Kyoto: Ginkaku-ji, Chion-in, Nijo-jo, Kiyomizu-dera
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On this visit to Kyoto, we planned to visit the temples along the east and north hill regions. Temples usually were built along the hill slopes to utilize the view (called borrowed view, making it appear as part of the garden) and the natural landscape. Since we stayed on the east side, we would start our round there: the Higashi-yama region (東山, East Mountain).
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Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion, 銀閣寺, Ngân Các Tự)
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We were out the door at 8 am to catch the first #100 bus of the day heading North to Ginkaku-ji. We got off at Ginkakuji-mae station (literally the station "in front of Ginkakuji") and walked to the temple gate. In the early morning there were not a lot of people except school kids walking to school. The shops along the way were still closed. We reached the gate at 8:21 am, and open hour was 8:30. There were 4 other people waiting to get in. Here's a map of the grounds.
The main attraction, Kannonden (Quan Âm Điện), unfortunately was under renovation so it's all under scaffolding. However the gardens were fantastic. It's early morning after a day's rain, so when the sun hit the steam rose from the Hinoki cypress roof and the tree trunks creating a mystic scene.
There was a small karesansui garden near the entrance, with a representation of Mt Fuji (it looked kind of forced), but we noticed how clean everthing was. There were workers already picking up the tree needles and sweeping away the leaves and debris that fell overnight. I learned that the cleanliness discipline came from Shintoism. Here is a corner of the rock garden.
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The view of Higashiyama villa from high in the hill was great. In the picture, the Togudo was the nearest cypress-roofed hall. This was the oldest Shoin style building, constructed in 1486 to hold the Amidanyoraizo (A Di Đà Như Lai).
Moss (goke) was everywhere, along the path, under the trees, and there was a display showing all the important varieties of moss present here.
My wife liked this place the most of all the temples we visited on this trip, probably due to its balance and its intimacy.
Leaving the temple, we stopped by a sweet shop where hand-made (手つくり) hijiri were produced fresh each day. It's a very soft, square dough filled with azuki paste, then wrapped into a triangle or rectangle. We bought 2 boxes, one as gift for our friend, another to try ourselves, and took a picture with the sweet little lady. Kyoto is famous for yatsuhashi sweets (八ツ橋), which is filled with an (sweet red azuki bean paste). Yatsuhashi has 2 versions, a baked one, and an unbaked version which is the hijiri here. You can find hijiri on sale everywhere in Kyoto.
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Chion-in, 知恩院, Tri Ân Viện
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From Ginkakuji, we took a bus down South again to Chion-in. This temple was pretty close to our hotel, just northwest of Yasaka Shrine. I think we got off the bus at Jingumichi on the Sanjo-jingu-michi street and walked down a small street that was peaceful and beautiful, not much traffic or even pedestrians. We walked by a grand old tree with gnarling roots and trunk. Wow.
Then we saw the massive 2-storied triple gate San-mon (Tam Môn) that faced West towards the Amida Buddha's Pure Land. The morning sun was behind the gate at this time. This wooden gate was built in 1619 and survived till this day. The temple is the headquarters of the Japanese Pure Land Sect (淨土宗, Jōdo-shū, Tịnh Độ Tông) founded by Hōnen (法然, Pháp Nhiên) following the original Chinese principle. You can read more in the Vietnamese Wiki page. I guess it's called Chion because it's built by Hōnen's disciple in honor of his teacher.
After going through the gate, you face a steep stone stairs. There was a more gradual climb though longer stairs on the right. We took this one. There was a sign posted next to this path, if you could read the whole thing could you tell us what it means by posting a comment in the picture? Thanks in advance.
Along the path was a rock engraved with this poem: 念ずれば花ひらく meaning "when recite, flower blossoms". In Pure Land belief, reciting the name of the Amida Buddha will reincarnate you in the Pure Land, where everyone is born from a blossoming lotus flower (thus "flower blossoms"). There is a chant in Vietnamese "Hoa Khai Kiến Phật Ngộ Vô Sanh" which explains this reborn concept.
