On to Kyoto

Kyoto was the capital of Japan for 1000 years. Since I am from a country just over 200 years old I really have no concept of what that means. However, since much of Kyoto was burned in 1867 there was much in Kyoto that was restored and only a few surviving buildings. To learn about Japanese history you can go here.

We took a night train to Kyoto and since I have such difficulty sleeping in a moving vehicle we really didn't do too much the first day there. We went to some shrines and, while a few did allow photography inside, I didn't feel it was right since there were people in there praying. Here is the outside of Higashi Honganju Temple.

At about noon that day we found a neat little place called To-jian that we could check into and go to sleep. That night we went out to Gion district and I didn't bring the camera with me. It was fun, though, I promise.

This is a very famous temple in Kyoto called Toji Temple. Every anime that I have watched that involved a drawing of Kyoto during the Edo era shows this building somewhere in the picture. That makes it famous, I guess.

There is a path on the east part of Kyoto (I think it is called the Philosopher's Walk) that goes by many temples and shrines. What's interesting is to see where modern day houses and buildings have sprouted up in the midst of all the old stuff. The lower picture is a great example of old and new just mixed together. I would have liked to take some pictures of houses and stuff but I didn't want to do that without asking permission and I didn't run

Here are the grounds of another famous temple, Ginkaku-ji. The landscaping, the trees, and sand gardens were all carefully shaped. This is another part that

Here's another great shot showing how Kyoto has melded into a city mixed with old and new. Kyoto is the 6th largest city in Japan, by the way.

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