Enjoying Nature

Hello again readers! It has been quite a few days since my last post, but I have been collecting pictures and thoughts, and I wanted to come up with something fabulous for you to read about! 

I have never been the type of girl who one would consider to be an outdoors type. By outdoors I mean I don't particularly like bugs, extreme temperatures, sneaky critters that you rarely see but know they are there, etc. However, the older that I get the more I have grown to appreciate nature and have embraced the thought of nature. There are few things as beautiful as the rich colors of autumn leaves, or beautiful mountain peaks with snow glazing the tips, or a creek hidden beneath the trees with fish dancing in the current. When you see these things, they produce a feeling within someone much like seeing something of great historical significance. It makes you want to look at it forever. You want to gaze at that sight for hours, examine the details of the colors and shapes, and take it all in. This is a feeling that Joel and I get quite often living in Kyoto. Our city is surrounding by glorious mountains and hills that can be viewed right from our bedroom window. Throughout our city, there are streams, rivers, and beautifully manicured gardens and trees that dot the city and often times draw crowds of people hoping to connect with nature. Close to our apartment is the imperial palace where there is a gorgeous park that is kept beautiful all year around. It's quite lovely walking through the gardens during the day and capturing some of the sights. Here are some pictures from my day at the park. 

Kyoto is not the only city in Japan that pays special attention to preserving nature and the charm it brings to the country. Japan is dedicated to preserving it's beautiful mountains, rivers, and countrysides that give the country so much personality. They accept that humans have to respect the land and borrow from it, building and progressing in such a way that does not compromise the land. Many cultural activities and festivals are often centered around nature in Japan. This can be seen during cherry blossom season. Often times companies will let their employees sit below the pink and red trees for a while during the day. The blooming of the cherry blossom flowers brings flocks of people from miles around just to enjoy this special occurrence that only happens once a year. Luckily, Joel and I live in one of the most beautiful cities for viewing the blossoms. Another example of Japan's culture making nature the center of it's activities would be the Harvest Moon festival happening this weekend where people can enjoy different activities around the city. 

Something that Joel and I thoroughly enjoy doing during the evening is going up to the roof of our apartment building and watching the sunset over the mountains. The sunsets here in Kyoto are by far the most breathtaking I have ever had the pleasure of viewing. I like to think of it as mother nature's masterpiece. We always take loads of pictures, and I've shared some with you below. Enjoy! 

Adventure to Nijo Castle

Joel and I are incredibly lucky to live in Kyoto. We have absolutely magnificent mountains surrounding us, amazing gardens and shrines that dot the city, and an incredibly rich culture that beautifully blends traditional and new. We are thriving in our new environment and everyday we find ourselves in awe of the fact that we live in such a travelers paradise. We are travelers at heart after all. After a lazy Saturday filed with movies and comfort food we decided that Sunday we needed a touch of adventure. One of the amazing features of our city is just a few miles down the street and right at our fingertips. We decided to head down the street from our apartment to the amazingly stunning Nijo Castle. 

Joel and I heading into the castle. Me with my ticket! 

This UNESCO world heritage site isn't like the castles that you will find speckled along hillsides in Europe, it's a flat land castle that is single level with simplistic beauty. It covers a vast majority of land since it's single level and has lovely gardens and ponds that are beautifully groomed and maintained constantly. It also has a double moat system to guard the castle against invaders or unwanted samurai.  Although we couldn't take pictures of the inside of the castle to preserve the integrity of the site, we took many of the outside as well as the gardens. The castle is also equipped with 'nightingale' flooring in which the floor chirps like a bird when walked on. As we were walking through the castle you could hear the 'chirping' of the floor underneath us as well as echoing through the corridors from the other guests. Joel and I were particularly impressed with this feature because it is absolutely genius. It was designed to warn the occupants as well as the guarding samurai that intruders were there at night. It's an incredible way to warn against sneak attacks and assassins. Although not a sound that you would want to hear at night for obvious reasons, it is a great reminder during the day of the castle's connection with nature. It brings the nature and the beautiful gardens inside. 

Joel and I in front of part of the castle

Joel and I by the moat

As you walked through the castle you noticed the simplistic painting on the ceilings, walls, and even doors. They combined stunning shades of golds, greens, and reds among other colors to create immaculate representations of nature, trees, flowers and birds. Occupants of the castle could slide open all of the outside walls of the castle to create a serene experience with nature. The castle itself was such a wonderful representation of the formal and often times ceremonial culture of Japan. There were four different grand chambers, ministers offices, holding rooms where the guests were held until ceremonies started, tea rooms, gift giving rooms, and reception rooms. All of these rooms once played a key part in the rituals that were held when guests came to the castle or during important tea rituals or meetings. The castle's rooms embodied what it meant to live in traditional Japan untouched by Western culture because traditional Japan was very mannered and ritualistic. Time-honored traditions such as the tea ceremony held true and cultural unwritten rules were practiced everyday. It was such a magnificent feeling knowing that ceremonies and rituals that happened in those very rooms might have shaped Japan's history. You could almost imagine samurai, the Shogun, and his servants walking the halls  engaging in their daily activities. You wonder if at any point the nightingale flooring set off the alarm to the guarding samurai that protection was needed. You wonder how many tea ceremonies took place there. The historic significance is amazing. 

After traveling back in time through Japan's history, we then took a leisurely walk through the castle's exquisite gardens. Every single tree, branch, bush, and rock were placed there purposefully while keeping in mind the overall feel that you are trying to provoke when seeing the gardens. The trees were trained to lean and grow certain ways, the pond was shaped in such a beautiful way around the perfectly positioned landscape. We even got to see a crane enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. 

Everyone that knows me knows that I have a great love for turtles. You can imagine my joy when I saw this rock that was designed and shaped to look like a turtle poking his head out of the water. He even had designs on his shell. 

We were also able to view the first signs of the changing seasons and captured the lovely crimson shade of the leaves.