Better known as the “Silver Pavilion”, Ginkaku-ji is a Zen temple along Kyoto’s eastern Higashiyama mountains. It consists of the Silver Pavilion, half a dozen other temple buildings, a beautiful moss garden and a unique dry sand garden.

A first sight of the Silver Pavilion can be enjoyed shorty after entering the grounds. Formally named Kannonden (Kannon Hall), the pavilion’s two stories are constructed in two different architecture styles and contain a statue of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The interior of the building is not open to the public.

Despite its name, the Silver Pavilion was never covered in silver. Instead, it is believed that the name arose as a nickname more than a century after the building’s construction to contrast it with the Golden Pavilion. Alternatively, it is explained that moon light reflecting on the building’s dark exterior (which used to be covered in black lacquer in the past) gave it a silvery appearance.

Cost: ¥500 for entry

This is an outstanding temple in Kyoto’s Higashiyama District and belongs to the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism. Its main buildings were constructed in the lavish style of the era of Japan’s unification with the financial support of Hideyoshi’s successor Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Cost: ¥600 combo ticket

[Men pushing carts, which is common in Kyoto]

Kodai-ji’s rock garden
Visitors can enter Kodai-ji’s main hall (Hojo), to reach the rock garden consisting of a large field of raked gravel meant to represent the vast ocean. The other garden is an impressive tsukiyama style garden featuring a pond, man made hills, decorative rocks and beautiful pine and maple trees, the latter of which turn brilliant shades of red and orange during the autumn color season.

[Rock garden]

[Tsukiyama style garden]

[Staircase leading to the garden]

Within this garden stands the Kaizando (memorial hall) where Nene would pray for Hideyoshi and which now enshrines stone images of both of them. It is said that if you touch the feet of both of them with your right hand, you will earn luck.

[Statues of Hideyoshi and Nene]

After one exits the temple, a series of steps, named Nene’s Path, will lead back down to the streets of the Higashiyama District. Across the street from Nene’s Path is a recently redeveloped area with some shops and cafes. This area is also home to the small Kodaiji Sho Museum, which exhibits treasures of Kodaiji, Nene and several pieces of lacquer artwork. The complex is surrounded by the buildings of Entokuin Temple, a small subtemple of Kodaiji that features two more Zen gardens.

[You can pay ¥3,000 and get a personalized tea-drinking ceremony]

Kodaiji is located in the Higashiyama District between Yasaka Shrine and Kiyomizudera. It is a 5-10 minute walk from Higashiyama Yasui bus stop (15 minutes, 230 yen from Kyoto Station by bus number 100 or 206).

To the southeast corner of the temple precincts, we saw a huge statue of Buddha named Ryozen Kannon. It is a concrete and steel statue of white robed Kannon which is 24 meters high. It is a war memorial to commemorate the Japanese who died during World War II.

Right next to Kodai-ji Temple is Yasaka Pagoda, the last remnant of Hokanji Temple, and one of the most visible and recognizable landmarks in the Higashiyama District. Visitors may climb up the inside of the five story pagoda, which is a rare opportunity as most pagoda can only be viewed from the outside.

Cost: ¥400

[Met some Geisha’s on the way]

We walked across the streets of Higashiyama district lined up with souvenir shops, restaurants and lots of people walking around

[Streets of Higashiyama district]

[Streets of Higashiyama district]

[Streets of Higashiyama district]

[Streets of Higashiyama district]

[Streets of Higashiyama district]

Literally “Pure Water Temple”, is one of the most celebrated temples of Japan. Founded in 780 on the site of the Otowa Waterfall in the wooded hills east of Kyoto, it derives its name from the fall’s pure waters. In 1994, the temple was added to the list of UNESCO world heritage sites.

Kiyomizu-dera is best known for its wooden stage that juts out from its main hall, 13 meters above the hillside below. The main hall, which together with the stage was built without the use of nails, houses the temple’s primary object of worship, a small statue of the eleven faced, thousand armed Kannon.

Behind Kiyomizudera’s main hall stands Jishu Shrine, a shrine dedicated to the deity of love and matchmaking. In front of the shrine are two stones, placed 18 meters apart. Successfully finding your way from one to the other with your eyes closed is said to bring luck in finding love. You can also have someone guide you from one stone to the other, but that is interpreted to mean that an intermediary will be needed in your love life as well.

The Otowa Waterfall is located at the base of Kiyomizudera’s main hall. Its waters are divided into three separate streams, and visitors use cups attached to long poles to drink from them. Each stream’s water is said to have a different benefit, namely to cause longevity, success at school and a fortunate love life. However, drinking from all three streams is considered greedy.

