My trip to Kyoto...(Tuesday)

Tuesday started with heavy rain... I continued temple-hopping at the Kiyomizudera ("Pure Water Temple") which is said to be one of the most celebrated temples of Japan. The steep way up to the temple, which is located in the wooden hills of eastern Kyoto, was still tranquil as it was quite early in the morning. Luckily, I found one shop which was already open so that I could by an umbrella.

Kiyomizudera was founded in 780 and remains associated with the Hosso sect, one of the oldest sects within Japanese Buddhism. It is famous for its large wooden terrace which is supposed to offer a nice view over the city. Well - I can agree that this has to be true for slightly better weather conditions... Even still, the view was very nice.

Behind Kyomizudera's main hall stands Jishu Shrine, a shrine dedicated to the deity of love. In front of the shrine are two rocks, placed maybe 20 m apart from each other. It is said that successfully walking from one to the other rock with your eyes closed brings luck in your love live...

Well, you guessed right: I had to try. I mean, come on, a nice little challenge on a rainy tuesday was just what I needed. Behind the "target rock" however there was as stair which went down, so I had to hit the rock in order not to tumble down the stairs since I did not have anyone to stop me in case I went wrong... The couple who tried before me failed. She did not look quite happy when ending up about one or two meters off the rock :p It was a little weired walking without knowing whether you soon tumble down a stair or hit a rock, but I hit it, with centimeter target-precisision :D Well, I always knew that Biathlon aiming practise would pay off sometime ;-)

From the temple I decided to walk through the narrow lanes of the atmospheric Higashiyama district to the Yasaka Shrine, thereby passing the Kodaiji and Chionin temples. The many shops, restaurants and ryokan in the area had now opened for the day. They have been catering to tourists and pilgrims for centuries, and the products on sale range from local specialties such as Kiyomizu-yaki pottery, sweets and pickles to the standard set of souvenirs.

After a while I arrived at the Kodaiji temple. It was constructed in 1605 in memory of the great political leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi by his wife. Besides fine temple halls, Kodaiji features a small bamboo grove and a landscape garden with tea houses, designed by leading, contemporary masters.

From Kodaiji I continued to walk to the Chionin temple and passed a huge japanese graveyard. They are quite different from the graveyards in europe - all concrete and not a lot of flowers or trees.

Still in heavy rain, I reached Chionin temple which is the head temple of the Jodo (Pure Land) sect of Japanese Buddhism. The Jodo sect was founded by Honen in the year 1175, and due to its relatively simple teachings, attracted large numbers of followers among the commoners. It remains one of the largest Buddhist sects even today. Chionin's temple gate (Sanmon gate) is Japan's largest, standing 24 meters tall.

Chionin was built in 1234, but the currently oldest buildings date from the 17th century. Inside they had a worship, and I took a very short movie of it from the outside, which you can see here: http://folk.uio.no/yvonner/Japan/ (Chionin.avi)

Close to Chionin is the Yasaka Shrine, also known as Gion Shrine, which is famous for its Gion Matsuri, one of Japan's largest festivals.

Finally it stopped raining, and I went to see the Nishiki Market. Known as "Kyoto's Kitchen", Nishiki Market has a history of several centuries, and many stores have been operated by the same families for generations.

Various kinds of fresh and processed foods including many Kyoto specialties, such as pickles, Japanese sweets, dried food, sushi, and fresh seafood and vegetables are sold. I have honestly no idea what most of the food was - some of it looked good, some did not, quite a few things smelled nice and for the rest you can be glad that pictures don't reproduce smell yet... But in general: I would have had trouble knowing what to do with most of what you could buy. I am sure - properly prepared it would have been very tasty, but a am not yet a master of the japanese kitchen.

After the marked I decided to go and pay the emperor a visit at Kyoto Imperial Palace (Kyoto Gosho) which is located in the spacious Kyoto Imperial Park. The Palace burnt down and was moved around the city several times over the centuries. The present reconstruction dates from 1855. The palace complex is enclosed by a long wall and consists of several gates, halls and gardens.

Unfortunately, the emperor moved to Tokyo already in 1868 when the capital was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo... and since the palace only can be visited during guided tours which are not held on national holidays (all of my 3 days in Kyoto were national holidays...) I only looked at it and went on. If you ever think of going to Kyoto and visit the Palace you should keep in mind that in order to join a tour you have to apply for permission with your passport in advance...

My next destination was Arashiyama, which is a pleasant, (touristy) district at the outskirts of Kyoto. The buss ride took me about 30 minutes - a welcome break for my tired feet :-)

After arriving in Arashiyama I went to Tenryuji, a Zen temple. It has been ranked first among the city's "Five Great Zen Temples". The temple was established in 1339, and like many other temples burnt down several times over its history. The current buildings date from the Meiji Period.

Muso Soseki, the temple's founding abbot and famous garden designer, created Tenryuji's landscape garden, unlike the temple buildings, survived the many fires and is considered one of the oldest of its kind.

Behind the temple, Bamboo groves are found. The bamboo is still used to manufacture various products, such as baskets, cups, boxes, mats and pieces of art at workshops in the Arashiyama area.

From the temple I crossed the wooden (now partially concrete) Togetsukyo Bridge, which is Arashiyamas landmark.

Togetsukyo Bridge means literally "Crossing Moon Bridge", and the river it crosses is the Hozu River. It is possible to take boat trips down the river in boats powered by three boatmen with poles and oars.

However, the weather was not ideal for a boattrip, and I did not have the two hours it takes anyways since I rather wanted to see wild Japanese Macaque Monkeys (you can read more about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_macaque) at the Iwatayama Monkey Park.

After a steep but beautiful 10-15 minute walk up the hills through dense forest, I spotted the first two monkeys in a tree.

Short time after I reached an observing plattform, from where I had a great view over Kyoto. The monkeys live in the wooded mountains and are free, but they are all given names and their date of birth are known by researchers who study this group of monkeys. They often gather around the observatory since they are fed there occasionally to make it easier to study them.

Even the monkeys seemed to enjoy the view, and the fact that the weather was improving ;-)

Another monkey...

There were even some monkey babies, which were quite curious. One of them liked my camera lense especially good, and another one even jumped on my back when I sat down to take a picture :-) I probably looked like a cool playmate. I made a small movie clip which you can watch here: http://folk.uio.no/yvonner/Japan/ (Japanese_Macaque 002.avi)

Monkey-Spa...

After my decent through the forest I had a quick look back on the hill that I just had been on top off, and decided to catch a train to Kyoto station to catch my Shinkansen back to Nagoya.