03.18.2011 Kinkakuji (Golden) Temple, Ryoan-ji Temple, Sanjusangendo, Yasaka-Jinja Shrine, and Hanatoro in Kyoto, Japan


Advertisement
Japan's flag
Asia » Japan » Kyoto
April 10th 2011
Published: April 10th 2011
Edit Blog Post

I want begin with saying I had the best rain ride so far in Japan. With that being said, let’s move on to the real events. I had a lot on my plate for today. First was the Kinkakuji Pavilion, then Ryoan-ji Temple, followed by Sanjusangendo then finish with Hanatoro festival at Yasaka-Jinja Shrine. The day began at Kyoto train station. This actually led me to the visitor center where I picked up an all day bus pass for ¥500. This was a good deal cheaper than riding each time for ¥220. Kaori has always been a good planner and I wanted to learn from her skills. With that in mind I planned my whole day out from times, to cost, to locations and even distances as well as transportation ideas. I always carry a book with me with all my info in case I want to deviate or check back in the future on what I did that day.

My first stop was Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion), this is one of the most popular temple and places to visit in Kyoto and was a major tourist attraction for all sorts of people. This was actually my first time riding the tour busses in Japan. Personally, I felt these were clean and had simple yet comfortable seating for many people, a 22 inch monitor plastered in the middle of the bus gave details names and stops numbers in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean. While riding the 206 bus heading to Kinkakuji temple I meet two Americans; a grandmother named Beverly and her grandson Austin who happened to be traveling with their Japanese host family. The Japanese host grandfather’s name is Yozo Koizumi, daughter's name is Mika Mae, and granddaughter’s name is Hatsune Mae. We get to chatting and it turns out Beverly hosted the Japanese family in America and has been to Japan several times before. This trip with Austin was for his 18th birthday and has been planned for years. We decide to stick to gather as a unit and march through our first exhibition at the Kinkakuji Temple.

Kinkakuji is a Zen temple in northern Kyoto whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. Formally known as Rokuonji, the temple was the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and according to his will it became a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect after his death in 1408. Kinkakuji was the inspiration for the similarly named Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion), built by Yoshimitsu's grandson, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, on the other side of the city a few decades later. Kinkakuji is an impressive structure built overlooking a large pond, and is the only building left of Yoshimitsu's former retirement complex. It has burned down numerous times throughout its history including twice during the Onin War, a civil war that destroyed much of Kyoto; and once again more recently in 1950 when it was set on fire by a fanatic monk. The present structure was rebuilt in 1955. Kinkakuji was built to echo the extravagant Kitayama culture that developed in the wealthy aristocratic circles of Kyoto during Yoshimitsu's times. Each floor represents a different style of architecture. The first floor is built in the Shinden style used for palace buildings during the Heian Period, and with its natural wood pillars and white plaster walls contrasts yet complements the gilded upper stories of the pavilion. Statues of the Shaka Buddha (historical Buddha) and Yoshimitsu are stored in the first floor. Although it is not possible to enter the pavilion, the statues can be viewed from across the pond if you look closely, as the front windows of the first floor are usually kept open. The second floor is built in the Bukke style used in samurai residences, and has its exterior completely covered in gold leaf. Inside is a seated Kannon Bodhisattva surrounded by statues of the Four Heavenly Kings; however, the statues are not shown to the public. Finally, the third and uppermost floor is built in the style of a Chinese Zen Hall, is gilded inside and out, and is capped with a golden phoenix. Lucky for me the family I bumped into knew the history and events of Kinkakuji, and surprisingly the Japanese grandfather Yozo Koizumi was an English tour guide. I found it so fascinating to listen and hear all the nitty gritty deals of the pavilion and the garden grounds. Most times when touring a temple or palace I am clueless about the true nature and awe of the area, but this was a whole new perspective on the Temple, nothing the internet could tell you about. My perspiration kicked in while slowly walking around the corner to the golden Pavilion. I have seen it hundreds and hundreds of times through the eye or other and but never for myself. The pavilion is more magnificent than any picture could describe. Certain details pop out at the viewer and my eyes could capture the gold illumination that projected from the sun shimmering off the body of the pavilion. It took me five minutes to realize I was blocking traffic before Austin and I kept exchanging camera back and forth for “picture opportunities”. Yozo was an excellent guide and describes all the events that took place at the temple and on the lake. Apparently the lake was used as a drinking and conversation area between emperors and other highly decorated officials. A loading and unloading dock can be seen from the west side of the pavilion. To the east of the Pavilion was the Abbots chamber and as it turns out the title is a dead giveaway for the area’s description. The only point of interest was the boat shaped tree in from that was purposefully made for the chambers. If you gaze into the water small groups of koi can be seen trashing around in the water. Three other points of interest include Shin-un, The Galaxy Spring, Ginga-sen, and The Ryumon Taki. However the real eye catcher was the Coin Toss for Good Luck. This was meant for younger students praying a hopping for good luck for the next year in school. I gave it a go and almost made my shot in the bowl. Just a hop up the hill I stood at the edge of pond of An-min-taku. The small stone pagoda on the island is called Hakuja-no-tsuka, or the mound in memory of the white snake. The rustic yet classic tea house is called Sekka-tei. In Sekka-tei there is a celebrated pillar made of nandin. On the way out we found the small Fudodo shrine where the stone Fudo-myoo, Acala, is enshrined as the guardian.

