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Ohara village, Kyoto secret spots, fall foods, Shiga & Otsu

An adorable and highly visible Jizo bodhisattva painted on wood.

This post is kind of all over the place but easy to negotiate with my handy index below. The main ideas I cover in this article are: the incredible high-value village of Ohara just NE of downtown Kyoto ; a very special temple in downtown Kyoto for praying to the living & the dead ; the modern and contemporary serenity of Kyoto's Garden of Fine Art ; kaki persimmons, matsutake luxury mushrooms and wagashi tea masterpiece sweets ; and, finally, all about the prefecture east of Kyoto: Shiga and it uncrowded worlds. Learn more!

But before we go into the content outlined above I'd like to feature one of my favorite textiles and textile shops in Kyoto (no affiliation). Natural indigo has been used for centuries all over the world as a fabric dye. It is derived from a substance found in the fibers of a variety of plants. Japanese indigo, prized for its particularly rich color, comes from the tade or knotweed plant, which is found naturally throughout Japan.

Tade plants are first fermented to produce the dye substance called sukumo. Then the woven cloth or thread is dyed in vats and dried repeatedly (15-20 times). Natural sun drying brings out the brilliant indigo blue color in the fabric. The dye actually improves the strength of the material (linen or cotton). Over time the dyed material becomes softer and more comfortable to wear.

Kyoto's Aizen Kobo indigo studio follows ancient, traditional techniques to create the deep, eggplant blue for which Japanese indigo is world famous. The Aizen Kobo workshop uses pure Japanese indigo dyes and natural fibers to produce a wonderful selection of handcrafted, custom-made goods. The studio is especially popular for its original Japanese and Western style clothing, bags and decorative items. But that is not all. You can also go through the dyeing, creation process yourself. The studio offers visitors the fun opportunity to make a tie-dyed scarf or a tablecloth. The process takes about an hour ; advance reservations are required for experiences but not for shopping!

Content by Ian Martin Ropke, owner of Your Japan Private Tours (est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with Japan private tour clients and have worked for all kinds of families, companies, and individuals since 1990. Clients find me mostly via organic search, and I advertise my custom Japan private tours & travel services on www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps in Japan! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip. And thank you for reading my content. I, Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search), am also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!

The Wonders of Ohara village in all seasons!

Ohara is one of the most beautiful areas of Kyoto at any time of year. It is an especially popular autumn destination for the stunning red of its maples. Besides its famous temples and romantic, partly tragic reputation from centuries past, Ohara is also a fine example of rural Japanese living. Exploration of the area will yield numerous surprises — thatched farm houses, men and women in traditional colourful farming clothes, ancient gardens and unusual settings.

The most famous place in Ohara is Sanzenin Temple: for its trees, moss gardens and especially cool and refreshing surroundings. On the other side of the valley lies Jakko-in Temple, where the empress of the Heike spent the end of her life in lonely exile in the 12th century. Ohara is also known for Oharame, women who sold brushwood, firewood and flowers (usually carried on their heads) on the streets of Kyoto. Some still do. Their unique clothing, see photo, originates from the clothing of the women who served the Heike empress.

There are two areas in Ohara that are recommended for long walks. One is the area stretching southeast from the Sanzen-in area east and then south (parallel to the main road). Here you will see a number of prosperous farmhouses and numerous fine rural views. The other area is along the narrow road running north along the west side of the valley. This road has little traffic and offers a number of interesting things to look at including several very old thatched-roof houses. For a special Kyoto experience consider staying in Ohara for a night. Should you wish to overnight in the valley, rustic Ohara no Sato (Tel: 744-2917) is the ideal place (the nightly fee includes their special miso-nabe dinner & breakfast).

To get to Ohara take Kyoto Bus # 17 or #18 from Kyoto Station (it takes about 40 min., except for weekends during peak season). In a taxi, you can expect to spend about Yen 5,000 to get there but it's worth it!

Kyoto's Yata Temple & Garden of Fine Art

Walking by the small, open front entrance to Yata-dera Temple, in the middle of one of Kyoto’s busiest shopping areas and right next door to a police station, most people stop and simply look in. However, many walk in and pay their respects. This is the wonder of Buddhism in Kyoto: everywhere in an endless variation of forms big and small.

Yata-dera is of the small version, but even small can be powerful and important. It was established here in 1579 as an off-shoot of the mother temple Yatasan- Kongosenji Temple situated at the center of Yata hill, in the Nara countryside (about 50 km south of Kyoto). The main Yata-dera in Nara is home to the oldest statue of Jizo (the Ksitigarbha bodhisattva ) in Japan, dating from the late 7th century.

