One day trip in Kyoto
2007年 05月 03日
First we visited 貴船(Kibune).
Kibune is the area located deep in the hill in Kyoto. You can take a Eizan-dentesu train to get there. Though it’s far, it’s much easier to get there than you expect.
This is the route we took to walk around the area.
The water of the river here is very cool, clean, and even divine, which is said to be the headstream of 鴨川 (Kamo River). (Kamo River is one of the most famous rivers in Japan, which often appears in many works of waka poem anthology and stories back in history.)
In the old times, people enjoyed the cool in summer by having Japanese cuisines on the river. As you can see in the photo above, on the river they laid a dining place called 川床(Kawadoko, which means the floor on the river). You can enjoy the traditional style of dining here in Kibune. It costs about US$80, though. I couldn’t afford to try. So I just enjoyed observing when I went by the Kawadoko places, heading for the Kibune shrine.
The regular readers of my blog might remember I made a wish to the god for my success in USCPA exam almost a year ago.
And it worked. I passed the four sections of the USCPA exam as I wrote on the plaque for wish. So this time I visited here again to thank the God for granting me the wish, which is called “お礼参り(orei-maili)” in Japanese. (Please be noted that the word “orei-mail” is used to also mean a retaliatory action by Yakuza gangster in the movie!)
After showing my gratitude to the God, we tried sacred paper fortune telling, as people do when visiting a shrine regardless of one’s religion. The fortune telling paper in Kibune shrine is unique in that there are no words visible on the paper when you get one. You put it on the surface of the water, and then the words gradually appear on the paper…
My lot says I got “大吉 (daikichi), ” which means the excellent luck! I got another Daikichi the other day. Wow, I’m lucky \(^_^)/
Then we left Kibune, taking a train to 出町柳(Demachiyanagi) station to visit 下鴨神社(Shimogamo shrine). It didn’t take more than half an hour to get Demachiyanagi. We took a walk along the 鴨川(Kamo River).
The beautiful view of the late spring (or the early summer) was very comfortable and so gentle air was so nice.
On our way to get to Shimogamo shrine, we found a duck, or 鴨(kamo) in Japanese on the river.
Soon we arrived at 下鴨神社(Shimogamo shrine).
Today the shrine held a very famous traditional divine event, called 流鏑馬(Yabusame), or Horseback Archery.
In the photo above you can see they are in Japanese old fashion of Kamakura period. The three covered rods are the bows to be used for the event. Now they are bowing to the god, but it’s not a play on words, of course. They are bowing because the horseback archery is one of the most divine performances.
Below is the photo that I took before the event started.
I also tried taking a photo of the very scene of the shot, but it was too fast to catch by a cell phone camera (>_<;)
After that we took a train to the urban area of Kyoto, where we visited 錦市場 (Nishiki market).
Along the street are a lot of small stores that sell fish, vegetables, pickles, rice, tea, and varieties of small goods. It’s fun to enjoy window shopping along the street.
Kyoto has a lot to enjoy. In Kyoto there are yet to visit before I leave Kansai someday!
*** ワンポイント ***
Along the street are a lot of small stores that sell fish, vegetables, pickles, rice, tea, and varieties of small goods.
(通りには、魚、野菜、漬物、お米、お茶、その他小物類などを売るお店が沢山並んでいる)
これは倒置です。
主語: a lot of small stores that sell fish, vegetables, pickles, rice, tea, and varieties of small goods
動詞: are
補語: along the street
普通は、主語・動詞・補語の順番なのですが、英語は長すぎる主語を後ろに持ってくることがあります。
上記のような場合の他、強調したいときもこの倒置が起こります。
Impossible is Nothing. などが良い例ですね。
普通は、
主語: nothing、 動詞: is、 補語: impossible
の順番ですね。
Nothing is impossible. (何も出来ないことは無い)
これを倒置で強調してるのですから、
Impossible is nothing.
私なら、「何だってやれば出来るさ!」と訳したいなと思います。