shrines, green tea, torii's and a revolving sushi joint...

Friday October 21, 2005

it seems like i'm always wearing the same thing to these temples...

We visited another temple in the city of uji, which is about 30 minutes outside of kyoto by train. in a nutshell, b/c i don't to bore you with all of the details about it, it was built in 1052, during the heian period, by fujiwara yorimichi, the chief advisor to the emperor. it's very minimal compared to the other temple that i blogged about (todaiji temple). it is much more relatable to in scale and stature. i didn't fell so overwhelmed with this one as i did the other one. my heart didn't drop, but it was a nice place. (www.byodoin.or.jp)

a little lily a a pond in the byodoin temple

also, i found out that uji is known for their powdered green tea, or matcha. i was about to buy a tea set, but figured that since i don't really drink tea, i would save that money to buy souvenirs for people. anyways, i got some really sweet green tea mix, which i have to try, but i sampled a little bit of it, and it was really good. i also had a green tea softserve, with matcha. so yummy...i've had so much green tea that i'm going to come back with wintergreen teeth!!!

all aboard the green tea express, seriously, even the outside was green..

we also stopped by one of our instructors former offices, called FOB association. the structure is on piloti (raised on stilts) so that they used the space below for a parking garage and a place for shade. the office was really crowded on the inside, but apparently that's how japanese architects work. there seems to be a collective energy that way.



our last shrine was the inari shrine. what makes this place pretty amazing are they 1000 torii gates. each one is dedicated to deceased family members. these gates reminded me of "the gates" by christo (http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/tg.html). i'm not sure if these are still up in nyc, but these gates are pretty amazing too. the torii gates traverse the mountain in long paths that wind up the mountain.

a small sample of the 1000 toriis

this guy was waiting for us at the top of the mountain

so after the long hike up and down the mountain and through the torii's, we went to a REVOLVING SUSHI. not as good as CHO-CHO SAN, but pretty good. i skipped lunch, so i was soo hungry. i was the winner with about 9 plates, and three beers. not bad...