A wooden sign board of wagashi, Japanese confectionery, shop in Kyoto

broccoli at Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto

This is taken from the stage of main building in Kiyomizu Temple and trees look like broccoli...

Ten-don(天丼)

This is called Ten-don in Japanese, rice bowl with tempura of small shrimps and anago, something of eel. As is not usual and typical, this was my breakfast and I ate it in a buffet of the fish market.

A stone basin and wooden spoons, at Kamigamo Shrine in Kyoto

The basin and spoons are usually put at the entrance of Japanese shrine to make our hands and mouths clean with pure water. After cleaning parts of our bodies, we pray in front of main building, where gods live, in the site, because the gods dislike dirty things very much.

The opening as a frame of living picture, at Eikando Temple at Kyoto

Light Indigo blue on the inner of a house, at Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto

Autumn is coming...part2 at Saihoji Temple in Kyoto

Autumn is coming... at Saihoji Temple in Kyoto

Oni-tile roof at Toji Temple, in Kyoto

On the corner of the roof is put some Oni, something of a devil in English, shaped tile roofs. This was thought to put to keep the evil spirits from the building.

A tatami mat where the Emperor used to sit, at Kyoto Gosho in Kyoto

Kibana, a wooden nose, at Kingakuji Temple in Kyoto

The prominent wooden part is called Kibana in Japanese, meaning a wooden nose. (ki means wooden and bana means nose) Such parts are usually seen at the top of pillars of old wooden in Temples. Looking at this kinds of details is one of the pleasures in appreciating old buildings in Japan.

Surume, dried squid

These are dried squid, or cuttlefish, and called "surume" in Japanese. We usually eat them, slit and roast over the fire for a few seconds. With a little mayonnaise and powdered red pepper, it tastes better. We eat it as appetizer for beers or whiskey.

Gifts from the earth

I love autumn here because we can receive many kinds of delicious gifts from the earth.

Every autumn greengrocers sell such fruits, chestnuts, Japanese persimmons(called kaki in Japanese) and pears, as well as grapes.

Thanks for our planet, the earth!!

Stone walls of Nijo Castle in Kyoto

A part of a scroll some hundred years ago

Elaborate details under the roofs 2, at Kofukuji Temple in Nara

A path put along stone lanterns in Mii-dera Temple, near Kyoto

A stone lantern in a garden at Katsura Imperial Villa, Kyoto

A tea house at Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto

Murouji Temple in Nara

People who appreciating a garden at Ohara Hosen-in, Kyoto

Roughly speaking, there are two kinds of gardens in Japan. Some are for enjoying it by walking around them and changing the scenery. The others are for appreciating them just by sitting on tatami mats of a house in front of them and seeing them. This garden is the latter. People go and see such gardens just like enjoying landscape paintings.

Maple leaves and bamboos make the scenery of the garden against the backdrop of the mountain. Both vegetation, maple and bamboo, are one of the best motifs for showing us the exquisite beauty of Kyoto. (Excuse me for too bad photo!!) So this garden is one of popular gardens in Kyoto in autumn.

By the way, here is the photo of the same garden without people in summer.

Inside meets outside, Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto

Zori, traditional shoes for Kimono

These are called Zori in Japanese and we put on them when dressing in kimono, a Japanese cloth. I don't have such shoes because I don't have any kimonos, as well as most Japanese.

These shoes had been quite usual till sixty years ago but now only for those who wear kimono. These are one of the items which remind me of good old Japan.

Inside the main gate of Todaiji Temple in Nara

The silhouette of a building in Toji Temple, in Kyoto

A wooden bridge for enjoying the vista, at Tofukuji Temple in Kyoto

A Japanese traditional snack shop

This was taken in front of a Japanese traditional snack shop, selling many kinds of snacks in old-fashioned glass cases with tin plate caps. The snacks contain of Senbei, Okaki, Arare, which usually are baked or fried and taste salty flavored with salt or soy sauce, sometimes with hot pepper. Some of them are sweet, seasoned with some sugar.

By the way, what are the differences between Senbei, Okaki and Arare??

Senbei is popular in Tokyo and the plate is round in shape and harder than Okaki and Arare. It is made of Uruchi-rice, a kind of rice, usually seasoned with soy sauce.

Okaki is popular in Osaka and Kyoto and is square in shape and smaller than Senbei. It is made of Mochi rice. The rice is also used for making Mochi.

Arare is similar to Okaki in taste but smaller than Okaki. It is also made of Mochi rice.

If you have a chance to go to Japan, why not try them??

Theme Day, Cemetery / Tombstone

Here are a few tips about Japanese cemetery....

We usually have a tombstone per a family, not an individual, and the stones have been taken over from our ancestors. The stones are usually in the site of Buddhist temples. We have a custom of visiting the stone once or more in a year to show our respects for our ancestors. Such feeling of awe of the ancestor is from the Shinto religion, Japanese primitive religion, but the graves sit in temples of Buddhist religion, not in shrines of Shinto religion.

Japanese tombstones, came from Shinto religion, have, in nature, no connection with Buddhism. Why do the temples have the cemetery?? Because the government of Edo (1603-1868) used temples as a tool of governance over the multitude. The government of Edo forced each family to set each tombstone in a Buddhist temple. The system had two purposes. One was to force people to believe in Buddhism and prohibit them from believing in Christianity. The other was to make temples to see who died and when, just like register offices today.

Now the system has gone but people has set the stone in temples still now.

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