Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Last day in Kyoto

We all woke early to go to the famous Toji flea market at Toji temple. Thank goodness the weather cleared up! It was a beautiful sunny, cool day, perfect for shopping. We got there around 8:30 and immediately split up to explore the vast grounds filled with vendors or various antiques and foodstuffs. My radar were out on the look out for old shakuhachis. I found one shakuhachi at one vendor which was in pretty good shape. I didn`t blow it at first as I wanted to canvas the whole place first then come back to it later. But then gave it one blow and it sounded pretty good. I ran into John Paul and he said there were a few not so good shakuhachi near the entrance on the other side of the temple. I went around to each and every vendor asking occasionally if they had shakuhachi. One vendor said he just sold the ones he had. The shakuhachi the John Paul saw were pretty bad. Not worth anything. I walked all over and no other shakuhachi were to be found. I was getting pretty tired after a few hours of walking around. So I headed back to the first shakuhachi I found. I met Randall along the way and mentioned that shakuhachi to him and he said he was interested in it so I brought him to it. Met up with Peter as well and he said he tried the flute and agreed it was pretty nice. So we went back and I really played it for at least 15 minutes and was very surprised how really nice it was! It was quite balanced except for the `chi` being slightly sharp, but that`s expected with old flutes. Good RO. Pretty good balance. Randall wanted a bamboo flute so I said this was a great opportunity to get one at a great price. So he got it!

Jane, John Paul, and I split up with the group and went to Izutsuya, a Shinto good store where both Jane and John Paul bought beautiful purple hakama, juban (under shirt for kimomo), and black and white kimono tops. Then we went to the used kimono shop, Kikuya where a found a beautiful light golden brown hakama and ka-kobi for an incredibly inexpensive price! I was so happy to find this great buy. Afterwards we went back to the Daiya Inn for a rest. Oba-san at the Inn said she was going to give us a sushi party in the evening since it was our last day and she would miss us. At 5 pm I met Zachary Braverman at Kyoto Eki and he passed me one of Taniguchi-sensei`s original prints which he wasn`t attached to. Then I took the bus to Sannenzaka where I scanned all the shops again for gifts then visited Fujie and Reiko-san at Hakuba and said my farewells till next year.

Tomorrow we depart from Kyoto for Kokushou Temple in Aichi prefecture to spend time with the Nembutsu priest, Yano Shiku. Shidara Taiko will also be performing in Aichi on the 23rd so we may be able to catch their show......

Alcvin
www.bamboo-in.com
ramos@dccnet.com

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