Couldn’t come to Japan without seeing the wonderful gardens of Kyoto, however to my disappointment, they are spread out around the city and so it’s almost impossible to see more than two or three a day, and so that’s what I had to make do with. My first stop was the Fushimi-inari Taisha shrine of the Inari cult, dedicated to the god of rice and sake.
Although the shrine itself is stunning, the real highlight of this place is the 4 kilometer maze of red and orange coloured torii gates which frame the paths leading up and down the hillside. At stages the gates are set so closely to each other that hardly any sunlight gets through them. It took all morning to walk around the area and after a fantastic meal of rice and eal, we were off to see one of Kyotos most magnificent gardens.
So, my second stop was the Tenryuji temple and garden; a Zen temple dating back from the Meiji period with a garden considered one of the oldest of its kind, both a UNESCO world heritage site since 1995. Unlike English gardens, the main feature here were the winding pebble stone paths and bamboo walks, as well as the steams of water and the typical Zen gravels stone areas with rocks, representing the tips of mountains towering over the clouds. Initially it was actually quite difficult to understand the meaning and power behind such garden architecture, however the more I spent watching and contemplating, the more I started to get a sense of what this garden is meant to represent.
On the way back, we took the train via Kyoto town. To my surprise there was a hot foot spa in the middle of the train station platform. Incredibly exquisite and particularly useful on a rainy day like this one. Whether the people were there whilst waiting for the train or whether they were there simply to enjoy the hot foot bath, I do not know, but they looked like they were having a good time either way. Unfortunately there was no time to try it out for ourselves, as our train was leaving …
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