Jizo is really the heart and soul of daily Japanese Buddhist life. These simple almost primitive stone or clearly carved figures with their red bibs are everywhere. Jizo is the Buddhist patron saint of travelers and unborn souls, which is to say that he his the patron saint of life and pre-life. We are all travelers: travelers through the land of life and human existence.

The red bib or hat that makes Jizo so easy to notice have been made and presented to each statue by a joyful parent whose child has been saved by the deity’s powers.

Though of Indian origin, this diety has always been much more popular in the ancestor worship cultures of China, Korea, and Japan. Like Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy, Jizo is a bodhisattva. Bodhisattva’s have reached enlightenment but postpone Buddhahood to save others.

People come to this temple (on the east side of Teramachi, just north of Sanjo) to pray for life give and life lost and life now. Many buy a tiny felt Jizo doll to hang within the precincts of the temple. Countless visitors come every day to light a thick stick of dark green incense, which is then placed with others in a large, round, deep bed of ash.

Kyoto Garden of Fine Art

This special garden features the world’s only ceramic tile blowups of art masterpieces. Billed as "The first garden of paintings in the world," the Garden of Fine Art was built in 1990 and holds several enlarged ceramic reproductions of the Old European Masters. These include the Last Judgement by Michelangelo and the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, as well as works by Monet, Seurat, Renoir and Van Gogh. In addition there are pieces by classical Chinese and Japanese artists. The magnificent, perfect-colour tile art works were made to last forever. The Kyoto Garden of Fine Art (entry is \100) is located on the east side of the Kyoto Botanical Gardens (K-8, pg 8 map). Across the street from the garden, along Kitayama, Kyoto’s short but intense version of Hollywood’s luxurious Rodeo Drive, visitors will have a chance to watch the young and the wealthy relaxing and, naturally, shopping. The area is full of hidden cafes and restaurants places, and more than a few vegetable and rice fields on the north side (believe it or not). Kitayama is also where some of Japan’s most famous architects like to show off. A number of buildings facing the street are awesome examples of what you can do with concrete, glass, wood, and a more than a bit of design genius. Another sure thing on Kitayama is cake and coffee. Choose from giant glass-fronted emporiums or intimate places like Paper Moon, or the live-dog hosted exotic, seductive elegance of Cafe Doji just across the river.

Japan autumn food & dessert delights

A typical autumn scene is the picture-perfect sight of ripe, orange kaki (persimmons) standing out against a bright blue, crisp autumn sky. But kaki are not just something to look at; you can also eat them. Kaki that you can eat fresh right off the tree are round and are called amagaki (sweet kaki). Dried persimmons or hoshigaki, made from a variety known as shibugaki, are also a popular autumn treat. No matter which way you eat them you are sure to get lots of vitamin C. If you don’t get out into the country, look for these treats in the high end fruit shops in department stores and on fresh food market streets like Nishiki (Kyoto) and Kuromon (Osaka) and all over Tokyo . . .

Matsutake mushrooms are amazing but very expensive. And only special pine forests in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and British Columbia have them. And everybody loves them . . . But now you have a chance to see them and, if you can afford it, even eat them. October is the month when the lucrative matsutake mushroom harvest hits the shops. As expensive as the prized French truffle, the matsutake is a rare treat. It can not be cultivated: it only grows naturally in natural pine forests (very rare nowadays). The best way to eat matsutake is to lightly grill them and then eat them immediately. To find them in Tokyo or Kyoto or anywhere else in Japan just go to the food deli basement floors of the top department stores . . .

Wagashi: The sweets in Japanese tea ceremony!

Wagashi or Japanese tea sweets are a colorful and very old world of both power and delight. Wagashi history is the history of white sugar, which first appeared in Japan in 1603 as a highly valued import from the West. From the beginning, trade in products using white sugar became the official monopoly of shops designated with the special term jogash . Jogashi confectioneries are classified into three broad groups — Cha-gashi (tea ceremony sweets), Kusenga (sweets temple and shrine offerings), and Kenjoga (sweets specially reserved for the Imperial family). The status of jogashi shops was so high that they had total creative control over their products, as well as the established right to never have to enter a house through the back door when receiving or delivering an order. Despite the strong influence of Western sweets, wagashi continue to preserve the sophisticated image and quality for which Kyoto is legendary.

Best wagashi shop in Kyoto: Kagizen was established in the 18th century and ranks in the top 3 in Japan for seasonal always amazing wagashi. Their tea room is lovely too!

