Hateshinai Aka: Endless Red

My computer sounds like it's dying sometimes.

 Whirring frantically.
 I sure hope it isn't dying.



Sunday, I paid a visit to Fushimi Inari-Taisha--which is practically on the opposite side of Kyoto--with Sunyoung, a law major from Korea. A few years ago, there weren't as many foreigners visiting this shrine, but since the Memoirs of a Geisha came out, everyone visiting Kyoto wants to see the thousands of red torii Sayuri ran through in the film. And there are literally thousands of torii, donated by various companies and businesses. Originally Inari was a kami of agriculture, rice, and fertility, but nowadays is revered as a patron kami of businesses and industry.

 Waiting for the procession

which reminded me a lot of a church procession/parade I saw in Spain once

These are mikoshi, portable shrines used to transport the enshrined kami.

This was one of the few times of the year the kami is basically brought out into the public. 

I've waited to write about this shrine visit since I actually started learning about its history in my Intro to Japanese Culture and Japanese Religion classes just this week. I also learned why kitsune--the hengeyoukai, not the animal--purportedly have a great love of sake.
Foxes have always been the messengers of Inari, and kitsune statues all over Fushimi Inari-Taisha. Some hold objects in their mouths, like keys to granaries, scrolls for accounting, wish-fulfilling jewels, or small spheres which hold the power and energy of the kami.
The red bibs on the statues are offerings.

 This one was a nice portrait I think

The ema at this shrine are rather unique: they're shaped like fox faces. People write their wishes on the back and can draw on their own fox face on the front. Some of the fox faces looked more like dogs or people though...

 Offerings of sake, water, and rice are brought her for breakfast and dinner.

Kami need breakfast and dinner just like people.

Fushimi Inari-Taisha is built on a mountain with three peaks; people usually travel from the shrine on the third peak to the first, on paths lined with red torii.
The lower shrine is for the Ukanomitama no kami, the soul of rice, the middle shrine for Sarutahiko no mikoto, a deity of the ground, and the upper shrine for Oomiyanome no mikoto, a female deity.

 

Funny note, candles are very, very rarely allowed to be lit here. For a while, the crows were making off with lit candles. Kind of a fire hazard. (There was a guy watching these candles though. Plus, these candles were pretty hefty.)

 

There are also hundreds of otsuka, stones with the names of kami or budhha/bodhisattva inscribed on them. All are various representations of Inari. 

I'm not sure if we actually walked the whole thing or not...We got to the top of, well, something with a great view. There were about 2 or 3 other paths back downwards, and a very convenient place to eat, grab a drink or some ice cream...

Thinking the paths were going to circle back around towards the front, we were glad to be walking downhill, until we discovered the easiest way back to the front of the shrine was back uphill towards the way we came from.

I'd like one of these in my future dream garden

After a very serene mountain path, a bamboo grove, some rice paddies, and a pretty little hillside garden with tulips, and a very, very steep hill, we made it back at the earlier intersection, then back towards the entrance, thence to back to the station. Fortunate, because it was starting to get cold. The cool weather was nice and refreshing when we were climbing up stairs and stairs and through tunnels of torii.

A last few peaceful thoughts nearby and at the station:

The Search for More Flea Markets

I've discovered yet another monthly market, this time at Chionji temple on the 15th of every month. I managed to find some time in the afternoon to wander around it a little. I'm kicking myself a bit now because I remembered to bring my nokyo-cho, but I forgot to get it stamped while I was there.

                                                            Delicious delicious candy. Gorgeous wrapper.
Emoticon time.
*>_<*
I don't believe I saw any of the same vendors that I've seen at the Touji or Kitano Tenmanguu markets. Some of them were selling very similar crafts and wares: traditional ceramics, leather bags/wallets/purses, jewelry, traditional Kyoto textile-crafts...

I had a deep sense of satisfaction when I left the market, though; that feeling I always get after I support independent artists. At least, I'm fairly certain it was local, being at a local flea market... The  prints belonging to a young artist/illustrator--who calls herself Kiri--caught my eye.  I've been to enough dealers' rooms and artists' alleys that it was almost an automatic reaction. The textures of her pieces, the expressiveness of the figures, and gentle assertiveness of her lines intrigued me. I stooped down to look through her prints folder. I paused in the middle of a series of adorable western zodiac anthropomorphism illustration to say, "Aa, Libura desu!". We started talking--or I started stumbling through a spontaneous conversation in Japanese. Explained where I was from, what I was doing in Kyoto, that I was a design major myself. From what she told me (and from I so cleverly observed) she works mainly in pen with watercolors and acrylics. It was a nice, stumbled-through conversation. And I had a heck of a time deciding which prints I wanted to buy. I ended up not buying the Libra print, but Falling Cherry Blossoms and a Woman's Kimono and Kimono Twins.

Kiri's website is kirixxxx.seesaa.net: you can see the prints I bought if you scroll down and click on the art gallery link on the left side. (Or if you want to see her blog in Google-translator broken English then here.) Or this is even easier for finding the prints.

So it was fantastic meeting a really kind and patient young artist selling her art and having a conversation in Japanese, albeit a short talk. I also found some very impressive soap carvings. There were some cute simple ones in small animal shapes, bunnies, and such, but the ones that snagged me were small soap lotuses, beautifully dyed, set in a small wooden box. (Their website is here.) 
As a last note: I found one of the best souvenirs yet at Vivre earlier.

