Kyoto and Mrs Uno

Arriving in Osaka at five in the afternoon we started directly for our hotel so as to be settled in before dinner. Unfortunately we had to do this from the Umeda railway station. Umeda is really an underground maze of arcades linking three subway stations, two private railway stations and a government run inter-city railway station. We became hopelessly lost. The people were not as helpful as we were used to in Japan, apparently suffering the indifference of residents of most big cities. We were despairing of rescue, but then a Good Samaritan did come forward in the form of an English speaking young woman who, despite getting lost herself a number of times, eventually led us to the right street exit for our hotel.
The Umeda underground arcades are truly breathtaking. One area has been designed like the inside of a large cathedral, complete with recorded hymn music. This temple to commercialism was surprising congruent with its surroundings of attractive food and speciality shops competing to attract the attention of the thousands of passer-bys.
We became lost again the next day when we tried to catch the train to Kyoto. We were again rescued. Our guide explained that he was repaying similar assistance he had once received when lost in the Paris Metro.
The trip to Kyoto was memorable for our being crowded in with a carriage of school children. Being part of a large group, they lost their usual shyness. The children's inquisitiveness ranged from staring and giggling to demanding autographs and attempting a conversation, mainly a screamed 'Hello!'. The more adventurous were egged on by their less courageous schoolmates.
Farewelling our youthful admirers at Kyoto station, we had little difficulty in finding the government run tourist information office, the only one outside of Tokyo. From here we were directed to the accommodation of the redoubtable Mrs Uno who must have some of the cheapest rates in Japan, charging the equivalent of $A4 per person per night. Mrs Uno was so rugged up that she must have forgotten that winter ended long ago. She was little, old and bent-over, but she ran her establishment with an iron hand, which was probably a good thing because she was popular with some desperate travellers who relied on their wits to stay alive. We were advised by some of these on how to get a travelling stake by selling blood in Taipei, where to sell goods bought duty free, how to use the black market to best advantage, and where to go to get accommodation for next to nothing or payment in kind with doubtful legality.
This deceptively small looking establishment had numerous rooms hidden in the most unlikely of places around a tiny, cluttered, central courtyard. Some of the rooms had to be reached by climbing a ladder to what at first sight appeared to be the roof.
We had a small room to ourselves. The only furnishing was a small table that we would remove at night to lay our futon on the matted floor.
Mrs Uno provided a lot of facilities, including a washing machine and clothes dryer and well used kitchen, although they all required money to be made useable. These facilities were all off the central courtyard, as were the toilets and shower. To reach them from our room we had to put on slippers that were removed once a wooden floor was reached. As in most Japanese homes, shoes were removed at the entrance.
Further increasing the appearance of clutter, Mrs Uno had signs in English stating the house rules plastered all over her establishment. Many of these notices had contradictory instructions having been devised at different times and to different whims of the lady of the house. She was centrally located in old Kyoto.
At the beginning of the ninth century, the Imperial residence was transferred from Nara to a new capital called Heian-kyo (capital of peace and tranquility). The Emperor did this to escape the political intrigue of Budhist priests and their allies who had surrounded him. However, as soon as the symmetrical streets and elaborate palaces were laid out, the priests also decided to move to the new capital. Peace and tranquility was disrupted and the name of the new city was changed to Kyoto (western capital). Kyoto is now famous as an old Imperial city and as the centre of much of Japan's religious life. Many famous temples and shrines were built on prime sites secured by powerful religious leaders all those years ago.
Often of the temples reflect the association between Emperor and religion. Under the native religious tradition of Japan, kown as Shinto, the Emperor was considered a deity, as well as high priest. When Buddhism was imported from China it incorporated much of the Shinto religion, including the religious leadership of the Emperor. One temple is actually a replica of the old Imperial palace.
The temples have been exploited to the full as tourist attractions, and it was hard to experience them as places of worship, although they are still used for that purpose. For me, the most spiritually alive of the temples we visited was Chion-in, the head temple of the Jodo sect, one of the many Buddhist sects that have developed in Japan.
Jodo was founded in the twelfth century with the claim that the main stream of Buddhism had become too detached from the common people. A simple form of of worship was devised, namely that by the mere repetition of Buddha's name, "Namu Amida Butsu", the land of Perfect Bliss could be attained. Priests and devotees still can be seen practicing this now old, but in their time revolutionary, form of worship.
Chion-in Temple was a large and imposing building set amidst smaller temples and a large park.
To me, a foreigner to Japanese religious architecture, the major temples and shrines follwed a similar design. The buildings are set high so that you must first climb a lot of stairs. Before setting foot on the verandah, which encircle the temples, you must have removed your shoes. Inside the temple there is an open area for worshippers to kneel, and then a barricade behind which the priests perform their duties surrounded by many religious ornaments. Even further into the building is a large screen behind which sits the statue of Buddha. Most of the temples and shrines had a large bell, which worshippers could ring, as well as clapping their hands, to invoke Buddha, and a shop where they could buy a reading of their fortune or buy a lucky charm, for example, to become pregnant. In the grounds there is usually a drinking fountain, the waters of which are considered holy.
Rain again set in and we transferred our touring of old Kyoto to a few of Kyoto's many undercover shopping arcades, as well as attending Sunday mass, and reflecting on the people we encountered.
After the Second World War, Japan developed many close associations with the English speaking world, particularly the United States. A great amount of time and money has been spent on teaching English, especially to the young. However, despite a high level of comprehension of written English among students from Japanese schools, pronunciation has been very poor. Consequently there was a great demand for English speaking teachers from abroad who could easily, without any teaching qualifications or experience, obtain casual work with minimal immigration restrictions. A band of drifters, who have forsaken middle class lives in homelands like Americal and Australia to live perilous existences in the East, are drawn to Japan to benefit from the above conditions. Quite a number of them stayed at Mrs Uno's. Some settled down to working in Japan, but many more were discontented, finding a settled work life as unbearable here as it had been in their land of origin.
With the end of the rain we resumed serious sight-seeing. By walking in any direction in old Kyoto, we would see some shrine to one of the many versions of Buddha, usually with fresh flowers placed before an open alter. Some of these structures were surrounded by beautiful gardens planned to a traditional pattern. Many of the Japanese tourists and devotees went through the various rituals to invoke Buddha's good fortune. They purchased a slip of paper from the priests foretelling their future, and if this paper foretold bad fortune they could tie it to a tree where the predicted bad fortune would be blown away. Trees adorned with this white paper added another dimension to the lanscape.
We visited the old Imperial Palace, which was still used for royal functions, and the Nijo Castle, once the Kyoto residence of the power wielding Shogun and his many concubines. These imposing buildings were convered in layers upon layer of bark until the roof was a couple of feet thick, which was then replaced every thirty years. From the twelfth century political power in Japan had been in the hands of the ruling Shogunate, nominally appointed by the Emperor who was still, at least in theory, the divine ruler, and feudal lords. Not until 1868 did the Emperor regain political power and transfer his court from Kyoto to Tokyo in what is known as the Meiji (enlightened rule) Restoration.
Despite Kyoto's history and many grand monuments, it was also interesting to just sit by the bank of the canal that traverses the city and take in the sights of everyday life. We sat fascinated watching proud dog owners trying to control and train their unruly charges while obedient wives followed behind clutching newspaper and valiantly tried to prevent the product of the animals' natural functions from reaching the ground.