Temples, Shrines and Gardens in Kyoto

Today was a day full of temples and shrines.  We had a free day, although I chose to accompany our guide for the first half of the day as she was going to two of the temples I wanted to visit.  It was a little cooler this morning, although it rained mid-morning leaving heavy humidity behind the rain, so it felt like I was walking in a steam room all day!  Very sticky and uncomfortable.  We started out at Ginkakuji Temple, known as the "silver pavilion" although there is no silver on it! This temple was built in the 15th century by the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa as a retirement home.  It became a Zen temple after the shogun died, and blends traditional Japanese architectural styles with Zen culture.  There are several buildings in the complex linked by a beautiful garden.  After we left Ginkakuji we walked what is called the Philospher's path, a stone path along a canal so named because 20th century Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro was known to stroll along this path engaged in his philosophical musings.  It is a lovely stone path lined with trees and flowers. We got rained on as we walked it which somewhat dampened (pun intended) the experience!  At the end of the path we were near to Nanzenji Temple, another important Zen temple which we visited next.  

Nanzen Ji Temple, built in the 13th century as a retirement villa for Emperor Kameyama, and it became a Zen monastery after his death.  It is still an active Zen monastery.  The grounds are extensive, with subtemples and gardens to walk through.  I went inside to the part of the monastery where there are many prayer rooms where Zen monks currently meditate and engage in their training.  Unfortunately, photography is prohibited inside the temple buildings so I was only able to get photos of the gardens.  The prayer rooms are very simple, with tatami mats on the floor and beautiful paintings on screens lining the walls.  The tea room is very beautiful looking out over a waterfall and garden.  

After NazenJi Temple I walked to the Chion In Temple which is a major temple for those of the Pure Land Buddhist sect.  The temple and its grounds are huge, sprawling up the side of a mountain with many, many stairs.  Good workout walking around there.  This is a really active temple and I was able to observe a number of rituals, primarily memorial services in the main hall.  This week, the holiday of Obon is when the Japanese believe that their dead ancestors return to earth for the week, so there are lots of rituals at both the Buddhist temples and the Shinto shrines around prayers for ancestors and I'm guessing that added to the busyness at Chion today.  I spent some time when I first arrived in a beautiful subtemple where a monk was doing chanting and drumming. Then I went in to the main prayer hall where all the memorial services were going on.  Lots of chanting, drumming, bell ringing, incense etc.  Unfortunately, photography is strictly prohibited inside the temple so I could only photograph the grounds and gardens, except for one prayer chapel way up high on the hill.  I spent a lot of time at Chion going over the whole complex, which includes a number of small prayer halls/chapels, a cemetery, gardens and a HUGE bell.

After I left there I walked to the Heian-Jingo Shinto Shrine which is nearby to Chion-In.  It's a huge shrine built in 1895 to commemorate the founding of Kyoto.  It has an extensive garden surrounding the shrine which I really enjoyed walking through.  It had stone pathways and a lotus pond with rocks you could walk on to cross the pond, and small bridges.  It was lovely and quiet in there, even though today the shrine complex was quite busy.  You have to pay to go in the garden, so it was much less crowded and really quite serene.  The Japanese are famous for their gardens and having walked a number of them this week at the various temples I can see why.  

After that, I was pretty tired, having been on my feet for over 8 hours, so I took the subway back to the hotel and showered and relaxed until dinner.  We had our official OAT farewell dinner at a lovely restaurant on the banks of the river in the Gion district.  After supper we walked around the area for a bit to take in the nightlife and passed a Geiko on her way to work.  She was in full garb, make-up and all.  

Tomorrow I leave for home.  I have to get a taxi to the train station where I will get a bus to the Itami Airport for my first flight, which goes from Osaka to Tokyo. From there to Chicago and then to Rochester, hopefully by late tomorrow night.  

Pics today are mostly scenes from the temple gardens, except for one pic of a Buddha I managed to sneak in at Chion In Temple and a shot of one of the small prayer halls up on the mountain at Chion In and shots of the Shinto shrine, the torii gate and the shrine itself.

