Kyoto - Back To The Past

Some of you may have been on tenterhooks ever since I wrote the first half of Kyoto back in June 2007, anxiously awaiting how the snow scuppered our plans. Most of you would have completely forgotten. Here is the much anticipated second part. Follow this link for the first entry.

After the not-so-great sleep (the air-con oven and the motorbike convention) we pulled back the curtains to find snow. Or, as this picture suggests, a slightly blurry and white-splattered building.


Downstairs to the Starbucks - keeping with the Geisha and Samurai theme of course - as we waited for the snow to wear off. We took a bus back to the station to transfer onto a temple I was interested in but, as it was a Sunday, the frequencies were not as often so we had a change of plan and went straight to the castle.


Nijo-jo was completed in 1603 (after three generations consecutively waited for it) and it includes the main Palace Building, an outer architecture and a typical Japanese garden. The most impressive aspect were the randomly placed creaking floorboards; a deliberate design rather than a fault to listen out for intruders.


We walked north-west past Kitano Tenmangu, a shrine which is famous for students to pray for success in their studies, as well as for its plum blossom.


Behind this stood Hirano Shrine, established in 794.


We even met a friend from home:


Further along the path was one of the most famous sites, and the one we were aiming for. Kinkakuji Temple is the Golden Pavilion, was built in 1397 by the shogun Yoshimitsu and it is covered in gold leaf standing proudly overlooking the lake.


It was beautiful and the only downside is that - as with most of the buildings in Japan - it is not the original structure; having been burnt down by an apparently "fanatic monk" in 1950.


The next stop, only a short walk, is a bit controversial. A required taste, some might say. Ryoanji has a rock garden formed of rocks, moss and gravelled sand. A wooden raised platform stretches across and it is lined with tourists staring at the pattern and determining their own interrpetations. An interesting aspect was that unless you look at the layout from a bird's eye view, only 14 of the 15 rocks can be seen at any one time. It is said that only by enlightenment can all 15 be visible (although... there is one spot if you look from the far right about 8 feet back, but that's cheating!) I could've stayed for a while, but Mum and Keith had made their own interpretations quite quickly.


This is a small scale version to see the position of all the rocks (like you care!):


Kyoto is a fascinating city, with a grid structure in the middle and the mountains around it forcing the road design to twist and turn. There are too many temples to mention and, not that we were templed out, but like the Rome-factor, every turn of a corner has something new to offer and it was too overwhelming trying to see and read about everything. So here are a few other pictures of places along the way.


On the other hand, you can't help but be awed by the deep history and the architecture here. Until you stumble across this garden, and all that culture goes out the window. Phallic and other sexual statues were literally everywhere.
Flashback to the penis festival; this I assume is a place to pray for fertility and, funnily enough, is not shown on any of the guide maps! If anyone has an idea what it is named, or its purpose, I'd be interested.


It gave us a good laugh anyway!

We walked farther outside of the city until we were in the fields and the temples were few and far between. Luckily we found a bus stop which took us to the final area of the day. By now, the snow had long stopped and the sun was occassionally breaking through the clouds.

Arashiyama is a touristy and resident getaway area on the west bank of Kyoto, with Mt Arashiyama behind it, the river running through and the central focal point of the Togetsukyo Bridge. In the summer I'm sure it's great for picnics and frisbees. Mum and Keith even made a friend!


Tired from all the walking and, as if a blessing, the little shopping district was also home to a streetcar terminal station which cut right through Kyoto and back to our hotel. I couldn't have planned it better myself.

An extra day would've been plenty to see the remaining few sights but I was more than happy with what we fit into the two days. The highlight for me was Sanjusangendo, the temple with the thousands of statues in rows, for Keith I think the castle with the creaking floorboards (although I may be wrong) and for Mum, well...


The next morning, we set off early for a shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima...