Well, what an interesting two weeks it has been since we last spoke! On the weather front, there haven’t been any more cyclones/typhoon and the weather has very suddenly cooled somewhat. We are now experiencing days of low 20s and cool nights – cool enough to require quilts. It has been so long since we needed any bed covers that it is a little strange adjusting. Craig has even worn long pants a few times!!!!!!

So, we signed the contract for our flat, and now just have to wait till late December for settlement. We received a deposit, of which we have distributed the majority to a few vendors (yes, a new vacuum, a new, grown up fridge for us 😊 and new teeth/crown for me). What a wonderful thing it is having a vacuum that actually picks up all the bits and pieces, including cat fur.

Since my last post, we have had a few guests staying with us, again some lovely people – all except for the last guests, who we had to ask to leave…They were a Swiss couple in their early 70s, who had booked for seven nights and who had assured us that they were fit and able to get around easily, which indeed they were. What we didn’t know is that there were other issues – in particular, some mental health issues. The first night was ok, although I didn’t really take to the husband; he was somewhat gruff and sour looking. They came in late, so we didn’t do the credit card transaction for our fee, leaving it until the next day.

Unfortunately, because both they and the other guests we had staying had a late breakfast and then talked for a while, we didn’t get a chance to charge them next day, as we had to go to my dental appointment and then had other things to do. In the early evening we had to take the young couple to the station to catch the train to the airport, mainly because the female was a bit unwell, with a bad cold. So, again we didn’t catch up with the older couple for the payment transaction.

That night, they came in later and went upstairs to go to bed. After a while, I started hearing some noises and some slightly raised voices, etc, but thought maybe they were just loud people – until, the yelling started. We were already in bed, but got up and rushed upstairs in our PJs. We had no idea what was going to happen. The husband was ranting, mostly in English, for our benefit, although he did swap back to Swiss German when he didn’t really want us to understand (which, as it happens I did a bit, having learnt some German at school, and the two languages are fairly similar).

We tried to calm things down but he was not going to be easily calmed, so we moved the wife into another room hoping that this would at least calm things for the night. We went back to bed and he went out for a walk. After he returned he went up to his room. Then around twenty minutes later, loud moaning then banging starts (on the floor, we presume). By the time we get up there, he is storming down the hallway and yelling at his wife to come out and talk (mostly in English, for our benefit). She is ignoring him and not opening the door. He is trying to persuade us to open the door (“I don’t know if she has gone out”. “she could be dead in there”, etc). We refuse.

He starts banging on the door, getting louder, we ask him to quiet down. After a while we talk him into going back to bed. Around 15 minutes later, banging and yelling. Again he is storming down the hallway. I beg him to stop – we need sleep, etc – he says he is suffering, I say that we are suffering also and so are the cats. I am trying desperately to remember all the psychology I have read. On the third time this happens, at around 2am, I finally find something that catches his attention – the circuit breaker we need. So, at 2:30am we finally get back to bed for the night.

The next morning, he acts as if nothing happened! “Good morning…”. He took an early morning walk before breakfast, which gave us a chance to talk to his wife. I told her they would have to go. I also ask a few questions about his state of mind and whether he had ever been physically violent. She said he had pushed her and he threw things, but had not gone beyond that. I had suspected the night before that he would have a go at Craig, if Craig got too close, but he would not touch me (for a number of reasons).

When he got back, they had breakfast and talked (in Swiss German), and things seemed relatively calm until she told him we had said they had to go and that she wanted to stay in Japan as planned, but separately from him. He started up, banging the table and picking up the bench and banging it on the floor. At this point I got really angry at him, and told him what I thought (including finger pointing…). He seemed shocked and the wife seemed bemused. After that, he packed, we charged them for the two nights they were here and he walked off.

We spent some time then talking to the woman and told her she could stay if she wanted to, but she felt it was too risky as he might come back looking for her and cause us more problems. We checked that she had her passport and a credit card, which she did, although her husband didn’t know she had one hidden away and had walked off with the other card!! So, she left to spend some time alone and we haven’t seen or heard anything since. We half expected to see something in the media the next day about an incident between two foreigners.

What an experience – we have learnt a lot from this about ourselves and that no matter how late it is, or what we are doing, we must take the money as soon as guests arrive!!! I now have the police emergency number programmed in my phone – even though in this case we didn’t need it, you just never know.

We have now cleaned the minshuku area top to bottom, in a symbolic clearing of the negative energy he spread around. We have also had two excursions out after this, to relax and renew (as it were). It’s funny, but as it was happening, a random thought went through my head that I would prefer to go through another earthquake to experiencing that situation. Strange the sort of things that can pop into your head at times – or is that just me?????