Best wagashi shops in Tokyo: Ginza Akebono: Stunning works of edible art created by the hands of a skillful master. Toraya Tokyo Midtown: Toraya in Tokyo goes back to the 18th century and it’s right in the heart of super modern Roppongi. Higashiya Ginza: This high class tea salon is known for both traditional wagashi and modern interpretations.

Ancient Shiga next door to Kyoto and no crowds!

Late October to mid November, is maple-viewing season and Kyoto becomes impossibly crowded. This is repeated in March and April during cherry blossom frenzy. But Shiga Prefecture and Otsu City on the shores Lake Biwa (Japan’s largest lake) are just 20 km east of Kyoto; and well connected by train (JR and Keihan). Otsu is famous for its ancient temples and exceptional autumn skies over the lake. And no crowds and lots of open air space around the lakeside setting . . . And Otsu is an exceptional location for full moon as it rises out of the monkey filled mountain forests east of lake Biwa.

Shiga Prefecture has skiing in winter, hiking and water sports in summer, and exceptional autumn beauty. Shiga is perfect for day trips from Kyoto. Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake, is perfect for camping, swimming, wind-surfing, yachting and fishing. Or if haiku is what moves you, the final resting place of world-famous haiku poet Matsuo Basho is located nearby on the tranquil grounds of Gichu-ji, which has become something of a shrine to haiku. Finally, no visit to Otsu would be complete without a visit to the beautiful temple of Mii-dera (founded in the 7th century).

Otsu City's March Omihachiman Sagicho Festival is a major event well worth seeing. During the height of the festival, young men disguised as women parade through the streets of Omi Hachiman carrying traditional floats and chanting wildly. The night after the parade the floats are set ablaze at Himure Hachiman Shrine, followed by a bonfire flaring into the night sky which announces the coming of spring. Omi Hachiman is famous for its Edo-period merchant history (some of the best businessmen in Japan came from here), canals and moat. Omi Hachiman is 40 minutes from Kyoto on the JR Biwako Line (Biwakosen).

For many Mii-dera Temple is the most important temple in the region and it's history is amazing! Mii-dera Temple: Also known as Onjo-ji, Mii-dera is a Buddhist temple in Japan located at the foot of Mount Hiei; a little NW of Otsu City. And Mii-dera is a head temple of the Tendai Jimon Buddhist sect ; and serves as a sister temple to Enryaku-ji, which owns most of the upper slopes of Mount Hiei. The lower eastern slopes of Mount Hiei touch Mii-dera Temple, which has over 40 named structures. The temple is most famous for the dock that stretches out into the lake. The temple was initially founded in 672 and the first major buildings were constructed a couple of hundred years later. Over time, however, the relationship between the two Tendai temples, Mii-dera and Enryaku-ji turned into a war! In 970 the upper temple's supreme leader assembled a permanent standing army. Soon after, Mii-dera also contracted mercenaries. These religious wars lasted until the end of the 12th century, when power shifted way east to the first shogun military capital of Kamakura (just west of Tokyo). Mii-dera was burned to the ground by Enryaku-ji forces on four occasions in the 11th century!

Other great area highlights

Hiyoshi Taisha: The oldest shrine in all of Japan, is especially known for its fall colors, as are the temples of Saikyo-ji and Shiga-in Mon-ato.

Ishiyama-dera Temple: Murasaki Shikibu wrote the romantic 'Tale of Genji', the world's first narrative novel, on the grounds of this spectacular hillside temple (which is also perfect for full moon: Nov 11-13, 2019).

Zen vegetarian cuisine: Three of Otsu's temples provide spiritual dining (shojin ryori monk dining): a quiet room, a view of a Zen garden. Reservations: Saikyo-ji (0775-78-0013); Gesshin-ji (0775-24-3421); Enryaku-ji Kaikan (0775-78-0047).

Otsu City's amazing preserved Edo-period inn & museum

Kusatsu, a key post town in the Edo period (1600-1868), is located on the cross roads of two of Japan's main roads: the legendary Tokaido highway and the Nakasendo . Two main inns called honjin, two sub-inns called waki honjin, and 70 taverns were actively doing business in Kusatsu until the end of Japan's feudal period (see below for lots more detail).

The Kusatsu Yado Honjin, now a fantastically preserved museum, functioned as an officially appointed inn for daimyo (feudal lords) in the Edo period (1603-1867). The inn had about 300 rooms, one of which covered an amazing 268 tatami mats, all surrounded by a high wall.

