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Tame sika deer roam the grounds of the Shrine in canada goose outlet black friday Nara, canada goose outlet jackets Japan. (Takahiro Bessho/For The Washington Post)

For nearly two decades, I have eagerly collected Japanese tea and sake sets, canada goose outlet store uk woodblock prints and geisha figurines. They delight me with their elegant and distinct design, with depictions of intricately shaped maple trees and dazzling silk kimonos and the I know something you don’t know gaze of the women wearing them. My collection started spontaneously with a love at first sight purchase of colorful geisha bookends from canada goose factory outlet vancouver the 1950s. Stamped “Made in Occupied Japan,” they were at a flea market near the Sacramento San Joaquin River Delta in California, where many Japanese immigrants once worked in the orchards, and they led me to muse about another world and era.

Yet it was only in November that I finally canada goose outlet mississauga made it to Japan. My tour started in Tokyo and included Kamakura, Hakone and Kyoto. Like so many visitors before me, I thought I would make Kyoto the centerpiece of my visit, but I was also keen to veer from the traditional tourist’s path and discover Japan for myself, to see if or how it reflected my deep and rather mysterious affection for the country.

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canada goose deals Staying in Nara, too, would put me close to Ise, or so I thought. My California friend Hiroko, who is a Tokyo native, had visited the small town a year earlier, and told me of its Shinto shrines an astonishing 125 in all, making it essentially Japan’s canada goose outlet mall version of the Vatican and a principal pilgrimage destination for many Japanese people. Spread out around Ise and its outskirts, canada goose outlet authentic the shrine area is the same size as Paris. Knowing very little about the Shinto religion, I was curious about how so many shrines could exist in a place I hadn’t heard of until Hiroko canada goose outlet phone number had canada goose outlet florida mentioned it, though I later learned that the 2016 G7 Summit had been held there in April. canada goose deals

Visitors wait in line to buy charms at the Todai ji temple. (Takahiro Bessho/For The Washington Post)

canada goose coats I related this to Kayoko official canada goose outlet Kuwahara, my host at the tiny situated along a quiet residential street, as we sat sipping tea on my first evening. A fierce wind had picked up by the time my train from Kyoto had pulled in, and after a short bus ride to the suburb where Sakuraya is, I had to walk some 10 minutes in the cold to reach the guesthouse. But upon entering, I was enraptured. canada goose coats

buy canada goose jacket After Kayoko showed me to my room one of three she rents to guests I took in the heavenly view from the sliding glass doors: an enclosed courtyard and dimly lit garden, a carefully shaped arching pine and a palm tree among moss covered steppingstones. Kayoko later told me that she had bought the building in 2008 from a married couple who had operated a workshop on the grounds to produce calligraphy ink. Neither of their two daughters was inclined to carry on the family business that had existed for 130 years. buy canada goose jacket

canada goose When the aging couple put the property on the market, there was intense interest in the traditional wood and stucco structure in this attractive district where mostly merchants had lived and worked. Kayoko felt very lucky to be the selected bidder; she had dreamed for years of opening a ryokan and saw great potential in the home. She set about clearing the enclosed garden area “It was a jungle,” she told me and remodeling the interior. canada goose outlet factory Today, the Sakuraya is at once modest and dignified. canada goose

canadian goose jacket From the moment I set foot inside, my perch felt privileged so much so that when Kayoko cautioned me that reaching Ise would require a very early start and three hours of travel on four different trains, I was loathe to book an overnight’s stay closer to the shrines. I wanted to return to my oasis. Moreover, it occurred to me that in the spirit of religious pilgrimages, the long and complicated journey to Ise and back would be fitting, if not adventurous. Part of the trip, Kayoko told me, would canada goose shop uk be through picturesque canyons and pretty countryside. canadian goose jacket

cheap Canada Goose Before the long journey, however, I took a day to explore Nara, first indulging in some shopping along the open air and practically squealing with delight at the fine ceramics, brightly colored kimonos and fans on display. From there, walking eastward, I was gradually greeted by some of Nara’s ubiquitous and cordial deer, canada goose outlet legit making it clear I’d reached Nara Park and was near Todai ji temple. cheap Canada Goose

Canada Goose Jackets I had seen photos canada goose outlet in uk of the temple and what’s known as the cosmic Buddha housed inside it, but these don’t prepare the visitor for the awesome, towering bronze sculpture, flanked on each side by the golden Kokuzo Bosatsu or bodhisattva of memory and wisdom and Tamonten called the lord who hears all. 798 and arguably one of Japan’s most striking sights, the three towering figures held my attention. I took my time walking the perimeter, considering meanwhile canada goose outlet online uk what I’d read earlier, that the construction of these mighty sculptures had employed, legend has it, some 2 million laborers and had nearly bankrupted the country, in part because the statues were covered in gold leaf. Canada Goose Jackets

canada goose store But more impressive to me was the 8th century Shrine, tucked deeper in Nara Park and painted a jolting red. Entering the complex, I was immediately riveted by a long passage filled with hundreds of golden and bronze lanterns, all of which surprised me, because from what I’d read of Shinto shrines, they are mostly austere edifices, void of color and decor. canada goose store

buy canada goose jacket cheap After that, I wasn’t sure what to expect in Ise. The next morning, soon after departing eastward from Nara, the train passed through a long and misty corridor of bamboo stalks and then hugged the edge of a plunging forested ravine covered in radiant fall foliage. Part of the journey wound through farmland punctuated by snug villages with black tiled roofs, small groves of crimson colored Japanese maple trees, well tended family gardens and solemn pagodas and temples atop grassy hills, some canada goose outlet houston with simple cemeteries encircling them. In this remote corner of Japan, on this clunking rural train, I saw no tourists and few residents. buy canada goose jacket cheap

But once I reached Ise and found my way to Geku, or the Outer Shrine, I was surrounded by other pilgrims. I was among them as we crossed the wide bridge leading to the shrine area, washed my hands alongside them at long stone vessels with wooden ladles and followed them under soaring torii, or gates, marking the sacred entry.

Following a canada goose outlet online store map here and later at the Neku, or Inner Shrine, some 20 minutes away by bus, I came upon shrine after shrine, quickly seeing that visitors could only get so close to the forbidding and venerated wooden structures dating to the 3rd century, all unadorned, fenced in and removed from the pathways bordered by impenetrable Japanese cedars. Shinto tradition also dictates that the shrines be rebuilt every 20 years, using wooden dowels and interlocking joints instead of nails, and only priests and members of Japan’s imperial family are allowed inside the inner sanctums. I watched, almost spellbound, as families lit votive incense sticks and young couples timidly approached the picket gates before slowly bowing in silence.

Canada Goose Outlet The Shrine is famous for its bronze and stone lanterns. (Takahiro Bessho/For The Washington Post) Canada Goose Outlet

The prayers, I understood later while reading about Shinto philosophy, are for prosperity, a bountiful harvest and, above all, peace in the world. These are noble and compelling gestures, now more than ever. But my own reflections, as I sat on the lumbering train back to Nara, were of gratitude: for no vacancies in Kyoto, for seemingly commonplace yet beguiling views of Japan not unlike the everyday scenes of maple trees and pagodas depicted on my sake sets, tea cups and saucers and for that inexplicable and curious pleasure upon seeing those geisha bookends which still, years on, move my imagination to peacefully and happily wander to other worlds, into other eras.

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