A day of Ando

Today we went to see several works by Tadao Ando - the Water Temple, Awaji Yumebutai, and Rokko Housing. I really liked Awaji, though the Water Temple was cool, too.

These holes are leftover marks from the framework for the concrete pour. They are all over Ando's concrete projects.

Looking back at the entrance to the Water Temple.

Inside the Water Temple.

Awaji Yumebutai - a landscape project. I believe this area used to be a mining ground, and all that was left was a gaping hole, so Ando's project made use of the "ruined" landscape and turned it into an amazing garden-scape showcasing all the plants in Japan.

There was a wedding here, and these ladies were picking up the leftover flower petals from the ceremony.

Ando is speaking tomorrow in Osaka, so we are deviating from our itinerary to see if we can catch his lecture, wooo.

Kiyomizu-dera (The Water Temple)

Today we went to Katsura and Kiyomizu-dera. Not many (good) photos from Katsura because it was raining so much! Holding an umbrella while trying to take photos, WHILE treading on slippery stepping stones, trying not to fall into ponds is really difficult!

Kiyomizu-dera! We came here to drink water from the three fountains (spouts) - wisdom, health, and longevity, all of which pour into a pond below. I was worried about contracting "swine flu" from the ladles, but so far I'm feeling fine...

A soggy fortune, or omikuji, I found out it's called. It rained in Kyoto today, so it was damp all day, but not cold. It was great weather!

Some girls in kimonos, strolling down the street outside of Kiyomizu-dera.

We went to a sushi place with a conveyor belt! 137 ¥ for each dish, it was sooo delicious!!! FINALLY, we get to have sushi in Japan!

Today was a short day, but highly enjoyable. The slowed-down pace really let me enjoy myself more, and that resulted with a not-so-grumpy Hana. :)

orange gates, moss, handmade cameras

Today we went to five shrines (not six like I said yesterday)! The Fushimi Inari Taisha, which has hundreds of wooden orange gates, Daigo-ji, Saiho-ji, Daisen-In at Daikoku-ji, and Shisendo. My favorites today were Inari Shrine, Saiho-ji and Shisendo.

The beginning of the orange gates at Inari.

The poles of the gates were inscribed with prayers on one side, and were blank on the other. So you'd walk through in one direction and be hit with pure orange, whereas when you turn around and walk the other way you'd see all the carved prayers, also on orange.

Sweet neckerchief, dawg. These jackal statues are all over Inari, protecting the site. They are fierce.

Lichens on a tree at Saiho-ji. In order to enter Saiho-ji, visitors are required to hand-copy the sutra and listen to/participate in the chanting of sutras. This ensures that if you really want to visit this shrine, you will go through the motions, which can take up to two hours.

The guidebook said over 120 varieties of moss grow around the pond. And historically there was no moss at Saiho-ji until the grounds flooded around the Meiji period.

This was my favorite moss, it looked like a vine of sweet little hearts wrapped around the trunk of this tree :).

My shots of Shisendo were un-amazing, but this one kind of shows what it's about. Layering's key in the atmosphere of Shisendo - note the azalea bushes (round bushes closest to you) in the foreground, the Japanese maple in the middle-ground, and the grey foliage of the end of the property in the background.

The blue rubber sandals we had to wear while strolling the grounds of Shisendo.

Yes, this is a handmade medium format camera, built by a badass visitor to Shisendo. No thanks to the language barrier, all I could figure out is that he put it together himself (the body is carved wood!), and that he had done this with a medium format and a 35mm, modified to take panoramic shots. I was beyond awed, what a perfect way to end the day.

that's some really old wood...

Today we went to Todai-ji and Horyu-ji, the largest wooden structure in the world, and the oldest wooden structure in the world, respectively. Todai-ji was massive and stunning. Horyu-ji was really large, but not as impressive in my opinion.

The enormous bronze statue of Buddha that sits in Todai-ji. At the time it was built in Japan, they used up all the country's reserves of bronze, and the construction of this shrine pretty much bankrupted Japan at the time.

Monks reciting prayers before the Buddha.

