Day trip to Dazaifu

Today we took a tram, shinkansen, express train, and private rail to get to the old city of Dazaifu.  It was the administrative center of the western island of Kyushu from the 7th century.  Highlights from the day included the Kyushu National Museum, built just about 10 years ago where we learned about Japan and its neighbors through cultural artifacts.  Be on the look out for blog posts from Trippers that describe what objects they had an affinity towards.  Our time in the museum was cut short by our growing hunger where we explored the main street lined with shops and street food.  We then visited the original Tenmangu Shrine (early 10th century) for sights and sounds of "shichi-go-san matsuri," or 7-5-3 festival, where children dress up in traditional kimono and visit a shrine to pray for girls who have turned 3 and 7 and boys who have turned 5 in the past year.  We then visited Komyozen-ji Zen temple for quiet reflection, solice, and a gorgeous Zen-style rock garden.  Exquisite.  We ate a lovely curry rice meal at the local "mom and pop" shop in a town called Futsukaichi before retracing our steps, taking 4 forms of tranport before baths and blogging.

Dreary weather, but only a little rain . . .

Washing hands in a purification ritual before entering the shrine.

Ancient trees growing around Tenmangu Shrine

 A typical chrysanthemum display often found at temples and shrines in November

 Dressed for the 7-5-3 Festival

 "Ema" are boards that you write wishes on and place in special places within a shrine or temple.  Tenmangu Shrine is well known for best wishes on exams.

The rain neither dampened our mood or our experiences.  It added a dimension to our visit.

 Komyozen-ji temple.  A favorite spot for journaling, drawing, and of course photographing.

Post "Killer Curry," (name of the shop in translation), where the meal was universally enjoyed.

On to Kumamoto

After an early morning trip on the bullet train,  we found our way to Kumamoto.  Our Japanese-style hotel is near Kumamoto Castle, so we walked over and spent several hours there as our first stop.  Originally constructed in 1607, much of the castle has been destroyed but rebuilt in historically accurate ways.  As soon as the group spotted the outer wall, there was running and excited photographing, as evidenced below:

There was even a demonstration of samurai sword fighting!

Our next walk led us to the Hosokawa Residence, a former home of a high-ranking samurai.  We were able to experience classic Japanese home construction elements (genkan entry area, wooden rouka hallways along the outer perimeter of the rooms, woven tatami flooring in the rooms, sliding shoji doors, wooden rain doors on the exterior, etc.  as we walked throughout the expansive residence.

(I'm sorry I'm having trouble with my -- JY --  photos showing up!  Will try to figure this out later . . . )

In general, both MVK and JY are contributing photos and text on the home page to give an overview of each day.

22 miles! (we're not kidding) a.k.a 50,420 steps

We walked, and walked, and walked from leaving the hostel at 7:00am returning 10:00pm. It's nearly 1:00am and we're exhausted, so here are some of the photo highlights from the day!  The only gaps in the graph where there is no walking is because we had tea ceremony midday, and then dinner when we finally rested a bit.  And can you believe it -- the mountains/hills/slopes/stairs all added up to the equivalent of 89 floors!

Learning Japanese and about Japan happens throughout each day.  This morning, we started out with lessons on learning kanji in context, and a challenge to take photos of such findings.  

We started out the morning in northeastern Kyoto at Enko-ji.  As evident in the sunburst, we were there right at the hour they opened in the morning.

Several students bought a "temple book" to keep record of the temples they visit by having a calligrapher write in their books:

A view of a garden in Enko-ji with the beginning of autumn color

The trippers proclaimed this place an instant favorite saying they could spend all day here

A handsome trio

Now at peace at Eikando at the southern end of Philosopher's Walk

Group Photo along the Philosopher's Walk:

But then, we had to hurry to make it to our tea ceremony appointment (i.e., intermittent running for those with short legs!)  -- even crossing against the sign, as evidenced in the photo because that person is on the other side of the street from the group that followed the traffic sign.  

A tea ceremony experience near Gion, the famous geisha district

On the famous Sanjo bridge that spans the Kamogawa

Dinner was well-earned!  We were all so hungry that we barely came up for air, and everyone is getting used to eating food that seemed strange and new only yesterday.

Beginning to practice talking in Japanese to local people after a nighttime light-up walk at the temple:

And a walk along the atmospheric "Ninenzaka."

Check back -- we'll add a few more photos when we're not so sleepy!  The alarm rings in only a few hours, and we're on our way to Kumamoto tomorrow, leaving our youth hostel at 6am.  

Arashiyama

6am breakfast, 7am bus, Narita Express to Tokyo station, and off we were to Kyoto.  What a great group -- everyone was punctual, all went smoothly, and miraculously, our gray weather day turned clear precisely at Mt Fuji! (Mr VanKrey has a reputation as "hare otoko" which means "sunny weather boy" and he lived up to it.)

We ate very healthy bento lunches on the train.  Japan cooks seasonal foods in special ways to celebrate the change in each season:

and we arrived at our youth hostel and immediately set out for Arashiyama.  The photo below was taken posing in front of the Kyoto Tower in appreciation of the Picture Japan 2014 Trip (the group who went to Japan for the summer fundraising trip).

A train trip to Arashiyama, with time for some socializing, since the long bullet train trip to Kyoto was mostly for homework time.

Arriving into Arashiyama, we posed on the famous bridge:

Monkey Mountain was a climb up into the hills, and then lots of playing time to feed and photograph the monkeys.  But first, we took quizzes along the way, in Japanese, of course, to learn about the monkeys.  After all, it's a school day.

We marveled at the tall bamboo trees in the famous bamboo grove and captured them from many different angles:

The special dinner of Kyoto cooking focused on tofu cooking -- it's surprising how many dishes can be made with tofu.  Everyone was given the challenge to eat healthy and stay strong for the long days of intense walking we do.

Relaxing in the foot bath after dinner:

Kyoto skyline from the top of Kyoto station: