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Everyone but me.. is sick of Kyoto

Kitano TenmanGu

The Kitano Tenman-gu temple is not one of the must see temples in Kyoto, but...the temple is surrounded by large numbers of Ume (Plum blossom) and for the few weeks that they bloom, the temple is crowded and stunningly beautiful.

The complex is quite large with many different buildings. When I look through my photos from the day, they do not give the impression of how large the different temple complexes are.

Plum Blossom

Side entrance to the main part of the shrine. I loved the colour inside.

Plum Blossom

I was not alone

Side of the temple

A close up.

Myoshin-ji

After wandering through one large temple, the next one, myoshin-ji was even bigger. I had come here to see a small garden in one of the sub temples but was not expecting such a large complex. It is strange walking down the walled streets within the temple and noting all the sub-temples, like separate houses as you walked past. The roads between the sub temples were well used by pedestrians, bikes, motorbikes and occasional small trucks belonging to the many gardeners.

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Small statue

The main buildings of Myoshin-ji. Note the small figures on the path to the right.

I inadvertently booked myself on to a tour to go inside the main temple building. Inside the huge roof was covered by a fantastic painting of a dragon. The dragon was meant to be looking directly at you wherever you were standing inside the building and to prove it our little group dutifully followed the leader around the inside of building to prove the point. It was an odd experience, where normally I would have glanced and moved on, by shuffling slowly around with the group I was drawn in to the painting.

Taizo-in

OK, phew found it. It was getting warm, I had walked through two big temple complexes and finally found the little temple with the famous garden. I dutifully paid my few yen and went in. And yes..well worth it. I loved the shapes and style. This is what I had come to see.

Dry garden of Taizo-in

The back garden and waterfall were a nice change.

Ryoan-ji

OK more walking next. Up the hill. I didn't plan that very well. Next time start at the top of the hill and walk down. Anyway, Ryoan-ji was the most famous garden I had come to see and yes you guessed it. Not just another small little shrine, but a vast complex of gardens, ponds and buildings.

The garden was quite stunning and after checking out the famous dry garden I stopped here for lunch. Eating a huge tofu meal on the tatami mats, overlooking a cute little garden. (no cheap, but delicious and a great little view)

Ryoan-ji temple

The lake

The famous dry garden. Actually not my favorite for the day. Maybe I am not enlightened enough yet......

"The garden consists of raked gravel and fifteen moss-covered boulders, which are placed so that, when looking at the garden from any angle (other than from above) only fourteen of the boulders are visible at one time. It is traditionally said that only through attaining enlightenment would one be able to view the fifteenth boulder. " - wiki

A close up.

Daitoku-ji

After a nice lunch and a rest I had more temples to see. The next stop was daitoku-ji, taxi this time, it looked a bit far on the map. I had been there before and like myoshin-ji above it was a large temple complex containing a labyrinth of sub temples. I was keen to see two of these.

Ryugen-in

This sub temple was my favorite of the day. Very small but with five different and interesting gardens. Highly recommended.

A small map of the sub temple (scanned from the guidebook)

KodaTei garden - Representing the truth of the universe

Isshidan garden - In this garden the large rocks represent particular islands in the ocean, the white gravel represents the sea.

Close up of Isshidan garden

ToteKiko garden, it shows "the truth that the stronger the power of stone thrown into the water is. the larger the ripple is."

My second dragon for the day.

Zuiho-in

The second sub temple in daitoku-ji that I wanted to visit was Zuiho-in, not famous for having the prettiest garden, but rather one famous for having a Christian motif in the zen garden.

Zuiho-tei garden

Garden of the cross. The rocks are laid out in the shape of a cross. Not actually a Christian garden, it was designed to pay homage to a lord who was.

Ginkaku-ji

OK now how many temples has that been today. Camera still holding up. Legs hurt. So another taxi. Leaving the temples of Western Kyoto and shifting over to the East. I have meant to go to Ginkaku-ji (The silver Temple) many times and this time I was going to do it.

Another rock garden. Most people rush past it on to the more famous moss garden that is inside. I quite liked this garden though. Worth a bit of a pause to enjoy it.

WHAT!!! yep, under renovation. Oh well that's life, back to the gardens then I suppose.

Part of the dry garden

Ginkaku-ji is famous for the moss garden and a box showing all the different mosses is conveniently on display.

Climbing the hill at the back of the temple and checking out the different mosses and serene feel as you go. This was a bit tricky as it was quite crowded.

View from the top, back down into the temple

A wider shot from the same spot. As you can see, Ginkaku-ji is smaller than some other complexes today, but there is still a steep hill and a number of buildings.

Philosophers Path

OK out of Ginkaku-ji, past all the tourist shops and take a walk down the path of philosophy. Made famous as a nice spot to contemplate the world but it really is just a storm drain with a few shops along it. I try hard to like it but, It is nothing that excites me. Pleasant enough, but not a tourist attraction.

Along the Philosophers Walk

One of the prettier spots on the walk.

Nanzen-ji

Walk walk walk, I had to sit down and rest. I had been here before but just to the gate and one of the small sub-temples near the front (highly recommended) , but I had not explored Nanzen-ji itself. And well you guessed it, a huge complex. Very green, tree covered and impressive.