Kitano Tenmagu Flea Market

Today I went to a flea market at the Kitano Tenmagu temple in Kyoto. I've always loved flea markets, because there is always something new to look at and little treasures to find. This one was particularly exciting.

Flea markets in Kyoto are always held at temple complexes, and there are several that occur every month. Kitano Tenmagu is one of the recurring flea markets, so I felt okay with just exploring and taking things in today.

The flea market sprawled across the temple grounds and on the outer walls as well. There were tons of vendors, selling everything from old kimono (which I did not purchase this time around because I have no knowledge of what pieces I need to buy), to wall scrolls, china, old toys, records, etc. There were also quite a few food vendors, although generally the foods available were takoyaki (octopus balls), okonomiyaki (sort of a cabbage pancake), yakisoba (noodles), candied fruits, dried things, grilled corn, candies, and cakes with custard/bean paste/green tea paste in them.

It was quite crowded. I felt pretty awkward lugging my big backpack around, and a few times I got nudged by a disgruntled old man trying to make his way through.
A lot of families were there; there were a few games children could play, like shooting games and fishing games (pretty much your standard festival/fair activities wherever you live).

I spent the afternoon with my friend Angie, but we ran into several other SKP students throughout the afternoon. Angie persuaded me to try takoyaki; I've always been squeamish about eating anything with tentacles, but takoyaki is one of those standard street foods you find everywhere. I figured that if the majority of Japan loved it, I needed to try it. It was great. We also bought and shared yakisoba and okonomiyaki. I bought two custard cakes as well. The food was relatively cheap, and it was delicious.

I didn't want to make an impulse buy, but I was keeping my eye out for some sort of wall scroll or an item that could be easily packed/shipped. Towards the end of my flea market visit, I came upon a vendor that was selling antique wall scrolls and paintings. Most of them were VERY expensive. I was about to walk away from the tent when I decided to sift through a box of unframed paintings, and I found an ink painting that I instantly fell in love with.

It's not matted or framed, so on my trip downtown tomorrow with Steph I'm going to look for a mat. Otherwise I'll just have to secure it with cardboard for the trip home. According to the seller it is about 80 years old. She pointed out the name of the artist to me on the corner in case I cared to look it up. It cost me 2500 yen, which is not unreasonable for a painting that old. The price was already written on the wrapping, so I feel secure that I got a fair deal.

It's fairly easy to speak with shop workers or vendors in Japanese, but whenever I did they seemed pleasantly surprised. There were many other non-Japanese people wandering about, but probably only about half of them were students or people residing in Kyoto. I heard a fair amount of tourists pointing at things and saying, "HOW MUCH? PRICE?"
It was pretty funny, actually.

We spent about 3 hours at the flea market before we decided to call it a day. Since I spent so much money at the flea market, I decided to walk all the way home instead of taking the train, despite feeling tired. The flea market was a 15 minute walk from Ritsumeikan, and the school is a 30 minute walk from my dorm. Phew. I definitely walked off those custard cakes.


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In other news, my winter coat and new shoes came in today! They only shipped 8 days ago, so I was incredibly pleased that they arrived BEFORE the website said they would. Both items are beautiful and I'm really happy to have flats that don't have holes worn through the heels...