KYOTO Temples and Castles and Kimono oh my

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The next stop on our tour of Japan was Kyoto, home of The Emperor and Capitol of Japan for much of Japan's History. During the period when the Shoguns where in Control The emperor would live hear doing to a greater or lesser extent what the Shogun told him to. As he had no real ruling to do the Emperor and his court spent much of their time developing art and finding new ways to be elegant and refined, often on a budget if the Shogun was displeased or short of cash. Kyoto has suffered much less than many Japanese cities during the 20th Century and there are many old buildings still left. Kyoto feels like the home of Japanese Culture and there is certainly a very high concentration of temples, palaces, and Kimono shops. Prices for Kimono ranged from the blatant obscene in beautiful couture shops to the surprisingly reasonable. We found a great 2nd hand shop selling very fine kimono for about £20. Sadly we did not have enough baggage space to justify buying one and Amy made do with an Obi and Chris with a Yukata We stayed at the Yahata Guesthouse, a tiny but friendly hostel sleeping on futons on the tatami floor. As this was a budget place we only got one which was a little uncomfortable but overall the place was good and very friendly. We where even able to hire some bikes so we could go to the laundry.

Places we visited:

Ninjo-jo - Castle of the Shogun in Kyoto- built for the Tokogawa Shoguns this beautifully designed castle was the official residence of the Shoguns when they where in Kyoto, which was hardly ever, it was however the location where power was signed back to The Emperor following the Meiji Restoration in 1867. The whole place, built by a local lord at the instruction of the Tokogawa is designed to browbeat the Shoguns opponents with it's splendor, Gold covers the walls of the main entrance rooms with elegantly carved fearsome animals covering the walls. The different rooms in the Castle where arranged according to how in favor your family was. Unpopular families visited the huge main state rooms, with fierce creatures on the walls. As you progressed rooms became smaller and more intimate and the decorations where of peacocks and other elegant creatures. There where a number of precautions against assassins in the palace including nightingale floors and hidden guard rooms.

Higashi-Hongan Jie

2 huge Buddhist Temples we found on our way to do the laundry, Founders hall, the starting place of a particular sect of Buddhism is one of the largest wooden buildings in China.

To-Ji.
The largest 5 story pagoda in the world, the pagoda and its complex are very interesting (also very cold in January). There was also a huge market going on in the temple grounds including many kinds of indescribable food and lots of pretty things.

Costume Museum

This small museum on the 6th floor of an office block contained hundreds of 6" high models of characters dressed in formal Japanese court garb displaying scenes from The Tales Of Genji, a famous Japanese book of courtly love. These absolutely enchanted Amicu and Chris was staggered by the sheer number of models, each wearing up to 10 layers of Tiny Kimono. Apparently these are adjusted regularly according to the season.

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Photos

Nijo jo
Now thats what i call a palace

Random encounter - Hawk
This hawk landed on and ate a pigion infrount of us in the grounds of the castle, looked rather fine doing it,

Trees carfully wrapped up for winter
It was not uncommon to see trees wrapped in straw to keep them warm for the winter

A Kimono fasion show
We randomly wandered into this, nice

Amicu in the Park
this was at Toji Do

Scene from the Tales Of Genji
A Japanese classic of courtly love

one for the caption compotition
another scene from Genji