After leaving Kamakura and the Great Buddha, Sean and I made our way to Kyoto, the capital of Japan before Tokyo and thus, a cultural and historical gold mine. In fact, UNESCO has recognized 13 places in Kyoto as World Heritage Sites considered important to global culture and worthy of preservation. We only had 2 days in Kyoto so we missed out on a number of those sites, but the five we made it to were beautiful and interesting.
The first sites we saw were two Buddhist temples located within a couple of blocks of one another. The first, Nishi (West) Hongan-ji, was established in 1591 as the headquarters of the Jodo Shinshu school of Buddhism. The second, Higashi (East) Hongan-ji, was built a decade later in order to compete with the Nishi Hongan-ji and weaken its power.
Because there are so many historic sites in Kyoto we were a bit overwhelmed so instead of choosing between them on our own we decided to take the advice of Sean's parents, who had visited Kyoto in the 80's, and we went to the Ryoan-ji and Kinkaku-ji. Luckily, due to the nature of these centuries old sites, they hadn't changed much since the Grattons' visit so their advice was still spot on.
The Ryoan-ji is a Zen temple founded in 1450. Its main attraction is a small, raked rock garden located on the temple grounds. Also of interest was the moss that covered the ground instead of grass--it was the most amazing color of green you could imagine.
The Kinkaku-ji is a temple in the middle of pond that (as you can see in the pictures) is covered in gold. The original structure was built in 1397, but after it burned to the ground in 1950, an exact replica was rebuilt five years later. This place may be the most amazing of all the sites we had seen so far. I am sure the pictures will not do it justice.
The fifth and final place we visited was the Nijo-ji castle, the 17th century residence of the shogun in Kyoto. In addition to its beautiful grounds, this fortress is known for its "nightingale floors"--wood floors constructed to squeak when walked upon in order to alert the residents to the presence of potential threats. The pictures of the castle itself aren't all that striking so below is a picture of an amazing tree from the Nijo-ji grounds. Enjoy!
Stay tuned...Hiroshima is next!