Kiyomizudera can be reached from Kyoto Station by bus number 100 or 206 (15 minutes, 230 yen). Get off at Gojo-zaka or Kiyomizu-michi bus stop, from where it is a ten minute uphill walk to the temple. Alternatively, Kiyomizudera is about a 20 minute walk from Kiyomizu-Gojo Station along the Keihan Railway Line.

A walk of about 20 minutes brought us to the one of the most magnificent temples of Japan – Sanjūsangen-dō Temple.

This is the popular name for Rengeo-in, a temple in eastern Kyoto which is famous for its 1001 statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. The temple hall is with 120 meters Japan’s longest wooden structure. The name Sanjūsangen-dō (literally “33 intervals”) derives from the number of intervals between the building’s support columns, a traditional method of measuring the size of a building. In the center of the main hall sits a large, wooden statue of a 1000-armed Kannon (Senju Kannon) that is flanked on each side by 500 statues of human sized 1000-armed Kannon standing in ten rows. Together they make for an awesome sight.

1000-armed Kannon are equipped with 11 heads to better witness the suffering of humans and with 1000 arms to better help them fight the suffering. Note that the actual statues have only 42 arms each. Subtract the two regular arms and multiply by the 25 planes of existence to get the full thousand.

We took the bus no. 100 back to Kyoto Station and got some rest at the hotel. After sundown, we took the bus again to the Gion District which is Kyoto’s most famous geisha district, located around Shijo Avenue between Yasaka Shrine in the east and the Kamo River in the west.

We wanted to see a Geisha show and traditional tea ceremony at the Yasaka Hall Gion Corner. The one hour show costs ¥2,500 per person sells tickets 15 minutes before the show and they usually get sold out. Available for tourists only, make sure to arrive at the hall at least one hour before the show to make sure you get the tickets.

Just before the show starts, the MC will randomly select two guests from the audience for an exclusive tea ceremony and I was lucky to be picked along with a woman from Argentina.

The ceremony starts with the two of us seated on a table in the corner and given handwritten instructions to follow on how to drink the traditional tea. Then an “assistant” comes and prepares the platform for the main person to step up and prepare the tea. Then the assistant serves the tea to us one at a time.

After the tea ceremony, there are performances ending with a Geisha performance.

All in all it was a great, productive day visiting the main sights of Kyoto and ending with a fantastic experience at the Gion Center.

Note: All values in USD, unless otherwise mentioned, are approximate and based on the exchange rate of USD 1 = JPY 100. Each cost is for one adult.
 

 
  #Asia #Itinerary #Japan #Kyoto #TripReport

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The hurricane has passed by and the it was a sunny morning. We checked out of Chisun Inn Asakusa at 8am and walked to Asakusa station to take a train to Tokyo station. We needed to exchange our JR ticket for an actual JR pass, so we stood in line outside the JR Pass office at Tokyo station that opens at 9am.

When you purchase a JR Pass from your home country, you will be given a voucher that looks like an 1990s airline-ticket, which you must exchange for an actual JR pass in Japan.

Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass) This is the most important part of your planning. Get a Japan Rail pass if you plan to travel around the country. You can visit the Japanese consulate or JR offices in your city to purchase one. JR passes can be bought online as well. Remember JR pass can be only bought outside of Japan and must be bought before you enter Japan. They come in three types – 7 day, 14 day or 21 day pass. Starting at US$280 for a 7-day coach class pass, this is one of the best investment you will make for your Japan trip. It covers all the Shinkansen’s (bullet trains), local buses that accept JR passes, and JR suburban train lines. All you have to do is show your pass and you travel free! Your number of days period starts from your first travel. Go to the JR Pass office at Tokyo station and exchange your ticket (given to you when you purchase it) for an actual JR Pass. You can mention the starting date to the desk personnel. Keep this pass with you in the same way you’d keep your passport, but more handy. The Japan Rail Pass is valid on: JR trains The pass is valid on almost all trains operated on the nationwide network of JR (Japan Railways), including shinkansen, limited express, express, rapid and local trains. Aoimori Railway between Hachinohe and Aomori Pass holders are allowed to get on and off only at Aomori, Hachinohe and Noheji Stations. This allows pass holder to access the Shimokita Peninsula. Tokyo Monorail to/from Haneda Airport JR Ferry to Miyajima Local JR buses The pass is valid on local buses operated by JR (but not on highway buses). There are not too many, but among them, the following can be useful to foreign tourists: Yamaguchi – Hagi Kyoto Station – Ryoanji – Takao Kanazawa Station – Kenrokuen JR buses to Lake Towada JR tourist loop bus in Hiroshima JR city buses around Sapporo JR local bus to Kusatsu Onsen

 
Detail out the dates and times of the trains you will be taking; and it is recommended to book your seats in advance. Having a strict itinerary we booked all our trains all the way to the departure date. The whole booking process takes time so plan your exit from the Tokyo station accordingly.

