A final Trip to .. Kyoto

Kyoto Imperial Palace

You have to book the imperial palace tour in advance.

The original Imperial Palace burned down a number of times. When it did the emperor had to stay at the house of one of the other lords. Eventually one of these residences became the long term home of the emperor that we know today and the original palace fell into disrepair. All this happened in the 14th century.

We arrived early, and we went on the tour with about 120 people. No going inside any of the buildings and a slow pace, just walking around the grounds in the rain did not help. The tour was ok, maybe on your first trip to Kyoto it would be great, but for us it was just ok. We had seen nicer gardens and older buildings, but the package was ok. It is all big and impressive, maybe we just arrived in the wrong frame of mind to appreciate it fully.

Main entrance gate for tourists.

Our security guard walking to the next stop

Each palace gate has a different purpose. This one is used by the imperial family, except for the emperor. He has his own gate.

The inner grounds of the Seiryoden building. This was one of the buildings used as a residence

The buildings were rebuilt in traditional styles each time they burned down. This one is built in the Shinden style.

Our tour guide at work. I did not realise that the thick roofs that I had seen were so thin. I assumed that the thick edge that I saw mad up the whole roof, but looking at the photo you can see that the thick edge is just that, a thick edge.

Making funny faces in the rain

The Oikeniwa garden

Looking inside the Ogakumonjo (library)

The emperors chair

The Oikeniwa garden

The Oikeniwa garden - see the tour group

Lantern

Gonaitei Garden

Walking toward the exit

Kyoto-National Museum

Unless you are really interested in Japanese history you can skip this. The presentation has few explanations in English and unless you are already familiar with Japanese history this will be a disappointment. There were a few paintings that we enjoyed but overall it was spartan and old fashioned. Certainly not the interactive experience of modern museums.

(Oh and you do not even go into the building in the picture but the dull modern one next door)

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A final Trip to .. Kyoto

Kyoto Imperial Palace

Kyoto-National Museum

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