Day 2 - 5/14/18 Imperial Palace and Shopping

Day 2, Monday, Exploring Palaces Near 

and Shopping Districts Far

The dappled sunlight playing across the rice screens in our bedroom woke us up along with a murder of raucous crows at 6 AM.  

I had never imagined how the screens  could act as a movie image screen, with the breeze ruffling the leaves, the images coming in and out of focus as the sun was covered by clouds, and move as the sun rose in the sky.  This doesn't capture the dynamic nature but will perhaps give you a sense. The first and second image only differ in time by a few seconds as a cloud skittered across the sun.

 What a difference a day can make! The blue sky and warm breezes promised a perfect day to step out and explore our neighborhood.  We got ourselves a breakfast of toast, yogurt, and brewed coffee, packed up our bags and by nine o'clock, armed with our maps we were ready to step out and explore our neighborhood -

By the time we were ready to leave our apartment, the sun had moved up the horizon and the shadows moved with it.  I have read much about the screens that would shield the women in the household from the men, screens just like this, but what I now see is how seductive such a screen can be as the illusion of what is behind it animates the imagination of the viewer. 

By the time we stepped into the cool morning, the backyard of our guesthouse was glittering in the morning sun, with leaves still wet with drops of rain from yesterday, and we discoved a tiny pagoda or shrine in our backyard that we'd not seen in the deluge of the day before.











An azalea bush was beginning to bloom.....

 ....and the Temple at the end of our block was opening up for business.

 The gardens of the imperial palace were stunningly beautiful, and though the cherry blossoms were officially over with......

 We did find one late bloomer who showed off her flowers for us.














The Palace itself was closed, we were able to get a tour through the Kyoto State Guest House, built in 2003 on the grounds of the Imperial Gardens to house foreign dignitaries - 79 countries and over 100 representatives had been hosted on this site. Here are some images from some of the tapestries and ponds (complete with over 100 koi) inside the guest house. The tapestries depict in silk weavings the two mountains on the east and the west that hold Kyoto in its embrace.  We were told by our guide Noriko, that the wisteria in the third image is meant as the welcome flower, and the pine, bamboo, and lotus blossoms surrounding the pond symbolize longevity, power, and patience.

 We hurried back to the guest house, met the wonderful Levi Lee, AC'17, the Doshisha Fellow tasked with showing us around.  We walked down to the river, saw a bride and groom posing for photos at the Kamo River (above), and took a subway down to the fashionable 5th Ave equivalent to have some fabulous sushi at Sushi no Mushashi (parading by on a conveyor belt - 13 dishes cost us less than $30), bought some olive oil and apples at Takashimaya, a real fancy department store, for the talk tomorrow, and posed for the camera.

 Back home, we're very sore and tired, and trying to stay up long enough for it to be respectable time to go to sleep.  Perhaps some sake will help.................