We then reached the main grounds with a vast plaza in front of the main hall Mieido (御影堂, Ngự Ảnh Điện). We took off our shoes and put them in a plastic bags handed to us by the keepers, and went up into the hall where a morning recitation was in progress. After sitting and listening for a while, we explored the hall. The floor planks looked very old, polished through the years (or through careful preservation, good job) and full of gnarly knots.
From the main hall looking out to the main plaza, on the left was a calm lily pond with a foot bridge. Walking pass this pond we found the path that went up to the bell pavillion (daishoro, 大鐘楼, Đại Chung Lâu). Unlike bell pavillions at other places, this pavillion is kind of tuck away from view, and you need to be able to read Kanji to find the path to it. It houses the largest temple bell in Japan at 74 tons, and the second-largest ringing bell in the world. A heavy wooden ramrod suspended from chains is swung by sixteen monks to sound the bell during the New Year ceremonies. Nearby in a corner is a memorial inscribed with 殉難忠士之墓, don't know who it was dedicated to, all I found was this text mentioning it, if you understand japanese: しかし、明治元年10月25日から27日にかけて、「知恩院学天は、殉難忠士の追福法要を修」した（大橋俊雄『浄土宗近代百年史年表』東洋文化出版、昭和62年）。これは、『知恩院史』（知恩院、昭和12年）に拠れば、鳥羽伏見の戦における朝廷方の「殉難忠士」の追福法要を知恩院大殿で行なつたもので、大鐘の東北隅に「殉難忠士之墓」の碑を建てた。碑の裏面にある撰文は、明確に朝廷側の「忠魂」墓碑の建設を意味してゐる。この時点においては、官賊を超越する天皇による勅命では無いこともあるが、4年前の「怨親平等」観が払拭されてゐる。
Here is a view from the main plaza looking East. The building on the right is the Amida Hall (阿弥陀堂, A Di Đà Đường).
By now you probably guessed why we visited this temple out of hundreds of other ones, and this temple wasn't on the major list of tourist attractions. My reasons were: it's the headquarters of the Pure Land Sect, it has the largest gate, and it has the largest bell. There was also the nightingale squeaking floor boards but we bypassed it (come on, we hate squeaky boards in our own house).
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We went back to the hotel for lunch, rested a bit, then went out to the Gion bus stop right in front of the hotel for bus #12 to Nijo-jo. Holy cow! A big group of school kids on a field trip with their teachers were already lining up there. It had to be 30 of them. That meant we couldn't get on the next bus. Then while waiting for the next next one, another group arrived, double the size of the previous one! Couldn't they afford to charter a bus of their own, and save the public transportation to poor souls like us?
Anyway, we descended on Nijo-jo which were already thronged with tourists and other school groups. It's high noon, a bit hot, and the Karamon entrance was crowded. The gate led to the Ninomaru (二の丸) building, which also displayed the 2 bells that once were inside the five-storied tower that burned down. Then we walked around the Gotenteien (御殿庭園) garden. The garden has an impressive array of rocks of all shapes and sizes.
Next we went up a flight of stone stairs to the Honmaru garden, on a corner of which was a raised platform marking the site of the former tower. This is the Honmaru gate, next to which was a multi-language audio guide post. The buildings in Honmaru were transfered here from somewhere else.
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Daisugi pine garden
On the way out we saw a nice karesansui (rock) garden. We also passed by a vast grove of daisugi pines dotted with rock formations. At first glance we wondered why would anyone deformed these trees and called this beauty. The main trunks were all cut slightly above the root, and below the cut point, narrow trunks had grown into straight columns with just a tuft of branches left at the very high top.
