Gion District of Kyoto

'Gion' is a district of Kyoto, Japan, originally developed in the Middle Ages, in front of Yasaka Shrine. The district was built to accommodate the needs of travelers and visitors to the shrine. It eventually evolved to become one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan.

The geisha in the Gion district do not refer to themselves as geisha; instead, Gion geisha use the local term geiko. While the term geisha means "artist" or "person of the arts", the more direct term geiko means essentially "a child of the arts" or "a woman of art".

This neighborhood in Kyoto has two hanamachi (geiko communities): Gion Kōbu and Gion Higashi. Despite the considerable decline in the number of geisha in Gion in the last one hundred years, it is still famous for the preservation of forms of traditional architecture and entertainment.

Part of this district has been declared a national historical preservation district. Recently, the City of Kyoto completed a project to restore the streets of Gion, which included such plans as moving all overhead utilities underground as part of the ongoing effort to preserve the original beauty of Gion.

Gion remains dotted with old-style Japanese houses called machiya, which roughly translated means "townhouse", some of which are ochaya or "tea houses". These are traditional establishments where the patrons of Gion—from the samurai of old to modern-day businessmen—have been entertained by geiko and geisha in an exclusive manner for centuries.

Inside the ochaya is a private and closed world where the evening's entertainment may include cocktails, conversation, and games as well as traditional Japanese music, singing and dancing. To this day,geiko and maiko (geisha in training) in full regalia can still be seen in the evenings as they move about through the streets of Gion to and from their various engagements at the ochaya.

There is a popular misconception that Gion was a red-light district. It was a geisha district, and as geisha are entertainers, not prostitutes, Gion is not, and never was, a red-light district. Shimabara was Kyoto's red-light district.

The geiko of Gion still maintain the annual dances, the most popular being the Miyako Odori, "Cherry Blossom Dances" or "Dances of the Old Capital", staged by the geisha of Gion Kōbu.

Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto

Kinkaku-ji literally means Temple of the Golden Pavilion and is situated on the north west side of Kyoto, Japan surrounded by beautiful gardens. It was formerly known as Rukuon-ji or Deer Garden Temple and was originally built as a villa by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who had taken possession of a mountain villa of Saionji Temple in 1397. It was converted into a temple after Yoshimitsu's death. Covered with gold, the image of the pavilion, which stands at the edge of Kyoko-chi pond (mirror pond), is reflected in the water. Major repair work performed in 1987 has further enhanced its brilliance.

The elegant, harmonious building consists of three types of architecture. The 1st floor is Shinden-zukuri, the palace style. It is named Ho-sui-in. The 2nd floor is Buke-zukuri, the style of the samurai house and is called Cho-on-do. The 3rd floor is Karayo style or Zen temple style. It is called Kukkyo-cho.

Both the 2nd and 3rd floors are covered with gold-leaf on Japanese lacquer. The roof, upon which the Chinese phoenix settles, is thatched with shingles.

Recently, the coating of Japanese lacquer was found a little decayed and a new coating as well as gilding with gold-leaf, much thicker than the original ones, was given to the building and was completed in 1987. Furthermore, the beautiful painting on the ceiling and the statue of Yoshimitsu were restored, with utmost care, to their original splendour.
The classic tea house is called Sekka-tei. In Sekka-tei there is a celebrated pillar made of a nandin. The house was restored in 1997. On the way to the exit of the temple, you will find the small Fudodo shrine where the stone Fudo-myoc (Acara) is enshrined as a guardian.

Higashiyama District of Kyoto

For most of Kyoto's history, the area of Higashiyama (Eastern Mountains) lay outside of the official city boundary and as a result it was always more rustic and secluded. Furthermore, being separated from the main city by the  Kamo River, it was spared the fires that often ravaged Kyoto. Consequently, Higashiyama  remains one of the city's most charming and unspoiled districts. The small area lying east of Gion has some delightful stone-paved roads leading up to the Kiyomizu Temple.
Two flagstone-paved streets called Ninezaka (two-year slope) and Sannenzaka (three-year slope) are a preservation district and display some wonderful examples of architecture as well as some lovely shops and restaurants. Take care on these steps - local lore says that if you slip on these streets brings you two or three years' bad luck.
You can usually spot a number of trishaw riders in this area as well as the occasional maiko dashing along the narrow alleys.

Textures and Colours of Kyoto

It was December in Kyoto, Japan but there were still plenty of wonderful Autumn colours and textures to be seen with red maples, green bamboo, red berries and wonderful green moss on the many beautiful walks around the hills and numerous temples.

This was also the first real opportunity to field test my new canon 5D MkII and the way it reproduced the colour depths, textures and tones can certainly be seen in these photos. I will be posting some more pictures from this trip to Kyoto in the coming few days.

