Rudasaki Do Japan 2016
July 12, 2016
Day 10: We woke up early to visit Fushimi Inari Shrine this morning… Tip to travelers… go to the shrines as early as possible! We were able to enjoy this famous shrine without swarms of people in our photos! It was a truly fascinating and peaceful experience. The entrance is right next to the Inari Station, making it convenient to find:
We made our way to the entrance to the 1000 Shrine Gates:
We saw some cute Neko on the walk:
We finally made it to the peak of the Mt. Inari
And it was time to make our way back to check out of our Air BnB
We checked out and made our way to Kyoto Station to lock our bags and try to eat ramen but our next activity was too close so we got little bento sandwiches and ate them before making our way to our private Ninja lesson!
We found this activity on Trip Advisor, and it sounded cheesy but it was actually a really awesome experience. We got there and were dressed in traditional ninja attire. Ninjas were between the farmer and samurai class of fighters.
We first started with meditation, traditional “kuji kiri” or 9 hand signs. We learned the names and hand signs and practiced them.
Next we learned how to walk like ninjas… up to 150 years ago, all Japanese walked in this manner: right arm moves with the right leg (and same with left arm and left leg). It’s a shuffle move, and you don’t rotate your hips. We practiced walking forwards and backwards. Next we learned how to step, it’s done in a way to decrease sound by lifting up your leg and stepping from your pinky toe to your big toe. We practiced stepping over weapons in the dark forward and backwards.
Next we learned about the weapons ninjas use. Their sword is very versatile! I wouldn’t want to be a samurai just because their sword is lame! There are apparently female ninjas, but no female samurai.
We next got to practice weapon handling… we did sword poses, stabbing and rope swinging, ninja star throwing and blow dart shooting! We did pay a little extra to have the whole session photographed, but it was worth it!
It seemed cheesy, but in the end was quite an eye opening experience for the craft of ninja fighting, weapon handling and traditions dating back many hundreds of years! We paid to have photos taken so we didn’t take any with our cameras so sadly, we have no photos to share from this yet as they haven’t sent them over yet.
After our ninja class, we went back to Kyoto station to try the ramen restaurant on the 10th floor of the station. There are 8 shops (similar to the ramen museum) all serving different styles of ramen from across the country. We had miso ramen from one of the shops… it was pretty big, and really good, but not the best I have had in Japan… and still not Monta’s.
We left the ramen restaurant and made our way to our last event in Kyoto, a private traditional Tea Ceremony.
This was held at Joukeian- highly rated on Trip Advisor, at the instructors home. She was very knowledgeable in the art of tea ceremony. It was very simple, but to me a humbling experience and a nice reminder to appreciate every moment, and take time for myself and simple things, like drinking tea.
We were welcomed into her home and waited in the entry room. You cannot have your toes showing in a traditional tea ceremony so socks must be worn.
Next we were welcomed Into the tea room:
We waited here while she prepared the first course of treats (azuki and some other sweet substance). I already took a bite before I realized I wanted to take a photo.
After we ate that we were asked to go back into the entry room while she prepared the actual tea setup. Every movement she made had a meaning and was thought out meticulously. Everything had a meaning. The art that goes into serving the tea was beautiful and simple. We did not take many pictures as it was a nighttime candle light tea ceremony and it seemed rude to do while she was making the tea, so we just have a few shots. I do recommend going through a tea ceremony while in Japan! After having the actual teas, the host usually describes the jar holding the tea, and the other instruments used in the ceremony:
We signed a photo for the families of Kumamoto affected by the earthquake and left Joukeian… we headed to Osaka on a short Shinkansen and made it to our next air BnB home for the night. We didnt have a whole lot planned for the next morning, but we were exhausted from the busy day.
Oyasumi!
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