So, to the outings. The first one was to the National Museum to see the current exhibition – ‘Swords of Kyoto’. The exhibition features 120 blades forged in Kyoto. Kyoto has been home to some of Japan’s most talented swordsmiths, over time, who produced many famous blades. Swords made in various nearby regions are associated with “Yamashiro” (the former name of the province around Kyoto), however, apparently those actually made in the capital have always had the highest status, prized by both nobility and samurai. During the Edo period (1615–1868), swords were frequently exchanged among daimyo lords, and a sword from Kyoto was considered the ultimate gift.

 Crowd director

While we are by no means experts in Japanese swords, we thought it would be interesting to see and it was. I had thought they may show some of the accoutrements that went with these swords, but unfortunately it was not so. It is obviously a very popular exhibition with locals – it opened on 29 Sept and as of Tuesday this week, we had to wait over 30 minutes in a queue to get in.

Our other outing was to visit another temple somewhat off the beaten tourist track – Daikaku-ji. It was originally built in the early 800s as the detached palace of Emperor Saga. After the emperor’s death, the palace was converted into a temple and has since been one of the highest ranked temples of Shingon Buddhism. This temple has been the scene of many important events in Kyoto’s history, with a succession of retired emperors essentially continuing their reign from there (despite being retired), and in the 12th century the temple hosted peace talks that reunited the Northern and Southern Imperial Courts after 50 years of civil war. It is also featured in the Tale of Genji.

Daikaku-ji is made up of several buildings connected by covered, elevated wooden walkways, which squeak as you walk over them, like the “nightingale floors” of Nijojo. One of the most important treasures kept there is a copy of the Heart Sutra which was handwritten by Emperor Saga at the instruction of Kobo Daishi (Kukai). The sutra supposedly ended a mysterious plague that was sweeping the country during the Heian Period and it is now kept in the octagonal Heart Sutra Hall.

Before you enter this hall, you pass by a monk who places a small amount of powdered incense in your palm, which you are then supposed to rub onto both palms and repeat a sutra. The incense had the most beautiful scent, like a mix of cardamom, cinnamon and some other spices. He didn’t get us to repeat the sutra, perhaps because we were foreigners. I tried to find this incense in the temple shops, but alas, it is not sold to the public.

(you aren’t allowed to take shots inside, or of any monks or buddhas, so it prevented any shots of the sutra hall. This shot was a naughty sneaky shot of some of the fusuma in one room, because they were just so stunning)

As with many temples, there is also a large garden area in the temple grounds, dominated by a huge pond. It is the oldest surviving artificial pond in Japan and was created by Emperor Saga, who used to throw elaborate parties there and also used it for recreational activities such as boating, fishing and moon viewing. We were told years ago, on one of our visits to Japan, that there are three ways to view the full moon; up in the sky, reflected in water, such as this pond, and reflected in your cup of sake – my favourite way!! 😊

Reflections. I started having Higashiyama Kaii moments!

Another wonderful temple to visit, with a lot of history and not crowded with people, so you can enjoy the beauty of the buildings and their surrounds, and the tranquillity and relaxation of the temple. The pond has over 3,000 lotus plants in it, which I plan to return to see next year.

That’s all for now – what’s in store next???

Cheers!

Inside the arts and crafts museum

 A special euphonium car! Just for Steven…

So, if you don’t have a card you don’t have a noodle?

Halloween goes on

Xmas is coming – order now for your pet’s cake!

Beautiful sunshine

…and once again I find myself in front of a blank screen, thinking about what to include in this new episode. Actually, it is, of course, only new on paper (as it were), because it is already writ in time, I just have to remember where and what I was up to!

Welcome to this, the 26^th episode of the second year of my life in Kyoto. It is drawing very close to the end of the second year here and we have only just been able to officially open our business. We have had our first official guests now – a family group of three and a single male from the UK. Lovely people and truly enjoyable to be able to start relaxing into the lifestyle – we just need to attract more! We do have another guest arriving today and a group of four arriving tomorrow.

In a first for us, we put on a cooking class for the man from the UK, after his partner contacted us and asked if we would and she would pay us to do so, as a special gift for him. We were a little unsure how it would go, but a typhoon was headed our way and it made sense for the guest to stay in and have dinner here. So, we went ahead making a main (nabe – a Japanese winter stew), a soup and some gyoza. As it turned out, we enjoyed doing it and we are now considering adding this as an option for our guests, if they are interested.

