Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan for over 1000 years. It is home to thousands of beautiful temples, shrines and historical sights. Kyoto is the best preserved historical city in Japan, making it a wonderful place to go sightseeing, which we did plenty of!

If you’re able to take the shinkansen, it will be about a 2 ½ hour ride from Tokyo station. If you aren’t sleepy and don’t have any work to get done, it still doesn’t feel like too cumbersome of a ride since there’s plenty of beautiful scenery blazing past you at well over 150 miles per hour.

We visited various temples (called tera, dera, in, or ji) and shrines (often called jinja, jingu, taisha, or a few other names) while we were there. We wanted to see a lot while we were in the area, so we didn’t stay still for too long, but still got to see plenty of wonderful places!

It might be good to mention that Caitlyn and I bought a stamp book in Tokyo at the Hie Shrine before going to Kyoto. At each temple or shrine there are special stamps and local calligraphers that will write the motto of that specific site and the date, costing only around 300 yen ($3). Most places won’t allow you to record, but one or two did, and we’ll be able to show you whenever we sit down long enough to upload it! We are getting a wonderful and varied collection!

Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavilion) was the first temple we visited. The temple is an impressive sight as it is mostly covered by gold leaf, and shimmers in the sun. It is surrounded by tranquil water with koi swimming to and fro while majestic cranes stand watch on the banks. There was also a variety of plant life with meticulously kept gardens all around you. The wind was initially blowing, but as it stilled, so did the water, and the reflection of the Golden Pavilion on the water was absolutely breathtaking! We were among many taking pictures and selfies of this golden jewel!

Caitlyn had several school girls ask to get her pictures with them by the Pavilion. She stands a lot taller than most people in Japan!

Ginkaku-ji was our next stop. It is also called “The Temple of the Silver Pavilion. The temple was built in 1482 by Ashikaga Yoshimasa and there are many buildings over the whole complex. There was a tree near this temple that was over 500 years old. That’s older than America! There were many beautiful gardens, and areas where the gravel was arranged in a unique design. All around were many gardeners carefully tending the bushes, flowers, and trees.

Fushimi Inari-taisha was our next stop. This shrine is well known for its seemingly endless amount of orange torii (or gates) that are lined up one after another. Inari means fox, so there were lots of fox statues everywhere, and little charms that you could buy with foxes on them. There were a lot of people at the shrine despite it being a very rainy day!

Kiyomizu-dera temple. This temple is very large, but is well known for its perch overlook. We were there just before sunset, “the golden hour”-the perfect time for picture taking! The complex was established in 778 and has 15 buildings that are dated between the 15th and 17th century. Many of the buildings were undergoing some serious restoration, so it was a bit of construction zone, but that didn’t dampen the experience!

It must have taken a long time to build this temple. I can only guess that it was an extremely dangerous job for the workers who built this glorious structure at such an extreme height. As we were leaving there was a pond with 3 channels of water running through it from a mountain stream. The 3 streams of water represent health, wealth and love. You were able to walk up, grab a ladle, and drink from any of the three streams. They’re not labeled, so you have no idea which stream you’re drinking from. Either way, it’s meant to give you good luck!

Uji
Byōdō-in in Uji is a very old building that is surrounded by a lovely pond. Inside there is a huge Golden Buddah. It was extremely rainy the day we were touring the grounds of the temple, so we spent most of the time in the museum and then enjoyed some green tea ice cream.

Nara
Todai-ji in Nara has expansive grounds and there are deer everywhere! Deer are considered messengers of the gods in the Shinto religion. They roam freely all over town and love to be fed “deer crackers”. Since they’re still animals, you have to be careful as they have no problem nibbling on you if they think you’re food.

The huge temple has huge wooden guardians as you enter the grounds of the temple. The temple’s original construction started in 743 and was completed in 752. Somewhere in the ballpark of 2,6000,000 people participated in it’s construction. The wooden temple burned twice and the current building was constructed in 1709. There is a huge Buddha statue, and several golden statues and monuments around. It is truly an impressive temple!

After we finished up touring the temple, we discovered that Nara was celebrating its 5th year of an outdoor music festival. We were fortunate to hear the end of Okinawan singer, Rimi Natsukawa concert. She sings many of the Japanese folk songs that I have been studying. It was exciting hearing her sing and watching the crowd respond to her music! It was a nice way to end our busy, rainy day!

Back to Kyoto

Gion/Shijo is the area where the Gion Festival (called Gion Matsuri) takes place. It is held the whole month of July. Unfortunately we will not be able to participate in that festival! The Gion Festival is a huge Kyoto event. The festival was started as an annual event in 970 and was held to appease the Shinto gods of fire, floods and earthquakes. At the festival there are various booths, food stands, souvenirs and thousands of people attending.There is a huge parade with many floats, dancers and musicians on July 17 and 24th. It is the biggest festival in Japan!

Yasaka Jinja or the Gion Shrine was established over 1350 years ago. It is one of the most famous Kyoto shrines. There are 100’s of lanterns hung around a dance stage that are lit at night. The lanterns have the names of patrons and businessmen that help to support the shrine.

Kōdai-ji is a very tranquil temple with a peaceful garden setting. It was very relaxing to roam the gardens, and get away from the hustle of the city, and it was our last stop in Kyoto before heading back. We did however make one final stop at Bazu, a little restaurant where our newfound friend Hisako-San makes some pretty stellar green tea ice cream and warabi mochi in the shape of a rabbit.