Kyoto Day 1

We flew from Los Angeles to Tokyo and then transferred for a domestic flight to Kyoto. We arrived at our hotel about 9pm, after having been up for 20 hours. The flight was very nice and we watched two more Bollywood Movies. I don’t know if anyone has ever seen a Bollywood Double Feature. Almost 7 hours of movies. However, it made the flight time go fast!

We went straight to bed, and unfortunately even with the aid of sleeping pills didn’t sleep well. Our day then began at 7:30 with a typical Japanese breakfast and then off for a day of events.

We started a wonderful woman artist, Eriko Horiki, who creates washi paper hangings. These are very intricate multi-layered, huge in size and change color and design depending upon how they are lit.

We then went went to Yuzuki Kimono Gallery. If you were traditional Japanese in Kyoto you would get married in a Kimono. They design the material for the Kimono’s and sell all of the accessories. The Gallery is located in an old Giesha Tea House that is typical of Historic Kyoto.

We had a huge lunch at Maggie B, a bread and breakfast house. They are old friends of our guide and friend Nancy Craft and prepared a spectacular Japanese lunch.

After lunch we walked (in the rain) to Shisendo Temple. The Zen Temple was established in the 1600’s. It has a beautiful sand garden and beautiful grounds. We have been to many Zen Temples and it is a great example of the harmony of nature.

We then went to a Kyoto fabric artist Mari Horie. She creates her designs by using a technique called katazome stencil dye. She creates cut out designs and then applies various techniques to dye the fabrics from the design.

Back to the hotel. There was a Giesha performaning a dance in the lobby. We then took a run to the local Sake store to pick up a supple, then crossed the street to a beautiful Korean Vegetarian restaurant, where we BYOS (Bring Your own Sake).

Back to our hotel and to bed. A wonderful first day on our return trip to Kyoto.