Touring the Temples

Saturday 25th February

I’ve travelled all over the world and seen some amazing sights, from the Great Wall of China to the bustling streets of New York but If there’s a more beautiful sight than a handwritten note explaining that breakfast is on the way then I’ve yet to see it! After my delicious breakfast (McDonalds really does taste the same, wherever you are) I was ready for our first full day in Kyoto. We decided to follow Lonely Planet’s city walk through Southern Higashiyama.

We left our apartment, took a few steps and stumbled across a totally undocumented temple. Our day had only just begun and we were already impressed! From here we made our way through the famous streets of Gion, the Geisha district, to Kiyomizu-dera. This Buddhist temple is one of the busiest sites in Kyoto and despite our early arrival, we were confronted by crowds. The temple was originally built in 798 and the current buildings are reconstructions dating from 1633. The view across the city was nice but I’m not one for large gatherings of people so after a few snaps we set off in search of some silence!

We followed the suggested route which incorporated some of the most beautiful streets in Kyoto and we occasionally ventured off on our own to explore areas we found interesting. We even managed to catch a glimpse of two Geishas (or at least I think they were Geishas – if not we’ll just pretend that they were)! While the main streets were busy and full of Japanese tourists, many of whom were wearing traditional Japanese clothes, we also found that many of the smaller temples and shines were deserted. One stop that we really enjoyed was the Shoren-in Temple. Surrounded by giant camphor trees, this temple which was built in the 13th century is often overlooked by tourists. For a small fee of around £3 you can enter the temple and the grounds and we really enjoyed the peace and quiet of this mostly deserted temple.

This marked the end of the Southern Higashiyama are and so we headed North, in search of the Philosopher’s Walk (or Path of Philosophy, depending on who you ask). The path follows a cherry tree lined canal and is so-named because the Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro is thought to have used the route for daily meditation. While we are a bit too early for the cherry blossoms, the walk was still beautiful and it led us towards Ginkaku-jii, a temple which began as a retirement home in 1482 for shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa. We visited just before closing and really enjoyed the beautiful grounds.

While I was able to remember a few names, the vast majority of places we saw today were undocumented and we happened upon them by complete chance. We saw temple after temple but surprisingly we didn’t seem to get sick of them or “templed out”. Instead we enjoyed the tranquillity, the beauty and the history of each unique site. While I probably could have learnt more about each place, I enjoyed just dandering around, taking it all in. If you ever come to Kyoto I recommend that you plan to have no plan and that you dedicate at least a day to getting lost in this beautiful city! In the end we walked over 12 miles and loved each step. Well, almost each step – we set off in search of a subway station and forty five minutes later were still searching. While I would like to say I took this diversion in my stride, there may have been a few slightly dramatic statements from me saying that I might actually die if I walked any further. When we got back to the apartment I could barely stay awake and having not eaten anything all day (apart from niceys obviously) I was too exhausted to move so like the true hero he is, Rory ventured out and returned, hunter gatherer style, with a Big Mac meal. Our first taste of Western food and we end up having it twice in one day. Shameful I know. We’re back on the rice tomorrow!