It’s time for another installment of the Big Japan Adventure! When I last left off, we’d seen a super-tall Buddha and were hassled by deer. After we caught lunch and a quick tour of a Sake brewery (which you shouldn’t drink until you’re of the right age in your country, kids! *insert The More You Know music here*), we headed off to see a traditional Tea Ceremony and explore the gardens around it.

Typically, a traditional tea ceremony involves the guests sitting up on the floor with no chair, just on your knees. Which can kinda hurt after a while if you’re not used to it, so the Tea Master was nice enough to provide small chairs for us to sit on instead. (We’d actually been practicing sitting like this before we left for our trip specifically for this tour spot, but it was nice to not have to worry about feet falling asleep during the ceremony)

The Tea Master was very studious and careful with her tea-making process.

Our ceremony was a shorter version compared to the full tea ceremony. We were presented with a small Japanese sweet as the Tea Master prepared traditional green tea, which was made with powder whisked many times with hot water, resulting in green tea much thicker than what I’ve been used to at the States (but still, quite delicious!). Our tea was served in very lovely bowls, and as part of the ceremony we had to be sure to rotate the bowl and not drink from the decorated portion. After we’d all had our sweet and tea, our guide mentioned that there would be two guests allowed to make tea and I ended up being picked as one of them. I’m not sure my whisking was up to par, but the tea seemed like it turned out okay when I served it to James…

I’m pretty sure I was upsetting her with my poor whisking skills.

After exploring the gardens around the tea house, we wandered down nearby streets in Kyoto and then crashed for the night. The next day was packed with a visit to the Kinkakuji Templae, also known as the Golden Pavillion. The area was super-packed with visiting elementary and middle schoolers (as well as other tour peoples like us).

We squeezed in a Kimono Fashion show at the Nishijin Textile Center. There were lots of people there as well, and for good reason – the kimonos were very beautiful and elegant. After the show was over, James and I had a surprise interview from a Japanese TV company, who wanted to know if we enjoyed the show. I they understood us when we said we liked it, because they nodded a couple times. (We didn’t actually see this on TV, so it’s possible they were just wandering around with a big camera)

After kimonos, we had some time at Nijo Castle, which was the residence of the first shogun of the Edo period. Because of the castle’s importance/sensitive interiors, we couldn’t take any photos once we were inside and we had to enter without our shoes. So you’ll have to trust me when I say the murals on the screens were very lovely. 🙂

After Nijo castle, our last stop of the day was a Ninja museum that was LITERALLY HIDDEN IN THE MOUNTAINS. Our champion of a bus driver took us up windy pretty-much-one-lane roads until we reached the park that contained the museum, including an actual ninja residence. A ninja guide took us through the residence and displayed many hidden compartments, revolving doors and escape hatches that ninjas would use when they were under attack. After seeing several ninja-artifacts, we were treated to a ninja show with a super-rad display of the use of ninja weapons like swords, throwing stars and scythes. Plus, some fake ribbon blood tossed at the crowd to scare ’em.

When the show was over, we took a bullet train to our next hotel for a traditional Japanese dinner and much needed rest.