I am horrible about posting about my travels, it takes me way too long to do it. It’s become a bad habit. In 2023 I posted the final blog about my 2022 trip to France after returning from Italy. And last year I posted the first blog about Italy in June —not too bad…— but the final one in December, just before I left for Japan, literally on the last day. it’s a bad habit, but taking photos is far more fun than editing them. I mean, to take the photo you have to be there, editing them is nice but it’s not the same thing.
Anyway, I’m trying to do better. Not much better mind you, it’s September, but, baby steps.
This is the final post for my trip to Japan in 2024. I’ve already posted about the side/day trips to Himeji, Nara and Uji [confusion.cc] and the few days we stayed in Osaka [confusion.cc]. Now for the main course: Kyoto. It took a while to review, edit and post the photos, I took over 3000 in Kyoto! I think Kyoto is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Though I’m a simp for Japanese traditional design, and Kyoto was the capital for a thousand years. You know how many temples and shrines you can build in a thousand years? According to two different sites I found there are “over 1600 [Buddhist] Temples and 400 [Shinto] Shrines” in Kyoto. Neither cites a source, but it’s on the Internet so, you know, it must be true (and, to avoid also not citing a source, even if I think the data is suspect; here is site one [sjmcjapan.com], and site two [mykyotomachiya.com]).
I’ve seen many of the “must see” temples and shrines on my past visits to Kyoto, in 2004 [confusion.cc], 2005 [confusion.cc], and 2010 [confusion.cc]. But my daughters have not, my oldest was 2 in 2010 so doesn’t remember at all and my youngest was born 2 years after that trip. So, we did have to revisit all the must see sites. Which I don’t mind. But we did visit a few places I’ve never seen so it was great.
Kyomizu-dera
We didn’t have a set plan in Kyoto, which is unusual. It’s how I prefer to travel, but in many places it doesn’t work anymore since you can get tickets online. The ability to get tickets online and the fact that many places have limited tickets per day means you have to plan ahead. For Italy and Paris I had to plan out almost every day and book tickets weeks or months in advance. But things were much more relaxed in Kyoto, most temples and shrines don’t require any pre-booking or buying tickets in advance, you can just walk up and get tickets. I did check what days things were closed but we decided what to do the evening before, or even on the morning of.
The first place we decided to go was Kyomizu-dera [wikipedia.org]. The idea was to see the autumn colors while they lasted. The unusually warm summer and autumn meant that many trees were still covered in red, orange or yellow leaves around Kyoto. But less so with each passing day. Of all the places we wanted to go, Kyomizu-dera was the one that I though we should go to first. And we were not disappointed, the colors were amazing. Possibly, the best colors I’ve ever seen.
But everyone else in Kyoto also had the same idea. The crowds were almost as amazing as the colors. It was Harajuku crowded. But totally worth it.
And, because I had fun doing it last time, let’s compare some of this trips photos with previous trips. Here is the main hall or Hondo, at Kyomizu-dera 20 years apart, in March 2004 and December 2024.
2004
2024
Kinkaku-ji
I think that Kinkaku-ji, the “Golden Pavilion”, must be the most famous site in Kyoto. Though, maybe, the torii’s of Fushimi Inari-taisha could be more famous. Either way Kinkaku-ji is stunning and a must see.
Kinkaku-ji is extra special, beyond its beauty, to me because it is where, in 2005, I got engaged. That made for some fun with my daughters on this trip. I showed them the exact spot. The extra shot from 2005 below is when I got engaged.
2004
2005
2024
Ginkaku-ji
We chose a gray, rainy day to go to Ginkaku-ji [wikipedia.org], the “Silver Pavilion”. Fitting as the first time I visited Ginkaku-ji back in 2004 it was also raining. And in 2005. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever been to this place when it was not raining.
Overcast sky’s and light rain are fitting for Ginkaku-ji. The mossy gardens and hills around the pavilion work quite well in the rain. Or maybe that’s just because I’ve never been there when I was sunny. Anyway, here are a couple of photos of a rock with a handle that some monk left on a stone bridge, for more than 20 years now…
2004
2024
Nijo-jo
Nijō-jo-jo-jo-jo-jo. Nijō Castle [wikipedeia.org], is where the palace of the Shogun was. Is. Nijō-jo actually has to palaces; the Ninomaru Goten, and the Honmaru Goten.
Ninomaru Goten was the actual palace of the Shogun, which has the “nightingale floors”, which sing —or squeak really— and stunningly beautiful paintings and woodwork. All of which you cannot take photos of. I’ve visited Ninomaru Goten multiple times.
Honmaru Goten was an imperial villa which was (at least in part) moved to the grounds of Nijō-jo after the Meji restoration from the grounds of the Kyoto Gyoen, the Kyoto Imperial Palace. This is the first time I’ve been in Honmaru Goten, apparently it was recently renovated/restored and reopened to the public. It’s beautiful, amazing fabrics, printed/stamped paper, paintings. As you would expect for a imperial residence/retreat.
Of course there are also gardens. All proper samurai need extensive gardens to wonder around while they compose verse.
