4.14.09 Shugakuin

We visited Shugakuin, another famous imperial villa. It was raining, and the place is enormous so we hiked around the landscape and were pretty much speechless from some of the views. This place is 19 acres and they have some farmland and rice paddies still on the property.

("iroiro") of Japan...

"iroiro" which we learned in language class the other day, means variety. In one DAY, within several subway stops we saw the following things:

1. A brutalist concrete building, which reminded me of a 2nd year architecture project

2. Entsuji - a tiny tiny temple in the middle of nowhere, where you can meditate on a zen garden

3. Kyoto Fine Arts Museum - a not very well known Tadao Ando project which houses HUGE recreations of famous paintings, done in ceramic tiles... So bizzare! This was one of my favorite things in Kyoto so far.

4.12.09 MONKEY HILL!!

EEEEK! Today we hiked to the top of this mountain (the scenery was incredible) and saw monkeys! The pictures do the talking, however I will add that it was nice to see a less developed part of Japan, more green space = a nice change.

4.11.09 Philosopher's Path

Some of the class went to the Philosopher's Path this weekend, a long path which connects a bunch of temples. More pictures coming soon.. Here's the people who went (thanks Don for the class pictures)

4.9.09 Uji

We visited the town of Uji, which is the tea capital of Japan, although we didn't drink any tea here... which is stupid but we were busy seeing the Pheonix Hall in Byodoin. We also moved to our "new digs" as Don calls them, they are very high tech. 

4.7.09 Katsura Detached Palace

Today we visited Katsura Detached Palace, the old Imperial Palace here in Kyoto. It was 70 degrees and sunny (finally) so it was a great day to go see it! We go in small tour groups, so it was just 4 of us from our class, and a bunch of senior citizen Asians - a great group! All the paths in these gardens are carefully planned, and frame certain views of the gardens. They were careful to place trees and other things in the way so that you couldn't experience the garden all at once in a single view - interesting technique! 

food for thought

"Thus in Buddhism there is a tendency to regard human life as basically a fluid phenomenon. However, when the idea of this flowing movement is expressed by the words shog yo mujo (all things are impermanent) it takes on a special nuance."

"The river never stops flowing, and the water is never the same. The bubbles that float in the pools, now disappearing, now coming into being, never last. So it is in the world with people and their dwellings... People die in the morning and are born in the evening, not knowing where they come from, nor where they are going, like bubbles on the water"