CHULETA, Spanish Bar at Shijo Kawara-machi, Kyoto

There is a stylish Spanish Bar CHULETA only a one minute walk from the nearest station, Gion Shijo Sta.（祇園四条駅）.

I found a Spanish Bar around Shijo Kawaramachi （四条河原町） and held a little New Year's party with my friends from university. First off, ...
¡Salud! with sangria. ¡Salud! means cheers! in Spanish.

Olives, cheese, uncured ham, and salami are looking good, and the taste of them is also very nice.

Tapas de Espana

 Spanish omelet, mini hamburgers, blue cheese puffs and more...

Tapas variadas

The main dish was off course, chuleton. CHULETA named as the name of the bar means a meat chop, and chuleton is bigger than it. We ordered chuleton de cerdo, a rum chop.

chuleton de cerdo

There were other meals we enjoyed, for example, calcots and ajillo, but I forgot to take their photos. You can see some more appetizing photos when you visit their website. ( http://www.chuleta.jp/food.html ) 

Anyway the foods we had were all so good, and I drunk too much! haha The only one thing I felt a little uncomfortable is the service is slow; however, we really like there.

CHULETA is good for the meeting place because here is very close to the major station in Kyoto, and the early opening time is helpful for visitors.

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address : 1F Kamogawa building, 200 Nakano-cho, Yamato-oji Nishi-hairu, Shijo-dori, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 

access : 1 minute walk from Gion Shijo Station on Keihan main line of Keihan Electric Railway / 5 minutes walk from Kawaramachi Station on Kyoto main line of Hankyu Railway

open hour : 3:00pm～1：00am

closing day : monday (if the monday is holiday, next day it will be close)

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the god of beauty for women, Kawai Shrine (河合神社）

Who's want to be beautiful? All women hoping so should rush to Kawai Shrine. 

Here is the shrine which is greatly popular with women anyway regardless of their age.

Simogamo shrine that is one of the greatest shrine in Kyoto has seven auxiliary shrines in all; five is in the precincts and two is outside of the precinct. One of the auxiliary shrines in the precinct, Kawai Shrine (河合神社) is widely believed in as the god of the beauty for women. There is usually a ema, a votive tablet, in any shrine or temple, but they differ from shrine/temple to shrine/temple. The ema of the Kawai Shrine is so characteristic. 

kagami-ema (鏡絵馬)

The ema of Kawai Shrine is in the shape of a hand mirror so it is called kagami-ema. (Kagami means mirror.) There are some face parts in advance, so make it up likening to the face you wish to be with own cosmetics or equipped crayons or pens. Offer it after writing your wishes on the back of  the kagami-ema in the same way with general ema.

before　→　after

Additionaly, you can have a cup of  drink to be beautiful named bijinsui (美人水). It is flavored with karin, a Chinese quince. There are many trees of  the Chinese quince in the garden of the Shimogamo Shrine. It is made from Chinese quinces harvested from them and sacred water. A Chinese quince is 

said that contains an ingredient to make the skin beautiful.

350yen

plain sweet taste

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address : 59, shimogamoizumigawa-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto (in the precinct of the Shimogamo Shrine)

access : about 10 minutes walk from Demachiyanagi station (出町柳駅) on Keihan main line of Keihan Electric Railway

open hours : 6:30am～5：00pm

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Bye now.

Hatsumoude to the Shimogamo Shrine (下鴨神社)

Happy New Year 2016

Hatsumoude: the first visit to a shrine or temple to pray for safety and peace during the New Year.

Japanese people usually visit a shrine or temple at the begging of the new year. I visited the Shimogamo Shrine to do the first shrine visit of the year 2016! 

Shimogamo shrine is the one of the four popular shrines in Kyoto for hatsumoude. The other three are Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社), Yasaka Shrine(八坂神社), and Kitano Tenmangu (北野天満宮). I visited Fushimi Inari Taisha as Hatsumoude last year.  

Shimogamo Shrine worshiped as the god of matchmaking is crowded with a lot of people every year during the first three days of the New Year's day. Hatsumoude is generally refers to the first three days of the New Year: however, it is said that there are no problem in particular if the visit is made sometime in January.

This shrine commonly known as the Shimogamo Shrine (下鴨神社) compared with the Kamigamo Shrine (上賀茂神社）, the original name is Kamomioya Shrine (賀茂御祖神社)

Many food stall are set up during the New Year's day. I visited there on January 3rd but there were still lots of food stall, for example, yakisoba (やきそば), frankfurters (フランクフルト), fried chickens (唐揚げ), chocolate and banana (チョコバナナ), candy apples (林檎飴), and so on.

I had a Tamasen topped with Yakisoba. （やきそば入りたません）

Shimogamo Shrine is also known as the birthplace of mitarashi-dango (みたらし団子）. Mitarashi dango is dumplings coated with a soy based sauce and sugar syrup, and one of the representative of wagashi (和菓子) : Japanese-style confectionery. It is said that the shape of mitarashi-dango is featuring watery foam floating on mitarashi pond (みたらし池) in the precinct.

mitarasshi-dango

Amazake is a traditional Japanese sweet mild sake, that is a white cloudy beverage made from rice and rice malt, or fermented rice. Although the name referred as a sake, it usually refers to soft drink. Amazake made from fermented rice contains slightly alcohol, while the one made from rice and rice malt is non-alcohol, It is sold or offered in the precincts are said to expel the devil by drinking them. 

amazake(甘酒）

Amazake sold in Shimogamo Shrine was non-alcohol one.

We drew a Omikuji (おみくじ), the written fortune, and mine said that I would have the luck (吉).

good luck charm shaped in the form of Yatagarasu, mythical craw

2016 is the year of monkey Chinese astrology. We call it eto (干支). Do you know what the eto is?

a big ema on which a monkey are painted in the Shimogamo Shrine

Eto is the twelve sings of Chinese zodiac. They are all real animals except the dragon. The year of each of them comes around one every 12 years.

ne(子)-ushi(丑)-tora(寅)-u(卯)-tatsu(辰)-mi(巳)-uma(午)-hitsuji(羊)-saru(申)-tori(酉)inu(犬)-i(亥)

mouse-cow-tiger-rabbit-dragon-snake-hourse-sheep-monkey-bird-dog-wild boar

So your birth year corresponds to the year in Chinese astrology. I was born in the year of monkey. People call the woman who were born in a year with same eto as the current year Toshi-onna (年女). I'm Toshi-onna! In males, they are called Toshi-otoko (年男). And you can guess the age of  anyone if only you could know his eto. What is your eto??

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adress : 59, Shimogamo Izumigawa-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto, Japan

access : about 10 minutes walk from Demachiyanagi station (出町柳駅) on Keihan main line of Keihan Electric Railway

open hours : 6:30am～6:00pm

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After hatsumoude and if you have time, why not be wrapped in Japan? Here is the best cultural experience you can do in Kyoto. For more information, please visit our website now. →http://wrappedinjapan.jp/

See you soon!