My Chemistry Research Internship at Hiroshima University
Monthly Archives: June 2013
Craziness in Kyoto (continued)
The hall is dedicated to Kannon and contains 1000 human sized statues of Kannon, each with eleven heads and forty arms. In front stand statues of the guardians who protect Kannon, each meticulously carved from stone. At the end of the hall stands an incredibly large statue of Kannon, sculpted and covered in gold leaf in the 1200’s. Alas, for the third time this trip, we were not allowed to take pictures, but I don’t think that I will easily forget such an awe-inspiring site. If you ever come to Japan, you must go there.
But I have almost left out the most exciting part of the day! I originally had the wrong directions to Sanjusangendo Hall and we ended up at this place instead where a middle school-aged boy and girl asked to take a picture with me because I was from America. That’s not the exciting part though. On the way to this erroneously labeled building on Google Maps, we were stopped at an intersection and told by a policeman to get off of our bikes. Confused, we had Lorena ask the policeman why we were stopped and he announced that the emperor would be shortly driving through the streets on his way to a temple to pray. Naturally, we began freaking out and, a minute or so later when the emperor actually began making his way down the street, we began waving like crazy. The only non-Japanese people on the rather uncrowded street, we were definitely a sight and the emperor actually turned our way, waving at us and laughing a little.
Although less exciting than the day before, our final excursion to Iwatayama Park was equally as delightful as its predecessor. Though biking through the city Friday and Saturday had been an excellent decision, showing us more of the city than we would have ever seen otherwise, we were a little tired of Google Maps telling us to bike through shopping malls and the like and opted to take the bus instead. The area itself was gorgeous and filled with culture, but we had heard that there was a monkey park located nearby, and who needs culture when there are monkeys?!
Overall, Kyoto was a wonderful, freeing experience, and this blog post barely scratches the surface of all that was talked about and seen. The city quickly gained a special place in my heart, the memories built there even more so.
