Day 8: Zen Budhism, Tea Ceremony, and a Free Afternoon & Evening

Day 8 began with breakfast again.  Today we planned to skip lunch and do a dinner as we only had one schedule event for the day, a Tea Ceremony. But while at breakfast we did identify our bonsai artist, Masahito Kinoshita, who had done the art as a hobby for 30 years and still did a little bit for the hotel and others while working at the hotel and as he said "doing lots of jobs."  His wife apparently told him he had to slow down on the bonsai as they did not have space. Our private car was waiting at 9AM and we were off.

Our private visit at Daitokuji offered a glimpse into a side of Kyoto we never could have planned. As we walked toward the gardens, we happened upon the funeral of a monk—a poignant moment, particularly after learning that the number of monks here is dwindling. We were told there are only about 60 today, with just four currently living in the dormitory where new monks spend their first two years. From there, we wandered through the peaceful gardens and an incredible bonsai collection, including trees said to be as old as 800 years. We then entered the home of our tea teacher, who lives among the monks, for a traditional tea ceremony. We began with a sweet of a lotus jelly that we slurped off a leaf.  It was really tasty. The ceremony itself was fascinating in its precision and methodical nature. Each movement has purpose, requiring the teacher to clear his mind, focus completely on the task at hand, and be fully present in the moment. 

Our discussions with him regarding Zen Buddhism again reaffirmed if we were to be nearest to any religion it would be this as it recognizes more of a philosophy.  We spent time discussing two major concepts. Impermanence which means everything changes. Recognizing and accepting that nothing lasts forever is fundamental to Buddhist thought. And secondly simplicity and direct experience: Zen tends to emphasize experiencing something for yourself rather than relying solely on explanations, scriptures, or elaborate doctrine. After our deep conversations our questions turned to the tea and our teacher would point us to the best place to get matcha tea as well as a whisk. His matcha was so much frothier than mine as well as better and we landed on these items as needing to be of higher grade.  A thank you and walk to our car we were driven back to our hotel after nearly 3 hours of education.

We took a big break for me to catch up on the blog and Andy to research our late afternoon and evening plans.  Goals some shopping for matcha, whisk, stationary goods, and a bag to move all of our shopping to for our next move tomorrow to Osaka.  

We took the subway into the main area of town with a station literally being on our block.  Again Google Maps is perfect.  Our first stop was Ryuouen, a tiny, traditional tea shop that feels wonderfully unchanged by time and was recommended by our teacher. It was founded in 1875 and offers matcha that is officially recognized by the heads of the three major schools of the Japanese Tea Ceremony. Stepping inside was a little intimidating, but one of the workers motioned us to a seat and handed us a menu followed by a cup of cold tea. With a history stretching back generations, Ryuouen is known for carefully selected Japanese teas and has a loyal following among serious tea drinkers as evidenced by only locals seated alongside us and absolutely no English spoken. But a quick photo of the menu inserted into ChatGPT and Andy having more days of Duolingo than me and we were able to order 1 tea and 2 matchas to take home.

Next we were headed to all of all places a store at the base of a fancy hotel for our whisk.  My whisk at home all the tines are the same size from the handle to the ends, but a good whisk is tapered and much more fragile.  Kohchosai Kosuga was founded in 1898 and specializes in beautifully crafted bamboo goods. Historically, the company supplied the Imperial Household and imperial families. So this flagship store's placement at the base of s swanky hotel kind of makes sense.

I had been hoping to bring home some beautiful Japanese stationery, so Kyukyodo felt like the perfect stop. Founded in Kyoto in 1663, the shop has centuries of history with paper, calligraphy and incense, and today its shelves are filled with gorgeous washi paper, letter sets, envelopes and seasonal cards that feel distinctly Japanese. Even better, the original Kyoto shop is tucked along Teramachi Street, just a short walk from the bustle of Nishiki Market where our dinner was only a couple of blocks off of. And once again, despite being in the heart of Kyoto, we realized we were the only foreigners in the shop, which has become one of my favorite little recurring experiences of this trip. I left with several beautiful stationery products that will be both useful and a lovely reminder of Kyoto.

We had a bit of time still before our dinner reservation so I suggested a coffee and a sit down place so I researched what was nearby but again asking for more authentic versus a Starbucks or Tully's.  We would land at the Sanjo shop of Inoda Coffee. Founder Sischro Inoda ran a wholesale food import business before being drafted into military service. Upon returning to Kyoto after World War II he found 15 bags of coffee in his warehouse in excellent condition.  Using these beans he opened his first coffee shop. Now the shops are referred to as coffee salons. It felt more like a high-end restaurant than a shop and we were seated at a circular bar where we watched the baristas skillfully boil water and make every cup from scratch, including Andy's simple black coffee.  As this is Friday afternoon every seat quickly filled with locals grabbing a cup and a sweet to end their work week.

Dinner was Andy's choice this evening and it was a Don and Roll. Only one block out of the market it was still just enough to keep us with the locals. The concept is simple, a beautiful bowl of rice topped with incredibly fresh seafood including blue fin tuna, roe, and a fresh egg.  We chose the traditional sauce and it was served with a side of fish-based miso.  We've only done a few meals of our own choosing and again this was perfect.  But full we decided to go walk the main shopping area and then all the way back, nearly 40 minutes, to our hotel. Before I close I would like to say how incredibly safe we feel walking the streets in the large Japanese cities at night. Tonight we were never alone even in alleys...mothers biking children asleep in carriers passed by, women walking home from work alone, teens out for an evening stroll or businessmen headed home to their families.  Violent street crime and theft are comparatively uncommon. and that's due to a combination of social, institutional and practical factors.  Something America could really learn from.