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But now we learned that there is an interesting history on how these pines came to be trimmed and enjoyed like this. Daisugi (Cryptomeria japonica) is of the same species as the common Japanese cedar. In the Muromachi period (1338-1573), pine logs were harvested to build sukiyaki tea houses. Demand was high, so a method was invented in the Nakagawa, Kyoto area to maximize the yield. Starting from when a young pine tree reached 5-6 years old, most of its branches were trimmed off except for a bit at the very top (called the Hosaki section) and some choice branches at the low section close to the root (the Toriki section). This trimming process was maintained until the main trunk (now called Tachiki) was big enough and harvested. Then a couple lower shoots became the new Tachiki. This way the same tree was kept to produce straight logs for the building industry. Some trees grew to be 600 years old. Nowadays this form of daisugi has grown to be appeciated for its erected figures and was grown as lanscape trees in gardens and parks.
From Nijo, we went back to Kyoto station to get information for our day trip to Kanazawa the next day, for sagano if we had time, and booked Shinkansen for the trip back to Tokyo on Saturday. Unbelievably, the morning shinkansens were packed so we got 2 seats in the smoking section of the 9am one. As we would find out the next day, this was a big mistake.
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Sunset on Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺, Thanh Thủy Tự)
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Kiyomizu means Pure Water, after the spring water that flows down from Otawa hill (otawa no taki, Sound of Feathers). The water is believed to have the powers to heal.
Kiyomizu-dera is a temple of the Tendai sect (天台宗, Thiên Thai) which bases its teaching on the Lotus Sutra (Kinh Diệu Pháp Liên Hoa). The temple is famous for its main building which, supported by 139 giant pillars without a nail, hangs over a cliff. Here's a picture of my wife standing on the butai (舞台, stage, vũ đài) under the gold afternoon sun.
The fun of visiting Kiyomizudera just might be the steep and busy lanes full of people, shops and snack stands leading to and from the temple: Gojo-zaka, San-nei-zaka heading north and continuing on to Ninen-zaka.
Tourist in kimonos
In this area called Higashiyama you will see some tourists in kimonos walking the narrow lanes of Higashiyama for pictures. Around the Gion area where we stayed there are kimono shops which, for a good fee, will dress you up like a maiko and let you loose for 3-4 hours in Kyoto streets to take pictures. The area from Yakasa Shrine to Kiyomizu temple have a lot of atmospheric narrow lanes suitable for taking pictures of this sort. Tourists often confuse these dressed-up girls with the real geishas. One night while wandering along a side street behind Pontocho, we ran into a real geisha dashing out from a discreet looking place into a waiting taxi. Oh my! was she gorgeous. Her garb and jewelries were stunning, unlike any cheap rental things we saw. The whole thing happened too fast I didn't have time to even swing my camera around. That's a real geisha for you, they don't hang around during the day on tourist hang-out spots!
Well back to our temple. There is a Main Gate (Niomon) and then further in is the West Gate (Saimon), flanked on the other side by the bell pavilion. There was a simple temizuya by the bell pavilion, and further in was a more elaborated one with a dragon, which was presented to the temple in 1861.
We stayed and took in the most excellent sunset (夕日, ゆうひ, tịch nhật) in Japan on a path from the Inner Hall exiting to the south.
After sunset we walked down a path that cut through the hill to come down the waterfall crowded with school kids waiting noisily to drink the holy water. Among them was a group of foreign exchange students.
We walked back to Gion in the cool evening night through the now quieter lanes. Back in Gion we explored the Pontocho lane.
Oden
It was autumn, and with autumn came a popular dish called oden which was sold everywhere from food carts to convenience stores. It's basically a simmering soup pot with various ingredients in it. For dinner tonight we bought oden from a Seven-Eleven store. You picked what you liked and were charged for each item. Among others, we tried 燒ちくわ (a type of kamaboko), atsuage (厚揚げ, deep fried tofu), and rice cake pouch (餅入り巾着).
We then went to bed early for tomorrow's trip to Kanazawa.
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