ, Nanzenji was God-incarnate (but what isn`t, right?). I wasn't expecting such a tremendous Gate! Japan is full of gates, portals into buddha-fields. And the Zen gardens there pushed us into ineffable intimacy with our infinite selves.


one sunbathing snake
listens to one chanting monk
Nanzen-in