 

Japanese Culture - Zen, Sushi and Music

Kyoto Day 3

Today was a wonderful day full of traditional Japanese cultural experiences of various kinds. We started the morning off with a trip to the Senkoji Temple, a Zen temple up in the mountains of the Arashiyama area of Kyoto.  We drove to the Hozu-Gawa river in the Arashiyama district and walked to the riverbank where we got a small boat. We were met at the river by our host, a monk from the Senkoji Zen Temple who accompanied us on the ride down the river to the monastery.  We got off the boat near the monastery and walked the 200+ stone steps up from the river to the monastery which is on the side of the mountain. The Zendo has a wonderful view out over the mountains and the city.  The Senkoji monastery is an active Zen monastery that has been on that mountain for 400 years.  It has fallen on hard times and so the Grand Circle Foundation (the parent company of Overseas Adventure Travel) supports it by bringing groups to visit and raising funds to help in a variety of restoration projects that the monastery needs done.  While we were at the monastery we had a basic introduction to Zen Buddhism, including chanting the shortest sutra (in sanskrit!) accompanied by the monk with bell and drum, a short silent meditation, and a formal tea ceremony, where we prepared and drank matcha in the ceremonial way typical of Zen practice.  After our meditation session (which included the monk rapping us on the back with a bamboo stick to sharpen our meditation practice!) we walked back down the mountain and returned by boat to our bus.  The monk stayed with us on that ride too and continued to explain the process of Zen training that members of his monastery undergo.

After we left the monastery, we went to Kameoka, a small city out in the country, that was once the agricultural capital of Kyoto.  Farming is still the major occupation out there.  In a 400 year old Samurai house, we had lunch that included a lesson in sushi-making taught to us by some local women who are experts at the craft.  We made our own sushi and then enjoyed a full multi-course traditional Japanese lunch with miso soup, tempura, vegetables of various kinds, the sushi that we had made and fruit.  The food was delicious.  We then toured the old house which was really impressive including a lovely garden before returning to Kyoto for brief rest.

A smaller group of us then went on an optional tour where we enjoyed a private concert of traditional Japanese music at the home of a couple who are professional musicians.  The wife played the koto (harp) and shamisen (three stringed instrument that sounds vaguely like a banjo!) and the husband, who is a Zen monk, played the bamboo flute.  Both were in traditional garb, she in her kimono and he in his Zen monk attire.  The music was excellent and we enjoyed a little over an hour of them playing for us.  Then they let us try out the instruments ourselves which was great fun.  Their home was in a residential neighborhood near Kyoto University and we really enjoyed being in someone's home as well as experiencing the beautiful traditional music.  

From there we took a taxi to the Gion district, which is the Geiko/Maiko (Geisha) district of Kyoto, where all the night life happens.  This part of town really comes alive at night and it is very quaint, with cobblestoned streets and old wooden houses and traditional Japanese inns and restaurants.  We ate in a tiny little restaurant tucked away on a side street where we sat on the floor and enjoyed food served in a multi-tiered box, which, when opened revealed three drawers of food - the first had breaded shrimp, chicken and potato with salad, the second had steak and vegetables and the third had rice, in the shape of a fan.  We also got miso soup and ice cream for dessert.  On the walls of the restaurant hung many Japanese fans presented to the restaurant owners by Geikos and Maikos (Geishas in training) who have frequented the restaurant and want to thank the owners for their excellent service.  After supper we walked through the narrow winding streets of this old part of town, enjoying the lights and the sense of old Kyoto.  We finished up walking through the Yasaka Shinto Shrine, which is the shrine which the maikos/geikos go to pray for divine help in their dancing and singing development.  The shrine looked really lovely all lit up for the night.  We took taxis from there back to the hotel. All in all it was a terrific day of Japanese culture.

Pics include shots from the monastery, including me ringing the bell as we got near the Zendo, a shot of the sushi I made at Kemeoka, pics of the musicians including one of me trying out the koto (harp) and a shot of the Yasaka shrine at night.

