Day 42: Amazing

The Shinya's and I had breakfast around nine this morning. The rain was falling very heavily before noon. We were not sure what to do, but then the rain cleared up and we headed to see the center of Kyoto. When I say center I do not mean the downtown or a city hall, but an actual hexagon stone which the emperor declared as the physical center of the city. There is a hexagon Temple, Hesoishi, next to the stone as well as some ponds with carp. Yuki is apparently terrified of pigeons due to a traumatic experience when she was younger, so it was entertaining to watch her and Yumi run from the pigeons filling the Temple grounds. The pigeon is a symbol of peace here, making it even more interesting that Yuki is so afraid of them. Are you afraid of doves?

The amazing experience of today was a visit to the Higashi-Honganji Temple. The Buddhist Temple is just a few blocks north of Kyoto Station. The larger building on the grounds is undergoing some restoration. We walked through the large tatami rooms in the Temple and sat before the Buddha statue seza style. Seza is the sitting position which the Japanese started to use during Tokugawa Era. If you are sitting in the seza position, it means that you will not fight. So if the shogun's subordinates sat before him, they would sit seza style to show that they would not try to fight the shogun. Seza is hard on the legs, and it is difficult to move quickly from the position. One of the rooms in the Temple is dedicated to the magnificence of the structure itself. The Temple is said to be the largest wooden structure in the world! There is an old sled in the Temple, which the builders used to transport the large timbers of the building from the mountains. There were no cranes of machines to build the Temple, so everything was done with man power. Encased in the Temple is a large piece of rope which the workers used to construct the Temple. The rope is made of women's hair!! Unbelievable!

In order to replace the roof of the Temple, the Japanese built a large metal building over the whole thing. The Shinya's and I got to take a tour through the construction site and see the progress of the restoration as well as the architecture of the Temple. I could not believe the size of the timbers making the roof, and the amount of wood used. The Temple is fifty eight meters from the ground to the peak of the roof. That is about 174 feet! How can humans build such a structure without computers and machinery is beyond comprehension. The awesome power of religion can be the only answer and cause for people to create such a structure.

It was neat to see how the roof is being rebuilt. The team is using a computer to print the Japanese characters on all of the roof tiles. The clay tiles are traditional, but this time they will use stainless steel fasteners to place them on the roof. The tour guide said that the tiles necessary for the roof weigh a total of over 2,600 tons! If you do the math, that is over five million pounds! When they removed the old tiles, the Temple roof raised 15 centimeters from its position prior to the tile removal. We got to stand at eye level with the eve of the highest roof, and it was breathtaking. I don't think the experience of the Temple would have been the same had it not been for the restoration project tour.

Mrs. Shinya, Yuki, Yumi, and I went to shop for souvenirs at the Kyoto Handicraft Center. The center is seven stories of Japanese arts and goods for sale. It was fun seeing all of the Japanese crafts and artwork, but most of it was too expensive to consider buying. We also went shopping in the Teramachi Street area downtown. The Shinya's gave me some free time to shop around. I bought some souvenirs, the coolest of which was a hanko. Hanko are individualized stamps used by Japanese people like signatures. I wanted to have my own hanko to take home with me. The man didn't speak English, so it was a fun for me to try speaking with him about the hanko I wanted and the cost. Thanks to the Pieczulewski's, I already knew the characters which can represent my name, so I had the man make me a hanko stamp with only one character: rai. Rai is the symbol for thunder and the first of two characters in my name. The stamp turned out really cool and it felt good to be able to have such a thing made on my own. Maybe I will get another made with my name in katakana before I leave.

At 7:00pm I met the Shinya's at their favorite Okonomiyaki house near the shopping district. The okonomiyaki house has been open for generations and their food is famous. The Shinya's made me prepare and cook the okonomiyaki, which was fun. I hope to make some when I am back in the United States too. Okonomiyaki is just a lot of cabbage, one egg, meat, some flour, sauce, seaweed, and bonito fish flakes. Sooo delicious. The yaki soba kind is great too. We walked home together and made it there in time to watch Mission Impossible 2 on television. It was in Japanese, but it was still entertaining. Today was a great day filled with excitement and happiness. It was also my last day with the Shinya's. Tomorrow I will be moving to the Arai's house.