kyoto!

Today was our day in Kyoto. It's a shame we only had a day here because we did so much, but only scratched the surface of this incredible city.

We went to the train station pretty early and made our way to the station. There was a train almost ready to leave for Kyoto, but James didn't get on in time, and the doors shut in his face. We found each other in Kyoto Station OK, so that was a relief. After all, I have the train passes and passports; James has the money. So getting separated is not a good thing. ;)

First, we went to 二条城 Nijoh Castle, the official Kyoto residence of the first Tokugawa 将軍 shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. The 'nightengale floors' squeak to alert the guards (in concealed secret chambers on watch) of intruders. It was very big, with gorgeous gold-leaf paintings on the sliding doors. They were just incredible, but unfortunately, there were no photos allowed inside. Fair enough I guess.

Near Nijoh Castle is the 二条陣屋 Nijoh-Jinya, a merchant's home from the 1600s. Because visiting lords and daimyo often visited, the house is designed with their protection in mind. It's a rabbit-warren of rooms, secret passages, and anti-espionage devices. Although we didn't have a reservation, we were allowed in, but only because I could understand Japanese (Take that, language barrier!). The walls were fire-resistent, the 障子 shoji screens were double-layered to reveal shadows of eavesdroppers, there were secret stairways and hidey-holes, and a skylight from which a guard jump down and confront intruders on the main floor. James really enjoyed that place.

After lunch, we took the JR line to 伏見稲荷大社 Inari Shrine, which is the site of the 千鳥居 thousand Torii gates. A bit of a misnomer, because there's probably ten thousand of them. They're all painted red (some have faded to pink) and they line the path up to the top of the mountain. They make a kind of tunnel, leading shrine visitors to the inner shrines, dedicated to the gods of rice and sake. There were also wishes and prayers written on miniature Torii gates, and placed about the different shrines. There are also many statues of foxes. (as a side note: not sure if this is related or not, but it might be that 稲荷寿司 Inari-sushi, sweetened rice in a pocket of sweetened deep-fried tofu, has a connection with the fact that sweetened deep-fried tofu is the mythological nine-tailed fox's favourite food). The foxes often carry keys in their mouths, for the rice granary, or so I hear. I bought a necklace with that design.

We then took the bus from Kyoto Station to 三十三間堂 Sanjuusan-gendoh, which houses 1001 gold-leaf covered images of 観音 Kannon, Buddhist goddess of mercy. She has 1000 arms, each of which saves a world, but due to Buddhist mathematics, each arm saves 25 worlds, so each of them have 40 arms. But it's still a lot of arms. The faces of the statues are also slightly different. There is a giant Kannon in the middle flanked by 500 on each side. The statues are about 5 feet tall each, and the large one is 15. It was an incredible hall, full of these statues, and with cultural artefacts (statues of Buddhist gods and goddesses) in front of the Kannon statues. No photos allowed, but I bought a post card and I'll scan it when I get back.

Near Sanjuusan-gendoh, we went to 知恩院 Chion-in, which is a really big temple complex. The entrance gate is the largest in Japan. It's very, very big. Inside the complex is a great variety of buildings with monks chanting, incense and great photograph opportunities. There was some kind of service going on, but I couldn't tell what it was. The inside of the main hall was just gorgeous. Apprantly there is a giant bell that takes the combined strength of 17 monks to ring in the new year. We couldn't find this bell. Oh well, maybe next time, haha.

After all those statues, we took a cab (our feet were starting to ache!) up the hill to the 清水寺 Kiyomizu-dera (lit Clearwater Temple) which had an amazing view of the Kyoto skyline, and a view of a cute little pagoda tucked into the forest below.

The　sun was setting, so we walked back west through Gion to check out some of the old tea houses. We caught a glimpse of four geisha on their way to appointments. I caught a picture of one of them as they got into the cab. And as touristy as it sounds, it was really cool to see an actual geisha.