Kyoto - Temples, Chambara and Soccer

Kyoto - Temples, Chambara and Soccer– 12 Oct

Today Ito-san and his lovely wife Rika, had their work cut out for them driving round Kyoto showing us the many sights. We started off at the Kiyomizudera, the famous water temple in the beautiful mountains of Kyoto. It was a hot day and walking round the complex was very draining hill we had to climb to get there and then the many stairs we had to climb to get up to main temple. Once at the top of the temple, looking out over the hilly area is breathtaking. The temple is not only famous for its special healing waters, but also for the grounds. In Spring it is almost a magical wonderland with the cherry blossoms scattered through the leafy area and in Autumn it is spectacular to see the Japanese maples changing colour. We were about a month too early to see the leaves change, but were all still impressed with the beautiful green trees and moss everywhere. It’s one temple that is a must see in Japan. (Photo: Zoe drawing the healing smoke onto her.)


The natural spring water that the temple is famous for, flows from three small streams to an area where you can drink from them. I was told once that each of the streams has special properties. If you drink from one you get happiness, the other health and the other wealth I think. Anyway, once again it’s pot luck, so you just choose one. I have known of people during less busy times to drink from all three, but that’s just asking for trouble. You don’t find out which one you chose, but I was hoping for good health as always. Itoh-san being more pragmatic than me said, it all comes from the same spring anyway.

As we made our way down the long walk back we were pleased that we came early in the morning, though compared to the numbers at Nara it was almost “empty”. I found out today that yesterday just happened to be a National Holiday, and so the unusually large numbers of people at Nara and at Todaiji were not normal and that is also why the shinkansen was very crowded too.

Our next stop was “chambara town” or the Toei Film lot. Toei is the Japanese film company that for many years has produced films and later on tv of what the Japanese call Chambara which is what we might call “hack and slash” swordfighting films. The best of them are classics and the worst are tv series that are shown during daytime tv. Wish you had been there Spike, it was fun to see all the old posters of past classics and not so classics as well as to walk around the film lot, now quite run down, though still being used. There were also actors dressed up in samurai gear walking round the lot and even a small pony to ride on.

The kids and I ended up having our photos taken in traditional Japanese outfits as did Rika and Susumu. The dressed up as a lady and lord and looked very authentic. Grant looked great as a Ninja and Zoe as a beautiful Kyoto lady. I on the other hand have destroyed the evidence of horrible photo I call a sheep in lambs clothing. The transformation process was the best fun, standing there while the two ladies went to work superfast to dress us in kimono over the top of our own clothes, and put on the amazing wig. It felt a bit like it must have been like for the ladies of old Kyoto “ being fawned over. These people were obviously pros and it was all over in a “flash”. (Photo: Zoe transforming into a Geisha)

We then went over to experience a Japanese Ghost house and although Rika and I weren’t that keen at all, we were talkedg into going in by the kids and Susumu. We all thought it was going to be very corny, which is what Susumu gave us the impression it would be like as he’d been once before when he was in high school, but for the three Barlows it was all a new experience. The kids were very excited but as we rounded the corner to the entrance and heard the “real” screams coming from inside I could see they were both starting to have doubts (Photo: Kids copying a swordfighting pose off the posters on the wall)
We were shown a video in a dark room as we entered, hosted by a samurai and were told not to touch anything, hit or strike anything that moved and to keep moving. Once inside Zoe walked in front and Grant and I walked hand in hand, and after a few tense moments a ‘ghost’ jumped out at us and screamed and we all nearly wet our pants. From then on, we all huddled, held hands and screamed when anything moved. As we walked through the dark corridors we all screamed in surprise and terror as the ghosts came out one by one, but the most frightening moments were when the ‘actors’ jumped out from behind us. We had all poo pooed it as we walked in, but by the time we got to the end, we were all shaking and very glad to be out. As we stopped to get a cooling slushie and walked to the next attraction we couldn’t stop giggling as we recounted the most frightening moments.

The next place we headed for was the ‘chambara’ recreation. On stage there were a group of 5 actors re-enacting a famous battle scene out of a Japanese drama. At the end they asked for 5 volunteers from the audience to go on stage and take on the ‘baddie’. We were by no means the only foreigners in the audience, but as often is the case, the first person they forced to volunteer, was Grant. He was really reluctant, but the will of the people won out and he shyly walked up on stage with another 4 Japanese men and women. Each had to learn a short set piece and then in turn got to fight the baddies with lighting, corney music and the ‘ching ching’ sound effect of the swords clashing. It was lots of fun to watch and although the guy in charge was speaking to Grant in English, he had no idea what he was saying to him most of the time. I have come to realise over the past few weeks, that knowing how to speak Japanese is almost a necessity for being about to understand English spoken by a Japanese person. So after a couple of simple questions, I think the MC was in doubt as to whether Grant could speak English and got on with the show. Grant got a little prize at the end for ‘helping’ and we all got to have a good laugh at his expense, so it was a win, win situation. (Photo: Grant and Susumu)

After we left the film lot it was getting quite late. We had about 1 hour to get to and see the famous ‘Golden Pavilion’ before it closed. The temple itself is built out over a beautiful pond filled with carp and is covered in gold leaf. We were lucky to see it at that time of day, as it caught the evening sun, it was beautiful without being too garish. As usual the temple grounds were almost magical and as we walked out we stopped to try our luck at tossing coins into a bronze bowl, for no other reason than judging by the number of coins surrounding the bowl, many others had done it and it seemed like fun.


Then in contrast to the serene gardens of the temple, we had a mad rush to get a snack for Grant to eat before his soccer training started. We got to the ground and saw a group of U/12’s getting ready to train. The coaches were all very nice to Grant and after some warm up drills they played some small sided games. The drills were confusing for Grant to understand, and although Susumu did his best to get across to Grant what was required, he still came off not understanding much of what was going on. The games were fun and he had a few laughs with the kids on his team. It was cool to see them all being so welcoming and at the end he gave out some cuddly Koalas Aussie lolly snake for everyone to reenergise with. It was a fun night for Grant and the coaches as well. One of the guys spent a bit of time with Grant, chatting, and apparently telling jokes, though none of which Grant understood. He told us later in Japanese English, that he was a bit of a comedian, but Grant couldn’t find the funny side of anything he said. Humour - it's a real cultural thing. After a group photo and many thank you’s, we were off in Itoh-san’s car on the hour long drive to Osaka and dinner. (Photo: Grant being introduced, Team Photo)

Dinner was the famous Osaka dish, ‘Okonomiyaki’ which is a kind of cabbage and meat pancake which you cook at your table. It was a great atmosphere, and we all enjoyed cooking our own and eating them piping hot off the griddle. Once we got to the hotel we checked in and were again surprised at the size of the hotel room and how nice it was. This time it was a Japanese style Tatami mat room and there were 3 large single bed futon laid out for us already. We were all exhausted from our long and busy day, and although we were all in bed quickly, I think I actually beat the kids to sleep for the first time!