I’ve begun to get a small obsession with sitting in different Kyoto, Zen temples with dry raked and or moss gardens.
My favourite so far is Daisen In temple where I sat with a Japanese architect viewing the gardens in wonder together – but no photos were allowed of this astonishing place – I do have Instagram reels of the temples – @traceydoxey.
Sitting on at ancient wooden verandas surrounding these gardens, I usually end up facing south whereupon, I get my knitting out
I’ve begun to take instax shots of them. Some work, some don’t.
I have already had so many wonderful experiences but for me, the most memorable things about kyoto are the Zen dry gardens, and knitting in the sunshine. No one moves me on, I can just sit there with everyone filing past at their own paces. I’m in heaven.
Yesterday, at Tofuku- Ji temple, (my 2nd visit) I was knitting in the warm wonderful winter sunshine on the great wooden veranda facing the south garden with a backdrop of Japanese wedding photography, when I saw a man with a rake and knew what he was about to do.
I thought the raking was a secret, I thought the gardens are raked before people arrive but here he was, beginning to rake the 8 great oceans. Everyone there was silenced in great respect of his skill.
When I arrived, there was a wedding photography session going on – with the ancient temple as a backdrop. Sometimes, the photos are real, sometimes they are dress up. But yesterday, was real. I sat on the veranda beside the 81year old grandma of the bride. We were both chasing the sun. She was delightful – I mean full of delight and must have been all of 4ft 8. I gestured if I could take her photo. She had no idea what the instax was. So I took 2, one for her and one for me. She was astonished. She chose the one she wanted and laughed and laughed. We sat together for ages. The wedding photographer even took our photo
I feel very lucky to have seen all of this at Tofuku-ji but it is about spending lengthy time in one place, engaging with the environment fully and the people within it. Then, you never know what will happen.
If you are a reader of this post and love reading about Kyoto and love knitting, I will give 20% off any of my patterns for the new year – runnin for the next 24 hours use the code – blogpost
Ravelry pattern link here ravely patterns are here
Happy Holidays – and good wishes for the new year
tracey doxey 