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Published: October 11th 2018
To give you some context: there are over 16,000 temples in Kyoto. There are also hundreds of Shinto shrines... We have only seen a few dozen of each so far, and it is already hard to keep them straight!
We had rain for the first time during this trip today... But not until after lunch. It is still quite warm, and the apartment has loaner umbrellas, so we were fine.
We decided to stay in Kyoto until Saturday morning, so we have bit more time to explore this amazing city.
We walked to the oldest part of Kyoto this morning, and found ourselves in the midst of thousands of school kids. It was apparently field trip week in Japan! The kids were buying large amounts regional treats... They were also visiting temples and museums.
We followed the crowds up the hill to the entrance of Kiyomizudera Temple, and then trudged back down and through the quieter side streets of old Kyoto. We stopped for lunch in small cafe, and then continued our walk towards the gardens of Kinchi-in.
In the way, we stopped at the immense Chion-in Temple. This is a very active temple, and there
Konchi-in garden
It was starting to rain..and this carp was a brilliant orange glowing in the grey light!was much construction going on, including repairs of the main building (closed until 2020). We passed through the largest gate in Japan, and toured the open buildings and gardens. We even walked on the famous Nightingale floor that still squeaks to warn of people approaching. We listened to a Buddhist ceremony, and then continued on towards Konchi-in, which seemed to be moving away from us!
At Konchi, the gardens were almost deserted due to the rain. By the time we got to the main building, it was pouring. We sat and watched the rain fall on the dry garden and trees beyond. It was peaceful and serene...
After Konchi, we walked up hill to the Nanzen-ji Temple, famous for its tiger paintings and the triple story Sannon gate. The educational video was very good and had English subtitles.
From Nanzen, we walked downhill to catch a bus back to Kyoto station, and then walked home.
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