seventies.
Behind the rooms on the first floor a gravel path set off by bamboo plants leads to Kanjiro's workshop and "Smoking Room" where pieces of his ceramic ware are on display. Here are the potter's twin kick-wheel and the stepped noborigama kilns. These kilns were used by Kanjiro from 1919 until his death in 1966, and they continued to be in use by some of his followers until 1971 when new antipollution laws forced the closing of all wood-fired kilns in Kyoto. The Kawai Kanjiro House is a charming memorial to a famed potter, a house that illustrates the manner in which a prosperous artist tried to recapture the past in his daily life. It stands in sharp contrast to the golden images of the Sanjusangen-do or to the dreams of glory that Toyotomi Hideyoshi cherished.
On leaving the house, one can walk back (south) to the next street running east and west. A turn to the left (east) brings one to Higashi-oji-dori at the next corner. There a taxi or bus 18,202, 206, or 207 can be taken for a return to the center of the city or to other destinations as desired.
TO TRAVERSE the lanes between the temples and shrines of eastern Kyoto located near Gojo-dori and Shijo-dori is to stroll through the history of the city. The small Hokan-ji with its Yasaka Pagoda is one of the earliest temples in Kyoto, created even before Kyoto became the capital, a temple that retains the oldest extant pagoda in the city. The early middle ages in Kyoto are represented by the Chorakuji, an insignificant and little-visited hillside temple, but one that is connected with the tragic and romanticized story of the Taira empress who alone survived the battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185 and who here took the tonsure and spent the rest of her days as a nun praying for her lost child and family.
The nearby Higashi Otani Cemetery with its tomb to the priest Shinran, who suffered from persecution for his faith, is a sacred spot to diose millions who follow this great Buddhist religious reformer of the 1200s in the practice of the Jodo Shinshu faith. The close of the Japanese medieval period is also remembered by a site that again recalls the tempestuous relationship between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, for it contains the Kodai-ji nunnery where Hideyoshi's widow Yodogimi spent her all-too-brief years following his death.
The modern age is not ignored, for the Ryozen Historical Museum is a monument to the heady days of the mid-to late nineteenth century when the Tokugawa shogunate was losing power and the new Meiji era and modern Japan were being born. An aspect of the unhappy consequences of the militaristic spirit of that period is also marked by the gigantic concrete Kannon image which arose after World War II in memory of and expiation for the millions who died in the two decades of Japan's Greater East Asia folly.
Then, in even more recent years, the new Daiun-in, with its unusual pagoda in the shape of a huge Gion cart adding a new element to the skyline at the foot of the Higashiyama hills, further enriches the city with examples of Buddhist murals from the Chinese caves of Dun Huang. There is also a lighter side to this area of Kyoto. Along with its many ochaya (teahouses), in the area along the narrow streets between Higashi-oji-dori and Kitamon-mae-dori one may have the opportunity to savor the non-alcoholic delights of amazake, which was once the beverage of Buddhist nuns. There are also many restaurants in the area about Maruyama Park.
We begin this tour at the small Hokan-ji, best known for its Yasaka Pagoda.
THE YASAKA PAGODA AND HOKAN-JI
The Yasaka Pagoda is most easily reached from the bus stop at Higashi-oji-dori and Kiyomizu-michi, the same bus stop used in Tour 1. Buses 202,203,206, and 207 which run along Higashi-ojidori serve the bus stop. After alighting from the bus, walk three streets north on Higashi-oji-dori and then turn right on to Yasaka-dori. A torii stands at the entrance to Yasaka-dori at Higashi-oji-dori, and that street, after a slight jog to the right and then the left, will lead one to the tall pagoda of the small Hokan-ji. The temple grounds are open between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Entry fee.
The Yasaka Pagoda and its few tiny buildings are all that remain of the Hokan-ji, one of the oldest temples in Kyoto. It is said to have been established by a family named Yasaka-no-Miyatsuko who had probably come to Japan from Korea and who settled in this region in the 500s, some two centuries before Kyoto was created as a city. Their religious life is claimed to have centered around the Hokan-ji which tradition says was created in 588 by Prince Shotoku, the founder of Buddhism in Japan. This claim is no doubt one of those pious but questionable traditions since the prince would only have been sixteen at that date. The temple was to become one of the principal Buddhist temples of Kyoto in the early centuries of the city.
Those who conquered the city were always anxious to display their colors at the Yasaka Pagoda since it was historically regarded as the symbol of Kyoto. Time, however, has taken its toll of the original temple buildings, and the pagoda was replaced in 1192 by Minamoto-no-Yoritomo, founder of the Kamakura shogunate. The temple was later destroyed by fire, and of the rebuilding by Shogun Ashikaga-no-Yoshinori in 1440 only this five-story pagoda still remains, the oldest pagoda in Kyoto. It was restored in 1618 by the governor of Kyoto.
The Hokan-ji precincts are entered on its south side. Today the temple consists of the five-story pagoda of 1440 and a few small buildings to the north of the pagoda. Two of these units are memorial halls with flaming jewels atop their pyramidal roofs. The unit on the west (to the left when facing them) is the Taishido (Memorial Hall) to Prince Shotoku, the supposed founder of the temple. The Taishi-do contains an appealing image of the prince at the age of sixteen praying for his father, the emperor Yomei, who lay on his deathbed. This image is a favorite one which appears in many other temples.
The small building to the right of the Taishi-do is the Yakushido, known for its gilt image of the Buddha Yakushi, the Buddha of healing and medicine, bearing a staff in his left hand. To the right of the Yakushi-do is the small, modern treasure house, while to the east of the pagoda is a Shinto shrine.
The five-story Yasaka Pagoda is 126 feet tall, and the interior walls, ceiling, and columns on the base level are decorated with paintings, among which are images of bodhisattvas. The interior of many pagodas have been decorated in this manner, and this is one of those rare examples that are available for viewing. In the center of the base level, on each side of the main pillar which supports the pagoda, are images of the four Nyorai Buddha: Hojo on the south, Amida on the west, Ashuka on the east, and Shaka on the north. A large phoenix tops the spire of the pagoda, a symbol of the temple's rebirth after its destruction by fire.
To the east of the Yasaka Pagoda are three sites that a century ago ranked among the most important in the city: the Gokoku Shrine, a memorial to those who died in opposition to the Tokugawa shogunate which ended in 1868, and the Ryozen Rekishikan (Ryozen Historical Museum). (Today, they are seldom visited and are mentioned here more as curiosities.)
GOKOKU SHRINE
The Gokoku Shrine, also known as the Shinto Kyoto Shrine, is to the east of the Yasaka Pagoda at the top of Kodai-ji Minami Monzen-dori one street to the north of the street facing the entrance of the Yasaka Pagoda. Kodai-ji Minami Monzen-dori should be taken up the hill which the street ascends. At the top of the hill, on the left as the road turns to the south, is the Gokoku Shrine. The shrine is open during daylight hours without charge.
The Gokoku Shrine is an old shrine meant to serve as the protector of the city, and, as a shrine, it differs little from other Shinto shrines. The buildings are behind a vermilion fence on the left as one mounts the hillside street to the shrine entrance. within the grounds, beyond the torii of the entryway, is the unpainted Heiden (Offertory), and beyond it is the Haiden (Oratory) and then the fenced Honden (Spirit Hall). As such, for the casual visitor it is of historical interest only. A century ago, when Shinto was being turned into a militaristic faith which served the military and the state, it held greater significance for the Japanese public than it now does.
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