Kyoto à gogo. Part II: Sunday

Young women in traditional dress at Kinkakuji

Sunday dawned much like Saturday had dusked; grey and drizzly. Unperturbed, and fortified by a hearty breakfast buffet, we once more embarked on our sightseeing mission. After taking the metro north for a few stops, we walked to the west, towards Rokuonji (Deer Garden Temple), better known as Kinkakuji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion). Can you guess why? Unlike its silver counterpart, this pavilion is actually bedecked in leaf befitting its name.

The original pavilion dated back to the 1390s when the site was bought by Ashikaga Yoshimasa’s grandfather, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. It survived for over 500 years until it was burned down by a seriously disgruntled monk with an ‘antipathy for beauty’ in 1950. In 1955 it was rebuilt as faithfully to the original as possible and this is what is visible today. Despite the fact that it’s a reconstruction, and despite the masses of tourists frantically scrabbling to have their photo taken, it is a magnificent sight and one that I’m very pleased to have made the journey for.

Incredible

Spot the giant spider...

Beautiful colours starting to emerge

Our sightseeing mission on Sunday did not allow time for dawdling so we hastened on. There are no train / metro stations particularly near Kinkakuji, and we missed the once-half-hourly bus by about two minutes so our feet were our best option. Our next and final major sight was Nijo-jo, the 17^th century castle right in the centre of the city. Our time there (or lack thereof) was dictated by the shinkansen tickets so we whizzed past Ninomaru Palace, through Ninomaru Gardens, into Honmaru Gardens, past Honmaru Palace, up some giant steps to see what’s left of a well-fortified keep, and out through a plum grove. Phew.

Ornate entrance gate leading to Ninomaru Palace

Beautifully landscaped gardens

And then it was time to go

We sped back to the hotel to collect our bag, then on to the central station, through the outer barriers, through the shinkansen barriers, onto the platform and into the train. We did stop on the way to pick up a bento box each, and a couple of beers – since our outbound compartment mates had been drinking Asahi at 6.30 the previous morning, we figured it was probably OK to have a beer with our late lunch on the return journey. Beer + food + hectic sightseeing = sleep, which I did pretty much all the way home.

It was a great way to spend a weekend. I feel we only just began to scratch the surface so I guess we’d better go back and do everything else another time!

またね!