Touring with friends, Genko-an and Kinkakuji (Part deux) (Day 135)

So, after the school year wrapped up, my friends David, Stephen, and Ed came to visit. For the first few days we explored Kyoto and neighboring cities Uji and Osaka.

There's David feeling the zen, in the courtyard of Genko-an.

Genko-an is a buddhist temple north of Kyoto with a couple noteworthy features. First, the ceiling of the temple is made from the old floorboards of Fushimi Castle. At that castle 2,000 samurai held off 40,000 men for 11 days, long enough that their lord Tokugawa Ieyasu could escape. Tokugawa would go on to unify the fragmented country, leading to over two hundred years of (relative) peace.

The last few men standing at the end of the siege commit seppuku (ritual suicide), rather than be captured by their enemies. Today, over 400 years later, you can see their bloodstains on the ceiling of Genko-an.

One of the most striking stains, you can clearly see a footprint here.

The other feature that draws a lot of visitors are the windows of confusion and enlightenment. I'm sure it bears a lot more significance for practitioners of Buddhism. They are supposed to relate to one the benefits of an enlightened perspective. I'm not sure I felt enlightened, but they were pretty cool.

The Window of Confusion

The Window of Enlightenment

Side by side

We then went to Kinkaku-ji. It's a tourist trap, but it's a must see. So, I showed them around but tried not to linger. There were a buttload of Chinese tourists there.

From left to right: David, Stephen, and Ed.

Sort of a dry wishing well. People stand behind a nearby rope and try to toss 1 and 5 yen coins into the pot.