Museum Hopper

Okay, last post about Kyoto!  One of the most famous sights in Kyoto, even all of Japan is the Fushimi Inari Taisha . I recommend you click the link to see pictures of what the temple looks like when it is empty -- because it definitely will not look like that when you are there! This shrine is famous for the thousands of red torii gates that are on the property.  Each gate has a wish or prayer on it from local businesses. Inari is the shinto god of rice, very important to the Japanese with the fox being its messenger.  Thus this shrine has many statues of foxes, which tend to have red bibs on. I was surprised at how big this shrine was; I also had not realized that it did have quite a hike in the back.  We did a bit of one, but had not timed this visit well with lunch. Map of the grounds.  We got up about half way before the big circle starts   The torii gates are everywhere and all sizes.  It can cost up to 1M JPY to purchase one...

We visited the Kiyomizu-dera at the end of one of our larger sightseeing days (villa in the morning, Fushimi-inari around lunch).   The stroll up to the temple is beautiful.  It sits up the hill with its back to a larger hill behind it.  We realized this hill is why we had not seen this temple until we were specifically coming to it. The temple is a series of buildings and beautiful pagodas.  Unfortunately, we did not get great photos of the main hall as it is under construction for the next 2-3 years.   The temple is considered "Kyoto-ians temple" and while the temple was originally associated with Hosso Buddhism, it spun off into its own sect in 1965.  We saw many beautiful saris and school children here.  It was a school holiday, so we believe it was maybe slightly more crowded than usual. View of the street leading up to the temple Statue at the front of the temple -- unclear what it is exactly, but its enough to see ...

We knew we had to visit Kinkaku-ji -- also known as the Golden Pavilion.  It was a bit of a haul to get there.  BUT we paid our temple admission, and you walk about 100 meters and are met with this view: The Golden Pavilion does not mess around! Other than seeing the pavilion, the rest of the temple was a little anti-climatic.  That being said, you come for the pavilion, so it was nice to somewhat get in and get out. We did have fun visiting it though!  It's hard to believe how much gold is actually on the pavilion.  The reflection is stunning.   Time at temple: 45 minutes: Times visited: 1 Overall: A-

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 first stop on our Philosopher's Path was the Higashiyama Jisho-ji temple , which is also known as the Silver Pavilion, which is also known as Ginkakuji.   Unfortunately, the Silver Pavilion never received its silver layer!  Later in this blog, I will have my write up on the Golden Pavilion! We really enjoyed this shrine.  This was one of the first shrines that we went to where you dropped off my red seal book and I got a number.  I did not have to wait in line.  I wish all the shrines would do them like this!   The Silver Pavilion This temple had one of the first stone gardens that we saw for contemplation and reflection. This template also had a little elevation heading up into the hills on the north side of Kyoto.  The view was beautiful.   We hit some beautiful weather and sun! We really enjoyed this temple as it was one of our first shinto shrines.  I would also recommend starting at th...

One of our favorite places in Kyoto was the Shugakuin Imperial Palace (as you can see from the score). The gardens require that you  apply to enter them  in advance; we applied about three months in advance providing passport info and location where we are staying.  They only admit a limited number of visitors every day.  We also did one other tour, but the third palace was already at capacity. View when you arrive at the upper villa The set-up was similar to the visit to the Sento Imperial Gardens .  We got headsets and off we went.   The land has three villas: (literally) the lower, middle, and upper tea houses.   A you could suspect, they are at different altitudes.  The property only has tea houses; it was not a place that the shogun could even spend the night.  The shogun designed the gardens and ensured the views would be spectacular around each corner. The lower villa was subtle clothed in shadows and moss and...

We had a guided tour of the of the Sento Imperial Palace gardens and then headed to the Imperial Palace.  The palace is open to the public and is free to enter.  This also had a great headset and app option to learn about the grounds.   This was a last minute add to the schedule, but we really liked it.  Again, it was the first day we were in and it gave us again more of a foundation to understand the imperial and royal lineage.   This again was a walk of the grounds, but we could see into a few select buildings.  The audio guides were really helpful.  We used the app for this one with our own set of headphones.  I also recommend using the lockers to put your stuff in -- it really is nice to have a break on your shoulders! You can see me using my iPhone headset here!   The grounds were beautiful.  The time was well spent, it was free and provided a great overview of Japanese cultural design and histo...