Spirited Away: Kyoto

Bamboo grove in Arashiyama, outside of Kyoto. Photo ©Darren Bradley

While in Japan, we spent a few days in Japan's cultural capital, Kyoto. To get into the spirit of things, I thought it would be fun to rent a traditional Japanese house (a Machiya) and live the "Japanese way". That turned out to be a bit more difficult than we anticipated. 

Our machiya, or traditional Japanese home, in the Kyoto suburb of Arashiyama. Photo ©Darren Bradley

You see, traditional Japanese homes don't have much in the way of insulation. Those shoji screens you see on the far wall are made of fine paper to allow light in. But that means there's not much separating you from the winter cold. And it was COLD! It was even snowing a bit at times. 

The entire home essentially consisted of this one room, with a bathroom, toilet, and rudimentary traditional kitchen (little more than a stone floor outhouse with a stone block for a sink.) At least there was a real toilet, and the toilet seat was heated! The screens on the right opened up to a little courtyard with a garden. When we wanted to sleep, we moved this low table and cushions and laid out three futons that were in a closet behind me here. 

It was a beautiful home and I loved it. But my wife compared it to camping. And my daughter was camped out in front  of the space heater the whole time. 

Store front in Arashiyama, Kyto, Japan. Photo ©Darren Bradley

Arashiyama is a nice little town that is very popular with Japanese tourists and virtually unknown to westerners. There are a few temples and some nice parks and nature trails, but the place closes up for the night even earlier than Kyoto. By 5pm or so, the shops and even the restaurants start to close. 

Photo ©Darren Bradley

Of course, we did many of the usual touristy things, like the Philosophers' Walk, the historic old town of Gion, and many, many temples (although only scratched the surface on that front). 

Photo ©Darren Bradley

But being there over the New Year holiday meant that many museums and other tourist attractions were closed for the entire time we were there. This was the case for the Kyoto National Museum, the Ando-designed Garden of Fine Arts, and the Katsura Imperial Villa. 

Photo ©Darren Bradley

The New Year holiday also meant that there were huge crowds in all the temples, and in the streets of the old Gion quarter. 

The old quarter of Gion. Photo ©Darren Bradley

Gion. Photo ©Darren Bradley

Gion. Photo ©Darren Bradley

Photo ©Darren Bradley

Photo ©Darren Bradley

Photo ©Darren Bradley

When touring the ancient temples and other buildings, you do get a clear sense of how the roots of modernist architecture are clearly present here. The blurring of indoors and out, the clean lines, the purity of function and purpose and the beauty in the simplicity of the architecture... It's all there. 

Photo ©Darren Bradley

Photo ©Darren Bradley