Kyoto blessed us with beautiful sunshine for our last morning amongst her peace-loving sons and daughters. Our morning began at 8:00am with a heartfelt meeting with the head priest of Shoujou-in Temple, Sumika Kimura san along with her husband, deputy priest, Tatsuo Kimura san and their son, Takeaki san
Takeaki san then ran with our team for 3km south along Kamo River. We were all clothed in our usual Peace Run attire but Takeaki san wore his ceremonial robes, his only concession to modernity and comfort being a bright pair of orange running shoes.
An impromptu short discourse on Peace Run.
Even thus encumbered he kept up a very good pace.
Our first school visit was at Hiramori Elementary School in Uji, just a few kilometres south of Kyoto city.
The ceremony commenced with a colourful dragon and taiko drumming performance by the school students of Chinese and Vietnamese origin.
Our team then travelled just 2km to Okubo Elementary School, there the children formed a guard of honour to welcome us with under beautifully decorated arches of coloured paper.
The certificate of appreciation presented to the school that contains the Dreamers of Peace poem along with the Peace Run song and music score, and a Jharna-kala (fountain art) artwork by Sri Chinmoy.
The children were very friendly and enthusiastic and joined us in singing and country guessing games. They also made origami gold medals for the team.
At the close of our presentation the children formed a guard of honour again and sang as we ran out.
Our final ceremony was at Minori Kindergarten just 1km on from Okuba Elementary School.
The little children were very sweet, very enthusiastic and very, very cute.
The children performed a wonderful song and dance of Soran Bushi. Soran Bushi is a traditional song originally created by the fisherman from Hokkaido.
The little children again formed a guard of honour and we all had to bend down extra low to high five them all as we left their school.
Our team of runners then travelled through some lush green (and quite hilly) countryside to Iga City.
Along the way the team took a little break to enjoy some Japanese matcha delicacies.
This city is most famous for being the home of the famed Ninja warriors.
Some serious planning work in action.
Our team enjoyed a hearty meal at Nikaku Shokudo, the walls of which are decorated with many Ninja artefacts.
Some of us had fun posing in the Ninja cutouts at the front of the restaurant, with some of us perhaps dreaming of (mis)adventures of lives long past.