Since you can’t take photos of the gorgeous interiors of the palaces, here’s a stone lantern in the garden, from 2004 and 2024:
2004
2024
Fushimi Inari-taisha
Fushimi Inari-taisha [wikipedia.org] is another must visit place. Especially in the Instagram era, I guess. I first learned about the iconic Senbon torii, or “thousand torii” from the movie Memoirs of a Geisha. So, I didn’t visit it in 2004, but I did visit it in 2005 after seeing Memoirs.
It is a mecca for the Instagram, or Tik Tok, or whatever other social media there is. The crowd of people at the most iconic corridor of torii, the Senbon torii is insane. Really only one person can take “the perfect shot” at a time and they need to all take a hundred so it takes forever to get a chance. I don’t actually have good shots of my daughters because I was just done with the crowd. When I went to look at the photos I found that the focus was off and so the photos are not good. If you squint the are OK on a small screen but they are not good. C’est la vie. It leaves something for them to want to go back for.
Here is a shot from 2005 and 2024. I don’t even have a shot of the Senbon torii section from 2005. It was snowing and not very crowded when we visited in 2005, we didn’t stay long, should have take some more time and gotten a good shot.
2005
2024
Now I wanted to point out some places that I visited for the first time on this trip:
Saihō-ji
First up: Saihō-ji [wikipeida.org] or the “moss temple”. There are a couple of temples or shrines in Kyoto that are not so easy to get into. Saihō-ji is one of them. It requires reservations for a specific day and time and you cannot make reservations for more then two people. Traditionally you send a request by mail the a return postcard. But these days you can also use their website (every temple and shrine has a website and many of them have amazingly beautiful designs). There is also a minimum age of 13 to go.
We made reservations and went in groups on different days. And Saihō-ji did not disappoint. After copying a sutra we were able to walk around the gardens. Apparently there are 120 or more types of moss that make up the carpet of moss covering the entire garden. I didn’t count. Once again the late onset of autumn made for a even more beautiful visit. The moss was covered in many placed with deep red Japanese maple leaves. There was a single man waging a war on them racking up large piles and carrying them away in bags. But they were falling like snow.
Tōfuku-ji
Tōfuku-ji [wikipedia.org] is a temple that was not even on my radar. We saw it on a flier or poster or somewhere and on the last full day we decided to go check it out. It’s stunning, I wish we had done it earlier, most of the trees were already mostly bare, the lower branches still red or orange but the color was ending. The view from the Tsūten-kyō a bridge over a small gorge filled with tree, must be stunning. Even in the state we saw it, it was beautiful.
Additionally, there are four “zen” gardens around the abbots quarters that would make the visit worth it even without autumn (or spring) trees. There is a traditional dry rock garden filled with raked spirals and lines, some natural rocks and moss covered mounds. That’s the biggest garden. Then there is one that has bushes trimmed to be flat topped squares checkered with more raked gravel. A garden that is half moss and half raked gravel around several short stone pillars. Finally there is a moss garden with small squares of stone that form a checkerboard pattern with the moss and ‘fade’ as you move from one end of the garden to the other: a fully complete check pattern on one side changing into a pattern with a few missing stones, changing into only a few stones among the moss and finally only moss, no stones.
This post is really long and there are so many more things I could have written about. Let’s just say, Kyoto is one of my favorite cities in the world, a place filled with indescribable beauty, side by side with the hubbub of a modern city.
I’m just going to list a few other places we went. Some I’ve been to before, some where new:
- Arashiyama Bamboo Grove [wikipedia.org], also in Memoirs of a Geisha but I knew about this one before the movie. It’s a lovely, if short, walk. Been there before.
- Yasaka-jinja [wikipedia.org], or Gion-jinja, the shrine Gion district.
- The Philosopher’s Walk [wikipedia.org] or Tetsugaku-no-michi, a path along a canal hugging the hills between Ginkaku-ji and Nanzen-ji. Been there before. Amazing colors when we where there this time.
- Nishiki Market [wikipedia.org], a covered arcade with many shops selling raw and prepared foods. A great place to grab lunch or an early dinner. Been there before. Unfortunately this time I could not find the pickled watermelon! It looks like a giant white raisin.
- Tō-ji [wikipedia.org] a large Buddhist temple, we went to because it was having a flee market, which they do every month on the 21. Tones of vendors, it was fun. First time visiting.
- Chion-in [wikipedia.org], a large Buddhist temple just next to Yasaka-jinja in Gion. Not really a tourist site, we just wandered in after visiting Yasaka-jinja. A few interesting things but not much unless you are their for religious reasons. First time visiting.
- Byōdō-ji [wikipedia.org], a small Buddhist temple near our hotel that is dedicated to a Buddha associated with medicine, but it seems the temple is popular with people who have pets too. First time visiting.
There were other shrines, temples and what-not. We also visited a lot of places to shop. Spent most evenings accompanying my daughters shopping in arcades and malls around Shijō-dōri. It will be a few years, but I’m sure I will go back to Kyoto again. So many more places to see.
You can see the full Kyoto, Japan, December 2024 [flickr.com] photoset on Flickr. Or brows through the gallery below.
