Kyoto, Japan

 We arrived at the port of Kobe, and took a two hour drive to visit Kyoto. It was a very modern freeway with built up walls, so there was not a  lot to see on the journey. Kyoto is known for it's abundance of temples and shrines. As we drove to our visit we passed several large temples.


A shrine beside the road in Kyoto.

Most people appear to live in apartments. If we did see single homes, they were often small, with no yard space at all. 

Another temple beside the road in Kyoto.

World Heritage Site of Nijo-Jo Castle. The castle was completed n 1603 on the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the first Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1867) Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan and started a period of peace and prosperity that lasted for 260 years, The Higashi Te-mon Gate is the Est Gate and the main gate to the Castle. 

 Although he was appointed by the Emperor, the Shogun held the real political power, and acted as a kind of governor or commander in chief  over the feudal lords in the various areas of Japan. 


The Kar-mon Gate stands at the entrance to the Ninomaru-goten Palace within the grounds of Nijo-jo Castle.

The Ninomaru-goten Palace is located inside the inner most moat of the Nijo-jo Castle. The current structure  was built in 1893, and consists of six interconnected buildings with  33 rooms.




The Ninomaru Garden was designed for an Imperial Visit in 1626. It is a classical Shoin-zurkuri style garden with a large Horai-jima turtle island (symbolizing Paradise)

These are palm trees that have been artistically wrapped to protect them during the winter months. They will be unwrapped in the next few weeks.



Cherry blossom tree with the impressive stone walled moat  behind.

Another weeping style cherry tree.

After lunch we visited the beautiful Kinkaku-ji Temple (Golden Pavilion) Zen Temple. It is part of the Rinzai Buddhist denomination. It was originally built in 1397 by the third Shogun of Ashikaga as the family's three story home villa.  After he passed away it became a temple. Although visits are not allowed inside the temple, photos show  very impressive inner rooms covered in god leaf. The current structure is a reconstruction 

The ponds surrounding the Golden Temple.



The ponds surrounding the Golden Temple.





Girls in traditional dress stroll casually through the crowd.  we did not see many people in traditional dress, although it is more common in Kyoto.








Comments

  1. LindsayApril 4, 2023 at 6:57 PM

    Adalea likes the cherry blossom trees. Very pretty!

    ReplyDelete

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