Kyoto with Momo

Yesterday Momo and I headed to Kyoto and I was excited to visit a few temples which I have yet to go to. On the way there, I was checking the Kyoto Travelpack, given to my by my old roommate and I realized that I have been to 7 of the top 10 places to visit in Kyoto. I don't know, I was pretty excitied about it. Anyway, we planned out our trip the night before and we decided to go to Ginkakuji Temple (the silver temple) and Nanzenji Temple. We embarked on our journey around 10 am and since we had to take the Hankyu line, it was about a twenty minute bike ride to the station, with Momo on the back. Needless to say, by the time we got to the station, I was sweating up a storm.

We arrived in Kyoto and checked out the bus station map. After figuring out what bus we were to take, we headed to the bus stop. Ends up we were on the wrong side of the road but a nice older woman, pointed us in the right direction. After running across the street, we caught the next bus. On the bus we decided to get the All-Day Bus Pass for 500 yen since we had a couple of places to visit. Before we knew it, we were getting off the bus and headed for Ginkakuji Temple.

On the way to the temple, we came across the philosopher's path. I thought it was only close to Kyoto University as I read about it in the Travelpack; however, I guess it's a pretty large path which encompasses a large area of Kyoto. If you know me, you would know how excited I was to be on the Philosopher's path. I must admit, there were no great moments of insight or revelations while I was on my short part of the path but it was fun nevertheless.

(The Philosopher's Path)

After seeing pictures you will probably wonder why it is called the Silver Temple. Well, from my readings, the Shogun at the time wanted to cover the building in silver but either ran out of time, money, or both. There is a bronze phoenix on the roof facing to the east and the building itself is dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy. The grounds on which the building sat were more spectacular than the building itself. There is a silver colored sand and according to Momo, he wanted a river on the grounds. However, since there was no river, he decided to place the sand down instead. I heard it is beautiful in the moonlight. After Ginkakuji it was back to the bus stop and off to Nanzenji.

(Justin and Momo standing in front of Ginkakuji, the not so silver Silver Temple)

(Some of the silver sand, all it was raked and in some sort of design.)

(Random shot at the temple)

(Some more of the sand with a beautiful background view. There were several paths which we took and walked around the complex. Along the way there were a couple of minature shrines and some great views of the city.)

(One last shot of Momo and Justin on our way out.)

After we got off the bus stop we checked out a local map attached to the bus stop and planned our route for Nanzenji. Along the route, there was another temple, so we figured, why not, let's go. The temple ended up being the headquarters for a Judo Sect - the Seizan Zenrinji Branch. The name of the temple was Eikando. There is a story behind it:


"The then chief priest of Eikando, the Abbot Eikan, while intoning the Nembutsu, was walking around a statue of Amida. He suddenly came to as the dawn was breaking, Amida came down from his pedestal and began walking away, bekoning to Eikan. Eikan could do nothing but stare, speechless and unmoving. Then, Amida looked back at Eikan and called to him in a soft voice, "Eikan! Come with me!" Eikan decided to pass on to others the merciful heart he had received from Amida."


Amida is the Buddha who savs us all and in order to obtain the highest enlightenment, Amida established 48 vows. There are many multiple meanings to the statue's pose but my favorite is that she is looking back on all of those who have fallen behind, waiting for them to come to the front with her. It is difficult to explain but the statued and it's meaning was very touching. However, no photographs were allowed. There were several buldings within the compound and an amazing view from the pagoda.

(The Entrane to Eikando. In the background, to the right of the peak of the gate you can see the pagoda.)

(A garden with Eikando)

(Another random picture with Buddhist statues.)

(View from the Pagoda)

(A dragon water feature. I liked it so I took a picture. It would be neat to have a pond with one of these in it.)

(Buddhist statue)

Finally, we made our way to Nanzenji Temple. Once again there were a series of buildings and the largest gate I have ever seen in Japan. There was also a bridge where Momo informed me a famous drama takes place. At Nanzenji and several of the temples, moss is very prevalent. Momo also told me that Japanese people find moss beautiful although I'm not quite sure why. Inside the temple there was a tea room with a beautiful waterfall just outside. Also, there was some more of the silver sand as well as a moss garden. However, Nanzenji is most famous for the painted sliding doors, 132 of them I believe. Once again, pictures were prohibited due to the damage they cause.

(The largest gate I have ever seen. If you look closely you will notice people standing in the center. It was huge!)

(The famous bridge)

(Moss garden. If you look to the left you can see various types of moss growing.)

(One of the entrances to Nanzenji)

(Random building)

(Tea room - used for meditation)

On our way out of Kyoto I noticed this giant temple entrance. I am sure there is a specific name for these structures, however, I do not know what it is. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures, there probably aren't going to be that many more, at least not from Japan. Hopefully everyone is doing well and enjoying life. Take care and remember to smile. Love you all and miss you.

(Giant orange pillar. Yes, that is a bus on the right and a truck to the left.)