Kyoto

Back in April, the husband's parents and brother came out to visit us, *yay!* and I'm just getting around to writing about it...It was a memorable couple of weeks and it was so special that we got to share this Japan experience in a very real way with family.  We showed them around Tokyo a bit and towards the end of his parent’s stay we took a trip down to Kyoto.  We purchased a package from our local ITT office which included the shinkansen (bullet train) tickets and our hotel reservations.  The shinkansen ride was about as cool as I’d hoped it would be.  We started pretty early, so by the time we got checked in it was still early afternoon.

I had sort of mapped out a travel route using the city bus system, which was fine, but the next time we visit we might opt for a taxi to cut back on travel time.  The bus wasn't all bad, really.  They had a day pass you could buy on the bus that was convenient and the bus stops had routes that were easy to understand.  But the ubiquitous tourist maps of the city aren't really drawn to scale; after riding around the first day we started to really get how spread out some of the main attractions are. 

 

Here it looks so tiny and manageable.

We started off our afternoon at Kiyomizudera Temple, an UNESCO World Heritage site.  Before visiting, I had asked many of my students and acquaintances what their favorite temple in Kyoto was and a clear majority had chosen Kiyomizudera, a Buddhist temple set on a dramatic hillside stage which offers sweeping views of the city.  I had heard the Japanese saying “To jump off the stage at Kiyomizu,” but it wasn’t until much later that I learned its meaning; it refers to an Edo-period tradition of people actually jumping off this stage, because it was said that if you survived the fall, you would have a wish granted.  Apparently most survived. 

The only off-putting factor was the very crowded walk up the hill to Kiyomizudera, lined with what ended up being just too many souvenir shops.  This street was actually listed as a popular attraction on Tripadvisor.  In reality it was a shuffling human funnel that was really touristy and the wares were not authentic and many of them seemed non-essential.  Except the sweet shops; they can stay.  I don’t have anything against sweets! I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of the food here. 

Also, fun fact: there was not a single nail used in the building of this temple. 

Next we wandered on over to Sanjusangen-do, or Hall of the Lotus King, although the name is literally referring to the extravagant length of this Buddhist temple.  It houses 1,000 Kannon statues, which look identical, in neat little rows.  The front row consists of statues of Hindu deities, and I probably could have spent a little more time on reading the mythology information on each one, but that would have made for a long stay.  There was no photography inside the temple, and everyone was very quiet and respectful while walking through the hall.  Out of the lot that I’ve visited, this one felt the most temple-ish.  You could really feel the age of the place and despite being a tourist attraction the atmosphere was a lot more solemn. And if you go, please remember to bring socks, because shoes are not allowed.  (I forgot, I know, eww.)

The last major stop on our list for the day was Ginkaku-ji, also known as the Silver Pavillion, another World Heritage site.  No, unfortunately, it’s not covered in silver.  But it did have beautiful grounds and a very prominent sand garden.  We shut it down and took the bus back to the Gion district, which was near our hotel, and decided to take a scenic walk back, stopping briefly at Yasaka shrine, which was nice, but ultimately skippable. We strolled through the cobblestone streets of Gion, which was lined with what mostly looked like expensive Japanese restaurants.  I caught a glimpse of what must have been a geisha ducking into a fine-looking establishment, but there was literally a throng of people swarming to that door to try and get a picture of her, so I contented myself with a glimpse.  By then it was dark and we had had a full day.  

The next day we started early again, trying to beat the crowds to Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavillion, yet another World Heritage site. It is ridiculous how many this city can claim! 17!  Seriously!

But it was crowded at opening time, with no surprise: it’s one of Japan’s most iconic sights, and even though it was difficult getting a snapshot without including 200 other people who were there to see the same thing, it was a must-see.

From there we went downhill to Ryoan-ji, The Temple of The Dragon at Peace, (and, yup, World Heritage site) which is famous for its rock garden.  There has been much speculation over this zen garden and its layout, as to what it symbolizes, or why that arrangement was chosen, but it’s primary purpose seems to be to incite meditation.  And the other gardens surrounding the temple are very pleasant. To my surprise I was very fond of this one, as it was not crowded, had a very peaceful atmosphere, and had beautiful painted paper screens that looked ancient.  Sitting on the veranda contemplating a real-life rock garden (like, the only real one I've seen outside of Pier 1) is also highly underrated. 

A short walk downhill we did see the entrance to Ninna-ji Temple, which was massive, but I had made a small error on the bus route situation so we decided to not go inside and instead head back to the hotel so that we could catch our midday train to Hiroshima on time.

 The trip was a success, in my book, especially since we had two half-days to explore the city and I feel like everything we saw was worth it.  My only disappointment was missing Fushimi Inari Shrine, which I think warrants another trip sometime in the next year.