Kyoto Things to Do Tips by wroclawiak

I was sceptic about the beautiy ot the Rock Garden in the Ryoanji Temple. I only knew that it is very famous . I asked myself how 15 stones lying in white gravel could be fascinating and attract so many tourists each year. I visited the temple and the garden. I spent about three hours in the temple complex and about one hour at least gazing at 15 stones. It is not possible to see all of them together. You have to change your sitting position. If you have a little imagination this garden will hypnotize you as it hypnotized me. The rock garden is surrounded by earthern walls made of clay boilde in oil. The guid books say that this gaden may be tought of as the quintessence of Zen art.
If you turn right you will see a totaly different scenery bordering to the rock garden - a kind of a green moos garden. (pic 4.) Take a seat at the end of the porch and look alternately at the rock garden and the "moos garden". Two different sceneries will make your imagination more varied.

A unique wash-bassin of stone. "Tsukubai" (pi.5 )
It is for the tea room. It famous of its inscripition: " I learn only to be contented."

The Ryoanji Temple is a very huge complex with a lot of buildings and a beautiful big pond where you can see a lot of birds and some water plants.

Entrence fee: Y500

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I was visiting the Kiyomizu temple in the late afternoon. The weather was not so good and I thought it would spoil my visit to this temple. And it did a little bit. The heavy rain started to fall and disrupted my visit.
After on hour of the rain eased off to a light drizzle and a magnificent and clear view of Kyoto occured to me. The smog over Kyoto disappeared completely.

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Kiyomizudera means "Pure Water Temple". The temple is opened from 6 am to 6pm but to avoid the crowds I would suggest visiting the temple in the early morning hours.

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Website: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3901.html

I spent a couple of hours gazing at the gray gravel formations symbolizing the sea and Fuji vulcano.

The main attraction is the Silver Pavillon. It is two storied with two architecture styles. The first floor is built in Shion style, traditional Japanese residential architecture style, and the second floor is Chinese temple style. On the roof you can see the golden bronze phoenix dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy.

For more details have a look at the website.

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Website: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3907.html

One of my favourite activities in Kyoto was hanting for geishas with my camera. The Gion district with old Japanese houses is a perfect spot for such activity. There are many tourist waiting with their wappons - cameras. The streets of Gion district become more busy in the evening and the chance to see a geisha is bigger.
Adjust the shutter speed correctly because the geishas move very quickly.

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Walk along the Kamo river. You can watch as well people as different kind of birds. Going from the Minamiza Theater towards Gojo Dori (Gojo Street) you will see some old houses on your right. There are some restaurants with nice terraces and lanterns.

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The GOLDEN PAVILON is a very pitoresque building. Everyone wants to have a picture with it. I made it too. The building seems to be harmonious and extrem elegant. It consists of three types of architecture. The fist floor is the palast style, the second floor is the sytle of the samurai house and the third floor is the Zen temple style. Both the 2nd and 3rd floors are covered with gold-leaf on Japanese lacquer. You can see the Chinese phoenix on the roof.

The Golden Pavilon it the main building of the temple which is properly called Rokuon-ji temple. The temple is ver popular among tourists and therefore overcrowded .

The garden is really beautiful and can be enjoyed as it was hunderts of yerars ago.

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Website: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3908.html

Higashi Honganji is the Mausoleum of Shinran Shonin, the founder of Shin Buddhism, and also the mother temple of the Shinshu Otani-ha, one of the largest Buddhist denominations in Japan.

I visited this temple because I wanted to see the Kezuna, a very special rope - made of women's hair (pic. 4)
Text from the Higashi Honganji prospect:
"When the project began to build the Founder's Hall, difficulties arose due to the weight of the timbers being used. Conventional ropes were insufficient to transport the huge beams to the construction site, causing long delays in the project.
When word of the difficulties reached local temples throughout Japan, female devotees, without hesitation, cut off their hair to weave massive ropes made of the hair that was gathered. There were fifty-three such ropes made."

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Address: Karasuma dori
Directions: Karasuma dori - very close to the Kyoto Station

I love local markets and Nishiki Market in Kyoto is one of the most interesting I've seen so far. You can spend there a lot of time watching people, tasting local products and buying something exotic. The market itself is a colourful paradise for your eyes. Taste Japanese pickled vegetables. There are so tasty and relatively cheap. Cheaper than in my supermarket;-(.
I like to haggle but haggling is not common in Japan and I didn't even try this.

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Address: Nishikikoji-dori
Website: http://www.joho-kyoto.or.jp/~center/english/shop/nishiki/index.html

I enjoyed Kyoto by night very much. The main streets are full of people till late night. Kyoto becomes more colourfull and the ugly modern buildings disappear under covoer of night.
The best districts for late evening and night walking are Gion and Shijo Dori. I visited Kyoto during the Gion Matsuri (Gion festival) and the evening atmosphere was extremaly nice.

I felt myself safe and I can say that Japan seems to be a very safe country.

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