Yep, ye olde hometown shirt. Randomly in a clearance rack at a Japanese department store. (Mom points out that the established date on it is completely wrong--it should be1768--but there was apparently a Charlotte (Malachowski) Bühler born in 1893...Nothing to do with the Queen City though I think. Then again, I can't read the script above the eagle emblem. Doesn't look like an "Est.")

And the last, last note: some awesome Engrish from a clothing tag

Where's the party?

Most of Sunday was spent on yet another find-the-temple adventure. I'd wanted to see the Yasurai Matsuri at Imamiya Jinja: it's a rather unique festival during which people dress up as red and black-haired demons and dance. Sarah, I-House's only Aussie, came with, but we got off to a bit of a late start. We did manage to successfully utilize public transportation, thanks to some kind passersby and Sarah's superior Japanese, but when we arrived in the afternoon they were already cleaning up.

Imamiya Jinja is surprisingly pretty, considering its location: surrounded by residential areas and almost across the street from a fenced-in school field. But then, most of the woods (or whatever the immediate natural area might be) surrounding shrines and temples have been preserved and well-maintained. I was a bit disappointed that I missed the dance, but it was a nice visit all the same. I got my first shrine stamp in my nokyo-cho. (That makes nine stamps: Touji, Kotoin, Kinkakuji, Fudodo, Ryoanji, Shokudo, Enryakuji, Chorakuji, and now, Imamiya Jinja.)

I also bought an ema. I felt a little silly when the miko-san asked me if I wanted her to write something on it, because I just wanted it as a omiyage--for the artwork in fact. The design on the front is a beautiful depiction of the dance I'd wanted to see. The kanji for ema (絵馬）comprises the kanji for "picture" and "horse." In ancient times, people used to donate horses to Shinto shrines. Eventually people just started donating representations of horses like statues, and then simply pictures of horses on small plaques. Nowadays, ema have all kinds of pictures on them, and people write their prayers or wishes on the blank side and hang them on a kind of rack at the shrine.

Ema, as well as omamori andofuda, are also very creative ways the shrines make money. There are lots of opportunities to develop new designs and new kinds of charms now. Some of the omamori require no translation at all: many of those for safety while traveling have the outline of a plane embroidered on them.

 These little slips of paper are called omikuji--peoples' fortunes are written on them

After hanging around the shrine and taking in its beauty, we wandered down the small street outside the side entrance. On either side of the street were open-sided restaurants serving tea and some sort of intriguing snack. I'm still not entirely sure what it was, but after some consideration, Sarah and I sat down and partook. They were very doughy balls of something on a stick dipped in some kind of sticky, peanutty tasting sauce. The woman in that photo dressed in white came up and took pictures of us a little after we'd started eating. We tried to catch what she was saying when she was taking the picture, but I didn't understand it; Sarah thinks she said something along the lines of "Bear with me, please." Then she returned about five minutes later, around the time we were getting ready to leave, and gave us a couple of rice cracker-like snacks with wasabi flavoring--very delicious.

Strangers are often very kind here. I'm sure sometimes it's just giddiness and meeting a foreigner, but if you ask anyone for directions here when you're lost (or almost lost), you're almost guaranteed an answer. Whether they can say it in English is another matter, but even if they can't speak it they can usually point out directions on a map or direct you to one. I've had several people go out of their way to actually escort me when I ask for directions (which can be a little embarrassing sometimes.) I'm not entirely sure, but I think this woman might have been the manager or owner of the little joint we'd stopped in. In any case, she was clearly happy that some foreigners had decided to be adventurous and try an unknown Japanese food.

One evening when I was waiting in Vivre, an older gentleman with a cane and fedora came up to me and talked to me a little in English for a couple of minutes. He asked me how I was doing, where I was from, if I lived here, when I came to Japan, where I studied, if I liked Japan...I answered him in Japanese mostly, which made me happy. Then he smiled and told me to enjoy my time here and went his way. He seemed pleased--and he should have been. His English was still very good. It's very adorable when a random Japanese person sees a foreigner and decides to try out their English, or what-have-you. Sometimes they're very excited and shy or embarrassed at the same time, like they're pulling a dare or something. I remember another instance of this, when one of the club members who was handing out flyers on campus ran after me a little, handed me one, and said "Music Writing Club!" really excitedly. I was in a hurry, but it made me smile. He probably ran back to his friends and was like "I talked to that foreigner!"

Weekend Sakura

Another photo entry...Over the weekend, many of us went to two hanami, the first to Nijojo to see the evening sakura illumination, and the second at Kamigamo Jinja (shrine) for a more traditional picnic on a tarp. The latter was sponsered by FRIENDS, the student group who organizes activities/opportunities for the exchange students and Japanese students to mingle. When it got darker at Nijojo, my phone was actually taking better pictures than my camera for the most part, but they are at a lower res.

At Kamigamo, I discovered that you can get a nokyo-cho stamped at Shinto shrines as well. I also recognize the kanji for charm or protection, "mamori" (守) really well now.

 My roommate Wendy and I in typical Asian photo pose, and

some Dragonball Z fusion going on...

IT'S OVER 9000!!!!!

(Kurachi-san--on the right--and his friend whose name I'll retrieve soon)

Myself, Lin-kun, and Emi-chan, about to power-up or something...