Traditional Japanese living

We left Kyoto and headed up into the mountains on Japanese trains which, as you would expect, are clean, comfortable and full of amenities. It took us 3 trains to reach our destination. The second train took us slowly up into the mountains across deep ravines and clinging perilously to the steep hillside. How they managed to build it I will never know. When we weren't holding our breath as we inched slowly across a high bridge we were entertained by the ticket inspectors and Japanese train staff. Every time they entered and left a carriage they bowed to the occupants and murmured something in Japanese. Checking our tickets was done with the utmost courtesy. The scenery was striking as we left the plains and the city behind. There were lots of Japanese maple trees different to Canadian maples in that their leaves are very small and delicate. I had been hoping that I would hit the autumn colours but unfortunately it was too early and there was only a hint at times of stunning autumn colours to come. After the second train came a long funicular railway to take us higher and then a bus wound its way up the mountain to our temple lodging.

We were staying in a Shinto temple and this was our first taste of traditional Japanese living. At the temple entrance we had to take off our shoes and don the brown indoor slippers. Needless to say they weren't big enough for my plates of meat but I still managed to trip along in them. We were given our instructions: brown slippers had to be worn around the temple but at the entrance to our room we had to take them off and go in our socks on the bedroom tatami (mat). If we went to the toilet we had to leave the brown slippers at the door and put on the white toilet slippers. We had to remember to change out of the toilet slippers back into the brown slippers or we would commit a social indiscretion of walking around in the 'unclean' toilet slippers. Needless to say it didn't take long for one of us to forget and she received a horrified gasp from everyone and had to hurry back in embarrassment and get the right slippers.

Our room was interesting. It was quite large and covered with tatami mats and had walls of latticed wood filled with paper screens. Fortunately they were a lot tougher than you imagine and able to withstand normal rough housing from western hands and elbows. The room overlooked one of the temple's zen gardens with its raked gravel and the odd rock. We were tired and sank into our cushions in front of the sole low table. This was a novelty at first but quickly became a trial as westerners are not used to sitting on the floor. Even with the cushions pulled so you could rest your back on the wall (being wary of the paper screens!) it was still uncomfortable. We tried to get into the Japanese way of life and donned our yukatas, Japanese dressing gowns that we were expected to wear for dinner and went to investigate the onsun. There were no conventional bathrooms and if we wanted to wash we would have to do it the Japanese way. This required us to strip naked in the communal bath house, sit on a low stool and wash ourselves in full view of everyone else and then join the other ladies in the communal hot tub. Quite a challenge for privacy conscious westerners! Fortunately this would come later as it was time for dinner.