Kyoto Customized Half-Day Tour — Guide Kazu

What Is a Private Kyoto Day Tour Like? A Licensed Guide's Report on Daitoku-ji, Nijo Castle, and Hidden Temple Gardens

The guests were visiting from North America. One of them had last been to Kyoto 50 years ago, while the visit was a first-time experience for the other. We visited Obai-in, a sub-temple within Daitoku-ji Temple in the Murasakino area. Obai-in was originally built by Oda Nobunaga to honor his father, and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi rebuilt it into a full temple, along with Soken-in also located within Daitoku-ji, to enshrine the spirit of his former lord. The garden was designed by Sen no Rikyu and is extremely beautiful. In spring, the fresh green maples, moss, stone lanterns, tea houses, and stone pavements intertwine exquisitely, and their beauty is breathtaking. What is more, it is relatively free of tourists. Today as well, from the moment we stepped through the temple's understated small main gate and saw the garden within the grounds, the guests were so struck by the beauty that "breathtaking" was truly the perfect word, and they stood in a kind of stunned wonder. Then, as if suddenly remembering, they began taking photographs. Seeing that always makes me feel glad I brought them here. The main hall and abbot's quarters have a quiet presence surrounded by a dry landscape garden, so I always take the opportunity here to talk about Zen and the aesthetics of wabi-sabi. Today I also wove in the story of the famous dry landscape garden with its 15 stones at Ryoan-ji, and spoke about the message of dry landscape gardens and the sermons one receives from the head priest when doing zazen at a Zen temple. After that, we went to another sub-temple within Daitoku-ji, Hoshun-in. Hoshun-in is the temple built by Omatsu, the principal wife of Maeda Toshiie, who later became a nun and took the name Hoshun-in, to honor her late husband Maeda Toshiie. Today was a special viewing day, and here stands Donko-kaku, famous as one of the four pavilions of Kyoto along with Kinkaku (Golden Pavilion), Ginkaku (Silver Pavilion), and Hiun-kaku of Nishi Hongan-ji. Because it was a special viewing, we were able to see it. A curator kindly gave us special permission to take photographs. The attached photo is Donko-kaku. I explained thoroughly how lucky the guests were. It had been a while since I had last seen it, and because I was accompanying guests today, I was allowed in for free as a guide, so I was very lucky myself. Hoshun-in also has another garden with many bonsai, where you can take as many photos as you like. There are many bonsai ranging from 20 to 500 years old, including, if I recall correctly, bonsai loved by Uesugi Kenshin, and one can immerse oneself in a wondrous world. Finally, at Nijo Castle, I gave a brief explanation of how the shogun and the daimyo held audiences, along with the customs and etiquette of the time. A classmate from my university soccer club days works as a curator at Nijo Castle, so I always share some of the little behind-the-scenes stories I have heard from him. When we parted, the guest said "Best Day!" which made me happiest of all. They returned to Tokyo by Shinkansen in the evening.

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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