We
started to day with a subway trip back to the geisha district to find a special
ceremony held at the Shirakawa bridge which we’d read about in our tourist guide. We found the location easily as the eager
photographers were already surrounding the monument where the action was to
take place. The ceremony was performed
by geisha and maiko, who made an offering of flowers to honour the poet and playwright Isamu Yoshii (1886-1960). They came out in all their immaculate finery
and placed flowers at the monument. They
then very graciously posed for photos in each direction before gracefully
walking away. It was a lovely experience
to see an old ceremony performed in modern Japan.
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| The four lovely ladies who performed the ceremony |
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| Beautiful lady with beautiful autumn leaves |
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| On the bridge in Kyoto |
We
then found a bus heading for Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion) so we hopped
aboard. John and I had previously seen
Kinkakuji in its spring colours and we found it just as beautiful in reds and
oranges.
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| Kinkakuji |
After
Kinkakuji, we stopped off at Nijo Castle.
It was close to closing time, but we had plenty of time to look
through. Nijo Castle has a nightingale
floor which ‘sings’ when walked on. This
was part of the defence of the palace to prevent surprise attacks.
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| More schoolgirls - with visiting Australian |
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| Nijo Castle Gate |
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| Nijo Castle Moat |
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| Doesn't sell legs, just stockings and socks |
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| No, this wasn't our lunch |
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| Good name for a restaurant? |
We
took the bus back to the Kyoto Station and booked our shinkansen seats for
tomorrow’s trips to Hamamatsu and Tokyo, then we went our separate ways. John and Erin did some more exploring of the
arcades and alleyways while I went to Uniqlo for a bit of shopping and then
went back to the hotel. I got the
washing up to date and made a bit of blogging progress.
John
came back totally exhausted, but they’d enjoyed their explorations.
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