In the second day of Kyoto exploration we had 3 major sights to visit, so we started early in the morning: bought day passes for buses and headed to Fushimi Inari Shrine. The shrine is the most important of shrines dedicated to Inari, shinto god of rice. The most striking feature of the shrine is thousands of red wooden torii gates forming several kilometers of paths along the slopes of sacred mount Inari. We walked through tunnels of closely built gates, each of which had an inscription with the name of donor (individual or company) an eventually emerged near a sub-shrine, where priests were getting ready for a burning ceremony. As far as I understand, the visitors of Fushimi shrine write their wishes on small planks of wood which are periodically burned in a large fire by the priests. I guess, this way the prayers are delivered to Inari for consideration :)
While scarlet tunnels were certainly mysterious and fascinating, we had to rush to our next destination - Nijo Castle
. The castle used to be the residence of the first shogun of Edo period, Tokugawa Ieyasu. After Edo period, it became an Imperial palace for a while. The exhibition inside the castle gives a glimpse into lives of shoguns of Edo period, receiving visitors in their multiple reception rooms with tatami mats, elegantly decorated ceilings and beautifully painted sliding doors (fusuma). An interesting feature of the castle is famous nightingale floors that squeak when stepped upon warning the guards about any intruders. The floors are equipped with ingenious sound mechanism that uses friction between metal and wood to emit twitting bird-like sound (see details here). Outside of the main castle building there is a traditional Japanese garden with a large pond, ornamental stones and manicured pine trees.
The last and most important sight we saw that day was Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) temple. The entrance to the temple grounds was flooded with flocks of uniformed middle school girls, running, laughing and struggling to see the gilded national treasure of Japan
. Making our was though the sea of girls, we managed to steal a glimpse of a magnificent golden structure beautifully reflected in the surrounding pond. The pavilion is crowned with a golden phoenix, which actually appears on the 1000-yen banknote, I believe.
After the long day of sightseeing we headed to Gion, Kyoto's famous entertainment district, associated with geiko (geisha). Most of the restaurants near Gion are pretty upscale and after taking a few looks at various menus we decided to head away from the touristy spots for a dinner. The decision was pretty fortuitous, since we stumbled upon a small place which served okonomiyaki, a Kansai region specialty. It's a fairly weird dish that looks like a large pancake, made out of various vegetables and meats, like chicken, beef and squid. After the dinner we went to see a cultural show in Gion Corner. Aimed at foreign tourists, the show is a highly concentrated introduction to several traditional Japanese arts and include short performances of a tea ceremony, ikebana, bunraku, Kyogen comic plays and dances performed by real maiko. We even got volunteered for the tea ceremony and were served rice cakes and matcha tea, prepared by a real tea master :)
Kyoto, Day 2
Friday, November 18, 2011
Kyoto, Kinki, Japan
Other Entries
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1First day in Japan!
Nov 126 days priorTokyo, Japanphoto_camera2videocam 0comment 3 -
2Arrival to Kobe
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3Kobe, Day 1
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4Kobe, Day 2
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5Kobe, Day 3
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6Kobe, Day 4
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7Kyoto, Day 1
Nov 171 day priorKyoto, Japanphoto_camera19videocam 0comment 6 -
8Kyoto, Day 2
Nov 18Kyoto, Japanphoto_camera15videocam 0comment 6 -
9Nara Daytrip
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10Osaka Night
Nov 191 day laterOsaka, Japanphoto_camera1videocam 0comment 4 -
11Arrival to Tokyo
Nov 202 days laterTokyo, Japanphoto_camera4videocam 0comment 1
2025-02-07