Day #2 in Kyoto (11/2)

Kyoto is a big city with a million plus residents. When you're driving down the main streets it feels big and crowded. And then a taxi driver turns onto a little street/alley and there's life back there too -- little shops occasionally and hotels and homes. But I can see why people say you have to come to Kyoto when you visit Japan; it's filled with hundreds of beautiful temples (Buddhist) and shrines (Shinto). I need to learn more about both religions to understand the symbology used in them. If I had to pick -- I prefer temples to shrines. Temples have gardens and shrines primarily have gates, altars, and toriis but each one has some special feature that makes it unique.

We got up early (for me!) and where out the front door of the Hearton Hotel by 8:30!

First stop was a famous temple called Kiyomizu Dera Temple. It's sits up on the East hillside of Kyoto. We got out of the cab at the bottom of the narrow street leading up to the Temple. And we surrounded by hoards of school kids on field trips to see the Temple. So it was difficult for me to enjoy the street shops or the temple because of all the people. I don't think I deal well with crowds and certainly not at 8:30 in the morning.

The street shops were filled primarily with fans, kimonos, purses, scrafs, trinkets or they were selling mochi or green tea icecream.


Most school kids wear uniforms -- skirts/blazer/loafers for the girls or slacks/blazer/loafers for the boys. Some also wear ties. And the outfits are either dark blue or black. It's interesting to note that some girls are allowed to wear their skirts at an incredibly short length and then others are much more modest. Occasionally I'll see a group of younger school kids with regular clothes and caps (yellow, red or blue). That must be what they get to wear until middle school. And the older kids are always posing for photos flashing the peace sign for their photos (even the formal school photos that are taken in front of temples).


I wasn't too wild about this particular temple because of the crowds, but one cute thing was a group of 5 middle school students who came up to Dennis while I was in the bathroom. They were there to practice their English. So they had 5 questions to ask him (i.e. where are you from?). And then they asked to talk his photo.

Next stop on the temple tour: Chion-in Temple.
I liked this temple because we got to observe monks in action. They were having some sort of ceremony in this huge wood temple -- large dark brown wood pillars and tatami mats and an altar in the middle. And these things that are hard to describe -- long, cylindrical tubes in gold hanging from the ceiling. They were bright and beautiful against the dark background of the walls and pillars. The monks wore dark brown robes except one who was wearing orange robes and gold headpiece sitting by himself closer to the altar. And they were chanting in Japanese, tapping hollow wooden boxes, ringing bells, and burning incense. It was very cool to sit and just observe the ritual.

3rd stop: Eikando Temple.
A smaller temple with beautiful grounds that was also on the hillside of Kyoto. I climbed stairs to see the upper buildings and a view of the city with Donald and Chie while Donald Jr. and Dennis took photos.

After lunch we walked along Philosopher's Walk to our next temple. I'm not sure why it's called that though. It's a nice little path alongside a canal with big homes on either side. It's supposed to look like blowing snow on this walk in April when all the cherry blossoms bloom and blow with the wind. Right now it's just greenery. The trees haven't quite started to turn colors yet -- almost though.

4th stop: Ginkakuji (Silver) Temple.
I'm not sure why it's called the Silver Temple because the building is just dark wood and fading. I was much more impressed with the grounds, even though I had to walk single-file around the paths because of all the people. Sculptured sand formations, moss (including one called VIP Moss -- very important moss), and mini-trees with sculptured branches.

There was a man weeding the moss with a little wood tool -- digging up little weeds inside the moss!

Last stop: Kinkakuji Temple with Golden Pavilion.
This a famous temple because it's so photogenic. It's a 3 storied-temple with 2 stories painted with layers of gold. And it's sits on the edge of a pond so you can get nice reflections of the temple in the water. It's impressive.

Then we went to Kyoto Train Station to have dinner. On the 11th floor there is something called the Cube Floor (versus the 10th floor -- the Ramen floor) with tons of different Japanese restaurants. They all looked like the offered somewhat similar food but we picked the one with the shortest line.

Then we dragged ourselves home at 9:30 pm to go to bed! Long day but I did see some very cool temples.