Nishiki Market and To-ji Temple

According to Robin, an Irish gal who loves Japanese cuisine and lives in Kyoto, it is more likely to be overcast in Kyoto instead of sunshine.  We lucked out on Photo tour day and had beautiful weather.  Today is another cold, overcast day.  Fortunately we came prepared and went forth into the cold looking like Michelin Tire men.  We walked to the Nishiki Market where we met Robin who told us all about the Japanese cuisine. The first thing Robin showed us was this small shrine dedicated to babies who die way before their time.  The bottom picture is a Jizo - which is a representation of a baby which might have been still born, miscarried or died very young.  Grieving parents dress them like babies - sometimes very elaborately.  This is a place to go for comfort.

 As you can see from the pictures there are a lot of places to try samples of food and to purchase snacks.

The first picture is one of the oldest stalls in the market and is at the beginning of the market street.

Remember the story of the politician who was sent home in disgrace and the flying plum tree?  He is associated with cows as they pulled the wagon that brought him home.  Not so many tourists here so I was able to rub his head - I am expecting to become majorly smarter as a result.  

As expected at a Market there are many things to taste and buy.  The fist picture shows the whole fish on a stick.  Mike actually ate it - the whole thing, head, guts, skin and tail.  He said it was "not bad".  We tasted many other things,  I liked the dried beans and the toasted sesame seeds.  We bought 3 packages of the toasted sesame seeds to take home to put on salads.  The picture of all the little packages are flavorings.  As you can see you can taste them all before you make your choice.  One of the interesting processes is the gourd in the next picture which is pickled using the left over mash from making Saki.  The last picture shows a lot of different kinds of pickled vegetables.  Robin explained the philosophy of Japanese cuisine - I don't remember it all.  But it has to do with balancing flavors, textures, cooking methods and colors of food.  And like a lot of other things it all gets tied into the seasons of nature and our place in nature.  

And what would a day be without a temple!  Today we went to the To-ji temple.  It was quite a trip to get there - subway and then a long walk.  No Western tourists and very few Japanese.  It didn't look like much on the outside.  The fee was 800 JPY per person - almost didn't go in.  The treasure was in what was inside the buildings.  But once again all the good stuff is off limits to cameras.  This is a UNESCO Heritage site.  The temple was founded in 796, but fires have destroyed it several times.  Most of it was reconstructed in the 1600's so it is still quite old.

So sorry I can' show you any pictures - Wikipeia as some pictures of the Buddhas inside the buildings, but they don't give the flavor of what you see when you are there.     Link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%8D-ji   As on most temple grounds there there are beautiful cherry and plum trees.