Nara - Todaiji Temple, Kasuga Shrine, Fushimi-Inari Shrine

 Today we took a trip out of the city, about 25 miles south to Nara, a town with some famous and popular temples and shrines.  We visited Todai-ji Temple, a huge, wooden hall housing a giant bronze and copper Buddha dating from the early 8th century.  The buddha here is the largest bronze statue in the world.  The big buddha is flanked by guardians and minor buddhas.  The hall is quite impressive.  On the grounds of the temple complex are thousands of very tame deer, who wander freely around, come up and nuzzle tourists looking for handouts. For 150 yen you can buy food to feed them, and they are well trained to take it from you.  They are good Japanese deer and will bow their heads once asking for the food and then take it when it is offered!  It was really amazing to be petting deer and having them walk along beside you like a dog.  After we left the Buddhist temple, we went down the road about a quarter mile to the Kasuga Shinto Shrine, nestled in the woods.  It was a lovely walk through the forested grounds with the main shrine and numerous sub-shrines nestled into the woods all over.  The tame deer are there too, adding a nice touch to the atmosphere.  Legend has it that the kami (deity/god) that inhabits the Kasuga shrine arrived riding on a deer, and thus the Japanese believe that the Kasuga shrine deer are sacred animals and are to be treated well.  While we were there, we saw a procession of Shinto priests and priestesses leaving the main shrine area and processing to a smaller shrine in the woods for some priestly ritual to which the public was not invited.  We walked over to the smaller shrine and were not allowed to go up close to where they were doing whatever prayer service it was they were doing, but we could hear the chanting and drumming and the droning of their prayers as we walked around the area.  It was quite nice to hear the sacred chants as we walked through the woods which are dotted with small shrines and full of the friendly, tame deer.  

After we left the Kasuga shrine, we went to lunch in a little village.  We ate in a very small, local restaurant and enjoyed delicious tempura and udong noodles.  After we left there, we drove about 45 minutes back towards Kyoto and then visited the famous Fushimi - Inari- Taisha Shrine at Fushimi.  This is the shrine that is known for its 100,000 orange Torii gates that wind up the mountain from the principal shrine in a wide loop.  We walked partway up the path under the torii gates, but did not have time to do the entire walk, which takes about 2 1/2 hours.  The place was absolutely packed, as has been the case at all the shrines and temples this week.  The kami (gods) of this shrine are the gods of rice and sake.  Inari is the God of cereals and was enshrined here to bring prosperity in agriculture.  Along the paths there are many stone foxes, because the fox is considered to be the messenger of Inari, and indeed foxes are sometimes called Inari.  The walk through the torii gates is really quite an experience and very lovely as it winds through the woods.  We all wished we had had more time so that we could do the entire walk.  Devotees were making offerings and prayers to the gods at the main shrine and at the many smaller shrines that populate the walking route through the torii gates. 

The Japanese practice both Buddhism and Shintoism in equal measure.  Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan, and is a tradition that worships nature, seeing in the natural world the presence of divinity.  Shinto shrines do not have any images or statues, but each one is dedicated to some "kami" or deity that has been ritually enshrined there or which is believed to simply reside there due to the location (i.e. the god of a river would be enshrined at a river's edge, or the god of fruit trees in an arbor etc.).  In Japan, weddings are mostly done at Shinto shrines, while funerals take place at Buddhist temples.  Japanese homes usually have both a shinto and Buddhist shrine.  At a lot of the Buddhist temples you will find a Shinto shrine also on the grounds, often right next to the Buddhist prayer hall or temple.  It is fascinating to see how the Japanese weave their spirituality seamlessly between these two traditions.  So very different from the way people in the Abrahamic traditions live out their religious and spiritual lives. 

When we got back to the city, our trip leader took a few of us on an unscheduled tour of the Kyoto train station which is quite an architectural marvel.  It's a fairly new station and the architecture is very striking.  There is a rooftop lookout on the 11th floor with panoramic views of the entire city in all four directions.  The station is adjoined by a large shopping mall and a huge, fancy hotel.  

After returning to the hotel and cooling down (the heat is still really oppressive, so when we've been going all day, we get back to the hotel completely wilted!) a small group of us went to dinner and wound up in an Indian restaurant.  It was an interesting experience to be ordering Indian food off a menu that was entirely in Japanese!

Pics today include shots of the Todaiji Temple, the deer at the temple, the giant Buddha and the torii gates of the Inari shrine.

