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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Kyoto, Japan (part 2)

Do you know there are about 17 sites in Kyoto alone were designated UNESCO world heritage site? cool right

Besides beautiful temples and shrines in Kyoto, there is also castle, Nijo Castle, was built in 1603 as the Kyoto residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the 1st shogun of the Edo Period (1603-1867). Some said the palace buildings are the best surviving examples of castle palace architecture of Japan's feudal era and the castle was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in the 1994


main entrance, as usual there are samurai guardsmen guard house for inspections of visitors back in the days. Entrance fee to Nijo Castle: 600 yen/ pax there is also English audio guide available for rent (500yen). Nijo Castle was used as an imperial palace before being donated to the city and opened up to the public as a historic site


Ninomaru palace, served as the residence and office of the shogun 


too bad no photo inside


my travel partner of the day Heike :)


behind the Ninomaru palace is the Ninomaru Garden, a typical traditional Japanese garden


with a large pond, ornamental stones and manicured pine tree (of course)


just beautiful ^^


the palace consists of multiple separate buildings that are connected with each other by corridors with so called " Nightingale" floors, as the squeak when stepped upon as a security measure against intruder. Unless you are as light as a feather or else you'll get caught intruding the palace. This is how the wooden floor looks like from beneath that makes the squeaky sound



Honmaru, the main circle of defence, was the site of a second palace complex and a 5 storey castle. However, both structures were destroyed by fires in the 18th century and were never rebuilt


there is also a viewing area where u can walk up and have a good view of the Honmaru





the peace fever...hehe


in Japan most of the tourist site there are both western toilet and Japanese style toilet. Western toilet is the normal toilet bowl toilet. The Japanese style is this. It's kind of the same toilet style in Malaysia and other Asian country only without the closure in front

from Nijo Castle we then walked to the Kyoto Imperial Palace


gosh why are Japan's drains are so clean? 


and they make it so nice


yeah! we reached the Kyoto Imperial Park...soaking our legs in this shallow steam


the park is freaking HUGE


one of the entrance gates of the Kyoto Imperial Palace. The Kyoto Imperial Palace is an imperial palace of Japan, though the Emperor of Japan is not in residence.The Emperor has resided at the Tokyo Imperial Palace since 1869 and ordered the reservation of the Kyoto Imperial Palace in 1877.

To enter the Kyoto Imperial Palace, you will need to book a tour and apply in advance with passport at the Imperial Household Agency Office located in the northwestern corner of Kyoto Imperial Park (you'll see on the map) Reservations are often possible for the same day.  The Office is open Mon-Fri from 8:45am - 12pm and from 1pm - 5pm.
Free tours of Kyoto Imperial Palace are held several times daily in English and Japanese. No tours are held on Sunday and national holidays. Most  Saturdays are also unavailable.
*Occasionally, Kyoto Imperial Palace can be entered without advance reservation and without joining a tour


cute ride...hehe

we then walked to Kyoto Handicraft Center. Was hopping to see some interesting Handicraft being made turns out to be a 4 storeys building of souvenir shop :S 


feeling disappointed we then walked back to Kawaramachi dori for some shopping therapy :D


Teramachi dori @ Kawaramachi dori  is an enclosed with interesting little stores selling all sorts of things. Nice place to shop


they even have a small temple, yata-dera



just around the corner is the Nishiki market


selling yummy food, from grill eels, hot chestnuts, fresh green vegetables 


  Heike i found Yuzu!!! :D


to fresh seafood, pickles and interesting variety of tea


shijo-Kawaramachi dori @ night, you'll see a stretch of taxi for hire


me @ Kinkakuji

there are times when i traveled alone in Japan, though it's not so fun, at least there were beautiful scenery to accompany me....damn that sound so cheesy lol


Kinkakuji Temple or also known as the Golden Pavilion. From Shijo Dori somewhere near Karasuma Station i took the City bus No12 for about 50 minutes to Kinkakuji-mae or you can also take City bus No101 to Kinkakuji-michi. Entrance fee: 400yen/pax open from 9am - 5pm


Kinkakuji is a shariden, a Buddhist hall containing relics of Buddha. The Pavilion is part of a temple that is formally named Rokuon-ji Temple but commonly called Kinkakuji temple. In 1994, Rokuon-ji Temple was registered as a World Cultural Heritage Site.


the garden and buildings, centered on the Golden Pavilion were said to represent the Pure Land of Buddha in this world.


