Kyoto temples and gardens

 Kyoto, Japan, was supposed to be a target for an atomic bomb during WWII but Henry Stimson, US Secretary of War, took it off the short list, replacing it with unfortunate Nagasaki.

Shrine at Fushimi-Inari, Kyoto

And that is why there are still places like this, the Fushimi Inari shrine in southern Kyoto, all set about a 230 meter hill, and dedicated to Inari, the fox-goddess of rice and sake.

I loved the thousands of vermillion gates leading up the hill.

And the little wooden fox heads that you could buy and draw upon. I looked at the back of the one in the lower center of this photo.

Looks like it was from a little girl in South Pasadena. But what was her wish? I couldn't quite figure it out.

There was calligraphy on each gate post and this fellow was touching it up.

John's photo

There were thousands of individual shrines crowding the upper part of the hill. John commented that it's hard to get a picture capturing the cacophony of the place, but I think he comes close here: foxes, shrines and gates everywhere.

And once in awhile a big horse.

John's photo

One day we used our rail pass to go from Kyoto to Nara. This temple, Todaiji, is the largest wooden structure on the planet and houses a Daibutsu (Great Buddha).

This humongous structure was begun in the 700's by Emperor Shomu, back when Nara was Japan's capital.

The grounds surrounding Todaiji are populated by hundreds of deer, completely untroubled by the crowds of people.

Apparently they aren't always so docile.

We were there on a Saturday, and there were many groups of school children on field trips.

 

Nara's Daibutsu is the largest bronze Buddha in the world. Big big big!

One of his fingers is about my size, and I'm 5'7".

What is it about the dance between religion and power that creates these huge monuments?

Roof detail of a smaller shrine in Nara.

I don't know the answer to that, but I was glad that we went to see Nara. It is amazing and fully deserves to be the UNESCO World Heritage site that it is.

John's photo. His lens had begun to fog up, creating this gorgeous effect.

Back in Kyoto, we walked up the hill from our inn to see Kiyomizu, a very atmospheric temple in the clouds and rain.

Holy cow, did it ever pour.

On a clear day you would get a great view of the city from here, but this is what it looks like in the rain.

All of the temples had incense available. My stick is the crooked one, bottom left.

 

OK, I'm almost done, but first I have to show you the Silver Pavilion, which is set in the most beautiful landscape. The Japanese travel here twice a year, spring and fall, to take in its loveliness and color.

The zen garden behind the Silver Pavilion is re-worked for those two seasons, and allowed to slowly melt into itself in the months between. Here we see what it looked like for the spring of 2012.

I was mesmerized by the dragon's back: so cool, but deceptively hard to photograph!

After looking at the zen garden we traversed the Philosopher's Walk, a dreamy cherry-tree-lined path along a canal. Along its 2K there were more shrines and sights.

But by this time my head was pretty much filled and I was becoming templed-out.  Each shrine is special and to do it justice you should have a fresh mind. Besides, it's good to leave something for next time, right?