Temples, Castles and Gardens

 Today was a very full day of seeing some incredible Kyoto sights.   We started out visiting Kiyumizu-Dera temple, a Buddhist temple complex dating from the 8th century, which is up on a hill with a commanding view out over all of Kyoto.  The main hall has a series of huge images of the Buddha, in particular Juichi-men, an 11 headed Kannon figure, among others.  The complex also has a holy spring, with water that is considered to bestow long life and health on those who drink from it.  You descend down a long flight of stone steps from the main hall and come to the spring where there are three spigots of water flowing into a small pool.  Pilgrims go behind the water flows and use long handled metal cups to capture some of the water and drink it while also offering prayers to the Buddha images that are installed just behind the spring.  I enjoyed partaking of this holy water, particularly on a hot, blazing 100+ degree day!  There is also a Shinto shrine as part of the complex, dedicated to "success in love" which draws people who are eager to insure success in their love lives!  The temple complex was packed today because this week is a special festival week in Japanese Buddhism, known as OBon, when they believe that the spirits of their beloved dead relatives return to earth and stay with them for this particular week and then return to the heavens on August 15.  So this week, Japanese Buddhists particularly want to go to various temples or shrines to offer prayers.

After we left Kyomizu, we went to Sanjusangendo Hall, also known as the hall of a thousand Buddhas.  This temple was built in the 12th century, destroyed by fire and then rebuilt in teh 13th century.  It contains 1000 statues of Kannon standing, all carved from Japanese cedar, and each statue having distinctive facial features, and in the middle of the hall housing these sacred statues, is one enormous, giant seated Kannon Buddha image, also made of cedar.  This temple is very sacred to Japanese Buddhists, and again, there were hordes of folks there today, many offering candles and incense and prayers as part of the observance of the festival this week.  Unfortunately, photography is strictly forbidden in the hall housing the statues, so I was not able to capture this amazing and unique place.  It was truly breathtaking to walk through and see rows and rows and rows of ornately carved Buddha statues, (actually I think they are more like Bodhisattvas) and the giant Buddha in the center is really impressive.  

From there we went to Nijo Castle, built in the 17th century as the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyesu.  It is an extensive castle, with outer rooms where the shogun would receive visitors, and as you go further in the rooms where the shogun would meet with his direct reports, the daimyos from the various districts and finally the private quarters where he resided and was entertained by his harem of geishas.  We also walked into the castle gardens which are extensive and quite beautiful.  It was very hot today, though so we made the garden visit a short one.  In the middle of the day it is really too uncomfortable to be out in the sun for more than a few minutes!

After visiting the castle, we went to lunch at a restaurant at Kyoto University.  It looked like their version of a Faculty Club. It was very elegant and quiet and we had a delicious French lunch.  

After lunch we went to Kinkakuji Temple, also known as the Golden Pavilion originally built in the 14th century for a shogun and made into a Buddhist temple by his son. It was burned to the ground in the early 1950s by a monk who was obsessed with it and then it was carefully and exactly reconstructed like the 14th century original.  It is covered in 24 karat gold leaf and sits in the middle of a reflecting pond, surrounded by gardens.  There is a very simple tea ceremony house on the grounds, which is 400 years old and living quarters for monks.  The place was packed today.  Our guide who has been doing this work for many years said she has never seen such crowds there.  Again, Obon seems to be the cause of the increased attendance at all these holy places.  

After we returned to the hotel our guide offered to go to dinner with a few of us and we went to a Japanese pub for yakitori, which is basically the Japanese version of kabobs.  The meal was delicious.  After dinner, our guide and I walked back to the Nijo Castle to see a light show that they were doing as part of the Obon festival.  It only lasted about 10 minutes (and it was also packed!) but it was really worth it.  They projected light images all over the front of the castle building and it was really stunning.  Music played while they did the pyrotechnics with the lights.   As we were leaving the grounds there were all kinds of stalls and vendors there selling wares and food.  We stopped at a sake tasting tent and enjoyed a few sips of different kinds of sake before walking back to the hotel.  It was fun to see all the young Japanese kids wearing their summer kimonos to the festival.  Both girls and boys wear them and they really look terrific in them.  

Pics today are shots from Kiyumizu-Dera, the gate at Nijo Castle, the Golden pavilion and a couple of shots from the light show.  

