Kyoto immediately had a completely different feel to Tokyo. It’s hard to describe exactly what gave us that impression, but all the coffee shops, craft beer and wine bars we walked past might have had something to do with it.
We were very pleased to see our hotel when we finally arrived. The IMU has Japanese style rooms, so we sleep on fold out futon mattresses in a row. It’s remarkably comfortable, I had my best sleeps of the trip so far there. It also has several bottles of sake sitting on the bar in the evenings for guests to sample. Adrian and I popped down couple of times to give it a try. It’s not something we’d drink regularly, but it definitely grew on us.
The next morning we were up and out in good time as we had grand plans to visit three of Kyoto’s big cultural sites. This made it a ‘mandatory appreciation’ day. These are drawn from the same idea as the ‘mandatory fun’ activities at our work team days. In this case, ‘mandatory appreciation’ applies to things that are probably more interesting to adults than to 12 and 14-year olds, but are important for historical, cultural or other reasons, and add to the overall richness of our trip.
We were very keen to get to our first stop, Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine, before the worst of the crowds. It is a Shinto shrine dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice, and known for the thousands of torii gates that wind through the forest on Mt Inari behind the shrine itself. The gates create tunnels to walk through as you explore the trails. It was an amazing experience to wander through the tunnels, and the forest. The kids even appreciated it, for the first few thousand gates at least!
From there we popped into the striking Kinkaku-ji, the ‘Golden Pavilion’. Apt because the top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. It was originally built as a retirement villa for the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in the late 1300s/early 1400s. It really is an impressive sight looking across the pond, and the gardens (which have retain their original design) are beautiful. This was probably a bit more mandatory on the child-appreciation front, but we all enjoyed the visit.
Our final stop for the day was the Zen temple, Tenryu-ji, in Arashiyama. It’s an old temple, established in 1339, and like many Japanese buildings has burned down and been reconstructed multiple times over the centuries (no less than four in the 1300s alone). We sat inside one of the rooms overlooking the peaceful garden and pond. Adrian tried to get the kids to really relax and meditate a little. Their level of appreciation extended to it being a pretty outlook. Horses and water.
The garden was laid out over 700 years ago and still has its original form. It is also an example of shakkei (borrowed scenery), in which the nearby mountains are used to give the garden a sense of added depth. It was designed for strolling, so we duly strolled along the little pathways. At the end of the garden you come into a grove of enormous bamboo, probably 18 feet tall with the thick stalks we’ve seen used in fencing. It would make pandas very happy!
 |
Torii gate tunnels at Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine. Instagrammers are very helpful at creating gaps in the crowds!
No comments:
Post a Comment