Kyoto's Temples & Shrines

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Our trip has taken us through South Korea, China, and now Japan. None of the natural beauty of the other countries has compared to what Kyoto has. Today we took a full-day tour visiting 5 different temples around Kyoto. We started in Nara (original capital of Japan) at the Todai-Ji Temple and the Kasuga-Taisha Shrine, next was Ninjo Castle, then Kinkaku (The Golden Pavilion), and we ended with the Kiyomizu Temple on the hill overlooking the city of Kyoto. Each visit was special and unique, and I would highly recommend each individually.

Nara is about an hour drive outside of the city of Kyoto. It is blanketed with beautiful lush green parks and gardens and has some immaculate temples and shrines. Our first visit of the day brought much excitement -- deer were everywhere! (and VERY friendly!) Apparently deer are coveted creatures in Japan and they flourish freely in Nara. The entrance to the Todai-Ji Temple was filled with people and deer. There are deer cookie stands that many of our group members took advantage of, and the deer aggressively took advantage of them. As we squeezed by all the people and deer, we approached the temple with GIANT Buddha bronze statues. These gigantic statues are the largest Buddha in "sitting positions" in the world. As the giant Buddha's were staring down at us, you can't help but tour the entire temple looking upwards. As we were leaving, some 5th grade students approached us with notebooks in hand. They were assigned to practice their English and clearly we were the best targets. The kids were so cute asking their standard questions (name, where we are from), so we took group photos with each of them.

Just up the street in Nara is the Kasuga-Taisha Shrine. This park is known for the thousands of stone lanterns that line the inside of the park grounds. Each are donated by Japanese families and stand at least 5 feet tall. Some old, some new, this was a beautiful sight. I can only imagine how heavenly this park could be if we took 80% of the tourists away. May is high tourist season in Japan, so this was another crowded tour to see the Shrine. The shrine's corridors are painted a bright orange and the details of the shrine next to the moss covered lanterns made for an interesting dichotomy. Some parts were under reconstruction (which they do every 20 years) to preserve the buildings, but overall this place was very special.

A break for a traditional Japanese lunch: rice, vegetables, fish noodles, and a boiling pot of cabbage pork soup. For dessert, some jello-like substance and mochi filled with red bean paste. An interesting lunch to say the least. Had to try everything!

Ninjo Castle was back in the city of Kyoto. This gigantic structure housed the shoguns and samauri's back in the day. It is surrounded by more lush gardens and a large protective moat. It's incredible that these structures are still so well preserved and stuck in the middle of the modern city. The highlight (literally) of the tour came at our next stop to the Golden Pavilion. This stunning real gold shrine situated directly next to a lake made all of our eyes glisten. You can't help but get lost staring at the gorgeous structure across the lake. It makes you forget that there are thousands of other people crowding you trying to see the same beauty.

Last and definitely not least was our hike up to the Kiyomizu Temple that overlooks the entire city of Kyoto. It was a perfect way to end the day. As you're approaching the temple at the top of the hill, with the heat blazing down on us, our tired feet were pleasantly surprised when we got to the top. This temple is covered in greenery, plants, ponds, and many purifying stations. Our tour guide showed us the correct way to "purify" before we entered into the temple. We took the long route back down to the bottom which took us across to the other side of the hill and through the forests. Excellent views and a hilltop breeze made it the "cherry on top" of a rather fantastic day.

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