We woke up pretty early today, around 7 am, even though sleeping on a futon was not as uncomfortable as it might seem. We took a Japanese-style shower (sitting down on small plastic chairs) and had some Western-style breakfast at a nearby place (tea and pancakes). Then we took a bus to famous Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion) temple.
Since we made it to the temple pretty early, it was not yet crazy packed with tourists, so we had a really nice stroll through Zen gardens, which included a unique dry sand garden (called "Sea of Silver Sand") and a moss garden with waterfalls, ponds and bridges
. There were some groundskeepers beating the moss with a wooden block and pulling out pine needles from it by hand. I am a big fan of Zen gardens and Ginkaku-ji never fails to impress!
After leaving the serene temple grounds, we headed along Philosopher's Path in the direction of another group of temples. It seems that I picked the perfect time to come to Kyoto, as all the sakura trees along the path were in full bloom and starting to lose their petals in a soft pink rain. The Philosopher's Path follows a canal lined with hundreds of sakuras, and they were all blooming beautifully! Thousands of people walked along the path, 90% of them with cameras, snapping photos like crazy. This was definitely the experience worth the entire trip to Japan! We've also encountered some animals around the way: a bunch of stray cats living in some sort of a carriage and huge fish who seemed to be taller than the water level, I have no idea how they survive in the canal.
Following the recommendations from my guide book, we stopped by a temple's restaurant serving Shojin Ryori, bland and austere vegetarian cuisine of Buddhist monks. It was definitely an interesting experience, as sitting on the floor in seiza position can be pretty painful for inexperienced chair-users. The only option on the menu was a full tofu course: sesame tofu block, grated yam soup, baked tofu coated with miso, boiled tofu, vegetable tempura (which consisted of a piece of seaweed, small green leaf, green chili pepper and some unidentified object) and plain white rice with pickled vegetable
. Buddhist surely work hard on their enlightenment!
After a Buddhist lunch we headed to the nearby Buddhist temple Nanzen-ji, one of the most important Zen temples in Japan. It is marked by a massive Sanmon gate built in 1628 by the ruling Tokugawa clan to commemorate the soldiers who died in the siege of Osaka Castle in 1615. Behind the temple we saw a red brick aqueduct, an unusual sight. It was built during the Meiji period (1868-1912). Right behind the aqueduct we found another zen garden, a part of Nanzen-in temple, which is a subtemple of Nanzen-ji and was originally Emperor Kameyama's retirement villa. The garden was so quiet and serene that even the couple of ducks resting in a pond appeared to be entranced. We also stopped by Saisho-in, a tiny subtemple with a graveyard and a small friendly doggy.
Zenned out to the max, we left the temples and hiked along the aqueduct through mountain side closer to the centre of Kyoto. There we found a garden with more sakuras and made our way down the mountain, through some quiet neighbourhoods, past several more temples and to Maruyama Park, still lively with festival stalls and school kids doing hanami in a noisy manner. I tried a grilled squid from one of the stalls, it was rather rubbery, but interesting. Then we walked through Yasaka Shrine to Gion district, where we hung around Hanami-koji street, but did not see any maiko
. We made our way to another part of Gion: Shirakawa. That area runs along Shirakawa canal lined by willow trees, sakuras and high-class restaurants and tea rooms (ochaya). And right there I managed to snap a photo of a maiko passing by.
It was getting dark already, so we crossed Kamogawa River and ate some Japanese curry at a funky fastfood restaurant where you pick an item, pay for it at a machine, then it gives you a ticket to give to the staff. After dinner we walked along Pontocho area, a slightly less upscale and considerably more sleazy entertainment district. Finally, we made our way to brightly lit downtown area of Kyoto, filled with fancy department stores (I checked out one, but it only had overpriced European and American brands). So, we headed back to the hotel to rest.
Kyoto day 2: temples, sakura and more temples
Monday, April 07, 2014
Kyoto, Kinki, Japan
Other Entries
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1Arrival to Osaka
Apr 034 days priorOsaka, Japanphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 4 -
2Osaka day 1: quiet temples and shopping bustle
Apr 043 days priorOsaka, Japanphoto_camera12videocam 0comment 17 -
3Osaka day 2: castle and sakura blossoms
Apr 052 days priorOsaka, Japanphoto_camera15videocam 0comment 7 -
4Kyoto day 1: temples and geishas
Apr 061 day priorKyoto, Japanphoto_camera5videocam 0comment 5 -
5Kyoto day 2: temples, sakura and more temples
Apr 07Kyoto, Japanphoto_camera16videocam 0comment 12 -
6Kyoto day 3: temples, temples and more temples
Apr 081 day laterKyoto, Japanphoto_camera7videocam 0comment 3 -
7Kyoto day 4: the regular Japan
Apr 092 days laterKyoto, Japanphoto_camera7videocam 0comment 0 -
8Kyoto day 5: high culture day
Apr 103 days laterKyoto, Japanphoto_camera12videocam 0comment 1 -
9Nara: deer and mystic forest
Apr 114 days laterNara, Japanphoto_camera10videocam 0comment 1 -
10Kanazawa: city of the park
Apr 125 days laterKanazawa, Japanphoto_camera11videocam 0comment 7 -
11Gero: onsen town
Apr 136 days laterGero, Japanphoto_camera7videocam 0comment 3 -
12Takayama festival
Apr 147 days laterTakayama, Japanphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
13Tokyo day 0: Shinjuku
Apr 158 days laterTokyo, Japanphoto_camera6videocam 0comment 0 -
14Tokyo day 1: from fish market to electric street
Apr 169 days laterTokyo, Japanphoto_camera11videocam 0comment 2 -
15Tokyo day 2: Skytree and entertainment districts
Apr 1710 days laterTokyo, Japanphoto_camera10videocam 0comment 2 -
16Tokyo day 3: museum day
Apr 1811 days laterTokyo, Japanphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
17Tokyo day 4: Harajuku
Apr 1912 days laterTokyo, Japanphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0
Comments

2025-02-11
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juliettka
2014-04-13
"Beating the moss with a wooden block" - what's that for?
juliettka
2014-04-13
Seiza position - isn't this how I sit all the time??? ))
I'm happy that you went there at the right time to see blooming sakuras to the max! :)
juliettka
2014-04-13
What time does it get dark there?
How's the temperature?
juliettka
2014-04-13
"you pick an item, pay for it at a machine, then it gives you a ticket to give to the staff" - Have you ever shopped in the Soviet Union?? :PP
juliettka
2014-04-13
You seem to be exploring pretty actively, good for you! :)