Kyoto Day 2

Our second day in Kyoto, which was also our last, was filled with a tour of some of the major sites of the city.  Unfortunately the Imperial Palace, Kyoto was the original capital of Japan, is closed on the weekends and holidays and our trip fell on both.  :-(

So we woke up bright and early and headed into the lobby to meet our tour group.  Of course, our hotel had a Starbucks in the lobby...we're never too far from home!

Kyoto is called "The Walking City," but we had a chartered bus to take us around the sites. The first stop was...Nishi Honganji - This is a Buddhist temple located in the middle of the city.

Our guide was trying to explain the history of buddhism in Japan and told us that originally it was reserved for only the elite.  They basically told all of the lower-class non-believers that they were going to go to hell.  He ended up comparing it to Catholicism, where to avoid hell, parishioners would pay alms.  Well, he went on to say that this temple is known for being fun, having less rules and believing that simply believing in the Amitabha buddha guarantees a good afterlife.  After Tim heard this, he leans over to me and says "so these guys are like the Lutherans of buddhism?"  I just about died of laughter.  I think he hit the nail on the head.  

This is one of the few temples were pictures were allowed.  So this is the alter area in the main temple.  There is a small buddha in the center area, but it was VERY hard to see. 

It looks like I'm praying, but I was actually just trying to see the buddha.  I can see why they put it down so low and so far back, you have to get on your knees to see it...clever...

This was our group taking pictures in front of the alter.  Surprisingly, people were pretty respectful, but there were some people in the front praying and there were some actual practicing buddhists in our group, so that was interesting.  

And finally, a size comparison with Tim in the foreground and the main temple behind him.  It was huge!

Next, we headed to Nijo Castle, originally a Shogun's castle and famous for its squeaky floors!  Pictures were absolutely forbidden inside the castle, so all I have are some outside photos.  This is the main entrance to the grounds.

The roof of this entrance is actually made from hundreds-year old cypress tree bark.  The palace itself looks like this:

We spent the beginning of our tour in the castle's garden area. 

I love the way they design their gardens, based on Evergreen trees, natural rocks, and water.  All Washingtonians know that Evergreen trees are awesome, but in Japan they are lauded for growing year-round and in sparse environments, making them symbolic of strength, etc.  Water is necessary to live, so obviously it is important in the garden and finally, the rocks represent the mountains.  In all, it's about achieving tranquility.  

While we were in the garden, our guide explained the squeaky floors in the palace.  Obviously, it was to prevent people from sneaking up on the Shogun.  Makes sense!  But here's a picture of the under-side of the floors.  See the two iron stakes?  There's a nail between those that, when the planks are stepped on, is forced between the two pieces and makes the noise.  

After we toured the castle, we headed back to the bus and towards Kinkakuji Temple, better known as The Golden Pavilion!

We took so many pictures here, it's kind of ridiculous!  The whole area is a beautiful garden, with ponds, a waterfall and other temple buildings placed among the trees.  

The temple has a really interesting history, in fact this isn't even the original temple!  The original was burned down by a depressed and suicidal monk, who freaked out while the temple was burning down around him and ran to the nearest mountain, where he blinded and stabbed himself.  They ended up finding him and he spent the rest of his life in jail.  Oh, and after he refused to see his mother while he was in jail, she committed suicide.  Crazy, huh?!  

After we finished our tour of the Golden Pavilion, we headed to the Kyoto handicraft center, where the tour ended.  Tim and I looked around at the goods available, then decided to walk back to Maruyama Park to find the big cherry blossom tree.  On our way we ran into a parade of sorts...

I think it was a political rally, but I have no idea! We did find the tree though!!

Unfortunately, it hasn't fully blossomed yet, but we did find some trees that had blossomed.

Because of all of the crowds associated with whatever the parade was, plus the spring festival, we had a limited amount of time in the park before we had to book it back to our hotel.  We still had to pick up our bags and get to the train station for our afternoon shinkansen train back to Shinagawa.  Thankfully we made it back in time and got to the train station early enough for Tim to take this video:

This is the train arriving and shows the front, which Tim thinks is the best part.  We had a whole two seats to ourselves, which was very nice!

AND we were on the right side to see Mt. Fuji!!!!!!  We lucked out on the weather and it was a clear, beautiful day!

Overall, it was a wonderful trip and we loved visiting Kyoto!

P.S.  Kyoto was the original capital of Japan, Tokyo is the current one.  They have the same japanese characters.
Kyo - To vs. To - Kyo
I didn't realize this until the tour guide pointed it out...