Trips

Fri., 10/14 - Kyoto, continued

The Nijo Castle has a moat and large stone wall with guard houses at the corners. The castle was built in 1503 and two historic events took place at the castle. In 1626 the Shogun of the castle invited the Emperor to visit. It took two years to prepare and a guest house was built for his five-day stay and the garden and ponds and rocks were redesigned. (The rocks signify the power of the owner.) In 1867 the Shogun ruler gave his power back to the emperor. This was the period when Commodore Perry visited and requested US trade with Japan. Japan agreed in order to prevent an invasion like Britain had just done with China.

Nijo Castle - sign at the Great Eastern Gate	Nijo Castle - Great Eastern Gate
Nijo Castle - Great Eastern Gate - almost no people	Moat outside the walls
Great Eastern Gate detail	Kara-mon gate
Kara-mon gate detail	Kara-mon gate detail
Niomaru Palace	Niomaru Palace - upper façade
Niomaru Palace detail	Fancy gate
We walked through the Ninomaru Palace - no shoes or photos. The tour took us through room after empty room. One room was for feudal lords, another for upper ranks of shoguns, etc. The rooms have paintings on the screen walls: tigers, cranes, peacocks. etc. The floors are covered by tatami mats. We learned it is polite not to step on the seams because the family names are printed in the material. The floors of the walkways around the rooms are nailed with metal cleats or clamps so the floors squeak as you step and no intruder can sneak in. These are called nightingale floors.	Nightingale floor
	Pond in the Ninomaru Garden
Carp in the pond	They must want the visitors to feed the fish
Lunch was traditional Japanese lunch boxes at Bun Jo restaurant. It consisted of the usual fish (with chicken for Gale), etc.	Restaurant's sign
Gale's "box" lunch	"Box" lunch with fish
Looks like a manhole cover but the writing says Fire Hydrant	More electrical work
The last activity was to attend a Japanese tea ceremony. The owner demonstrated making the tea and then we each made our own. We bowed to the tea. The tea bowl is handled in a certain way - rotating the design clockwise to face outward. The ritual cleansing was omitted.
Tea Ceremony venue	Things needed
A bamboo “measuring spoon” was used to put two scoops of powdered green tea into our bowl.	Over this was poured 60 cc of hot water.
Next the mixture was whacked to a froth with a special bamboo switch.	The frothed mixture and small sweet
Cutting was a challenge	When finished, the bowl is rotated in the palm of the left hand and three sips are drunk with a loud slurp on the third.
Our Farewell Dinner consisted of more fish and little bowls with who knows what. Gale's dinner was two bites of chicken, one teaspoon of potato salad, three edamame beans, a nice salad with lemon dressing, two bites of raw Kobe beef (I gave it to Marge), and a small bowl of plain rice. Dessert was a teaspoon of ice cream with one slice of persimmon. We all came back to the hotel and went to the ninth floor to pick up free ice cream!
Restaurant for the Farewell Dinner	Part of Gale's Farewell Dinner

On the whole, the South Korea and Japan: Temples, Shrines, and Treasures trip was very good. We saw and experienced many new things and our trip leaders were excellent.

Sat., 10/15 - Kyoto to Tokyo and the Beginning of our Second OAT Trip: Japan's Cultural Treasures