Temples of Kyoto

Today we invested in all-day bus passes and hit the temples. Being a practical realist, I had the goal of visiting two or maybe three. That was a good plan! Each temple we visited is shown on the tourist maps as a single entity, but in fact when we arrived we found that there were numerous sub-temples involved. Also, even though the bus stop is called the name of the temple, it might be ten minutes on foot, each way, with a potentially whiney child! So two was more than enough for one day, and the second one we didn't even pay the admission fee but just walked around the outer grounds.

I am going to put a whole batch of photos below because visually these places were just unbelievable. The first was "Tofuku Ji" and it is just far enough "below the radar" that there were barely any tourists there. It was a long bus ride and a ten minute walk, but totally worth it. It is very historically significant, and there were lovely gardens. The main gate is one of the largest wooden structures in the world, and it contains several important artifacts. It also happens to house the largest and oldest steambath and outhouse in all of Japan! Those Zen monks had to live here all year round and they were very practical. Anyway, the photos really don't do justice to the place. It was very beautiful, especially the huge yet delicate woodwork.











The next stop was Kiyumuzu-Dera. This place is totally ON the tourist radar, so it was mobbed. Fortunately it is large and spread out. To get there, you have to walk up a long hill along one of several narrow streets. These streets are lined with all kinds of tourist shops. We got the girls ice c ream about half way up the hill, and amazingly Benna made it all the way with minimal complaining.








We saw most of the place, and there was a long line to go onto the big "porch" which has the famous view. It was under renovation and there was scaffolding all over, and it was getting late, so we saved ourselves ten bucks and walked around the back to go down the hill a different way. Again, millions of people and little shops selling all kinds of nice treats and gifts. Along the way down the hill there were other temples of different types and sizes, like for example this five-level pagoda in the middle of a residential neighborhood.



We had intended to walk around Gion, where we could have maybe seen a Geisha, but the "vibe" was "let's go home and make dinner" so that's what we did.