Second full day in Kyoto: May 2

Today we took a train to Arashiyama park first thing in the morning. To get there we walked through a massive bamboo grove, which is why many people were there in the first place, so many people were taking pictures it was hard to walk through the path without getting in the way, so at a certain point you have to just stop caring and walk through.

    Inside the bamboo grove there was a garden memorializing the former residence of Okochi Denjiro, a silent film actor. There were great views of the nearby gorge as well as serene beds of flowers and trees.


    Then we walked over to Arashiyama park proper, which had better views of the gorge. We walked down to Katsura river and saw a cool waterfall across the way. Some people were riding around in boats and kayaks, which was a scenic addition to some pictures.



    After taking some pictures there we headed over to Tenryuji temple, and there was a cool sculpture garden on one side of the street. We walked up to Tenryuji temple and it was really busy, and had a charge to get in, and after seeing so many temples we didn't feel like paying for another one, especially since neither of us knew what made this one remarkable.

    Once we made the decision to skip to the next destination we took a train over to Kinkakuji. This temple is known for it's gold leaf exterior, it was built in 1400 and lasted through the Onin war (1467-1477) but the rest of the buildings in the complex were burnt down. Many years later in 1955, a monk had a mental episode and burnt the main temple down, but it was rebuilt the very same year. A golden statue of a phoenix sits on the roof symbolizing the temple rising from the ashes.

    Then we made our way to Nijo Castle, which was the first castle we got to explore. The castle was set up as a museum, explaining why certain design decisions were made, it was very informative. One tidbit I enjoyed was that the castle used artwork from China, including some pieces of tigers and leopards. There was a Chinese myth that one in three of a tigers children was a leopard, rooting from a lack of knowledge that tigers and leopards are not the same species. Japan added this motif to their art with paintings of a mother tiger with two tiger cubs and one leopard. The section of the castle that displayed this art was part of the shogunate, the hereditary military dictatorship of japan, and tigers were a fearsome symbol of power they liked to use, they used imagery of hawks a lot as well. I took a lot of pictures of the castle and its nearby buildings.




    After Nijo castle we took a bus to the Kyoto Botanical Gardens, which had a great variety of flowers and trees, including bonsai, and it was a very peaceful place to walk around and see the sights and smell the smells. One guy was painting this water wheel in the small stream, this was the first time I had seen someone painting scenery in Japan, but I found that this was pretty common. The rose garden was especially vibrant, and the variety of genus was impressive.




    Once we had explored the entire area of the gardens we took a bus closer to our hostel and found some food that was reasonably priced, despite the price this place was very impressive with multiple workers waiting on us hand and foot. The entire three course meal was around $20 for two people, and the service was great, who needs Gion anyways.


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