Form Tokyo station, it was a comfortable, 1.5 hour ride on the Shinkansen to Kyoto. We were told repeatedly by our hotel staff and the station master that if we sat on the right side of the train, we will be able to see Mt. Fuji on the way, just in about 10 mins after leaving Tokyo. And this is what we got to see from a super-fast train:

[Mt. Fuji from Shinkansen on way to Kyoto]

[Kyoto Station]

Our hotel, Hokke Club Kyoto, was right opposite the station. But before checking in, we stopped by the Kyoto Post office next to the station for my postal stamp. The staff at the post office were impressed by the collection and offered to give a ‘collection stamp’ instead of the regular one.

We checked-in to the hotel and walked around the main street before heading into the closest restaurant for lunch. After getting out of the restaurant at about 2pm, we took the local JR Nara line (tickets covered as a part of Japan Rail Pass) from Kyoto Station to Inari Station, that takes about 10 minutes.

An important Shinto shrine in Kyoto, Fushimi Inari shrine is famous for the thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds.

Foxes are thought to be Inari’s messengers, resulting in many fox statues across the shrine grounds. While the primary reason most foreign visitors come to Fushimi Inari Shrine is to walk through those torii gates, the shrine buildings themselves are also attractive and worth a visit. These torii gates are donations by individuals and companies, and you will find the donor’s name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate. The cost starts around 400,000 yen for a small sized gate and increases to over one million yen for a large gate.

We hiked for about 3 hours to the summit of the mountain before turning back. Along the way, we came across a South Indian movie shooting with Vijay and Kalpana Agarwal as the stars:

There are also a few restaurants along the way, which offer locally themed dishes such as Inari Sushi and Kitsune Udon (“Fox Udon”), both featuring pieces of aburaage (fried tofu), said to be a favorite food of foxes.

After about a 30-45 minute ascent and a gradual decrease in the density of torii gates, visitors will reach the Yotsutsuji intersection roughly half way up the mountain, where some nice views over Kyoto can be enjoyed, and the trail splits into a circular route to the summit. Many hikers only venture as far as here, as the trails do not offer much variation beyond this point and the gate density decreases further.

Returning back to Kyoto Station, we took the local 100 bus to the Golden Pavilion – Kinkaku-ji Temple. An impressive structure built overlooking a large pond, this is the only building left of Yoshimitsu’s former retirement complex.

After viewing Kinkaku-ji from across the pond, you will pass by the head priest’s former living quarters (hojo) which are known for their painted sliding doors (fusuma), but are not open to the public. The path once again passes by Kinkaku-ji from behind then leads through the temple’s gardens which have retained their original design from Yoshimitsu’s days.

Continuing through the garden takes you to the Sekkatei Teahouse, added to Kinkaku-ji during the Edo Period, before you exit the paid temple area.

It was almost sunset when we got back to Kyoto station, and took the train to Gion Shijo station, from where it was a 10 minute walk to the most visited and famous market of Kyoto – Nishiki Food Market.

A narrow, five block long shopping street, the Nishiki food market is also known as “Kyoto’s Kitchen” because of all the food-related stuff sold here – fresh seafood, produce, knives and cookware. You can spend hours here looking and trying the Japanese sweets, pickles, dried seafood and sushi.

The Nishiki Market street runs parallel to Shijo Avenue, one block north of Shijo Avenue. It can be reached on foot in less than five minutes from Shijo Station on the Karasuma Subway Line (4 minutes, 210 yen from Kyoto Station) or Karasuma or Kawaramachi Stations on the Hankyu Line.

We decided to walk back 45 minutes to our hotel near Kyoto station, taking in what the Gion district and Kyoto city had to offer. Stopped by an Italian restaurant for a taste of Italy in Japan!

Next day was going to be filled with the glorious and world-famous shrines and temples of Kyoto.

Note: All values in USD, unless otherwise mentioned, are approximate and based on the exchange rate of USD 1 = JPY 100. Each cost is for one adult.
 

 
  #Asia #Itinerary #Japan #Kyoto #TripReport

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Japan accommodation costs
Japan transportation costs
Japan travel on a budget
Asia travel
Nomadic culture
Japan landscapes
Japan road trip
Adventure travel Japan
Ecotourism Japan
Off-the-beaten-path destinations
Tokyo, Nikko, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Itsukushima Island, Nara, Nagoya