Day 12: Ginkaku-ji, Honen-in, Nyakuoji-jinja, Ootoyo-jinja and Kamo-gawa

Today I knocked out a lot of places. I rode almost straight east of my building for about 30 minutes to get to Ginkaku-ji. Ginkaku-ji was built to emulate Kinkaku-ji. Whereas the latter houses the famous golden pavilion, the former was to house an equally opulent silver pavilion. However, the retiring shogun who commissioned it never got around to adding the silver leaf because war broke out before they could start. Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the shogun I refer to, was actually the grandson of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the shogun who commissioned Kinkaku-ji. Anyway, despite the fact that Ginkaku never got its silver leaf, it still has incredible gardens and zen landscaping and is preferred by many over its flashier cousin.

Ginshadan (foreground sand garden) and Kogetsudai (background mound). Kogetsudai is supposed to evoke Fuji-yama.

The silver pavilion with Kyoto in the background.

Almost the entire grounds is covered in different varieties of moss. There are multiple staff at all times carefully manicuring every square inch.

You can see Ginkaku has a silver ornament on top to match Kinkaku's gold one.

After leaving Ginkaku-ji I took a pedestrian path called the Philosopher's Walk which follows a canal and is lined with shrines, temples, sakura, and sidewalk cafes.

Honen-in, named for the monk Honen who founded the first independent Japanese sect of Pure Land Buddhism.

Found at the entrance of Anraku-ji. The temple was closed today, but the sign says that Anraku and Juren were disciples of Honen. They were executed for converting two of the Emperor's disciples to nuns, and this temple was subsequently built as a memorial to them.

Back on the Philosopher's Walk!

This sidewalk cafe was a bit off the beaten path so I guess they attract customers with cats.

Nyakuoji-jinja

Back on the Philosopher's Walk again, and seeing more cats.

Near the entrance of Ootoyo-jinja.

Ootoyo-jinja. There were several different shrines here to various kami.

An Inari shrine

Snapped a quick picture of Kamo-gawa on my way back home.

Day 11: Fushimi Inari-taisha and Kyoto-eki

Lots of pictures today! I climbed (the stairs of) a mountain! I climbed Inari mountain to be specific, named after the Shinto kami of foxes, fertility, rice, tea, osake, success and business. Fushimi Inari-taisha is one of the most popular shrines in Japan, largely due to Inari's connection to business. All of the orange gates (torii) you see have been bought by businesses in hopes that it will bring them good luck (and they aren't cheap). It was moved to its current location in 816 at the request of Kukai the super monk who actually headed up the construction of To-ji (see my last post) as well! side note: Go read up on Kukai, he also developed or at least popularized the use of kana in Japan and was extremely influential in his time. The main shrine was built in 1499.

Kitsune, one of Inari's messengers. Looks to be taking on the role of a komainu (fu dog) here.

Wishes

Pine on the left, bamboo on the right.

More expensive wishes.

Kyoto as seen from above 

This is the summit! I was ready for a nap. It didn't take you long to scroll here but it took me about two hours to climb the mountain.

This random cat was hanging out at one of the shrines. I followed it into around a corner into a dead end and it disappeared. Kind of spooky.

Remember that huge pagoda at To-ji? There it is. Nature is unimpressed by our puny structures.

Another part of Kyoto Station. These stairs run from the 5th floor up to the 11th. It's all womens clothes from 1-8, then bedding/housewares on 9, omiyage and stationery on 10, and restaurants on 11. 10 actually includes a huge area that's shaped like Japan, and depending on which restaurant you go to you are offered regional ramen from that area. Pretty neat.