Fushimi at night, is a world
apart. As the light fades, the lanterns
start to glow and the pathways fall to shadow.
The great gateways and tunnels of tori become a maze of twisting
intertwining shapes like the spiders webs inter-weaved among them. It is a time of spirits, of the kitsune who
guard this place. You see them there,
shapes in the dark, fearsome faces and eyes that catch just enough light to
make you feel you are watched. Here and
there, candles glimmer, only to flicker with a wind as something unseen passes
them. It is unearthly, otherworldly and
totally dark.
Of all the things we did, I
wished we could have captured the atmosphere of evening Fushimi. No camera could accurately capture it but I should warn readers that the paths up into the mountain are not well
lit. There’s a lot of stairs and jutting stones just waiting to catch you
off guard. It is something to
definitely do when you are in Kyoto and I would do so again.
It was the perfect end to our journey....and we returned to the hotel to rest for a long, arduous return trip the next day.
This is the end of our journey, the end of my book as well. At the end of Kitsune Matsuri, my title character meets his kitsune friend at this very font. This was one of the images that will stick with me.
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The End of the Vacation
It is not easy to leave Japan,
and when you do, you leave a part of yourself behind. On the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto, I
looked at our maps and realized how much a tiny sliver we’d truly seen. Even in Kyoto, Nikko and Nara which were
relatively small by comparison to Tokyo, we’d only seen a fraction of a
fraction of things I’d wanted to or were there.
Meiji Shrine courtyard video
If the journey to Japan was a
pleasant serene experience though, the Journey home was a sobering,
awakening. Looking back on it now,
almost two years later, I can finally reflect on the journey as a whole.
Shibuya crossing video
Japan is a land of mystery, where
magic still indeed exists. The spirits
and gods of this land are real, and waiting.
They lurk in the shadows of shrines, behind tori gates, in little
alleyways and dark pools. They are in
the trees, in the ground, in the sky and in the people. The spiritual world is the soul of an
ancient country. Juxtaposed, is the
modern nation, with her great skyscrapers bustling streets and gaudy commercial
enterprise. It is a place of rampant
change, still searching, yearning for an identity in constant
transformation.
Tenryuji Garden Video
Japan cannot be captured in a
picture or through words, in truth, it is as elusive as the smoke that billows
from temple censors. I happened there in
a perfect time, upon the crest at the end of Autumn. My parents and I shared an adventure a
lifetime in the making. We saw such
wonders, and yet we know even to this day that there is so much more. Again and again we look at our pictures, at
articles on Japan and we say, “I want to go back.”
Teramachi Street (Sorry for the weird angle..don't know how to fix it.
I hope to go back and explore
different things that I remembered, focus deeper on some of the wonders and
questions I now have.
No idea, but it looks cool
This is not the end of this journal, but the start of new adventures. I hope to touch on other things I observed, little things about Japan in general and post more pictures.
Ryuzenji Falls, Nikko
I cannot wait to begin.