Only five minute walk away was the ever so popular Ryoan-ji Temple. Ryoan-ji Temple is the site of Japan's most famous rock garden, which attracts hundreds of visitors every day. Originally an aristocrat's villa during the Heian Period, the site was converted into a Zen temple in 1450 and belongs to the Myoshinji school of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism. As for the history of Ryoan-ji's famous rock garden, the facts are less certain. The garden's date of construction is unknown and there are a number of speculations regarding its designer. The garden consists of a rectangular plot of pebbles surrounded by low earthen walls, with 15 rocks laid out in small groups on patches of moss. An interesting feature of the garden's design is that from any vantage point at least one of the rocks is always hidden from the viewer. Along with its origins, the meaning of the garden is unclear. Some believe that the garden represents the common theme of a tiger carrying cubs across a pond or of islands in a sea, others claim that the garden represents an abstract concept like infinity, and apparently some from the middle east claim it to be a dessert and with the rocks signifying mountain in the horizon. Because the garden's meaning has not been made explicit, it is up to each viewer to find the meaning for him/herself. Defiantly a great photo opportunity for visitors and it is indeed a wondrous place to lose yourself in the mystery on who, where, and what the rocks and temple represent. I come from the mid west and have some impact in believing the stone garden to actually mountains and a wide area of landscape, mostly tundra. If you can finally pull yourself away from the gardens then you will come across a unique wash basin in the back of the temple. The unique inscription reads “I learn only to be contented.”Meaning he who learns only to be contented is spiritually rich, while the one who does not learn to be contented is spiritually poor even if he is materially wealthy. This is a key concept and learning in Zen philosophy.

I learned that Yozo and his family needed to head out home for school activities and other teaching lessons for the day, so I grab held of the reigns and took Beverly and Austin on a tour of Kyoto. Austin and I ended up eating out at McD’s and just having a down to earth talk about life. We chatted about personal history and choices to come to Japan. This was actually the first American in Japan who was about my age that I got to have a pretty damn good conversation with. Most of the Japanese I know tends to repeat itself and I have yet to go and meet people at school so this it was a great change of pace from the everyday “my name is Brian” and “I am a university student at Kwansei Gakuin”. After lunch Beverly, Austin and I strolled through Gion just to check it out and figured that we could probably see one more thing before all the temples and exhibits close. In any case, Beverly was keen to point out the Kiyomizudera Temple, but Austin had his heart set on Sanjusangendo. This was actually a change in my original plans for Kyoto but I thought “A change in plans to hang out with a cool grandma and her grandson is definably better than a solo trip.” So it was off to National Treasures of Sanjusangendo.

Sanjusangendo is the popular name for Rengeo-in, a temple in eastern Kyoto which is famous for its 1001 statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. The temple was founded in 1164 and rebuilt a century later after the original structure had been destroyed in a fire. The temple hall is with 120 meters Japan's longest wooden structure. The name Sanjusangendo (literally "33 intervals") derives from the number of intervals between the building's support columns, a traditional method of measuring the size of a building. In the center of the main hall sits a large, wooden statue of a 1000-armed Kannon (Senju Kannon) that is flanked on each side by 500 statues of human sized 1000-armed Kannon standing in ten rows. Together they make for a breathtaking sight. 1000-armed Kannon are equipped with 11 heads to better witness the suffering of humans and with 1000 arms to better help them fight the suffering. However, the actual statues have only 42 arms each. Subtract the two regular arms and multiply by the 25 planes of existence to get the full thousand. There are absolutely no pictures or video allowed in Sanjusangendo, yet walking through you would want to tarnish the feeling or take any of the magnificent away of how you interpret and see this spectacle. The only two words out of my mouth were wow and wow. Austin and I did manage to talk but it was about the fact each of these life sized statues were hand carved out of wood with intricate and immense detail. You may not be able to tell by the photos online but every single statue is different and has their own unique expression, stance, and items. This was honestly the toughest spectacle to put into words; I just kept shaking my head side to side thinking “all the time, effort, craftsmanship, and skill that went into this is beyond anything I could ever dream.” The largest statue in the middle is absolutely stunning. Each arm holds a specific item and is used to help the weary and suffering. The monks around the area were practicing the oldest kanji scripture I have seen. I was clueless to what it meant but it was more about the exquisiteness of the kanji and the immense stroke order. After the slow and amazing walk through I purchased a bronze card depicting the Sanjusangendo Buddha in the middle of the temple.

During the week of March 16th – 22nd was the yearly held festival called Hanatoro. Hanatoro, which means "flower and light road", is a set of illumination events that take place in the Higashiyama District of Kyoto in March and the Arashiyama district of Kyoto in December. During Hanatoro the streets are illuminated by thousands of lanterns set throughout popular areas combined with flower and light displays. Many temples and shrines are illuminated and have special extended viewing hours. In addition, live and street performances are held at stages around the area. The pleasant and unique atmosphere of Hanatoro attracts many visitors who stroll the streets and see a different side of Kyoto. I took Austin and Beverly to one of the most famous location called Yasaka-Jinja Shrine. This shrine has one of the most popular lantern shrines and houses one of the largest sakura trees in its back garden. This was a great photo opportunity for us and also a good change on pace from the temple. We arrived too early to see any lights at the time so we found a restaurant and hunkered down with a warm plate of curry to keep us in the sightseeing mood. Eventually the sun set and it was festival time. This light shows and optical illusion were a feature presentation. Everything from pottery, to flower displays to wacky light shows bedazzled the eyes of visitors. This was more along the line of a cool nights stroll through a light up garden. My favorite display must have been the bamboo candles skewed around the pond. We found some other small shrines and lantern lights but nothing compared to Yasaka-jinja Shrine’s main lantern shrine. I wanted to walk around forever but sure enough the trains and local transportation would stop soon, so we bid our farewells and headed off in our separate directions.


Additional photos below
Photos: 102, Displayed: 31


Advertisement



Tot: 0.134s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 14; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0975s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb