Kyoto - a paradise of gardens

On the way down the hill from Kiyomizudera
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Day one in Kyoto was wet, very wet.

Nonetheless that did not stop us (and lots of Japanese people) from visiting many of the sights.

After a traditional Japanese breakfast at the ryokan we headed to the tourist Information at the JR station. The Japanese tourist information is at ground level, but the foreign tourist information is on the 9th floor of the building that houses the station. Not easy to find but once you do find it, they are very helpful. We spoke with a volunteer guide who was keen to practice his English. He gave us walking maps and hints on using the buses. Using his advice we headed off...

The main temple building is a huge timber structure high on the hill.
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The Kiyomizudera Temple, a world heritage site, occupies the best position on a steep hill overlooking Kyoto. Its position is enhanced by it being built on very high timber pillars. The walk up to the temple, up a steep hill, should have given us an idea of what was in store. There are two streets, one up and one down, to cope with the number of people who visit this temple. On either side of the streets are little shops selling souvenirs, food, pottery etc, everything from classic works of art to tacky Chinese made souvenirs.

Bride at the shrine
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The temple itself was very crowded with Japanese tourists, although virtually no other Europeans. One of the features of this temple was the large wooden verandah overlooking Kyoto and the forest surrounding the temple. The boards on the verandah were 60cm wide. Imagine the tree that these boards came from.

Here we also saw a bride who had visited the shrine dedicated to Okuninushino Mikoto, a god of love and good matches. I assume she was reporting that the shrine had worked well! Near this shrine are many stalls selling love tokens, charms and fortune telling!

Rakkan (disciples of Buddha) wearing red jabots at Kiyomizudera.
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If you want to visit here, it opens at 6am and this would be the best time to visit if you don't want a crowd. You may even get a photo without lots of other people in it.

From here we walked down the hill to the bus to the Heian Shrine, eating the local favourite, Octopus Pluto Pup! (well okay they don't call it that)

The Heian Shrine has the largest Torii gate in Japan. It is 25m high and made of steel. The bus drives through to get to the shrine stop. One of the newest shrines in Japan, it was built in 1895 to celebrate the 1100th anniversary of the founding of Kyoto. The buildings are supposed to be replicas of the old Kyoto Imperial Palace (smaller of course). Here we saw yet another traditionally dressed bride having photographs taken, despite the rain.

Breakfast at Shimizu
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At this stage we were very wet but continued walking to another shrine and the Philospher's Walk, (Tetsugakuno-michi) a pleasant (when its not raining) walk along a canal surrounded by cherry trees between Ginkakuji Temple to the north and Nanzenji Temple to the south.

We were so late arriving at Ginkakuji we didn't go inside but caught the bus back to the JR station to the ryokan for a hot bath and dry clothes.

Dinner was at place above the JR station (there are three floors of restaurants) where for 1250 yen each we got a dinner set of sashimi, sushi, tempura, rice, udon soup, vegetables and pickles. So much great food and of course beer.

Tree being supported to grow like a giant bonsai
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Sunday wasn't raining so we headed off on the 101 bus to Kinkakuji because we knew it would be crowded later in the day. Wow! the gardens here were wonderful and despite the thousands of people who were here, it was possible to get photos without people in them.

The best known feature is the golden pavillion, sited on the edge of a lake so that it is reflected in the water. The reflection is enhanced by the covering of pure gold leaf on the two upper floors. Originally the retirement villa for a Shogun built in 1393, the golden pavillion was burned down in the 1950's by a monk who was obsessed by it. It was rebuilt, like many of Japan's historic buildings, in 1955, but this doesn't worry tourists at all. This place is worth visiting just for the gardens alone. The irises were flowering and the purple reflections were lovely.

Momiji at Koto-in
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We caught a bus further on to Daitokuji the head temple of a sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism. This is a quiet temple complex with few visitors and no other Europeans. There are 26 temples in the complex. Wow this was great.

The zen garden at Daisen-in unfortunately had scaffolding through it while they are repairing the roof of the temple. However, it was still beautiful and not as crowded as other Zen gardens here. Not being able to take photos is a bit of a shame.

The Koto-in garden was lovely, with maples (momiji) and moss gardens, and a large bamboo forest in the background. You could walk through the buildings and sit in the garden. We met some Japanese women here who were keen to chat with us, in English/Jinglish/Japanese. I definitely want to see this garden in Autumn!

Water feature at Koto-in
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We caught the bus back to the textile museum but I would not recommend this. Apparently there is a museum, but the first two floors are dedicated to selling you things. We couldn't find our way to the upper floors.

We went on to Nijo Castle which was fantastic. The painted and gilded screens and the wide verandahs were amazing. The nightingale floors (they made a noise when you walked on them) were just part of the fortifications for the Shogun. There was also an inner moat, large stone walls, and secret rooms for the guards (obvious now since they have large tassels on the doors). Clearly, you had to be careful!

Kinkakuji is gilded in real gold leaf.
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Built in 1603 it showed conspicuous wealth but fairly good taste. The gardens here were also lovely with conifers, azaleas and some wisteria still in flower.

On the way home we picked up some sushi and beer and had a very late (but tasty) lunch. Dinner was above the station again, this time at a tonkatsu restaurant. Awesome.

BTW its a small world, one of the girls working at the ryokan has a boyfriend from Launceston!