Since 1996, the inn's old gate, kitchen, tatami corridors, beautiful gardens, and a number of its fabulous daimyo suites have been open to the public. This is a place every tourist will want to see and will never forget: a gem of gems from the Edo period located less than an hour from Kyoto.

See what the Edo world was all about, by experiencing one of the Tokkaido highway’s best preserved daimyo inn.

Located a 10-minute walk southeast of JR Kusatsu Stn. (25 min. by shinkaisoku express, on the Biwako line, from Kyoto Stn., or 20 min. from JR Yamashina Stn. via the Tozai subway line). Tel: 077-561-6636.

And to end the day, return to Kyoto via the Mount Hiei Sakamoto Cable Car and then another cable car down to Yase a few kilometers northeast of central Kyoto. Exceptional maple viewing also at Enryakuji Temple on the top of the mountain!

Shiga's excellent & quiet Hikone castle town

Hikone, the second largest city in Shiga Prefecture, is dominated by the imposing presence of its fine castle, a magnificent structure that, faring somewhat better than a lot of its counterparts, somehow managed to escape the wholesale destruction of castles in 1867. Although Hikone is justly famous as a castle city, the castle is by no means the only attraction that the city has to offer.

Since the middle of the seventeenth century, when peaceful times forced armor and weapon makers to turn their skills in another direction, Hikone has been a major center for the production of Buddhist family altars known as butsudan. The street that runs parallel to the Seri River is lined on both sides with shops selling these elaborate structures, and Hikone butsudan are reputed to be the among the best in the country.

Perhaps the most interesting of Hikone's many temples is Ryotan-ji, popularly known as Niwa-no-Tera, or the garden temple, because of its three beautiful gardens. This month, the russets and reds of the maple trees that line the approach should be especially spectacular. Of particular interest are the paintings by Kyoriku Morikawa, a disciple of the famous poet Matsuo Basho, that adorn many of the temple's sliding wooden doors. Ryotan-ji is about a twenty-minute walk from the castle. It is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm.

Northeast of the castle is the beautiful garden of Genkyu-en. Laid out in 1677 by Ii Nao'oki, the forth lord of Hikone, the garden features a series of meandering paths that wind their way around a large central pond. Reminiscent of Kanazawa's famous Kenroku-en, this peaceful garden is more intimate and compact than its illustrious counterpart. Beautiful in any season, Genkyu-en should be particularly spectacular this month, when autumn colors are at their best. Sit in the teahouse overlooking the pond, and enjoy a sweet followed by a bowl of bracingly-bitter green tea. The garden is open from 8:30 am to 5 pm. Tea and a sweet are available for a small fee.

At the foot of the castle stands the Castle Museum, an accurate reconstruction of the Omote Goten hall, one of the main castle buildings. The extensive collection includes arms and armor, folding screens, tea utensils, traditional musical instruments, and a breathtaking array of Noh masks and costumes, some of which date back to the sixteenth century. The museum also has a magnificent Edo period (1603-1868) Noh stage, where performances of Noh and Kyogen are periodically given. The museum is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm.

The highlight of a day in Hikone is a visit to the castle. The wide steps that lead up to it wind eccentrically this way and that, slowing down the progress of the uninvited, and making it difficult to arrive unannounced. The approach is lined with trees, planted to provide sustenance in the forms of both food and medicine in the event of siege. Built by the Ii family in the early seventeenth century, Hikone Castle commands a spectacular view of Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. From the upper reaches, the island of Chikubu-jima, home to Chikubu-jima Hogon-ji, the thirtieth temple on the thirty-three temple pilgrimage of western Japan, is clearly visible, as is the tiny unpopulated island of Take-shima.

The castle interior is a celebration of wood. Walking on wooden boards that millions of feet have rendered wonderfully smooth, one looks up to discover a ceiling of magnificent wooden beams. Cleverly-concealed rectangular and triangular openings, through which arrows and bullets could have been dispatched, are also in evidence. The heady smell of perfectly-seasoned timber which permeates the castle is more in keeping with a rustic retreat than a bastion of defense, and reminds the visitor that this is a castle that was never attacked. The castle is open from 8:30 am to 5 pm.

Getting there: Hikone is a 45 minute ride from JR Kyoto Station. Trains are frequent, and a one-way ticket will be less than Yen 1,500. What are you waiting for!

Content by Ian Martin Ropke, owner of Your Japan Private Tours (est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with Japan private tour clients and have worked for all kinds of families, companies, and individuals since 1990. Clients find me mostly via organic search, and I advertise my custom Japan private tours & travel services on www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps in Japan! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip. And thank you for reading my content. I, Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search), am also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!