Today a delayed post on my last visit to Japan (2 weeks ago).
We spent Friday going through Kyoto. We got a bit of a late start because of complications arising from the “Shot Bar”, but we were out and on our way to the Toji by 11am or so. We took the local train one stop from Kyoto station to the Toji, which is a 5 tiered pagoda Buddhist temple which is synonymous with Kyoto. Most of the Toji buildings were built in the late 700s AD, but almost all of them burnt down either from lightning or from the dynastic wars of the 1500s, and so these particular instances of the buildings are only about 400 years old :). Still older than almost any building you can find in the US. Keep this in mind, this is a common theme with Japanese temples. Very old.
After the Toji, we walked to the Kyoto subway and rode it north to Nijo-jo. Nijo Castle (Jo) was started in 1601 by Ieyasu Tokugawa (the 1st Tokugawa shogun). It was mostly complete by 1603, but was not 100% done until 1626. The Tokugawa shoguns ruled Nijo-jo until the Meiji Restoration in 1867, after which the Castle was given to the Imperial family. It was donated to the city of Kyoto in 1939. It is a World Heritage site. While not as impressive as Osaka Castle, it is quite nice in that it is one of the few original palaces still left. The original nightingale floor (which squeaks when you walk on it, to discourage ninja or other assassins from sneaking in) is still in place and the original shoji paintings, etc., are also still there.
After Nijo-jo, the next stop was the Kinkakuji, also known as the Golden Pavillion. Originally a retirement home for the third Ashikaga shogun, it eventually became a Rinzai Zen Buddhist temple before it was burned down in 1950 by an obsessed student. It was rebuilt in 1955 with more gold than it originally had, giving it its current beautiful appearance. The official Kinkakuji site also has a web cam, but remember that Kyoto is GMT +9 hours, so your best chance of not seeing darkness is in late afternoon/evening US.
Before hitting the Kinkakuji, we decided to find some food. Since Mat and Sriram still hadn’t had any “real” japanese food, we went looking for some. Since Sriram is a vegetarian (and does not eat fish), this was a bit hard :). However, we did find a noodle place down the street from the Kinkakuji that had some kareudon. Or to anglicize it, Curry Udon. Sriram liked the kareudon so much that we spent much of the rest of the trip looking for more 🙂
After the Kinkakuji, we decided to go to Chionin, a temple on the east side of Kyoto near the Westin Miyako hotel. We took the subway and walked from the Keage stop to Chionin. Unfortuately, by the time we got to Chionin, it was about 4:30 or so, and the temple had closed. Or at least, that’s what we assumed. While standing around outside Chionin, we noticed this really cool cloud being backlit by the sun. After this disappointment, we wandered back to the subway and ran back to the hotel before going out to Shin-kyogoku for some shopping. We probably walked in excess of 10 miles that day, so we decided to forego the “Shot Bar” again and turned in early, especially since we were going to Nara on Saturday. All the photos are up here. Next up: Nara.
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