Kyoto in Half a Day: Uzumasa Koryu-ji Temple — Guide Kazu

Title: What Can You See on a Private 4-Hour Art-Focused Tour of Kyoto? A Licensed Guide's Report

The guest was a solo traveler visiting from Europe. The guest expressed interest in things with strong artistic elements, such as traditional music and dance, handicrafts, paintings, uniquely Japanese architecture, and Buddhist statues. Because of this, I decided to determine our destinations after speaking directly with the guest on the day, so I prepared a variety of materials and met them.

Uzumasa Koryu-ji Temple was built by the powerful Hata clan during the Nara period and has a 1,400-year history connected even to Prince Shotoku, making it older than Kyoto itself. Although the temple buildings were rebuilt after a fire during the Kamakura period, most of the Buddhist statues escaped the fire and are all National Treasures. In particular, the Miroku Bosatsu Hanka Shiyui statue is famous for its archaic smile and is renowned as the very first Buddhist statue designated a National Treasure when the National Treasure system was established 130 years ago. When you stand before this statue, everyone, myself included, is somehow drawn into its smile and finds it hard to leave. It is Mysterious, but a Very Romantic Mystery. Many people are captivated and sit in Zen meditation before this statue. I shared such explanations. There were not many people around, the temple grounds were beautiful, and this is one of my recommended places.

Obaiin, a sub-temple of Daitoku-ji, is a special temple connected to Oda Nobunaga, with many stone lanterns and tea rooms, and the beauty of the entire garden, together with its magnificent moss garden, is breathtaking. It has the oldest kamado (traditional cooking stove) in Kyoto, a permanent display of Hina dolls, and a small shrine on the grounds, making it a temple full of things to talk about. Yet for some reason, almost no one visits. After I spoke about Zen meditation and the concept of wabi-sabi, the guest sat in Zen meditation before the dry landscape garden, so I stepped away for about ten minutes.

Then we visited the Gion Kagai Art Museum for Kyo-mai dance. From our conversation, I privately imagined the guest might be a scholar. Though it was only four hours, it was a very academic four hours.

Click here for more details: Kyoto Customized Half-Day Tour with Licensed Local Guide

Tour Report by Kazu

Hello, this is Kazu Akiyama, your tour guide. Nice to meet you and welcome to Japan. Thank you for joining me on the tour. Now I am a retired salaried worker, living in Osaka. I have been very much interested in not only learning Japanese history, culture, religion myself, but also talking about them (sometimes going off topics) in English with tourists from all over the world as well. I am so excited being with you as your guide on coming day! I am very much looking forward to you enjoying with me visiting the must-see places and some of the hidden gems. See you soon. Thank you – Kazu Akiyama