Incense at the front of the temple. Visitors are allowed to burn a stick, with or without giving a donation, and are invited to cleanse themselves with the smoke before they enter.

So many schoolchildren all around every temple! All with awesome primary-colored hats. By the end of this trip I WILL have snatched up one of these hats to claim as my own...

Did I mention that deer are rampant at Todai-ji? They have carts selling cookies to feed the deer, and they are very aggressive in the presence of the cookies...

More wishes at Todai-ji!

A random occurrence - Zac Efron (sp?) and Vanessa Hudgens were at Todai-ji today. I didn't really know it was them, all I knew is that I was irritated by the loud, self-centered people with their idiotic Holga cameras and I felt insulted by their presence. Then some girl in my group said blah-blah-blah guess who's here and I put two and two together and voila! The one last annoying cherry on top is when the girl went "Baby, take a picture of me with thisss!" (of the giant Buddha statue) and I wanted to hurl. Hypocritical of me to judge, yeah.

Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day. We are going to six shrines, starting at 8:30 am! I will be POOPED by the end of the day. see you then!

shrines, shrines, shrines

Today was the first day of intense sightseeing. Destinations: Nijo-jo, Ryoan-Ji, Kinkaku-ji, and Ninna-ji. "Jo" means castle and "Ji" means shrine; therefore we went to one castle and three shrines. whew!

This trip entails soooo much walking.

Nijo-jo. Pretty cool because most of its buildings are laid out diagonally, which is a defensive move because back in the 1600s in feudal Japan, you didn't want to be open to enemies attacking you! Also the floors in all the rooms are built specially to squeak when anyone walks on them, therefore they're aptly named "nightingale floors."

For all the shrines we had to remove our shoes and we couldn't take pictures in some parts. I took this picture right before I found out about the no photo rule.

Close-up on part of the zen garden at Ryoan-ji. This shrine was under some construction, and therefore was kind of boring, since we couldn't visit the more tranquil parts of it.

The Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji. It is completed covered in gold leaf, wow! This shrine was the most crowded of all, swarming with local schoolchildren and tourists like us.

A girl tossing coins for luck towards a statue of Buddha at Kinkaku-ji.

A girl tying a wish on a line at Kinkaku-ji. Note her face mask to protect herself/others?

Wishes at Kinkaku-ji.

Wishes at Ninna-ji.

Ninna-ji. I'm going to take a guess and say these things are prayers on wood that you burn and send up to the heavens. hehe.

Kind of a boring/academic post today, my apologies.

brief stop in Tokyo, en route to Kyoto

So Japan is 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles. It is after 5 am on Tuesday the 19th, and this post concerns events that happened Monday the 18th etc. So maybe I will always appear to be a day late!

A delicious Suntory drink, it tastes like Propel. I love the bottle cap ♥.

Wee little wooden owl key chains. Way too expensive at 1260 ¥ ($1 US dollar = 96.06 ¥)!

Once we get to Kyoto, we are free to roam around for the evening. Train ticket means exploring with less walking!

Lanterns along a busy commercial street.

A kitty (neko!) in an alleyway in the Pontecho. Pontecho is a tiny street that is famous for its bars I think. We ate there for dinner but didn't do any drinking. Next time!

A sign outside a park. The puppy makes me miss my own poopies. :)

Today (5/19) we visit a bunch of shrines in Kyoto! more updates to come...!

flight to Japan

Studying abroad in Asia this summer! First stop, Japan. The flight was 11 hours exactly and it was long and fantastic. Mmm Korean Air.

This is the amazing leather fanny pack my sister picked up for me for $3. The contents: passport, wallet, sketchbook, eyedrops, Burt's Bees, Smith's Rosebud Salve, international cellphone, hankie & two pens. I had fun setting up this shot.

I kept myself occupied by sleeping, listening to lots of music, and journaling/sketching. Oh and watching some movies on the plane.

Welcome to my islands of clouds! I had a window seat, AND no one occupied the seat next to me, what luck! It was pretty sweet.

done.

Some pages from my portfolio for spring semester. I'm finished!