Discover Kyoto: Nishiki Market, Takoyaki & Kyoto Station

Day 2

Night

December 29, 2012

Kyoto (DIY Tour)

I did not know that touring Kyoto in one day is not enough especially if you are doing everything on your own (without a tour package, that is). There are just too many things to see and places to visit. I did not even think that I would end up writing three entries about Kyoto ; p Heck, Nishiki Market alone deserves one whole entry.

When you take a peek into my itinerary, visiting Nara was scheduled on the same day since the distance from Kyoto to Nara is just short. We ended up not visiting Nara altogether, but we are definitely going to visit it when we go back to Japan.

Nishiki Market

Nishiki Market is the "Kitchen of Kyoto" lined with over 100 shops selling different kinds of ingredients. It is teh best place to get a taste of the flavor of Kyoto!

Our last stop in Kyoto is Nishiki Market. We spent an hour oohing and aahing at the amazing food ingredients plus many others that the merchants sell.

To find out more, you can read after the break. It will be loaded with lots of photos, I promise...

Discover Kyoto: Geisha in Gion, Yasakajinja & Tokei-ji Temple

Day 2 

Afternoon

December 29, 2012

Kyoto (DIY Tour)

After eating a vegetarian lunch over at Yudofuya Restaurant, we hopped on the bus using our Kyoto City Bus One-day pass to Gion.

Gion is an entertainment district lined with buildings exhibiting a more traditional, Kyoto-esque style of architecture. You can sometimes see a geisha walking through at night.

Izumo no Okuni

In 1603, Izumo no Okuni presented her Kabuki Odori (Kabuki Dance) here on the Shijo Gawara the dry riverbed along side the Kamogawa River near Shijo. At a time when Kyoto was in disarray after the Battle of Sekigahara, Okuni's performances dressed in flamboyant men's costumes delighted and caught the imagination of the people, receiving tremendous acclaim.

Okuni is considered to  be the founder of kabuki, but her birthplace is unknown. She was a miko (shrinemaiden) at Izumo Taisha Shrine in Shimane who brought her troupe of performers to Kyoto to solicit contributions. Here in Kyoto, she first gained fame for her shows in the Noh stage at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, then toured around amid growing popularity. 

Later, in the beginning of the Edo period, onna kabuki (kabuki played by women) was banned as a corrupting influence on social morals. Me took over, even playing the female roles (onna-gata), and the resulting shows developed into the kabuki of today.

More Kyoto photos after the break...