Last part of Kyoto Trip
Right, sorry posting has been a bit failiant since Mike arrive in Japan, but he left today and I have a lot to cover and I will try my best to catch up in the next 36 hours before Nii-san arrives and then well theres practically no chance I will even get dressed let alone turn on my laptop. ^__^ (and ^/_\^ I should think...)
First was the 4th day of Kyoto, which I think was my favorite. This day we headed to the temples on the Eastern city, which included the Sanjusangendo, which has 1001 golden statues of the goddess of mercy Kannon, each with 42 arms, which are like a shiny terracotta army of figures to save 25 worlds each. Each is slightly different, with unique faces, clothing and items in their hands, and are defended by a series of protector deities, which themselves are amazingly details national treasures, in the centre there is a massive kannon. You cannot take pictures inside the main hall, but I am sur eyou can google it to get a sense of the stadium-equese nature of having the terraces of that many life size goddesses lined rank and file looking at you.
From there we went to Kiyomizu-dera, from the back way, which is reached by walking thru a large rambleing cemetry, this temple is set up on the hills a has a large veranda that looks out on the city and the temple gardens below. There is a large red and white pagoda, a large buddhist hall as well as a shito shrine that people come to looking for luck in love, that has a large number of cute-but-oddly-sinister white rabbits with shining red eyes.
Approaching the temple, uphill, there are some narrow crowded streets selling various crafts, foods and gifts which are all suprsingly tastefull and high quality given the number of tourists that pack the streets, including ceramics and woodcrafts and traditional japanese sweets and snacks. We spend ages investigating the shops on the way to Kodaiji, which a quiet temple with a covered walkway known as the reclining dragon corridor, and a odd take on a zen garden with squares of gravel and moss in a strange chequer board pattern. There was also a small teahouse set in a bamboo forest.
Finally we went to Chionji which had a very large central hall before we returned to the hotel somewhat templed out.
Pictures
The next day we spend going out to Arashima which is in the north eastern side of Kyoto looking for a vintage car race that we had seen posters for a few days previously. We didnt manage to get there in time to see the race or many of the cars, but we did visit a small temple we found completely by chance that had a huge number of small stone stautues of people like little goblins allover the temple grounds.
Then we took the Shinkansen to Himeji which has the best preseved original castle in Japan; also known as the White Heron. It was a nice day to stand around in the sun which was a good thing as this is mostly what we did; it was absolutely heaving people. We pretty much saw the castle from a queue for the entire day. on the way out close to closing time we managed to get some photos that didnt have 80 other people in them. The caslte is much larger than the one in Matsumoto, and has a lot more surrounding walls around it.
By this time my camera battery had died, but Mike's photos, that I have stolen are HERE.
First was the 4th day of Kyoto, which I think was my favorite. This day we headed to the temples on the Eastern city, which included the Sanjusangendo, which has 1001 golden statues of the goddess of mercy Kannon, each with 42 arms, which are like a shiny terracotta army of figures to save 25 worlds each. Each is slightly different, with unique faces, clothing and items in their hands, and are defended by a series of protector deities, which themselves are amazingly details national treasures, in the centre there is a massive kannon. You cannot take pictures inside the main hall, but I am sur eyou can google it to get a sense of the stadium-equese nature of having the terraces of that many life size goddesses lined rank and file looking at you.
From there we went to Kiyomizu-dera, from the back way, which is reached by walking thru a large rambleing cemetry, this temple is set up on the hills a has a large veranda that looks out on the city and the temple gardens below. There is a large red and white pagoda, a large buddhist hall as well as a shito shrine that people come to looking for luck in love, that has a large number of cute-but-oddly-sinister white rabbits with shining red eyes.
Approaching the temple, uphill, there are some narrow crowded streets selling various crafts, foods and gifts which are all suprsingly tastefull and high quality given the number of tourists that pack the streets, including ceramics and woodcrafts and traditional japanese sweets and snacks. We spend ages investigating the shops on the way to Kodaiji, which a quiet temple with a covered walkway known as the reclining dragon corridor, and a odd take on a zen garden with squares of gravel and moss in a strange chequer board pattern. There was also a small teahouse set in a bamboo forest.
Finally we went to Chionji which had a very large central hall before we returned to the hotel somewhat templed out.
Pictures
The next day we spend going out to Arashima which is in the north eastern side of Kyoto looking for a vintage car race that we had seen posters for a few days previously. We didnt manage to get there in time to see the race or many of the cars, but we did visit a small temple we found completely by chance that had a huge number of small stone stautues of people like little goblins allover the temple grounds.
Then we took the Shinkansen to Himeji which has the best preseved original castle in Japan; also known as the White Heron. It was a nice day to stand around in the sun which was a good thing as this is mostly what we did; it was absolutely heaving people. We pretty much saw the castle from a queue for the entire day. on the way out close to closing time we managed to get some photos that didnt have 80 other people in them. The caslte is much larger than the one in Matsumoto, and has a lot more surrounding walls around it.
By this time my camera battery had died, but Mike's photos, that I have stolen are HERE.