From the time I arrived to Kyoto, I`ve already seen some beautiful places here. I mainly saw less popular ones, but this time I decided to visit one of the most famaous temples in Kyoto, Kinkakuji. Golden Pavilon is open for tourist from 9 am. I suspected a lot of people will be there, that`s why I decided to start my day from visiting this temple (hoping that in the morning amount of tourists will be a bit smaller). I get there just after 9 am and I already knew that it won`t be easy time for me. I`m not fond of crowded places and in front of the Kinkakuji entrance area I saw many pedestrians, cyclists, cars, buses... It was just too much! But I really wanted to see the Golden Pavilon, so I went in. The place is really amazing and really worth-seeing. However it`s not a good place to relax. I really enjoyed seeing that gorgeous temple as I always wanted to see it, but I`m not sure if I would like to go there again.

Very close to Golden Pavilon, Ryoanji is located. It`s also very famous place, but after practising my strength among crowds of Kinkakuji, I thought I will be able to manage another crowded place. Ryoanji is famous for it`s beautiful stone garden. However when I first saw it, I wasn`t so amazed that I thought I would be. There were couple of school trips, it was loud, crowded and the garden　seemed to be very small - nothing special. Fortunately, while I was reading about the garden (and about that it should be calm and quietly to see the real beauty of this place!), the groups moved forward. So I sat down and enjoyed watching the garden. It was really nice experience. I could imagine that this indeed is a good place for meditating. So eventually I saw its charm.

Because I didn`t want to waste time for cycling a long way, my next destination (Ninnaji) was also very clese to Kinkakuji and Ryoanji. As my guidebook said, it is a very good place to relax after crowds in two previous places I`ve been. And it was true. Ninnaji was so peaceful that I spend there a lot of time. It`s not only one temple but whole complex including also museum and palace. I`m not sure why it`s not so popular but thanks to that it is good place to regenerate your mental condition.

Because of the fact that it was very busy day for me and it was really hot, I felt exhausted. But even though I went to see one more nearby place - Myoshinji. It is also kind of complex of temples and it was also very good idea to go there. Similarly to Ninnaji, there weren`t many toursist so it was relaxing and enjoyable to walk around there. 

After such a day, I know, that even though it was worth to see `one the most beautiful temples in Kyoto` I prefer visiting something less popular which is also beautiful and I can enjoy it in silence and tranquillity. However, there are some more `must see` places that I`ll probably visit. And even fact that after such a day-off I`m sometimes more tired than after work, it`s still the way of spending time that I like. I can see many wonderful places and meet many interesting people.

JR嵯峨嵐山駅の北西(右京区嵯峨天龍寺油掛け町30）有栖川沿いに地域の人々から篤い信仰を集めているお地蔵様があります。

通常仏像やお地蔵様には水を掛けてお祈りしますが、このお地蔵様にはなんと！！油を掛けてお参りするのです。

昔この付近を通行する油商人達が、水ではなく貴重な油を掛け、商売繁盛を願ったのが始まりで、いつしかそれが、一般の人にも広がっていったということです。

多くの人が次から次へと油を掛けるので、お地蔵様はテカテカと黒光りしています。

今でこそ安価な油ですが、江戸時代以前の人達にとっては高価で大切な油でした。その頃は灯油を掛けていましたが、今はこの地域の方が持ってこられるサラダ油を掛けています。

ところで、このお地蔵様、実は鎌倉時代に造られた阿弥陀様で、20年ほど前にお体の周りに厚い層になって固まった油を取り除いて初めてお地蔵様でない事が判ったとか！！

でも、この地域の人達は昔どおり親しみをこめて｢お地蔵様」と呼んでいます。

この辺りの町名は油掛町ですが、近くの有栖川に架かる橋も油掛け橋といいます。

This time I would like to write something about kimono as its very improtant part of my work here. First issue is wearing a kimono. In Tondaya we work in kimonos. For me it`s still not easy to wear it and it took me a lot of time. Nevertheless, I like it very much and I`m glad that I can learn about it.

Moreover, we also wear our guests in kimonos. It`s also very difficult but I think it`s a little bit easier than doing it on yourself. Every kimono that we have in Tondaya is very beautiful. I like its colours and patterns. Of course the same thing I could say about obi. They are just wonderful. Couple of days ago I got a new obi which is gorgeus, I love it. It`s extremely difficult to wear it but it`s worth all that effort. Obi looks really amazing. I`m practising every day and I hope soon it won`t be a problem for any more.

Another day in Kyoto enabled me to see next part of the city. This time I cycled to Gion district. I admired Yasaka Shrine and I also spent a lot of time in Maruyama Park as I consider this place as very delightful. Even though there were many tourists and many pupils as well, it was very peaceful and I really enjoyed spending time there. After that I cycled around this district so that I could found that it have a very specific, fascinating atmosphere.

However the most important part of my day was Festival of the Ages which I had the oppoturnity to attend. 時代祭り　is held in Kyoto annualny on October 22. I was amazed by this colorful parade. I was able to see differences between eras in Japan. What`s more, performers made it even more interesting because of their behaviour, such as dancing or music playing. I was wondering how might it look but I couldn`t expect that it would be so wonderful. Moreover the scenery made it even more amazing as it started in Kyoto Imperial Palace (which I consider as one of the most beautiful places in Kyoto that I`ve already seen), and the whole way to the Heian Jingu Shrine. Audience was also very important in creating opinion about this event as everyone was really nice. As I expected, there were a lot of people but I saw much more foreigners that I think I would see. Meeting here a foreigner creates always a very nice situation as everyone is always smiling at another foreigner (I never noticed similar behaviuor in any other country I`ve visited). That is the reason (apart from million others) why I love Japan so much!

あんなに暑かった夏も過ぎ去り、いつの間にか秋本番を迎えようとしています。

冨田屋の中庭にも秋の気配が、、、、、、、、、！

ちょっと見ない間に、千両には真っ赤な実がたわわに実り、

先週はまだ固い小さなつぼみでしかなかったつわぶきも茎をぐ〜んと伸ばし、黄色い花を咲かせてくれました。

太陽をいっぱい受け、お庭にはどんどん黄色い世界が広がっていきます！