Nijo Castle

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Our second day in Kyoto, we headed to Nijo Castle.  While Himeji Castle is known for its impressive grounds and the exterior of the castle, Nijo is known for its interior mural paintings.  

 We arrived at the same time as numerous school children, which were really fun to see.

 The outside of the castle is rather spectacular and the gates are quite elaborate.



The gates were carved and lacquered.  The colors were just beautiful.

This is another building where you will need to take off your shoes.  I do wish we had been able to time our visit to miss the batches of visitors; that being said, I am not exactly sure when that would be.

Parts of the castle were under renovation and a number of the murals are actual replications; of course, we could not tell the difference.

Unfortunately, we could not take photos of the murals in the castle.  One of their most famous mural is of tigers -- before the painter had ever seen a tiger.  The tiger is an interesting mix of panther, cheetah and an actual tiger.  

The grounds were beautiful.  I was hoping we would get there before the rain, but you can see from the photo below that I was not so successful on that.




Though this castle was the least dramatic (no hill top climb!), it was a beautiful stop.  
Time in castle: 1 hr
Times visited: 1
Overall: A
Location: 541 Nijojocho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 604-8301, Japan

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