Mom's visit, part Six

According to ancient beliefs, each side of the capital needed to be protected. There is a symbolic animal for each of the four directions who does that duty, and the creature for the East is a dragon. Mom and Jacque happened to be here on the day of the year when they celebrate the dragon at Kiyomizudera, a temple built into the mountainside. This temple was recently nominated to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was a long slow climb up to the temple, but it was worth it!

The festival began with energetic taiko drumming. Then, there were women dressed as spirits, coming to bless the mountain, the temple, and the people there. We pushed (and were pushed) our way to the front and actually were able to receive a blessing from them! After walking around the temple some more, we came to the front where the procession just so happened to be taking place. We actually had a great view of the dragon itself.

We left the temple and made our way to a live performance by actual geisha, who also presented us with some tea beforehand. This dance is called the Miyako Odori, and it heralds the coming of spring. There are five houses of geisha left in Kyoto, each giving a unique performance. We went to see the Miyako house's show. The performance was accompanied by traditional instruments and singing, but of course, we couldn't understand any of it! I thought the costumes and sets were beautiful, and so was the way the geisha moved, but it was about a hour long, and after 20 minutes or so, I'd had enough...

Once it was over, we left the performance and headed downtown to meet some other traveling foreigners and eat some really good fresh food at a buffet. At least everyone could eat as much as they like of things they actually liked rather than the tiny dishes we'd been getting everywhere else! It was another long day, but full of spectacular events...