Kyoto

  My first stop was the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.  Visiting the palace is a bit inconvenient as one needs to apply in advance for permission from the Imperial Household Office near the palace (passport required).  Visits are only allowed with a tour and there are set to specific times (I applied for the permit at 8:45am, opening time of the office, and got assigned the 10am tour).  While I was waiting to join my tour, I took a walk around the palace in the Imperial Palace Park. The park has a nice tea house in a pond (pictured above), a shrine, plus a baseball field and tennis courts.

The tour group was quite big, almost 80 people and included only the exterior of the buildings and the gardens inside the complex. The reason why Kyoto has an imperial palace is that the city was the capital of Japan for over 1000 years.  The buildings of the Imperial Palace has been destroyed by fire many times and then rebuilt.  Shishinden, the main building (in the picture above) is huge and it's used by the Emperor on special occasions.  The building is flanked by an orange tree (representing prosperity) and a cherry tree (representing loyalty).  The building contains the coronation throne which was moved by helicopter to Tokyo for the the ceremony of enthronement of Emperor Akihito. 

The palace is basically divided in two areas: the official section and the living section.  While the official section was built to impress, the living section was more beautiful with gardens and nice simple buildings.   The garden in the picture below (Oikeniwa Garden) contains a large pond with even a mooring place.  It's used as a strolling place for the Emperor and his court.

In occasion we were able to peek inside one of the buildings and take a look at the fantastic paintings.  The painting below describe a popular drinking game for the court.  They would set small boats with sake glasses along a stream.  If the boat stops by a person, he has to drink the sake, refill the glass and send it further downstream.  At the end of the stream, servants would return the boats upstream for another round.

 

My next stop, just a few subway stations away was the Nijo Castle.  The castle was originally built in 1603 as the official Kyoto residence of the first shogun of the Tokugawa family.  It was under control of that family until 1867 when it was returned to the Emperor and became the property of the Imperial family.  The castle is more a moat and a wall surrounding two palaces than an actual castle. 

With the help of an audio guide (highly recommended unless you speak Japanese), I toured the Ninomaru Palace.  The most striking feature of the palace are the sliding door paintings.  These paintings are reproductions of the originals that have been slowly removed for safekeeping in a different building (even though they are reproductions, photography is not allowed).  The reproductions try to be as close of the originals as possible and they were made using traditional methods and pigments.  An interesting feature of the castle are the nightingale floors.  These floors are designed to squeak when walk on it.  They are made with a clever combination of holes and cramps on the boardwalk that when pressed against each other make a squeaky sound.  The sound warns the Samurais of the Shogun of anybody walking around the corridors and allow them to track their progress.  Visible from the palace, it's the Ninomaru Garden, a large scale garden with a pond containing three islands: The Island of the Eternal Happiness (the biggest one), Crane Island, and Turtle Island.

From the palace, I decided to brave the Kyoto bus system to head to Kiyomizu-dera temple.  Actually, it's not too bad.  The city of Kyoto publishes a leaflet that explains how to use the bus system and there are three routes that serve the main tourist attractions of the city plus they offer a very cheap day pass.  Buses are a bit harder to use than the subway but a lot more convenient.  Kiyomizu-dera temple is a very popular destination for Japanese and it was full of school children visiting the city.  The main attraction is the cliff-like deck outside the main temple that is supported on an intricate, several story high, wooden structure of pillars.   From the deck there are fantastic views of the system of Kyoto and the nearby forest. 

Kiyomizu means "pure water" and is a reference to the spring near the temple that emerges as a waterfall.  The legend says that if you drink from this water (on UV sterilized cups) and you make a wish, it will be granted.  Above the main temple, there is a Shinto Shrine with lots of fun legends.  My favorite one was the love stones.  The legend says that if you are able to walk from one to the other (they area about 25 meters apart) with your eyes closed, love will find you soon.  On the other hand, if you fail, it will take a long time before you find love.  If you require help to find the second stone, then it means that you'll find love soon, but you'll need the help of somebody for that to happen.

 

From the temple, I walked to Sanjusangen-do.  This is a very pleasant walk with a few possible stops in small parks and temples.  Sanjusangen-do is known for its 1001 statues of the Buddhist deity Juichimen-senjusengen Kanzeon, also known simply as Kannon.  The temple has 1000 Kannons, made of Japanese cypress, standing like a big chorus around a gigantic Kannon seated in the middle.   Guarding the 1001 Kannons, there are 28 images of protecting deities.  The dynamism and power of these images, many of the National Treasures of Japan, contrast with the calm and quietness of the Kannons.  The temple dates from the 12th century and it was renovated in the 13th century with no major changes in the last 700 years. No photography is allowed in the hall (the image to the left is a picture of the picture of the leaflet). 

From Sanjusangen-do, I took the bus to Ginkakuji temple (also known as the Silver Pavilion).  This temple, a Buddhist Zen temple, was built in 1489 as the retirement villa of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa.

The main building was closed for renovation, but the garden was open and well worth a visit.  In addition to what you expect from a Japanese garden, it features white sand waves and a sand mountain shaped like Mount Fuji.  These structures were made to reflect the moonlight to enhance the viewing of the garden at night.

It was now past 5pm and I was getting very tired, so I treated myself to an ice cream and started walking back to the bus stop.  I returned to the Kyoto station (via Gion, the Geisha district, which is full of tourist but no Geishas) and after a short walk to my Ryokan, I was ready for dinner, a bath, and a good night of sleep.  Tomorrow, I'm heading to Nara, a popular side trip from Kyoto