October 9 - 12, 1953 B Photographs Kyoto, A Tea Party at the Brays, The Romance Car and A Walk to Kobe College

Visitors to the Heianjingu Temple, Kyoto

Diary Entry: Oct. 9, 1953

"Rain in the morning.  Bob went off to school without a fuss.  B & Kita-san went to Osaka for the afternoon & bought a mimeograph machine.  Children & I went to Brays & had a tea party.  Took Jimmy a present.  Broken arm is in a cast."

Diary Entry:  Oct. 10, 1953

"Teruko-san's first day.  Such a good dinner tonight.  We went to Kobe & bought dishes for everyday.  Table looked so nice. Train today had "romance car"--seats facing as regular train.  Most trains have seats along sides of car.  Bob has gone to birthday party down the street.  Must keep him home to rest more.  Letter to Wheelers.  Ann asked to go home for first time."

Thin clay tea containers from train

Diary Entry:  Oct. 11, 1953

"Lovely sunny day.  Took a long walk to Kobe College to find Jelliffes.  Farmers watering vegetables from cisterns.  Birds eating rice in fields which had no scarecrows.  Strips of bright tin made a soft clanking noise against the bamboo poles in the wind."

Map courtesy of Yuko Ikeda, see note

"The capitol of Japan today is Tokyo but Kyoto was the capitol city for more than 1000 years.  Kyoto has been so well cared for it could be called the museum of Japan.  It has dozens of Buddist temples, Shinto shrines, and castles.
 

Nijo Castle

Each one has its own special feature which attracts both Japanese and foreign visitors.  Some of these old buildings contain famous paintings or wood carvings enriched with gold. Others are noted for their cherry trees or gardens which are unusual in that they have no flowers in them.  The gardens are made of sand, rocks and moss."

(Dragon-fly Land:  Japan by Bonnie Belshe, 1955)

Diary Entry:  Oct. 12, 1953

"Finished curtains for study.  I basted hems & Teruko-san stitched them on her machine.  B went to Kyoto on train so he could take pictures. Gone all day.  Children played & played all day.  So glad to stay at home.  Letter to Buddy & Bessie."

Heianjingu Temple

NOTE:  The delightful map,  drawn by Yuko Ikeda at Kwansei Gakuin University, illustrates for us the location of the university relative to Kobe College, the trains and other towns.  On the map, our house would be located at the top edge of the KG area.  Seeing the map, Bob added:  "We used to walk down the hill to the train station at Nigawa (or take the old local bus if rain) and ride to Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi then change trains to Kobe or Osaka- we did this a lot. No bullet trains ran then, but it was still pretty fast after the change."