Brian and Meghan at Osaka Castle |
Having Japanese tea at the oldest teahouse |
By Brian Hon and Ben Speckien
Yesterday I got up at my host family's house at about 7:30. My host family consisted of just a couple; I couldn't really call them host parents. They were both about 35 years old. They were pretty cool.
Anyway, after meeting up with the rest of the group, our first stop was Osaka Castle. We traveled there mainly by train, but we did use a bus as well.
Osaka castle was amazing. On just the castle itself, I must've taken a dozen pictures. It was white colored, with gold and bronze decoration. The castle was not the original one built in 1600's; the original was burned down only 14 years after it was built. The reconstruction I saw was built later, out of concrete, so it won't burn down ever again.
Meghan, Zurn-sensei, and I were some of the few people to actually pay the 600-yen to be able to get into the castle and look around. The inside of the castle was actually a museum, depicting the history of the castle, and the battles it was involved in. There was even one exhibit of an old painted screen that was just incredibly detailed. It showed a battlefield, with all the armies together. The thing is that you could see every individual person, and his or her faces were unique. There were other things inside too. The arms and armor of the samurai were shown, as well as many ancient documents.
After the castle, we headed to the Daibutsu (Big Buddha). The Buddha was among many other statues, although none were as big as he. All of them were inside a grand temple.
It was crowded; there were many Japanese schools visiting the temple that day. There were all in their various school uniforms, so it was like a sea of blue and white as we neared the temple entrance.
The inside of the temple was dimly lit, so pictures were difficult to take, even with flash. I later bought postcards with pictures of the Big Buddha, just because of that.
The most interesting thing there, besides the massive statues themselves, was just a small hole in the bottom of a pillar. What was so great about it? This hole, only about foot and a half in diameter, was the size of the Big Buddha's nostril. And if you could squeeze yourself through the hole, you would have good luck. Virtually everyone in our group tried to fit though Fred didn't try and Alex couldn't fit.
That was it for the group stuff for the day. For me, I headed home to the host family's house. They had a pretty nice house, as compared to other houses I've been in Japan. They've actually got a backyard.
The first thing I did at home was relaxed and rest. The day had been really tiring and busy, so some time just to sit down and watch TV or read a book was a welcome change.
But before long, I had dinner. It was a 'Japanese pancake', Oosaka style. The group will be having them later, so right now they will go unexplained, besides being really tasty.
Then a shower, and relaxing bath (Japanese style). Afterwards I played some video games with my host dad (he's 35) then went to sleep, after talking for a bit. For me, it was a little past one in the morning, but it well worth it.
The next day I got up pretty early, had a nice, tasty (if not big) traditional Japanese breakfast. Then it was off to the group, and it was a final goodbye for the host family.
Our first stop today was a teashop, where we were going to make our very own green tea. It was a little pricey, at 800 yen, so Alex decided not to participate, but everyone else did.
The man who headed our tea-making experience was the 14th generation of tea-maker, so he knew he what he was doing, really well. First, he told us about some of the history of the shop, and some about the family.
Then we went upstairs and ground our own tea powder, from leaves. We used these stones, which we all took turns using. Lastly, we actually made the tea, in traditional style.
By Ben Speckien
We went to the oldest tea shop in Japan. It had been in the same family for 16 generations. We saw how tea was made a long time ago and we drank it. It was very good. Then we went to another temple. If you looked at it from an airplane it would look like a dragon. It was a Chinese Buddhism temple. A monk taught us how to meditate. Here's how:
1. Sit with your legs crossed and your back very straight. You must take very deep breaths.
2. You can't talk.
3. Step 3 is the hardest part. You must clear your mind completely. Then and only then will you be able to focus and reflect on your life.
If you screw up the monk will come and give you a whack or two with his stick. NEXT we learned about Buddhism and stuff. Omoshiroikatadesuyo!!
After that we made our way to a Ryokan (hotel) in Kyoto. It was sort of like a bed & breakfast. It was run by a nice very old lady that talked fast and laughed a lot. Free Time!!!! And then we slept.