Gold foil on lacquer covers the upper tho levels of Kinkaku and a shinning phoenix stands on top of the shingled roof. Overall, Kinkaku is representative of Muromachi-period architecture


once passes by Kinkakuji it leads through the temple's gardens and it hold a few other spots of interest including Anmintaku Pond what is said to never dry up and a statues that people throw coins at for luck


there is also a small temple where it's main image is a stone statue of Buddhist deity Fudo-myo-o. This statue is though to have been made in the 9th-century and normally close from public view. Open Door Rituals are held on Setsubun (in early Feb) and on August 16


Japanese really do like good fortune :P


form Kinkakuji i walked for 10 minutes to another World Heritage site Ryoanji Temple


Entrance Fee: 500yen. Ryoanji Temple was originally a country house of the Tokudaiji Clan. it was acquired in 1450 by Hosokawa Katsumoto for use as a Zen training temple.


The Rock Garden
i felt very zeeeen when i saw this garden...hehe though the garden have no trees or flowers and only 15 rocks and white gravel are used. i think it's quite original
See the wall surrounding the garden? it's made of clay boiled in oil. As time went by, the peculiar design was made of itself by the oil that seeped out...who would have though clay and oil huh


if only one can sit on this tatami and enjoy a pot of green tea while looking out to this famous rock garden.....zeeeennnn


Tsukubai, a stone wash basin for the tea room, has a unique inscription.

" i learn only to be contented" he who learns only to be contented is spiritually rich, while the one who does not learn to be contented is spiritually poor even it he is materially wealthy. Indeed a important concept in the Zen spirit.



the surrounding of Ryoanji Temple


very peaceful



Kyoyochi pond, made in the late 12th-century. Until recent years many mandarin ducks were to be seen on the pond. Hence the name Ryoanji was generally known as Oshidoridera(the temple of mandarin ducks)


now they only have turtles ^^ hehe



from Ryoanji Temple i walked about 10-15 minutes to Ninnaji Temple yet another temple listed as World Heritage site


some typical looking Japanese houses


there were many guide maps along way, so it's hard to get lost


Ninnaji Temple is also a very huge area


the main entrance gate. Entrance fee :500yen/ pax but was close when i reached there but still i get to walked around the area for free


Ninnaji Temple was founded in 886. Over many centuries, a member of the Imperial Family used to serve as Ninnaji's head priest, and the temple was also known as Omuro Imperial Palace. There is also a pagoda. Half way around the temple area it started raining so heavy, thank god i brought along my umbrella. I think in April with cherry blossoms the place will be more beautiful

in front of the main entrance gate of Ninnaji Temple i took the City Bus No12 back to Kawaramachi Dori



Kyoto Station, the main train station





just outside the Kyoto station is a Aqua Fantasy, musical water fountain. i know it's small and on the roof of a small shop but it's quite entertaining 


Kyoto tower just opposite the Kyoto station
\

Kyoto Tower hotel, price about 7000yen/ night which is good bargain for an ok hotel. Plus you'll get a free ticket up to Kyoto tower. As for Hostel is Kyoto, Price starting from 2000yen\ pax for a night in dorm or above 2800yen for a private room


Up to Kyoto Tower. Entrance Fee: 770yen/pax, open from 9am -8:40pm


night view of Kyoto gorgeous


 more shopping at night @ Kyoto Yodobashi


Boon @ Fushimi Inari Taisah Shrine main Entrance

our last day in Kyoto, we took the JR train down south 2 stations from Kyoto Station to Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine. The train station (Inari Station) is just opposite the Shrine


Romon gate at the shrine's main entrance

Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine is an important Shinto shrine in Kyoto dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice





Foxes are though to be Inari's messengers, so as u can see here there are many foxes statues across the shrine grounds. Fushimi Inari Shrine has ancient origins, predating the capital's move to Kyoto in 794






area map...the parallel rows of gates called Senbon Torri or thousands of Torii gates is about 4 km long 


the torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies. The wording on the back of each gate are the name of the donator and the date of the donation. The price starts from 4000,000yen for a small sized gate and increases to over a milion yen for a large gate


let the 4 km trail begin


nice


ok still long way to go


on the way to the summit there are also smaller shrines that we visited


inside the bamboo forest


love the paper yukata ^^ 


ok still walking


still enjoying


after 15 minutes... boon: we should stop for a snack


still going


the total time to hike to the summit of the mountain and back is about 2-3hours


going up


up


up


small lake




us @ Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine

we gave up after 30 minutes walk because we do't have enough time to complete the complete trail to the summit, HECK we didn't eve made it to the Yotsutsuji intersection which is the almost half way up to the mountain, where one can enjoy nice view of Kyoto. There is most traveler venture, as the trail do not offer much variations beyond that point


i saw fox Spongebob squarepants ^^

Next to Nara

~ ja ne ~

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