[Travel and Domestic/International | Stories of History and Culture] ~A Traveler Goes Up to the Capital, Kyoto~
Dear readers, it has been a while.
For this year's Obon holiday, I wanted to take my father to Suzhou in Jiangsu Province, but the airfare was two or three times the usual price, which seemed ridiculous. Just as a typhoon was heading toward the Chinese mainland, I decided to change my destination.
I decided to go up to the capital of Kyoto for the first time in a while. I had been wanting to investigate Zen temples in Kyoto (the Kyoto Gozan and Rinka temples) for some time, so I took this opportunity.
in the summer, unless you are at a major tourist spot like Kiyomizu-dera, Kinkaku-ji, or Ginkaku-ji, you won't be annoyed by overtourism.
There is no end to the beautiful photos of Kyoto I could post, so this time I would like to include an excerpt from my travel journal about the scenery I saw when I visited the Hojo courtyard at Kennin-ji Temple. It condenses the beauty of Kyoto in summer into a single passage.
Diary entry for August 8th, at Kennin-ji Temple
The greatest charm of this place is, without a doubt, the view of the courtyard seen from the Japanese-style room. Beyond the dimly lit room, the moss and trees, bathed in the summer sunlight, shine with a vibrant green. When viewing a garden from a room, rather than a dry landscape garden, a moss garden or a garden planted with trees of a moderate scale might be better, as the greenery is framed by the room.
Furthermore, this room is prepared with surprising ingenuity and hospitality.
On the tatami mats of the room overlooking the beautiful garden, a black lacquer box is placed on a tray. And inside that box, a prism of ice is set. The ice was likely mountain spring water that froze in winter and was preserved in an ice house. It is completely free of impurities, as transparent as crystal, and becomes one with the brilliance of the garden's greenery beyond.
Naturally, having a single pillar of ice will not cool the room. However, by placing a precious pillar of ice in a lacquer box in the room, it gives the space a dignified elegance, allowing one to enjoy the refined taste unique to the summer season.
At the same time, this is also a subtle and sophisticated form of hospitality, intended to provide a moment of refreshing coolness to those who visit the temple when they see it.
……What a sense of coolness, what ingenuity!!
This is a far more sophisticated form of hospitality than simply providing an air-conditioned room. It is a gift of the noble atmosphere that the capital wears.
Afterword
Kyoto is, needless to say, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. In the 15th century, my area of expertise, Kyoto was undoubtedly the number one city in Japan.
Even today, Japan is heavily centralized around Tokyo, but in the past, most of the politics, economy, and culture—the majority of the nation's power—was concentrated in the capital. Before the Onin War, one could say it was a wealthier and more cultural city than Paris, the largest city in Europe.
If you want to conduct field research on Japanese traditional beauty, especially Japanese wabi-suki and Zen Buddhism, going up to the capital is essential.
I have a Japanese friend who studies Japan-China relations at university, but he has never been to China. It is a high hurdle for a Japanese student to suddenly go to China alone. To such a person, I would say this:
"If you want to feel the art and culture of medieval China and the history of cultural exchange between Japan and China firsthand while staying in Japan, Yokohama's Chinatown is fine, but you should first try visiting Kyoto."
This is because the architectural techniques of the temples lined up in Kyoto, the sliding door paintings, ceramics such as tea utensils, and the doctrines and rituals of Zen Buddhism were very often transmitted from China.
Kyoto has taken in the latest culture from China, devised ways to adapt it to the Japanese climate, and built a new, unique culture. That unique culture is the elegance of Kyoto, which has culminated in Japanese traditional culture.
In other words, Kyoto can be said to be the city where Japanese tradition is most deeply rooted, as well as the city where sophisticated Chinese traditional culture has most firmly taken hold.