Kyoto sightseeing

I visited Ryoanji Temple in June and it was beautiful for only 500Yen (About $5USD). To get to the little temple you pass through this magical Japanese garden/forest area passing ponds. One pond you pass on your way is the pond Kyoyochi (which means Mirror shaped) which is home to tons of birds and now is known for the amount of mallard ducks that call the pond home. I saw quite a few birds but the best thing I saw were three turtles on a rock :).

Once you pass the pond you come upon this large set of steps (great picture opp.) and you head into an old building called the Kuri (which means: Monk’s quarters). Once through the kuri you come up to the Zen rock garden. I was very excited to see this garden because neatly sculpted rock gardens are what I think of when I think of Japan. There are rocks of various sizes all arranged on small white pebbles in five groups. The garden contains 15 rocks arranged on the surface of white pebbles in such a manner that visitors can see only 14 of them at once, no matter what angle the garden is viewed from. It is said that only when you attain spiritual enlightment as a result of deep Zen meditation, can you see the last invisible stone.

And finally they have this unique little wash basin that is for visitors to rinse one’s hands and mouth before drinking from the tea room (which isn’t open to visitors anymore to try and protect the room). The basin is called Tsukubai which literally means “crouch”. On the wash basin there are four Japanese characters engraved which mean “I learn only to be contented.” With Zen Philosophy they believe that one who learns to be contented is spiritually rich, while one who isn’t contented is spiritually poor.

All in all this is a quite little spiritual Zen garden that I really recommend visiting. When you go plan to spend some time there to just sit and relax and take it all in.

The Nijo castle has one of the best English brochures I’ve seen from Japan, :) which is nice! When I pictured castle I imagined this huge fortress but the only thing ‘castle-like’ is the moat around the building and the huge door other than that it looks like a traditional Japanese building on the inside but it’s still very pretty. It’s a cheap 500Yen (about $5.00 USD) to get in to the building and take a look around. The grounds for this castle are huge 275,000 square meters (about 68 acres). There are gardens, palaces, and ponds… there is so much to look at so when you visit set aside a few hours to be able to see most of it. My favorite part about the entire Nijo Castle was in the main palace, Ninomaru Palace. They built the floors so when someone walks on the corridor it squeaks which is called the Nightingale floor. The purpose is to alert the people of intruders. It sounds like squeaking birds, tons of them. The palace was pretty amazing, lots of great old rooms and paintings…but a lot of it, sadly I got a little bored with it after the 11th room or so, there’s something like 33 rooms… there are 800 tatami mats. Anywho, it’s pretty cool to walk through and see a castle that was originally built in 1603! Now that’s old!
All in all I had a pretty good time, too much to take in and a lot of people!

If you can make this trip, I highly recommend it. I mean, how often do you get to see a gold leaf covered temple? It’s truly awe inspiring! Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) is a Zen temple formally known as Rokuonji. Construction started on the Golden Pavilion in 1397, lasted for centuries until 1950 a fanatic crazed monk burned the temple down! The present building was built in 1955 and is said to be an exact replica.

Obviously the Temple is the focal point of the grounds but there are also several other points of interest. Like the “mirror” pond, the priests’ living quarters, waterfalls, the Sekka-tei Tea House and much more. The Gardens through out are amazing as usual in Japan. When I went in June mid afternoon, it was packed so you might consider going in early morning. Also, towards the end of the route through the grounds there’s a spot to get tea and donate & prey to the gods.

Truly a great place to visit for only 400Yen (About $4.00USD)