Home Visit and Train to Kyoto, Japanese Dinner

Short blog today as we had another travel day, so did not do any sightseeing.  We did have our visits with local families this morning in Kanazawa.  Four of us visited the Nakagawa family, and the husband, Fujio and wife Yoko entertained us for a couple of hours in their home.  It was great to see a real family home.  He is a retired corporate executive and now does a lot of this work welcoming visitors to his home to give them a taste of Japan.  His English was very good so it was easy to engage in conversation with him.  Their 2 year old granddaughter lives with them (as does her mother) and the wife showed us photographs of the baby's 100 day naming ceremony, like the ones I observed last Sunday at the Zotoji Temple in Tokyo.  She told me that the large cape-like looking garment is actually a kimono for a three year old child.  Apparently, when they do the baby dedication at 100 days, the father's mother holds the baby and they are both wrapped in this kimono, and then when the child turns three, the family goes back to the Temple and there is another ceremony.  The three year old wears the kimono at that point.  Our host did calligraphy for each of us writing the words for the four attributes that are important in a Japanese tea ceremony on the paper - Respect, tranquillity, harmony and I've forgotten the 4th one (and my drawing is in the suitcase of one of my fellow travelers as I did not have a way to transport it since we had sent our large bags ahead of us!).  We also did origami, which the wife helped us to do and that was a rather hilarious adventure.  We made little men in kimonos and some of us were a bit challenged in the paper-folding department!!

The Nakagawa house was quite modern and yet very traditional.  The husband and wife's bedroom is covered with the tatami mats and they sleep on futons, as we did when we visited the ryokan in Hakone.  The futons are stored in a closet during the day and the room is used for other activities.  Mrs. Nakagawa is a professional flower arranger and she teaches classes in it and uses that room when giving her classes.  We sat in a living room on the second floor of their home, which is a very small, condo-like size home by American standards.  I was surprised when we walked into the room to see a baby grand piano and an upright piano both in the room, which was not a very big room to begin with.  I asked how they got the baby grand in there, and he pointed to the window behind us and said it was lifted in by a crane through the window!  We were all amazed at how much stuff they managed to cram into a very small house!  

After our family visit we had lunch near the train station and then took the train to Kyoto.  We got here about 5 o'clock.  Kyoto is much hotter than Kanazawa was, and that's saying something as it was pretty hot there. Temps are expected to be hovering around 102-104 for the next couple of days. Kyoto is surrounded by mountains on three sides which traps the heat in the city.  Our trip leader took us on an orientation walk around the neighborhood near the hotel so we could get our bearings and then we went to a wonderful Japanese restaurant for a multi-course dinner, Japanese style.  The food was delicious.  I am so taken with the artistry with which the Japanese present food.  There are separate bowls, and plates and odd shaped dishes for every course served and everyone gets their own set of these items. (They must spend hours doing dishes after these meals!)  The portions are very small but completely adequate and the meal is served in a particular order with everything carefully laid out on the serving dishes.  At our home visit I noticed that Mrs. Nakagawa's kitchen cabinet was absolutely packed to the gills with little bowls, and dishes and cups and utensils and items we had no idea what they were, but each one has a particular function.  Food is really an art form in this culture!

I've included pics of some of the courses at tonight's meal.  We had tofu, miso soup, three different pork dishes, a chicken dish, a salmon dish, a tempura plate with fish, shrimp, pepper and eggplant, pickled vegetables and a lemon sorbet at the end.  I had my first sake which was really good.  It's a local sake, from Nara, which is nearby here.  

So more tomorrow.  We have a full day of activities.

Gasho Houses in Gokayama and Shirakawago, Street Festivals

Today we drove out into the mountains, southeast of Kanazawa about 50 miles to visit some old historic villages that have what are known as "gasho" houses, which are A frame, wooden houses, usually three story, with thatched roofs.  They were built back in the late 16th/early 17th century and use no nails whatsoever in their construction.  They are completely held together by wood joined at strategic joints, and strong rope.  The sharp slant of the A frame roof is important in this part of Japan because they get heavy snowfall and for the thatched roofs to survive they had to be slanted so that snow would slide off of them.  Two villages, Gokayama and Shirakawago where we were today are UNESCO world heritage sites.  The mountains are beautiful and these little old villages are quaint, nestled into the mountains.  The original owners of these homes were farmers, and craftsmen, the main crafts in this area being making paper during the winter months and producing gunpowder.  The paper is made from bushes indigenous to these mountains.  The owners of the gasho homes, in their historic period were the "middle class" of their day.  They were not, by any means, the elite, but the fact that they owned property and earned a living from it put them above the laboring classes.  

