Kyoto Temples and Shrines



Kiyomizudera Temple, Kyoto

Kyoto, located in central Honshu, was the capital of Japan for more than a thousand years and is filled with Buddhist temples, shrines, gardens, and palaces.  It is also home to the country's most important works of art, its richest culture and most refined cuisine.  Kyoto hangs on to its rich history and high culture and visitors today can still see streets of traditional wooden houses, hear the click-clack of geta (traditional wooden sandals) walking on the paving stones, see geisha passing in a flourish in their silk kimonas and view temple pagodas surrounded by cherry blossom trees.



Jishu Shrine-The Cupid of Japan





The Golden Pavilion-Kinkaku-Ji Temple

I visited a few of Kyoto's shrines and temples while in Kyoto, many with the group and some on my own during our free day and during my extended stay in Kyoto.  Perhaps because I was able to linger in Kyoto longer than any other stop along the tour (partly because Susan and I extended our stay here another two days), I began to feel the spirit of Japan here in Kyoto.  It was hard to leave after spending nearly a week visiting museums, temples and shrines, being part of the Gion Matsuri celebration and enjoying the people and cuisine the city has to offer. 



Kinkaku--Ji Temple Grounds

 On day one in Kyoto, we left our ryokan in the Eastern Gion District of Kyoto and made our way up Kiyomizuzaka street to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple.  For over 1,000 years pilgrims have climbed the slopes to this temple to pray to the temple's 11-headed Kannon image and drink from its sacred waters.  While touring this temple I lingered in the main sanctuary for awhile while taking in the panoramic view from the temples veranda.  I then made my way to the Jishu Shrine, dwelling place of the god of love and matchmaking.  Many young people come here to pray for future happiness, while many parents come to pray for their children.  Before leaving the temple complex, I joined the line of my fellow pilgrims to drink from the sacred waters spring (Kiyomizu means pure water in Japanese). 

For the remainder of the day we crisscrossed the city visiting the major temples and shrines.  One was Kinkaku-Ji, or Golden Pavilion.  Originally the retirement villa for the 14th century shogun, Yoshimitsu.  Upon his death, the villa was turned into a Zen Temple.  The temple sits on the side of a central pond garden and is completely covered in gold leaf and topped with a golden phoenix.  I marveled at the structure, noting rather sadly that I was not looking upon the original but an exact replica rebuilt after a fire completely destroyed it in 1950.  We walked the temple gardens trying  to be take in the serenity of the place, at the height of the tourist season!


Ryoan-ji Temple Zen Rock Garden

 Temple number three of the day was Ryoanji Temple.  This temple's claim to fame is its Zen rock garden.  The garden is made up of white gravel and  15 stones arranged in a perfect zen-like manner.  I sat for a few moments on the temple's veranda and contemplated the meaning of the arrangement.  A Zen masters display on the meaning of life and open to a multitude of interpretations. 





Ryoan-Ji , Pond Garden



After lunch we visited the Ninna-Ji Temple, once the home of the ex-emperor in the year 888.  It is noted as the headquarters of the Omuro School of the Shingon sect of Buddhism.  This temple is noted for its colossal front gate and five story pagoda dating back to the 1630s.  The final site of the day was Heian Shrine, one of Kyoto's largest and newest shrines, built in 1895.



1001 Kannons at Sanjusangen-do Temple

 There are sooooo many temples and shrines in Kyoto, that one can go crazy trying to exolore them all.  With so a short time in Kyoto, we were limited as to how many we could visit.  My friend Susan and I extended our stay in this historical city and therefore were able to explore two more amazing sites.  One was a templa and one was a shrine.  First caught the city bus to visit the Sanjusangen-do Temple.  This temple left me speechless for inside the long main hall stand 1,001 life-size Kannon (Goddess of Mercy) images!  The main hall is the largest wooden structure in the world, dating back to 1164 and the Kannon statues date back to 1254 and were carved by Tankei at the age of 82.



The most famous of all the thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the god of sake and rice  is the Fushimi Shrine in the district of Fushimi, a short distance from Kyoto.  The shrine sits at the base of Mt. Inari and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines.  The afternoon was a memorable one as we made our way upwards while under the arches of hundreds of vermillion torii gates.  Our spiritual pilgrimage was enhanced by a light rain and thunder (marking the end of the rainy seeason).   We walked up thousands of stone steps up the mountain alonside other spritual devotees.  Along the way were thousands of  Otsukas built by the many faithful.  The way up is dotted with little shops that serve as places for the visitors to rest and refresh by selling drinks and snacks.  On the way down we stopped in a small store that sold souveniers for the pilgrims  as well as being a place for the faithful to deposit their offerings of rice and sake to the god Inari.  We both were greeted warmly by the man who ran the shop, and we discovered lived there.  As we sipped tea, he engraved our torii gates souveneirs with blessings of long life and happiness for ourselves and our families.  We we returned to our ryokan, it was time to get ready for the Gion Matsuri!





A Kyoto Ryokan

The remainder of the NCTA study tour of the physical and human geography of Japan was spent in Kyoto with a day trip to nearby Nara.  We spent these next several days in a traditional Japanese hotel called a ryokan.  The tatami room (a floor  covered with pale green rice-straw matting) has a table and chairs in the center and nowadays in more modern Japan, instead of flowers and a wall scroll, there is a television and phone in the alcove (tokonoma) on one wall. At night the table is removed by the staff and the futons are placed on the floor for sleeping. The futons are thick and very comfortable to sleep on.  Off of the entrance way there is a bathroom and separate toliet room.  One is expected to shower first when in the bathroom while standing or sitting on a small stool outside the bathtub and then once washed you can soak in the tub for awhile.  You never enter the bathtub before washing!