Speaking of cyclones/typhoon, number 24 went through on the weekend and we are now awaiting number 25. As it happened, number 24 had much less impact on Kyoto than they originally forecast, as the cyclone’s path was slightly more to the east then they expected. Yet again the eastern side of Kansai and Shikoku were hit fairly hard, as was Tokyo this time. It looks like number 25 will pass mostly to the west of us, but you never know exactly how they will track until they get here.

 Pre the arrival of no. 24

In between the cyclones, the weather has been beautiful, with warm, sunny days in the high 20s. Perfect weather for going outside and walking, which I am enjoying doing again. Yesterday we went on another outing we had been wanting to do for a while, but which wasn’t possible while I was incapacitated. We had seen a temple on a program on television which is two train rides from us, called (loosely) the Tanuki temple. Since we had been fascinated with tanuki since we first came to Japan, it was a place we were very keen to see.

It is actually the Tanukidani-san Fudō-in temple, which had its beginnings in 1718 and existed only as a cave with a statue until the actual temple complex was built in its present form in 1944. The Buddhism that is practiced there is the ascetic nature worship of Shugendō. This practice combines various Buddhist, Shinto, and Taoist beliefs, and Shugendō can be translated as “the way to spiritual power through discipline”. Generally, this involves acts of physical endurance as the path to enlightenment. Shugendō training can include isolation, fasting, meditation, performing magical spells, reciting sutras, and engaging in severe feats of endurance such as standing/sitting under cold mountain waterfalls or in snow.

The walk to the temple is all uphill, with the final part of the ascent involving the climbing of 250 stairs. On the way up, there are a few small temples and a shrine. It turns out there is also a large temple, the Shisendo temple, which we didn’t realise was there. The gate to this temple is very unassuming, although nice enough that we both took photos of it! Next time we will explore this temple, which apparently has some beautiful gardens.

 Shisendo temple gate

One name that we saw a few times, both in the shrine and in association with Tanukidani-san Fudō-in, is Miyamoto Musashi. He was a swordsman, philosopher, writer and rōnin and spent some time in Kyoto training and fighting a series of duels, including one very famous battle in this area. The shrine has a statue of Miyamoto Musashi and a piece of pine tree around which the aforementioned battle raged.

The climb up to Tanukidani-san Fudō-in is lovely, with the path and stairs passing through a forested area. At the base of the stairs is a very large collection of tanuki statues, which puts our three to shame!!! While the climb up to the main hall area is 250 stairs, it is a punctuated with plateaux and a few tanuki statues which indicate how many stairs you have already climbed. There is also a ‘treasure’ quest, where you have to find five small seated tanuki, placed in and along the pathway and temple (which, of course, I just had to do, set a challenge).

One of the seated tanuki hidden in view

The main hall built in 1944, was designed to front the cave chancel which houses the original statue of Fudo Myo-o, literally translated as the immovable wisdom king. The front of the building has a butai or stage area very reminiscent of Kiyomizudera (but without the crowds, as one description says!). Inside is the usual area where tourists and visitors to temples can stand to see the interior, with the nave area in front of that and then the chancel, which you may or may not be able to see into very well.

This area is where they perform fire walking

As we looked inside, we noticed a sign saying that as it was the 300 year anniversary of the foundation of the temple, people were allowed to go through the nave and into the chancel. This was an opportunity not to be missed and so we did just that. Inside the chancel I realised it literally was a cave, with the statue at the back. It was very low light, but the eyes of the statue glowed gold and it felt like it was watching you, as you stood in front. It was an amazing experience and I felt very lucky to have been there at the right time.

So, yet another fantastic place to visit that is definitely not on the tourist trail and is therefore wonderfully quiet (I think we saw about eight other people while we were there, apart from the monks and a few staff) and gives you the opportunity to really experience a place. The other benefit of going to visit Tanukidani-san Fudō-in is all the other temples and the shrine on the path from the train to the temple. Definitely worth the travel there.

On a final note, tonight we are going to visit a real estate office to sign a contract for the sale of our flat!!!! Unfortunately full settlement is not until late December, but we are getting a couple of deposit type payments in the near future, so we can start buying some of the things we really need for our minshuku – such as a good vacuum (yes, it might sound a bit sad, but I am really looking forward to it!).

Cheers for now

Another new friend and an Australian tree!!!

Our grasshopper family

Ah, Halloween!!!

I always wanted something Vivian Westwood

The mysterious flying tanuki guru