NEWS OF TRAVEL JAPAN

Hanami-koji alley in Gion, Kyoto is an attractive place for those who like to take photos of the atmosphere of this old entertainment town for adult-men. And they eagerly want to take photos of a “maiko-han” or a “geiko-han”, who is a professional hospitable woman wearing a beautiful kimono. Once they find a maiko-han or a geiko-han, they will rush to walk to her to take photos. The house in which a maiko-han or a geiko-han welcomes a guest is called an “ochaya”. What kind of entertainment is in an ochaya? This time, I will write about the hospitable entertainment in the ochaya. Please follow me imagining that you are a guest. Ochaya A unique colored Japanese lantern is the symbol of an ochaya. Once you set foot on the ochaya after opening the gate door, immediately there is an unusual world. It’s so clean and elegant.  A welcoming doll welcomes you. The host lady of this ochaya invites you to a room where you will be given a lot of hospitality. The room, which is already...

This time, I’m going to write about Mt. Maya in Kobe where I live. Kobe is the most fashionable and beautiful city, which has many pastry shops, in the Kansai region, so that it is loved by many young women. And once a young woman has a boyfriend, she may want to spend her happy time with him on her days-off in Kobe. Mt.Maya The best place for their dates is the top of Mt.Maya at night. The night-scape from the top of Mt.Maya is so beautiful. The townscape in Kobe is filled with a lot of lights beneath their feet. The town-scape in Osaka which is across from Kobe over The Osaka Bay is like a kimono sash belt of light. And star dust over their heads is close to them. Mt.Maya is good place for marriage proposal. “I love you, ○○, and will you marry me?”; he might say to her. A young woman falling in love shall become a mother at some time in the future. When she has a lovely baby in her body she will hope for the good birth of her baby. She may visit the top of Mt.Maya again, to p...

What do you think the person in this picture is staring at? And what does he ask you? There are no words to explain it. This Zen-Buddhist picture is in the first big room nearby the entrance gate. All visitors surely enter this room. And maybe they will be emotionally moved by looking up at the 230 beautiful ceiling-picture pieces. However on the distant wall of the big room exists this picture, and it quietly looks at each visitor. If travelers who have substantially frivolous feelings noticed this picture and their eyes and the eyes of the picture met, they would have to go and stay in front of the picture. If the bald monk asked you;” what are you?”, what would you answer? The Zen practicing temple Here is the famous Zen practicing temple for elementary Zen monks. It is Eihei-ji Temple. It is located in the northern mountainous area in Fukui prefecture, which is on the west side of the north shore of the Japan Island along the Japan Sea. This area has large amplitude of fou...

My wife invited me to see the Fire-walking-ritual, “hi-watari” in Japanese, at Suma-dera Temple in Hyogo prefecture. According to her explanation a fire-walking-ritual is a comprehensive ritual of showing will-power by walking on fire by practicing Buddhists who are called “shugenja” in Japanese. They are practicing under Buddhism and ancient Shintoism. In addition, it is for people’s peace and affluence by will-power. Why do practicing Buddhists and normal people walk on fire? Incredible but interesting! It sounded like fun. So I made up my mind to accept her proposal. The fire-walking-ritual in Sumadera Temple It is held in the morning on November 23rd every year. It is fine today but a little bit cold. A lot of people already surrounded the field of the fire-walking-ritual and the venue was filled with people talking. We hastened to sit down on steal pipe seats. The field was encircled by rope ( an encircled field by rope is called “kekkai” in Japanese, it means a sacred field...

In the early morning the air in front of a big “torii”, a gate of a shrine, was chilly. I bowed toward the direction of a long wide way between tall trees, and I began to walk slowly along the way. There were almost no people and little sound except for bird-calls. I felt that the trees were inhaling and exhaling in the silence of faint light. Those made my body become very sound and I thought; “ I seem to be at Ise Shrine ( the most famous shrine )”. However the sudden big sound of a running electric train hit me and made me remember the true place; “ here is Meiji Shrine”.   Meiji Shrine Meiji Shirine is neighboring the Yamanote-line of JR and is located in the big west area of Harajuku Station. The size of the land is 700 thousand meters square, it is one and a half times bigger than Tokyo Disney Land. It was constructed in 1920 and enshrines Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. As I walked toward the sanctuary on the long way, my mind became honest thanks to goodness of nat...

When autumn falls deeply my wife and I always think we have to look at red maple leaves. The best urban area to see red maple leaves in Japan is Kyoto, Tofuku-ji Temple is one of great red leaf places in Kyoto. Because the temple has the utmost red maple leaves scenes like nothing in other urban cities in Japan. After getting out from Tofuku-ji Station of Keihan railways, the way to the temple has good aspects in a pavement. Over the short shopping-street, each time you turn right or left at corners of the pavement, each scene from the pavement gradationally changes. Firstly, ochre yellow barriers including black roof tiles and stone blocks, secondly, road trees with yellow leaves, and finally, long banks covered with green grass and moss. Those raised our appetite for red maple leaves. Tofuku-ji Temple A wonderful scene of Tofuku-ji Temple is a wide view from the view point of “Tsu-ten-kyo” meaning “the bridge to heaven” in Japanese, at an upper place on a path for looking at red...