For our first day in Osaka, we decided to see historical sites. We had quite a day rushing around trying to see everything on time, mostly because Osaka is a crazy city that is impossible to navigate. At every turn our maps would be wrong, showing sites in completely different places than they were in reality, causing us to wander in circles. That was the most frustrating part of Osaka for us. Osaka is definitely the most oddly laid-out and confusing city we've visited. That's not to say it's all bad. We met some nice people, were upgraded for free in our hotel room (they threw in a kitchen, dining area, big TV, and washer), and the subway system is actually very fast and direct.
We were able to visit an inordinate amount of sites because we bought day passes to the city. For 2,000 yen a day we could ride the subway as much as we liked and visit 27 sites for free. There were also 15 sites we could visit at a discount, and coupons to use with certain city businesses. There's a 2-day version of the pass for 2,700, but be aware you must be visiting from a foreign country, NOT living in Japan, to use this. If we'd brought our passports, we could have used this pass, but as it was we just bought 2 days at 2,000 each, and still saved about 6,000 each.
First on our list: Osaka-jo, or Osaka castle. You can see from the picture to the right how large the castle is. It is similar in style and structure to other castles in Japan. This is because it, like every other castle, has been repeatedly burned down, this one by lightning and by the fighting during the Imperial Restoration. Matt and I were excited America never bombed it (that's one!).
We walked all over the parks leading up to the castle and the castle grounds. It's a huge area complete with massive playgrounds, temples, shrines, and a museum of history. The castle has two moats, an inner and outer one for maximum security. This made it impossible to get anywhere easily, so I quickly understood the security benefits. I personally felt like giving up on getting anywhere by the time I was inside moat number one (still full of water). Moat number two is partially dry, and I saw a greenhouse in it (pictured below to the left). The view from the top of the castle was also extremely impressive.
Now that we've been to the Gifu, Osaka, and Okazaki castles, we've "collected all three warlords" as Matt puts it. We've seen the three seats of power: Gifu's Nobunaga, Osaka's Hideyoshi, and Okazaki's Tokugawa were the three vying for control of a unified Japan in the late 1500's. At first it looked like Nobunaga would prevail, but he was either murdered or forced to commit suicide (conflicting records). After that Hideyoshi took over and built Osaka-jo on a power high, thinking it was a perfect place for the ruler of Japan. However, he soon died, and Tokugawa ended up the ultimate victor in 1615. The photo shows a close look at one of the dolphins on the castle, and a good view of the surrounding part of Osaka city.
After the castle, and a fight to find the subway line we needed in extreme heat and sun, we made our way south to Shitenno-ji Temple. It is said to be one of, if not the, oldest Buddhist temple in Japan, constructed in 593 by Prince Shotoku. This Prince jumped on the Buddhist bandwagon before almost anybody else in Japan. The temple honors four heavenly kings and the Goddess Kannon.
To the left is a picture of the five-storied pagoda that sits in the center of the main temple structure. It has several altars inside of it, one that is open where you can go pray or just gawk at the apples and boxed snacks set out for honoring the Gods (guess which one we did). Two worship halls were open to tourists, so we got to walk around and look at full murals telling stories about the great Buddha's life and ministries. It reminded me of Christian churches very much, and reinforced my personal belief in the fact that, at their base, all religions are the same. We also got to see a Monk performing services. I wondered how it felt to be worshiping on display, and if the Monk hated the fact that he, and his place of faith, was looked at as a relic by most visitors.
We went inside the building pictured to the right, which is a round structure built into the ground with marble. It is very impressive and surprising, since at first glance it just looks like it will be another ordinary altar like the pagoda. Inside it is dim and cool, holding thousands of Kannon statues. Each statue is a prayer for a different type of thing: easy childbirth, health, knowledge, love, that sort of thing. There are snacks placed in front of the statues at various points as offerings. There are small, medium, and large statues in ascending order on round daises. It's very impressive. Most fun is the lady we met on duty. She told us all about the complex - what each temple was for, and what festivals were going on - and told us to come talk to her again. She studied Buddhism in college, and we think she's been a temple attendant for a long time. It was neat to hear about things from someone who studied it. Turned out, she'd also been to America, a long time ago. She visited North Carolina, so we talked about that a bit in mixed English and Japanese (the English was all for my benefit, Matt was getting on with her very well in Japanese). She's a very interesting lady! If anyone goes to this temple, be sure to stop by this part and say hello.
