Foxes, rain, and gardens

Today we met up on the trains again to head to Inari. We were going to Fushimi Inari shrine and Toufukuji temple so the students could see more gardens.

At Fushimi Inari we were invited into the shrine office where they gave an overview of the history of the shrine. I was given a bunch of pamphlets last night to look over in preparation for this translation, but it was far to much information and they didn't give it to me until about 10 pm last night so I never got a chance to look at it. I had to do my best on the fly.

I learned a lot about my shortcomings as a translator, but also about how much I have improved during my time here. The shrine attendants talked to us about the gardens and the shrine. Then they took us to see a special performance of the Katsuraga dance.

Then we were taken to the tea house for another special tour. Fujita-san knew the main shrine attendant so he set it up so we could visit places that are normally closed to the public. The attendant told us about the tea ceremony and then took us into the garden.

It was raining, but that really only added to the atmosphere in my opinion. I have been to Fushimi Inari many times, famous for the thousands of giant red gates, but this was the first time in the rain.

We grabbed a quick bit to eat at the restaurant nearby before climbing up the rows of gates. Fujita-san really really really wanted us to try to lift the "heavy-light stone" to see if our wishes would come true so we went there. Apparently if you pick up the stone and it feels heavy then your prayers have not been heard by the gods. Kikuchi-san went up to the stone to show them how it was done. His wish was that I would stay for more than 2 years...he couldn't pick up the stone (T_T). But he's got a good sense of humor so I think he was just messin with me.

Then we walked around some more before trying to throw stones through the foxes in order to try to get the gods to hear our prayers (if we felt the stone was heavy).

Next we walked off to find Toufukuji, which was about a 20 minute walk away. Toufukuji is a large temple with 4 different gardens, one on each side. It was beautiful. It has become one of my favorite places in Kyoto so far.



Next we went back to Kameoka to meet up with Mrs. Fujiwara who took us out to kaitenzushi. I made Jared and Jonathan try natto and squid and octopus. I was surprised that they all liked it. I figured they would hate it. But it was funny watching Fujiwara-san forcing the boys to eat more and more sushi. She just kept grabbing plates for them and they couldn't say no.