Day 20

Day 20 and it was time to day trip out of Osaka to the old capital of Kyoto. My original plans had me spending 2 days here until something popped up in Nagoya that meant I had to compress the time down to just the one day to cram as much in as I could. Even with the 2 days I was pushing it so I wasn't too disappointed at having to drop stuff.

Kyoto is home to a ton of beautiful old temples and following the modern big wheels and towers of the day before it was nice to visit things a little closer to the ground and something with a bit more history to it. The entire city is full of UNESCO listed buildings and as someone who is putting more and more of that into my holidays I definitely wanted to include Kyoto in this trip. The trade off is that the public transport isn't quite as strong here as it is in Osaka with a single metro line, some suburban railway and a heavy dependency on buses. 

The sightseeing would get me around a lot of the city from Kinkaku-ji temple in the north, the Inari Shrine to the south, a couple of temples and bamboo forest to the West, Palaces and a castle and palace in the city centre. Quite a lot for a day trip.

First up a little suburban train journey down to Inari station in the south-east of the city for the shrine and mountain walk of torii gates. The Shrine is home to hundreds of fox statues (or kitsune as known in Japan) are worshipped. There were many statues of them starting as soon as you got out of the station. But this was not the reason for my visit.

The Inari Shrine is famous for it's tunnel of Torii arches that run up the side of a mountain.

I have no idea how many there are but they go all the way up a mountain, which had I had more time and better weather I'd have got to the top of (I would have!). I made it about two thirds of the way up before heading down a different exit. This shrine is tourist heavy but the higher up you go the less there are and I quickly found it was less hassle to take photos if you waited until later.

Do look back however as all the inscriptions are written on the side of the torii gates going back down the mountain. Upwards they're blank.

Along the way you'll pass a load of shrines offering a nice respite from the ascent.

After a gentle descent down the mountain, a little walk through some backstreets and a stock up of fluids from a number of vending machines I arrived back at the station and I returned to Kyoto station where I caught a bus up to the next destination. Buses are actually straightforward but different to back home. In Japan you exit through the front door and pay on the way out or if you have a day ticket (which I'd bought from the tourist centre in Kyoto's station) you can get it validated at the drivers wundermachine too (it appears to be able to do everything). 

The bus took me up to the north of the city and after a short walk I found myself at the Kinkaku-ji Temple. It was quite busy with tourists and requires a payment to enter, which I didn't mind paying.

Originally built in the 1300s the one on the site now is much more modern, built in the 1950s but it's still an incredible looking temple. Kinkaku-ji translates as Golden Pavilion which makes sense but it's not sure what happened first; did they name it after it had been built or did they build it based on the name? It's a stunning looking temple even with the crappy skies I was experiencing today.

Other than the temple there's not much to keep you interested. I spent more time at the vending machines than I did exploring the little bit of the grounds you pass on the path that takes you around the temple and back to the exit.

Another bus and walk took me to my next destination the Kyoto Imperial Palace. By now the weather was starting to take a turn for the worse and as I entered, paid and picked up my lanyard it started to rain. 

The grounds are huge at 700m across and almost twice that long. This is a recent build, with construction taking place in the 1800s. The buildings are not the high temples that Tokyo has with a more modest lower construction, but with a much bigger plot of land to play with the buildings a vast.

The rain got torrential and it was kind of nice to be protected by huge buildings that would have been home to the Emperor and I'm sure that at some point he must have done the same thing.

The site does offer tours but with such a low attendance they didn't seem to be happening today.

The grounds were rather nice but it was sooooo wet!

The rain did stop so I chose to walk to the next destination. Along the way I passed another temple called the Goo Shrine which is a bit unique in that it is dedicated to pigs.

Daimaru Villa is a Tudor style building and would stick out in the city if it wasn't for the wall of trees hiding it.  It doesn't appear to be open to the public but I think it's owned by a business and used for their functions.

The next stop was the Nijo Castle, another vast structure built in 1600s. It's built on land around 1/3 a size of the palace but is still quite big. I love how it's just stuck in the centre of a busy city.

The entrance gates are ridiculously ornate, some of the best I'd seen. There was a bus party but full of very well behaved kids. One did accidentally bump into me but quickly blurted out a "I'm so sorry" apology. I responded with a "doo itashimashite" (It's no problem) which I think impressed them as there was a collective "ooooooooohhhhhhh" from the group haha!

We weren't supposed to be taking photos inside the castle which consists of a series of gradually smaller rooms joined at diagonally opposite corners but I snuck a few when the guards weren't looking. It was as ninja as I could get as any attempt to walk through would result in the floors creaking even though I was just in my socks (shoes left at the entrance). This is by design and they do explain how the nailing of the floors causes it. I guess this is why ninja assassins would come in through the roof.

Behind the Ninomaru Palace is a beautiful garden where I just had to sit and chill for longer than I would usually do. This was put together to quite a specific level of detail by a chap called Kobori Masakazu, the Japanese Alan Titchmarsh of the 1600s. 

A view across the castle compound from what would have been one of the corner towers.

On the way out I passed this leaf caught on a spider's web and I spent a little bit of time pretending I was making it float. I got some laughs and some odd looks from others passing by. Simple things please simple minds I guess. 

A rather cool collection of swords none of which were made by legendary sword maker Hattori Hanzo 

From the castle it was time to head west to the temples out there. Unfortunately the metro doesn't go far enough West so I headed back to the main city station and took a suburban train out to Sagaarashiyama Station, well that was the plan only I jumped an express train and found myself heading out of Kyoto, through a mountain range to the city of Kameoka; a bonus bit of countryside tourism. Fortunately my rail pass covered the additional journey and the train conductor was very apologetic for my mistake, which threw me a little bit. I think there's a lot to be had in getting lost and making mistakes more so on trips where I've planned a lot.

The next temple was Tenryu-ji. Built in the 1930s and the first Buddhist temple in the city it's another of the more popular attractions in the city. 

This also has a garden, which was nice but not as nice as the one in the castle.

But the main draw is what lies behind it. A huge bamboo forest that I didn't twig (pun not intended) I'd walked into until I suddenly realised the skies had gotten dark. I was walking up a path checking my google maps to ensure I was heading the right way to find I was already where I wanted to be. It was bizarre and a tad embarrassing that I just didn't see this coming. It is a tad spooky and eerie but beautiful too. It was quite late in the afternoon when I got here hence the lack of crowds that would be there in the morning.

My final stop was Jojakko Temple, another mountain side shrine. This one had a small entry fee.

At the top of the climb is this rather cute little temple. A nice finish to the sightseeing day and I celebrated with a matcha ice cream in the rain. I just didn't care.

On the walk back I was over taken by these guys and instantly got a Banksy flashback.

For the journey back I had the obligatory bento box with a small addition :)

Kyoto was stunning and I did some of the major attractions but have a ton more to go. I know I'll be back to Japan and can easily add a stop in this city again. In a way it worked out well that I didn't blitz the day and cram everything in. Perhaps next time I'll be here when the cherry blossom is out. I hear that's incredible.

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