The entrance to Zen Garden
A big Lily pad
Mari talks about the garden
The lotus pond
Another look of the lotus pond
One more look of the lotus pond
The gigantic carp
Pink lotus
White lotus
More white lotus
Even more white lotus
Two geese on the island
A cleaning broom
A tree on crutches
Beautiful hydragrea
Peaceful Ocean
Meeting Room
Big meeting room
Praying point
Curved beams
The zen garden
Ms. Lee in the zen garden
The rocks in the zen garden
Lotus pads
Standing lotus
Another standing lotus
One more standing lotus
The view of the lotus pond
Beautiful pink lotus
Exquisite white lotus
A turtle on the rock
A happy turtle on the rock
Tour guide, Mari-San, talked about the Buddism believes
Map for Rokuonji, "Deer Garden Temple", a Zen Buddist Temple famous for its Gold Temple (Kinkakuji)
A tiny earth mover at Kinkakuji Temple
A little pebble mover for the Kinkakuji Temple
The Five Don'ts: 1.Don't take another life, 2.Don't steal, 3. Don't commit adultery, 4. Don't fight, 5.Don't drink too much
The Gold Temple, Kinkakuji, built with 24k gold
Ms. Lee at the Gold Temple
A closer look at the Gold Temple
A duck in the pond
A Gold Phoenix at the top of the Gold Temple
A gold water spout
A special design for the spout closure
Volunteer gardener working at the Gold Temple
The dragon waterfall
The sign of water used on other structures in Rokuoji (Deer Garden Temple)
A 600-year-old Bonsai that is two stories tall
Another look at the magical Bonsai
This bonsai has its own garden
The Gold Phoenix above the Gold Temple
A winter look of the Kinkakuji Temple
The inside of the Kinkakuji Temple
Two turtles on the rocks
The Gold Temple from a distance
A crane, the symbol of good luck and long life, shows up at the Gold Temple pond
The tile design for the surrounding shops
The square in the center is being used four times in this design to make a sentence
Downtown Kyoto business street
A tiny cement truck on the street, definitely not all 9 yards
A beautiful and fragrant gardenia from the sidewalk in the fabric district
Another narrow street in the city of Kyoto
This way please
A silk and fabric store that deals with stencil art work prints
Ms. Lee is at least three inches taller than the doorway to the art studio
Which pattern should we choose?
Let's get the aprons on first
All teh American teachers are ready to do some hand-on art projects
Mr. Servin, from Michigan-Toyota group, and Mr. Berting, from Brussels-Ikaruga group
Ms. Lee and Ms. Novara, from the Michigan-Toyota group
Who is going for the kabuki mask?
We are ready and now what?
The Kinkakuji Temple
The paint and stencil for this project
The first stencil
It looks incomplete
The second stencil
This stencil and color change everything
Can you see the project now?
The color gold should add to the spirit of this art work
The shades of green was a true practice of patience
Almost there
The last stencil requires the color brown again
It is done, the Gold Temple, Kinkakuji
The American teachers working with their hands on art projects
Some teachers are still working on their master piece
The group workshop room
A stunning stencil artwork on the wall
The little guard on top of the roof to protect the building and establishment
Crowded streets are filled with tourists
Busy streets lead to the Kiyomizu Temple on the mountain
The iron objects are punishments for criminals in the ancient time
The three-tier pagoda is famous for fertility wishes
A public resting place on the hill
Where does this set of steps go to?
A popular wishing well at Kiyomizu Temple
Kiyomizu Temple is way up in the mountain above the city of Kyoto
Ms. Lee in front of the Bell of Kiyomizu
Ms. Lee stands with a bronze figure
A taiko drum was used in a performance of well wishes
A beautiful design to hide nails
A decorative metal oiece to hide joints of wood structure
From the observaton deck, one can see the Kyoto Tower in a distance
A full view of the back side of the huge Kiyomizu Temple
Tour guide, Mari-san, talks about the function of a Geisha on the way to Gion
There are four geisha living in this house
A tiny sign behind the tiny bush about a tiny tea room
Gion has the looks of an ancient Japanese town
A geisha sighting in a little narrow path
A cross street sign on the ground
The National Theater for Japanese art form performances
a rain soaked street in the Gion District
Mr. Hattori and Ms. Lee had a great conversation while looking for geisha sighting
Beautiful red and greed maple trees and horse tail lined this house
A little wishing well outside of a front door
A fancy sake shop
There are four geisha living in this house
There are 13 geisha living in this house
Street signs on the ground
A quiet and beautiful walkway leads to a front door
A tanuki stands in front of a house, the symbol of
A geisha crossing the street
A delivery scooter
A Geisha going to town
Ms. Wakita orders dinner for us
Delicious sake served extremely cold in a stone container
Yum!
The corn tempura was superb!
The veggie roll was wrapped in fresh tofu skin
Look at this soy sauce spoon
A fish cake fried with a chestnut on top
The assorted salad looked great and tasted yummy!
The tuna/avocado rolls and veggie rolls were superb!
The tofu dish was delicious and heart-warming at the same time
THe rice dishes came in their own little wok!
THese are the locally grown veggies used in the dinner dishes
On the way back to the hotel, we stumbled onto a plan for the paper float parade
All the fans in the parade were on disply
Each fan has its own name and history
MOre detailed display of one of the floats
The many elements associated with the float