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Weather: Cloudy then rainy
Lunch: Nabeyaki Udon noodle near Daitokuji temple
Dinner @ Sweep with a friend from Kagoshima University days
Temple visited: Ryugen-in, Daisen-in, Koryu-in, Kobai-in of Daitoku-ji temple
Stayed @ Mitsui Garden Hotel, Shijo

Walking down Karasuma Avenue last night, I realized that it has been 13 years since the last time I walked the same street with Mark, when our children were 9 years old and 7 years old. We all stayed at a lodge that is attached to a temple called “Sinnyodo” then, and it was difficult to walk around Kyoto with small children who were not much interested in temples, wabi, or sabi. But it is a fun memory now.

Since then, I have returned to Kyoto many times, sometimes alone, other times with friends and colleagues. Mark, too, has visited Kyoto for business and for pleasure many times.

Therefore, we were not going to do any sightseeing bus trip this time. Mark suggested that we should go to the Daitokuji Zen Temple complex, where he recalled finding an interesting KAREZANSUI garden last time he was here, which was last year.

We could not find that specific garden this time. Maybe he confused it with another temple that bears the similar name. It does not matter though.

During our visit to Daitokuji temple, the Obai-in, which is rarely accessible, happened to be open for visitors to view its famous garden designed by Sen-no-Rikyu.

The virtue of Kanji characters is that each character is a symbol and it contains a complex meaning. When I saw the sign 自休軒(self-rest-house) hanging at the doorway leading to the exposed hallway that faces the garden designed by the Rikyu, I felt that I was in the right place. “Rest yourself and reflect.”

Adjacent was another rock garden that is Spartan even by the standards of most other rock gardens. It was called 破頭園(break-head/mind-garden); the name means “break from the usual thinking; renewal and renovation; change your usual ways.”

It always amazes me how relevant and timeless the Zen teaching is. (Consultants may be able to make a killing with this phrase.)

The weather was quite chilly for April. After eating a noodle dish at a restaurant near the temple, I felt a little bit of dumping syndrome and felt quite sick. The previous sleepless night to deal with news of the flood back home started taking its toll in my body. I went back to the hotel and slept the rest of the afternoon, while Mark went to an art gallery to shop for woodprints,

At night, I had dinner with an old friend from college at a Machiya-style restaurant called Sweep that serves nouveau Kyoto cuisine. The food was wonderful, and inexpensive for Kyoto food. When in Kyoto, trust the natives.