Merry Xmas

Wishing everyone, everywhere a Very Merry Christmas and a successful new decade in 2010.

Deforestation Dilemma

Deforestation is a major issue worldwide but particularly so in sensitive environments like the swamp peat forests of Asia. A peat swamp forest is an extremely diverse ecosystem with about 500 species of trees which can grow up to around 30m tall. Some are valuable timber species and there are also some  useful medicinal plants. From a conservation point of view these species are very important so it is an extremely large impact when this forest is cleared and burnt. All forest fires in the tropics are human related as naturally there is no fire in the system, hence the reason that the layer of plant material has built up to a thickness of around 10m. 

A peat swamp forest acts like a sponge, absorbing rain and river water, helps control floods during the rainy season and releases much needed water during the dry season. It is an ecologically important ecosystem for the regulation of climate with the trees absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing this in a thick layer of un-decomposed plant material or peat. The peat in this forest is up to 10m thick, has accumulated over the last 10,000 years and is one of the most important global stores of carbon therefore regulating the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. 

Many of these peat swamp forest are illegally cleared and burnt for agricultural purposes. Regeneration of a damaged peat swamp forest will not be easy; after all, it took some 10,000 years for the peat to form. While rehabilitation of peat swamps has been inadequately studied it may take some 50 years for a damaged forest to re-establish itself; that is, assuming that its hydrology was not significantly spoiled.

Japanese Gardens

Japanese gardens (日本庭園 nihon teien), that is, gardens in traditional Japanese style, can be found at private homes, in neighborhood or city parks, and at historical landmarks such as Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and old castles.

Some of the Japanese gardens most famous in the West, and within Japan as well, are dry gardens or rock gardens, karesansui. The tradition of the Tea masters has produced highly refined Japanese gardens of quite another style, evoking rural simplicity. In Japanese culture, garden-making is a high art, intimately related to the linked arts of calligraphy and ink painting. Since the end of the 19th century, Japanese gardens have also been adapted to Western settings.

Typical Japanese gardens have at their center a home from which the garden is viewed. In addition to residential architecture, depending on the archetype, Japanese gardens often contain several of these elements:

• Water, real or symbolic.
• Rocks or stone arrangements.
• A lantern, typically of stone.
• A teahouse or pavilion.
• An enclosure device such as a hedge, fence, or wall of traditional character.
• A bridge to the island, or stepping stones.

Becak

The cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport; it is also known by a variety of other names such as pedicab, bikecab, cyclo, ortrishaw or becak in Indonesia. The term rickshaw is used more broadly, and also refers to auto rickshaws, and the, now uncommon, rickshaws pulled by a person on foot. Cycle rickshaws are human-powered, a type of tricycle designed to carry passengers in addition to the driver. Cycle rickshaws are widely used in major cities around the world, but most commonly in cities of South, Southeast and East Asia.

The becak in the picture was seen in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and is the best and cheapest way to get round the city to see all the sights.

Christmas in Kyoto

We are off soon to spend Christmas in Kyoto, Japan so as I looked through my images I captured during my last visit in 2007 I came across this wonderful view of the Golden Pavilion temple. Kyoto has many hundreds of temples which are usually set in unique and peaceful garden settings which create a wonderful inner sense of peace and tranquility. Let's hope that 2010 brings more peace and tranquility to all.

The Selangor St. Andrew's Society Annual Celebration

The Selangor St. Andrew's Society held their Annual Celebration on 28th November, 2009 at The Royal Lake Club, Kuala Lumpur. Attendance was approximately 150 and the evening comprised of pre-dinner cocktails, toasts to the Agong and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, entry of the haggis, country dancing performed by pupils of Alice Smith school, buffet main course, display by St. Johns Institution Pipe Band, toasts to St. Andrew and guests, speech by guest speaker Mahbob Abdullah, dancing to The Gary Innes Band, dance instruction by Charlie Chong, cheese and biscuits, more dancing and of course plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration.

More photos can be viewed here.

Video can be viewed here.

The Gary Innes Band Live at Finnegan's

The Gary Innes Band from Scotland played a one night only concert at Finnegan's pub in Desa Sri Hartamas on 27th November 2009 as a pre-cursor to their participation at The Selangor St. Andrew's Society Annual Celebration on 28th November at The Royal Lake Club, Kuala Lumpur. The evening was enjoyed by all and Gary, Ewan and Hugh kept the audience entertained by their music and their on-stage banter. There was much dancing and frivolity enhanced no doubt by the copious quantities of liquid lubrication on tap at Finnegans.

More photos can be viewed here.

Video of the concert can be viewed here.