Enkoji
In early June I needed to go to Kobe for a Sunday afternoon literary event and ended up spending a day and a half walking around Kyoto. Climbed up the mountain from Kurama, walked along the ridge, came down to Kibune, with its maple-lined river, maple-lined avenue, maple-lined everything.
Kibune
Peeked into Kibune’s expensive kawadoko restaurants in the river. Strolled about its many small shrines.
Kurama
On the way back downtown went to Enkoji. Had dinner along the Kamo River. The next morning walked the narrow, bamboo-lined, tourist-congested street in Sagano. Walked the quieter grounds of the Okochi Sanso Villa. Had a cup of tea. Sat before the pond in front of Tenryuji Temple.
Saw lots of pretty faces.
Kurama
And that’s about it.
downtown Kyoto . . . the Kamo River
Maybe the most important thing I can tell you about the trip?
Well, at the train station in Kibune, all weary-legged, my fellow Hearty Hiker and I had to decide whether to go to a hot springs, or take the train all the way back into town and cool out beside the river . . . or get off before reaching downtown and hike up to another spot, a temple called Enkoji. We gave it a good thinking over, let our knees comment freely, then made the no-brainer decision. We could go to a hot springs any time back in Shizuoka. We could cool out any time. The Kamo River would still be flowing through downtown Kyoto after dusk. This might be our only chance ever to walk up to Enkoji.
Kibune
That decision made all the difference.
Enkoji
We were instantly mesmerized by Enkoji. Both of us. But we’d only been there about twenty minutes when we realized if we didn’t head back right away we wouldn’t make our dinner reservations.
Enkoji
Again, a pow wow. Again, an easy decision. There were lots of restaurants. We wouldn’t starve. We’d get in somewhere whenever we got back to town.
Tenryuji Temple
And that, too, made all the difference. Really. . . . Trust me.
The words that follow flowed out from both the suikinkutsu (水琴窟, “a cave of water strings” … my translation, very awkward) at Enkoji—and every other place I’d ever been before and have been after . . . including the lotus pond in my soon-to-be new “neck of the woods.”
Enkoji
Here’s what we heard in Kyoto.
Kurama
And here’s more of what we saw in Kyoto, the pictures, as above, in no particular order.
Just Kyoto pictures. No picture of a wasp eating a worm, or a cawing crow circling above the traffic.
Enkoji
But those can be found in previous posts. And of course, so can the lotus flowers.
ALL THAT’S REAL
The lotus flower’s veined pink skin
Is lit up bright from within.
You have to stop and feel amazed–
It doesn’t burn but stays ablaze.
Eyes are ears and ears are eyes,
Helping us to empathize,
Paradise is what you feel
And what you feel is all that’s real.
Tenryuji Temple
I step into a temple ground,
Through a bamboo pole hear a dripping sound.
A xylophone and a string of bells
Leap right out of the bottomless well.
They say a mighty warrior’s tooth
Is buried here beneath the truth,
But under the maples I feel no fear
The moss is green and the sky is clear.
Enkoji
Divide by two, what do you get?
Damaged hearts, a lot of regret.
You’re still yourself in disguise
Sometimes Solomon was pretty wise.
Paradise is what you see,
What you see is all you need,
Just your eyes can make you kneel,
’Cause what you feel is all that’s real.
Okochi Sanso Villa
A cawing crow is circling high
Through a field reflecting a rosy sky.
His mate alights on a telephone pole,
The traffic below she can’t control.
Listen to your eyes, loosen your mind,
Don’t let them tell you that you’re in a bind.
The dripping water’s a magical force
Maybe it’s coming from the source.
Enkoji
Who’s your enemy? Who’s your friend?
When will this talk ever end?
For 2000 years we’ve wondered hard—
Now we can’t play any card.
Paradise is what you see,
What you see is all you need,
Just your eyes can make you kneel,
’Cause what you feel is all that’s real.
Kurama
A green worm dines on a fat rosebud,
A wasp swoops down, you can hear the thud.
Stormy skies never criticize,
Thunder and lightning just lullabies.
Beginnings and endings, right here in the day,
A dandelion is blown away.
Background is foreground, forward is back,
A swallow’s heaven is an empty shack.
from Okochi Sanso Villa
Who’s your neighbor? Who’s your friend?
What’s the message you want to send?
You’ll never be a step ahead,
Your soul is never in the red.
Eyes are ears and ears are eyes
Helping us to empathize,
Paradise is what you feel
And what you feel is all that’s real.
Enkoji
If you ever visit Enkoji, please say hello to this guy for me. . . . And listen to the water drip!
