Once again we had a great time in Kyoto and on our day trips to Fukui and Shiga. This year we had not one but two typhoons arrive! The rain dampened out clothes but not our spirits as we got out and about and enjoyed our planned activities.
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Sunday 22nd Arrival in Japan & Kyoto |
Most of us arrived in the morning and made our way to Kyoto and were lucky to catch the last day of Richard Steiner's solo exhibition in downtown Kyoto. A second trip to the airport and back to Kyoto as typhoon 21 intensified. Luckily we made it back - I heard that trains were stopped in the evening! |
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Monday 23rd Gion Art street Ukiyo-e galleries, Chion-in temple area, Sannenzaka Museum, Kiyomizudera, Shopping, Gion Area Temples and shops, Yasaka Shrine The rain gradually cleared during the day and we had a lovely walk to Kiyomizudera, where we encountered the big crowds of this famous attraction. Some of us drank from the sacred spring, which the name of this temple comes from, giving us longer life! Afterwards, making our way downtown we tried okonomiyaki for dinner! |
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Tuesday 24th Visit to Shoichi Kitamura Studio, Yamashina, Daigo-ji Temple Yamashina We had a fascinating and informative visit to Kitamura san's home studio and afterwards enjoyed the peace and tranquility of Daigo-ji. No big crowds and shopping madness here. In the evening we went to Kyoto station for dinner, then enjoyed the spectacular building and amazing night time view of Kyoto from the Skywalk. |
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Wednesday 25th Day trip to Echizen no washi sato (Paper making Village) We took the train to Fukui prefecture to Echizen washi village where we saw papermaking, talked at lenght to the craftsmen, visited the paper museum and also walked to Okami-jinja - and amazing shrine in the mountain village. Again - lovely peace and quiet enjoying the rustic atmosphere. |
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Thursday 26th Our Mokuhanga workshop with Richard Steiner started and everyone got busy with their projects! |
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Friday 27th Our Mokuhanga workshop continued and with Richard's expert tuition everone made progress. Afterwards we visited a small traditional clothes shop where some of us bought samue - traditional craftsperson's clothes in japan. The shop owner was so happy to help everyone! |
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Saturday 28th Teramachi-dori Shopping precinct, Art / Paper shops, Unsodo Mokuhanga publishers Starting with Kyoto Shibori Museum we visited various Art supply shops, Ukiyo-e shops, stopped at some interesting cafe's and finished with a lovely kaitenzushi (Sushi train) dinner! The rain was starting to fall for Typhoon 21 - only one week after the previous one! |
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Sunday 29th Kawaii Kanjiro's House, Kyoto Ceramics Centre, Kyoto Museum The rain from Typhoon 22 continued nearly all day, changing our plans a little. We went to the fantastic Kawai Kanjiro museum, which is his old home, then to the newlt opened Kyoto Ukiyo-e Museum where we could see Hiroshige's 36 Views of the Tokkaido, as well as some beautiful old Hokusai prints. Afterwards we visited Nishiki-dori to see and experience the incredible array of food shops there. |
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Monday 30th Mokuhanga Workshop with Richard Steiner - Last day with Richard. Beforehand we made an early morning visit to Shimogamo Shrine. Nice mokuhanga! |
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Tuesday 31st We took a trip to Shiga prefecture to visit Sagawa Art Museum, which had an awesome exhibition of "10 Masters of Ukiyo-e" with excellent examples of the most famous artists of that time, such as Utamaro, Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, Hokusai, Hiroshige etc. The museum itself is amazing and again it was nice to visit normal, everyday Japan Afterwards we visited Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine and caught a perfect sunset view of Kyoto to end the last day. |
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| Wednesday 1st |
In the morning we left for Kansai Airport and return to Australia, or to travel elsewhere in Japan. |
