PERU-BOLIVIA: Still in Kyoto

Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺), officially Otowa-san Kiyomizu-dera (音羽山清水寺) is an independent Buddhist temple in eastern Kyoto.

The temple was founded in 778, and its present buildings were constructed in 1633, ordered by the Tokugawa Iemitsu. There is not a single nail used in the entire structure. It takes its name from the waterfall within the complex, which runs off the nearby hills. Kiyomizu means clear water, or pure water.

In 2007, Kiyomizu-dera was one of 21 finalists for the New Seven Wonders of the World.

The Ryōzen Kannon (霊山観音) displays a 24-metre high statue of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (the Bodhisattva of Mercy) which was created in 1955 to honor the Japanese dead of World War II. The statue is 24 m (80 ft) high and weighs approximately 500 tons.

The shrine beneath the statue contains an image of Bodhisattva Ekādaśamukha and images of the god of wind and god of thunder. Memorial tablets of 2 million Japanese who died in World War II are also stored here.

Geiko and Maiko

Geiko are women trained in dance and music, with an emphasis on grace, beauty and dignity. (Kyoto geisha prefer to be called ‘geiko’ meaning ‘arts child’, rather than ‘geisha’, which means ‘arts person’.) Geiko communities are very traditional, and are governed by strict rules, and the Gion Kobu community is perhaps the most conservative of all. Geiko begin their careers as apprentices called ‘maiko’, usually aged fifteen.

From then on, they move into a geiko house, and dedicate their lives to the geiko world. First they are trained in conduct becoming of a geiko – bowing deeply to show respect to their seniors, and undertaking everyday tasks with grace and elegance. They then move on to training in the geiko’s arts, such as music, dance and calligraphy, and they begin to join the geiko in entertaining clients in Kyoto’s teahouses. Around the age of twenty, maiko graduate from their apprenticeship, and become fully-fledged geiko.

Kyoto has five geisha areas in all, popularly known as ‘hanamachi’ or flower districts. Gion is the biggest and best-known; Pontocho which stages the Kamogawa Odori is the second biggest. The name is thought to derive from the Portuguese term for ‘point’ in reference to a prominent spur of land once visible in the Kamo River. The geisha first catered to businesses along the Takase Canal, and when the area was made safe from flooding in 1670 teashops sprang up in a narrow passageway between the canal and the Kamo River. It’s said that the well-known term ‘the water trade’ arose here from the geisha’s custom of attracting passing boatmen - See more at: http://www.deepkyoto.com/geisha-dance-kamogawa-odori/#sthash.adFDccIB.dpuf

Kamogawa Odori

The dances began in 1872, four years after Tokyo took over as the capital of Japan. That was the first time that Gion Kobu’s nationally-famous geiko performed in public. Since the second season in 1873, the dances have been held at the Pontocho Kaburenjo Theatre.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16IWtzSAzXM)

Tea ceremony

Zen Buddhism was a primary influence in the development of the tea ceremony. Every motion is carefully controlled so that the whole process is performed with grace – geiko spend long-hours practicing so that they can make tea according to a strictly defined procedure that aims to make the whole process as aesthetically pleasing as possible.