Finally we went to see the famous Gokuraku-jodo garden. It's a true Buddhist garden illustrating the path to paradise between two rivers of hell, according to the pamphlet. You walk through two streams with waterfalls symbolizing bad things like hatred and greed, and then you wind up at a huge pond covered with water lilies. The Buddha's symbol is a water lily, so you know you've reached paradise when you see one, right? This is the pond of Gokuraku, or the pond of Paradise. As much as I scoff at the religious underpinnings of this garden, it was truly lovely and I'd recommend it as a sight-seeing destination.
We took a brief break for an incredible sushi lunch (which will be featured in another post coming soon!) and then visited Tsutenkaku Tower, pictured to the left. It's an oddly shaped tower that tells the weather by lighting up its very top in displays of two colors: white for clear, orange for cloudy, blue for rain. You can imagine the possible combinations. Apparently, before WWII, the tower looked like a strange Eiffel Tower/Arc de Triomphe love child. It was dismantled in 1943 to supply iron for the war (someone should have told them not to bother, it would only be a few more years). It was like going to Disney all over again with the line, and the waiting! That's because there's this little God of Good Luck at the top that people come to see and rub its feet. It was something we could have missed, but oh well. I enjoyed the view from the top anyway.
After extricating ourselves from the tower, we rushed to a nearby district and finally found a tiny art gallery showcasing Edo-era woodblock prints. They were fantastic to see! Most of them were of Edo-era Kabuki performers from the Dotonbori district, which they liken to Broadway. The prints were exquisitely detailed and wonderfully colored. I haven't seen much original woodblock art, so it was a perfect museum choice.
After the museum we were more than beat, so we took a break in our hotel room before heading out to a great Thai dinner. We finished our evening with a ride in a giant ferris wheel and a trip to the Floating Garden Observatory, where we got to look out over the beautiful city landscape. The ferris wheel had speakers in it where you could hook up an ipod and DJ your ride in the sky (unfortunately Matt left his at home in Gifu). The Floating Garden had chintzy lovers things all over it, like a heart-shaped seat where if you sat and pressed a button together, a heart lit up on the ground. We didn't do that. There was also a giant heart where you could pose together in it. We did do that, but I'm not allowed to show it. It was a great time and a wonderful way to finish our first full day in the area. Even with all the transportation and map mishaps, we got where we wanted to go, saw a lot of cool sites, and met some amazing people.
We were able to visit an inordinate amount of sites because we bought day passes to the city. For 2,000 yen a day we could ride the subway as much as we liked and visit 27 sites for free. There were also 15 sites we could visit at a discount, and coupons to use with certain city businesses. There's a 2-day version of the pass for 2,700, but be aware you must be visiting from a foreign country, NOT living in Japan, to use this. If we'd brought our passports, we could have used this pass, but as it was we just bought 2 days at 2,000 each, and still saved about 6,000 each.
First on our list: Osaka-jo, or Osaka castle. You can see from the picture to the right how large the castle is. It is similar in style and structure to other castles in Japan. This is because it, like every other castle, has been repeatedly burned down, this one by lightning and by the fighting during the Imperial Restoration. Matt and I were excited America never bombed it (that's one!).We walked all over the parks leading up to the castle and the castle grounds. It's a huge area complete with massive playgrounds, temples, shrines, and a museum of history. The castle has two moats, an inner and outer one for maximum security. This made it impossible to get anywhere easily, so I quickly understood the security benefits. I personally felt like giving up on getting anywhere by the time I was inside moat number one (still full of water). Moat number two is partially dry, and I saw a greenhouse in it (pictured below to the left). The view from the top of the castle was also extremely impressive.
