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.
Grandma Joan and I looked at this together. ..lots of oohs and ahs...loved the flower pics and the orange and white cat that looks like he owns the place.
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