We first stopped at Ainokura village in Gokayama, where we walked up to a lookout point where we could see the village nestled into the mountain.  After walking around the historic village for awhile, we then went to a community center where we got a demonstration of how mochi is made.  Mochi is a food staple in this part of Japan, made from pounding sticky rice until it becomes like a sticky dough.  The rice is first cooked and then when it's hot, it is pounded with a large wooden mallet (it takes two people to do this part, one of whom runs the risk of having their hand clubbed!).  It gradually goes from being something that looks like rice to a smooth, sticky dough, that resembles gnocchi!  Then it is formed into small balls and covered with either soy sauce, other sauces, or dipped in a mixture of sesame powder and pepper.  We got to try the mochi after we helped pound it, and it was delicious!  Very filling too.  It is a favorite food in this part of Japan, particularly at major holidays.  

After we left the mochi place, we went to where the special Gokayama paper is made.  The villagers of Gokayama have been famous for their special paper for hundreds of years.  We saw a video that explains the whole process of making the paper from the bark of a bush that grows in these mountains, which is, to say the least, a very involved process.  Towards the end, what ultimately becomes paper is a huge vat of white milky water (looks a lot like water left over after making rice!).  They have special forms that they dip into this mixture a number of times and then they peel off the wet "paper" and dry it on metal plates.  We each made three postcards from scratch, dipping the forms into the paper water and then decorating them and watching them be cut and dried.  It was fascinating to learn about how this fine and special paper is made and fun to get to try it out!

After our paper-making expedition, we went to lunch in a small restaurant on the edge of the river in Gokayama.  Three women own it and they were terrific hostesses.  They prepared for us a meal which is traditional in those mountain villages, with soba, a special noodle that they prepare, tofu, made fresh, and lots of mountain vegetables, a lot of which I did not recognize, but they tasted good all the same!  While we ate our lunch we were treated to some traditional songs and dance by the proprietors of the restaurant.

From there, we went to a 400 year old Gasho house, the Murakami House, still owned by descendants of the family who originally owned it.  It is a good sized gasho house, complete with hearth in the middle of the ground floor, a Buddhist altar and Shinto shrine, a garden and two upper floors, containing many antique tools and implements that were used to make gunpowder which was the way the family that owned the house made their living.  We had a chance to walk all over the house, including up the narrow ladders to the second and third floors.  Those homes were brilliantly made, and they are remarkably cool, with large windows facing north and south which catch the mountain breezes that blow north to south.  We got a talk about how the villagers made their living in the 17th/18th centuries when these homes were first built, including a description of how gunpowder was made. Apparently, they first had to grow some exotic bacteria which later become a key ingredient in the gunpowder!  Who knew?  The gentleman who gave us the lecture is a descendant of the family that originally owned the home.  He dressed in traditional costume, which in earlier centuries would have been the normal attire of the owner of the home, and even today is still worn by the villagers for festivals and holidays.  He did a traditional dance for us.

We then went to Shirakawago, another gasho house village in the same mountain range.  Like Gokayama, it is still inhabited by descendants of the original owners of the gasho homes who continue to make their living farming and engaging in traditional crafts.  We walked through this village and I hiked up to the lookout point which was not a long walk, although it was hot and I was pretty soaked with sweat by the time I got back to the bus.  The heat did not feel so oppressive today out in the mountains, but in the hot afternoon sun, I was reminded that we were still dealing with triple digit heat!

When we got back to Kanazawa to our hotel, we discovered a street fair/party going on right on the main street in front of our hotel.  The street was cordoned off and there were dozens of dance troupes performing one after the other.  I stood there for nearly an hour watching the festivities, and after I left and went to dinner and returned to my room I looked out and they were still at it!  The street was packed with folks watching the dancing and there were street vendors selling food and they had picnic tables set up in the street for folks to sit at while they ate.  I chose to go to a restaurant (I wanted air conditioning!) where I got a filet mignon dinner with miso soup and rice and a draft Japanese beer.  They serve the meat on a hot metal plate so that you can cook it to your liking!  They pre-cut it into slices which helps a little when trying to eat it with chopsticks, but believe me it was a challenge to eat a steak without a knife and fork!  I'm getting better at chopsticks but they do prove challenging at times!

Pics today include shots of the gasho villages in the mountains, our host at the Murakami house in his traditional attire, some of the street dancers at the evening festival and shots of lunch and dinner.