Now that we've been to the Gifu, Osaka, and Okazaki castles, we've "collected all three warlords" as Matt puts it. We've seen the three seats of power: Gifu's Nobunaga, Osaka's Hideyoshi, and Okazaki's Tokugawa were the three vying for control of a unified Japan in the late 1500's. At first it looked like Nobunaga would prevail, but he was either murdered or forced to commit suicide (conflicting records). After that Hideyoshi took over and built Osaka-jo on a power high, thinking it was a perfect place for the ruler of Japan. However, he soon died, and Tokugawa ended up the ultimate victor in 1615. The photo shows a close look at one of the dolphins on the castle, and a good view of the surrounding part of Osaka city.
To the left is a picture of the five-storied pagoda that sits in the center of the main temple structure. It has several altars inside of it, one that is open where you can go pray or just gawk at the apples and boxed snacks set out for honoring the Gods (guess which one we did). Two worship halls were open to tourists, so we got to walk around and look at full murals telling stories about the great Buddha's life and ministries. It reminded me of Christian churches very much, and reinforced my personal belief in the fact that, at their base, all religions are the same. We also got to see a Monk performing services. I wondered how it felt to be worshiping on display, and if the Monk hated the fact that he, and his place of faith, was looked at as a relic by most visitors.
We went inside the building pictured to the right, which is a round structure built into the ground with marble. It is very impressive and surprising, since at first glance it just looks like it will be another ordinary altar like the pagoda. Inside it is dim and cool, holding thousands of Kannon statues. Each statue is a prayer for a different type of thing: easy childbirth, health, knowledge, love, that sort of thing. There are snacks placed in front of the statues at various points as offerings. There are small, medium, and large statues in ascending order on round daises. It's very impressive. Most fun is the lady we met on duty. She told us all about the complex - what each temple was for, and what festivals were going on - and told us to come talk to her again. She studied Buddhism in college, and we think she's been a temple attendant for a long time. It was neat to hear about things from someone who studied it. Turned out, she'd also been to America, a long time ago. She visited North Carolina, so we talked about that a bit in mixed English and Japanese (the English was all for my benefit, Matt was getting on with her very well in Japanese). She's a very interesting lady! If anyone goes to this temple, be sure to stop by this part and say hello.
Finally we went to see the famous Gokuraku-jodo garden. It's a true Buddhist garden illustrating the path to paradise between two rivers of hell, according to the pamphlet. You walk through two streams with waterfalls symbolizing bad things like hatred and greed, and then you wind up at a huge pond covered with water lilies. The Buddha's symbol is a water lily, so you know you've reached paradise when you see one, right? This is the pond of Gokuraku, or the pond of Paradise. As much as I scoff at the religious underpinnings of this garden, it was truly lovely and I'd recommend it as a sight-seeing destination.
We took a brief break for an incredible sushi lunch (which will be featured in another post coming soon!) and then visited Tsutenkaku Tower, pictured to the left. It's an oddly shaped tower that tells the weather by lighting up its very top in displays of two colors: white for clear, orange for cloudy, blue for rain. You can imagine the possible combinations. Apparently, before WWII, the tower looked like a strange Eiffel Tower/Arc de Triomphe love child. It was dismantled in 1943 to supply iron for the war (someone should have told them not to bother, it would only be a few more years). It was like going to Disney all over again with the line, and the waiting! That's because there's this little God of Good Luck at the top that people come to see and rub its feet. It was something we could have missed, but oh well. I enjoyed the view from the top anyway.
After extricating ourselves from the tower, we rushed to a nearby district and finally found a tiny art gallery showcasing Edo-era woodblock prints. They were fantastic to see! Most of them were of Edo-era Kabuki performers from the Dotonbori district, which they liken to Broadway. The prints were exquisitely detailed and wonderfully colored. I haven't seen much original woodblock art, so it was a perfect museum choice.
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