Kyoto: day 4

According to my guide book as well as via a recommendation from Larry, I had to join Johnnie Hillwalker on his 'real Kyoto' tour.  Check him out at: http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/people/h-s-love/ 

The brochure simply said to meet in front of the main train station at 10:15 on Wednesday, and after paying 2,00 yen each (about 26 US), we would be taken around and shown the real Kyoto.  About 30 foreigners showed up and off we went.  Johnnie, a Japanese man definitely in his 70s had been doing tours like this for about 15 years or so.  It wasn't the most incredible tour I've been on, it was rather slow and he didn't understand many of the questions we tried to ask him.  But, I did see some cool things, so I will share those with you.
We went to a large Buddhist temple and rather than sit us in a corner, and talk with us about Buddhist teachings and history, Johnnie knelt down in front of the central alter and prayed.  Kind of confused, we knelt down too.  Luckily he didn't pray for too long.  While we were at this temple, a funeral service began and Johnnie let us watch it.  The priests chanted (in a language that even the Japanese don't understand), the ashes were displayed, the mourners came and prayed at the alter.  It was a very beautiful ceremony.
Johnnie did walk us through several side streets and we came upon some shops were traditional crafts are still made: a fan shop, a tea canister making shop, a ceramic painting shop and a paper lantern making shop.  Here are the photos from the day:

That's Johnnie!

At the Fan shop: he is gluing the wooden pieces to the ends of the fan.  She is carefully selecting the perfect sized paper loop to fit on the fan to keep it closed.  Believe me, it had to be the perfect sized paper loop, because for each fan, she tried at least 4 or 5 before she found one that fit snugly around the fan.

He is folding the fan and making openings between the fan papers where the wooden sticks can go

He is painting pottery

Johnnie's tour ended at around 3:30, by that point I needed some food, so I went out for a late lunch.  There was another evening tour - similar plan as Johnnies: meet at a designated location, pay 1,000 yen and head off to explore insider Kyoto.  This one was focused on the Geisha quarter.  Having not been all that impressed with Johnnie, I was hesitant to take this one on.  But after eating, and realizing that I wasn't going to be able to explore night-life Kyoto any better, I decided to go for it.
This guide was amazing! Since I have been reading Memoirs of a Geisha during my stay here, I was immediately hooked by all she had to say.  She referenced so many of the things I had learned from that book already and even showed us some of the exact buildings, streets, rivers and corners mentioned in the book! The only downside, was that my camera did not like taking night shots, so the photos came out really poorly.

Kyoto is famous as a Geisha town.  There are several different Geisha districts in Kyoto, Gion being the largest.  Some are only small side streets today.  Maiko are apprentice Geisha and Geiko is the official name for the Geisha.  "gei" means entertainer.  These women spend years in schooling and can stay a Geiko well into their 50s and 60s.  The girls start learning to play the shamisen, dance, perform tea ceremonies, tell stories and entertain at tea houses.  Gion has that old Japan feel to it.  There was the small river running through it and we saw the bridge from the movie where Chiyo meets the Chairman (although I just rewatched the movie, and they made the bridge a wooden arch, perhaps it was back then, but today it is concrete and flat).  We saw the Ichiriki teahouse, the Geisha school, and even a few okiya (boarding houses for Geisha).  That evening we did not see any Geiko, although on a previous night I had meandered similar streets and saw two, moving quickly on their way.  As they went by, people noticed and a wave of cameras came out.  My photos were poor, at best.  Here is a feel of old Japan:

The streets are so narrow, its hard to get a good photo of the buildings...

This girl is dressed like a Maiko, apprentice Geisha, but I think she is just in costume because she had a guy walking with her and she would pose, and take pictures.  But it does give you an idea of their costumes.