Mukashi Mukashi Arts

　　　　One of the good things about living in Hirakata city is the location that allows you to go to both central Osaka and Kyoto prefecture easily. When I first came to Hirakata city as a freshman I was really excited as a tourist to visit temples in Kyoto such as Kiyomizu temple or Yasaka shrine. Two years have already been passed since then and now I am getting sick of going to Kiyomizu for hundreds of times. But I still love Kyoto and want to discover something new from there. So my friend and me decided to set a theme before going to Kyoto. Our theme was to visit temples we had not been to and see Japanese old artworks. Temples we went are Daikakuji and Koudaiji.

　　　　Since we both had a class at 16:40 on that day we started our journey from 7am from Hirakata station. We took a train to Sanjo station in Kyoto and then took a bus from Sanjo to Daikakuji temple. Since it was really early morning we were the only ones who got off at the final but stop Daikakuji. Before we entered Daikakuji we encountered the great entrance with beautiful huge pine trees. 

 

Also they were displaying some flower arrangements in front of the entrance.

　　　　Once we entered inside of Daikakuji we saw many Fusuma doors (a thick papered sliding doors) with pretty paintings. Lot of them were painted by Kano Sanraku around 17th century but they are all still perfectly beautiful.

 

　　　　After we finished watching many works we took bus back to Sanjo and went to Koudaiji by walk. When we passing Yasaka shrine on our way we saw Rakugo-ka,(Japanese comic storyteller) Tsukitei Happou shooting TV show. 

 

Picture borrowed from Yoshimoto Kogyo 

　　　　I tried to take pictures of him but they did not allow me to. Also we saw some people experiencing to be Maiko (traditional Japanese female performer) on the street to Kodaiji. 

　　　　

　　　　When we got to Kodaiji there was another beautiful entrance with cherry blossom. 

　　　　In this temple we saw more gardens rather than paintings or sculptures. There was also a bamboo forest and we could fully enjoy the nature as an art form. 

　　　　After we finished our journey perfectly without getting lost or having any troubles we ate lunch at the restaurant and went to class! I will definitely make next plan for my new experience by visiting places I have not been to and learn more about cultures of my country.

Websites for Daikakuji and Kodaiji; 

Daikakuji (大覚寺) http://www.daikakuji.or.jp/

Koudaiji (高台寺) http://www.kodaiji.com/index.html