Catching Up, Pt. 1

Okay guys, so I actually have a good reason not to have been posting ,besides the whole 'I was extremely busy' thing. I just recently moved in with a new host family, and they're...a little technology challenged, so I've been waiting almost a month to get my internet up. Sorry for the wait.

Because of this, though, I'll be doing a blog post a week, to catch up with all the stuff I missed. Forgive me if my English seems a little weird, as Japanese has started invading my brain and stealing my usual literary prowess. I shudder to think at the grades I'll be getting in my English class next year.

Anyway, to start: back in late February, I went with my host family to see a temple in Kyoto. I really wish I'd blogged about this earlier, just because the stuff in it was sooo cool. Here's the thing about this temple: right next to it there's the house of an old political leader, and most people can't go and look inside, just because it's considered a World Heritage Site. HOWEVER. Because the nephew of my host mom is a monk, we got a special VIP tour inside the house!! Along with some very, very interesting information.

This temple itself is called the Hongwan-ji Temple, and it is one of the many World Heritage sights in Japan (here's the thing about Japan, though--you could go a block away from your house in any direction and find a World Heritage sight). It's been considered one of the main schools of Buddhism for the last five hundred years, and is known as 'Nishi', which translates to West in English.

The house of the Political leader is directly next to it, and doesn't appear as impressive if one were to look at it. However it's got some really neat stuff, for example: as you walk along the wooden floor boards, you'll notice that there's an odd chirping noise. This is deliberate, because the floor was built so that the nails rub together whenever you step on them. Why is this useful?

Well in ancient Japan, people had a tendency to try an assassinate each other. An assassins job is made a lot more difficult if the floor they're walking on makes a sound every time one steps on it. This of course probably led to the whole legend of ninja walking on rooftops--because this 'Nightingale floor', as it is called, was built to prevent them from getting in the normal way.

Another interesting fact--the main visiting area is built like a hall, in that it's a wide, spacious area with pillars on either side, leading to the base of a tatami floor raised ever so slightly from the ground. I wish I could've taken a picture to give you a better image, but alas, pictures were not allowed. Anyway, when the political leader was visited, he did not actually sit facing his visitors; instead he sat to the right of them, perpendicular to the other person. I'm not sure if this had some sort of ritualistic meaning, but there you have it.

(I decided my explanation was too confusing, so I drew a picture)

However, right next to where the political leader would sit, there is a wall. However it is not, in fact, a wall, but a door, and sitting behind this door would be a retainer of samurai, ready to intervene in case someone decided that today was a good day to kill a leader. This led me to the conclusion that it was very hard to kill people who did not want to be killed in Japan.

Last of all, in this house there were pieces of carved wood hanging from the ceiling, placed between the massive pillars as decoration. Here's the thing: these giant slices of wood are really intricately carved, and depict beautiful scenes of nature or something of the sort. These giant slices of wood are also one piece of wood. Which means some person slaved away for hours on a tree to make it perfect. That takes dedication, people. If you ever come to Japan and see decorative wood hangings from the ceiling, chances are that it's one piece.

After that, we got to go to a movie park, and I got to sit on a horse and look cool. All in a days work.

Also, just to let you know, on Sunday I will be taking my black belt test for Aikido. Wish me luck!