The Philosopher's Walk

Last weekend, Carly and I went on the "Philosopher's Walk" here in Kyoto. It is a pedestrian path that follows a cherry tree-lined canal in Kyoto, between Ginkaku-ji and Nanzen-ji. The route is so-named because the influential 20th century Japanese philosopher and Kyoto University Professor Nishida Kitaro is thought to have used it for daily meditation (so says Wikipedia).


Before the easy stroll on the path, we visited a short street filled with snack shops, hat boutiques, and kakigori parlors. Kakigori, if you have not been lucky enough to have any, is a Japanese dessert made from shaved ice and flavored with syrup. Flavors include matcha (green tea), melon, strawberry, milk, lemon, etc. Adding a little red bean on the side (something sweet) is a major plus to the texture and flavor. Here is our kakigori, Carly's proclaimed "favorite dessert ever." Before this day, she had not had it in 5 years. That's a long time to wait between servings of your favorite dessert.


Here lies the Philosopher's Walk, following the canal. We will return in the spring when the cherry blossoms are blooming, but on a humid August day like it was, the shade of the trees (and kakigori stands) was reason enough to visit.


Carly digging the stroll.


Going for philosophical and contemplative.


A bend, one of many, in the path.


We came upon a few shrines as well, though we decided to save the Ginkaku-ji temple for another time when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. Here are some private residences near the shrines we popped into.


This shrine was ...dedicated, maybe, to "the rat." Carly could describe this better than I. It had something to do with rats I know, and in a good way. That is, it wasn't a shrine with a purpose to ward them off. So there were many rat statues with gnarled teeth perched upon pedestals.


So that was our afternoon. Since then, my high school, Rakuhoku Senior High, has had its cultural festival and I've said goodbye to Carly for two weeks as she starts her program in Yokohama and gets settled in.


Unfortunately, I won't be able to post pictures of my students on my blog for privacy reasons, so I can't share the good times I had at the festival, which was full of choreographed dancing, short plays, tea ceremonies, classroom activities, skits, etc. But I should be able to take some pictures of the outside of the school to show you all. Here, at least, is their website, though it's in Japanese. At least you can get an idea: http://www.kyoto-be.ne.jp/rakuhoku-hs/ However, of the cultural festival, I can tell you that I dressed up in a maid's outfit for a photo with my fellow Assistant English Teachers (AETs), which the students enjoyed witnessing. Maybe I'll get that one up here sometime soon.