| Hippo Participant's experience
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| Day 8: Sunday, June 5, 2005 |
As planned, Hirooki-chan drove us to Kyoto. It took almost an hour to reach Kyoto from Nishinomiya City through the highway. This time, we are going to visit the temples and shrines at the western part.
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The whole stretch of highway in Japan is designed with a
barrer to reduce noice pollution produced by the speed vehicles |
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The first temple we went to was the Kinkakuji or also known as the Golden Pavilion. It is a Zen temple formally known as Rokuonji. The construction started in 1397 as part of a new residence for the retired shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. After Yoshimitsu's death in 1408, Kinkakuji was converted into a Zen temple. The temple functions as shariden, housing sacred relics of the Buddha and is covered in gold leaf. |
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Rina-chan and I posing in front of the
Golden Pavillion which is listed under
the world heritage site. |
The present building dates from 1955 as
the pavilion was burnt by a
fanatic monk in 1950. |
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Next we went to the Silver Pavillion, or also known as Ginkakuji. It is a Zen temple at the foot of Kyoto's Higashiyama ("eastern mountains"). In 1482, shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa built his retirement villa on the grounds of today's temple. A few years later, the Silver Pavilion, modeled after Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), was constructed. Similar to the case of Golden Pavillion, the villa was converted into a Zen temple after Yoshimasa's death in 1490.
After the Silver Temple, we headed to Ryoanji Temple which is said to be the most popular among the foreigners because it is full of Zen. It is a world famous stone garden that has been laid out since as early as the 16th century.
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The Rock Garden is the main attraction of the Ryoanji Temple. |
After 1482, plans to cover the pavilion in silver were never realized. But still it was called the Silver Pavillion. |
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Must not miss a moment at the villa of a
famous shogun of Japan. |
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| Rina-chan, Hirooki-chan and Sou-chan in the internal garden of the Silver Pavilion. |
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