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Published: March 2nd 2009
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Kinkakuji Golden Pavillion
An exquisite piece of craftsmanship. After a fast train journey from Tokyo on the Shinkansen, we arrived in Kyoto. Our first challenge was to get some money out of an ATM so we could pay for the bus journey to Utano Youth Hostel where we had booked up to stay. We tried several ATM's with no luck and as it was late all the banks were closed. The bus journey was 45 mins, so we were certainly not going to attempt to walk there with our backpacks on, so we simply had to find an ATM that worked. Claire watched over the bags whilst Andy continued the search. Eventually a very kind lady, dressed in a traditional kimono, from a posh hotel within the train station, directed and then escorted him to the Post Office where he had success. We later discovered that the 7-Eleven shops also had ATM's that worked for us. We purchased our bus tickets and continued our journey. At the bus stop another very kind lady from Singapore called Zealyn not only directed us to the Youth Hostel, but helped carry our bags to it! What a contrast to our Chinese experience - we already loved Japan!!!
The hostel was
Friendly Japanese Schoolchildren...
...in the grounds of Ninnaji Temple immaculately clean and the staff were all extremely helpful. Our room was minimalistic and the bathroom was made from moulded plastic so very efficient to clean and excellent use of such a small place. It even had a traditional Japanese Bath, or in reality two baths, one for ladies and the other for the gents. Before you get into the hot water, you have to strip off, clean yourself in the showers surrounding the rather large bath or mini pool, before you can get in and just relax - how lovely!
Tour of the Temples After a good nights sleep, and an interesting Japanese/Western style breakfast (that we wouldn't recommend) we agreed to carry out a 'Tourism Survey' for the Kyoto Tourist Board. We were given a mobile phone which was advanced for western technology, but quite dated in Japanese terms being over a year old now. It had a camera, mini keyboard and GPS to track our every move.
We purchased an all day bus travel card and set off for Ninnaji Temple. Also called Omuro Palace, it was completed in 888 under Emperor Uda. It was sadly destroyed by fire during the Onin War,
1467-77, and rebuilt later between 1641-44. Within the grounds, we were greeted by several school children who very politely asked if they could practice their English on us. They showed us some books they had made and explained the pictures of famous Japanese places, people and animals. They were so polite and respectful, a real credit to their parents and teachers. We chatted and had photo's, and we now look forward to receiving some letters from them.
Next stop was the beautiful Ryoanji Temple, a Zen Temple. which started life as an aristocrat's country villa. We took a leisurely walk around the peaceful lake which reflected like a mirror and had huge koi carp swimming around in it, then made our way up to see the Zen Garden - created by perfectionists with so much attention to detail. A simple bed of white gravel raked around the five groups of three stones placed together is all the materials used to create the karesansui (dry landscape). It is believed to date back to the mid-15th century and is renowned throughout the world to be one of the finest examples of such. Wandering around the gardens we were fortunate enough to
5-Storey Pagoda at Ninnaji
This elegant pagoda built back in 1637, stands 33 meters tall. see some beautiful Japanese red maple trees, a real bonus for a chilli December day!
Our final temple of the day was the stunning Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion), formally known as Rokuonji. It reflected beautifully in the clear lake and the gold leaf glimmered spectacularly in the sun. Built in the Kamakura period (1185 - 1332), it was originally an aristocrat's country estate and has since changed hands several times. In 1950 a fire burnt it to the ground and by the end of 1955, an exact reproduction was completed including the second and third floors being completely guilded with gold leaf, and a golden phoenix proudly sitting on top - how extravagant! A 'piece de resistance' in our thoughts and a perfect temple to finish our Temple Tour with.
The Japanese are very proud of their temples especially as all the ones we saw are recognised by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) on their World Heritage Site as being Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto. They were indeed very beautiful.
We headed into the city and came across what looked like a small shopping arcade called Teramachi Shopping Parade and went exploring. With the British
Red Temple at Ninnaji
Stunning and finely detailed architecture can be found throughout the Ninnaji grounds. pound to Yen exchange rate not being in our favour, everything was extremely expensive for us Brits, so to Andy's relief Claire was just window shopping! The parade went on for ever and ever in all directions, we never imagined it would be so big. The shops ranged from unique clothes shops through to souvenir shops selling traditional items such as handmade fans, tea sets, chopsticks etc. It was in here that we came upon a lady in a little Miss Muffet type outfit. (See Photo) In amongst all of these, we found children on a school outing sitting down, or rather squatting down, aligned in neat rows attentively looking and listening to their teachers - what excellent respect and discipline.
The streets were spotlessly clean, people smiled at us as we walked by and we felt safe indeed. It was a unique city where Eastern traditions, such as wearing traditional dress, met and appeared to live happily next to the new Western influences of fashion and culture. What made this work so well? Perhaps the evident high levels of respect people had for each other contributed to such?
Next instalment...In search of the Geisha...
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