Thursday, May 17, 2007

yeh summer, you right

Yesterday I had to walk my bike to Demachiyanagi (sorry, my Japanese fonts aren't functioning right now) to get a flat fixed. The owner/ukulele instructor of the bike shop told me it would take about twenty minutes to fix so I wandered up towards Kamigamo Jinja looking for some coffee. Little did I know. A small stream ran under giant, arching trees tied with shimenawa. Time was coming to head back to the bike shop but I am driven to wander, especially towards water sources. Just inside the main gate to the actual shrine, the stream bends hard to the East. A vermilion bridge spans the stream where it becomes enclosed in stone and squared by two staircases. The shrine was gigantic and there might have been five other people inside. Displayed on one of the outer walls were photos from the early Taisho Era of children washing their feet in the stream. As I turned back towards the bike shop I passed through a neighborhood that was flanked by the grounds to the shrine and the stream, as it flowed down to Kamo-gawa. Lovely.

You're right, Summer, I should give up on that because you got a taste for Joe Patti's and Taco Bell. Wait a second. Taco Bell. Hmmm. A compelling argument.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i am back in school to become a health teacher – in two years i will probably be teaching kids in milton about the dangers of chewing tobacco and running the diane reilly memorial ‘condoms for kids’ speakeasy out of my van at night. you wandering around like peter pan in epcot center. stop fronting! those japanese kids don’t need your help – don’t they get mtv out there? that will teach them everything they need to know about america and english.

there is a critter-gitter up the street from my house. and you’re talking about shrines? psssh.

attempting to silence the voices in my head.