Temple or Shrine?

Trip Start Apr 09, 2008

115

Trip End Apr 19, 2009

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Flag of Japan Kyoto, Kinki, Japan
Friday, September 19, 2008

I arrived at the bus station early in the morning with no idea of where to go. Eventually I managed to locate the hostel international and after asking dirrections about 5 times, a subway ride and a lot of walking I got there. It was too early to check in so I sat down in recetion. I happened to notice a list of rules, a long list, including such things as 7:30 - wake up 7:30 - 8:00 shower, 8:00 - 9:30 Breakfast, 9:30 - 10:00 tidy room, 10:00 check out. I could see it was not my kind of place so I took a map from the desk and went out to find somewhere else. It took a lot more walking but I found K's place which had communal areas, a bar and all the things things that make your stay more interesting and was actually cheaper than the hostel international. Unfortunately they didn't have space until the next day so that night I stayed in a traditional Japanese inn with old wooden stairs and 4 foot doorways. After that I walked along the river to the Imperial Palace of Kyoto it was a lot like the one in Tokyo except all the buildings were closed to the public

Castle

. There was a nice park though so I sat and looked around and then headed and ate on the way back to the inn.

The next day I went out early and visted the biggest temple in central Kyoto. It was under repair but still impressive. After I found my way to Nijo Castle which is a former Shogun's Palace later converted into a zen monastry it is really beautiful inside with Japan's best examples of wall painting technique. I wandered around for a bit and then got the train back to Kyoto station, once there I had a look around. It is a huge, modern building, with enourmous arches and what I thought of as wasted space, a stark contrast to Japan's normal architectural style of vertical construction and space conservation. I walked the short walk back to the hostel for the evening. I found an american who was in the mood for pizza so I went along with that and joined him even though pizza in Japan is small and overpriced.

The day after I visted various shrines and temples, of particular note was the golden pagoda which is really impressive along with another beautiful garden. There was some sort of wishing well style bowl, you had to flip a coin into a bowl placed some distance from the path. An old japanese man told me "lucky", which I think explaines the whole thing

Golden Pagoda

. I used three yen and got my third right into the bowl. So I should be "lucky" now. Also worth metioning is a shrine with the what the sign describes as the purest example of a zen garden in Japan. After a lot more temples I returned to the hostel where I met with some new friends and old and we went out for dinner and a drink. We actually ate chinese food but for sure it was delicious and I stummbled accross some ridicules deal where I ended up with 6 plates of food for about the same as everyone else paid.

My final and favourite day in Kyoto was spent at the International Manga Museum. The museum section is small and it is esential to view the special exhibit as well as the rest of the museum if you want to get enough information. The special exhibit while I was there compared the comics from around the world with those from Japan and also described the greatest achievements of Jaanese Manga. I learnt that the word 'manga' literally translates as comic or funny book, that the history of manga is identical to american comics as in the both started as short strips in newspapers and also the exhistance of Anpanman the hero that feeds the hungry with bread from his head. "Here eat my face" he will shout. The main part of the museum is more like a library with anime in many languages and also comic books from all over the world. I actually lost a whole afternoon reading the books there. That night we went out for more traditional japanese noodles.
The next morning I took the train to Osaka which only cost 500 yen (2.5 pounds) and took about an hour.