The main entrance
of the Heian Shrine...I returned to Kyoto on August 29th to visit Professor Ishiguro's robotics lab at the University of Kyoto. After the visit I decided to see a few more sights in Kyoto. My first stop was the Heian Shrine. The Heian Shrine is one of the nicest shrines I visited in Japan. The orange-painted wood and the green-tiled roofs make the buildings very picturesque.
The main entrance
of the Heian Shrine...
The Heian Shrine
courtyard...
The dragon
fountain...
A closeup of the
dragon...
An ornate
building...
As I was walking through the shrine grounds, I became aware of the unique construction details of the buildings. I thought the patterns and shapes created by the builders were very interesting, especially because of the orange woodwork against the white plaster. I decided to take some photographs of visually interesting parts of the buildings.
Elaborate
structure...
Roof detail...
After visiting the Heian Shrine I took a bus to Kiyomizu Temple. Well, actually I took a bus to the foot of the hill on which the Kiyomizu Temple is built. Kiyomizu Temple is situated on the slope of one of the hills which surround Kyoto. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the temple from the bus stop but there are many shops along the way to catch your eye. Some of them only sell cheap tourist items, but others have some nice merchandise. At the end of the street lies the Kiyomizu Temple which affords visitors a beautiful view of Kyoto.
Kiyomizo
Temple...
Looking at Kyoto
from the rear of the temple grounds...
Once I started photographing at the construction details at the Heian Shrine, I kept looking for more everywhere I went. There are some fantastically painted structures at Kiyomizu as these photographs show.
Beautifully
painted supports...
Roof patterns...
Web structure...
Vaulted
ceiling...
Next to the Kiyomizu Temple is the Kyoto Jishu Shrine, billed as the "cupid of Japan." This shrine has been in existence for over 1300 years and is "the dwelling place of the god of love and matchmaking." The most famous parts of the Jishu Shrine are the "Love Stones." They are two stones set about ten meters apart. If a person walks safely from one stone to the other with her or his eyes closed, her or his love will be realized. Another interesting part of the shrine is the place where people hang plaques with pictures and writing on them, called ema, which are prayers for and vows of love. There were hundreds of ema hung at the shrine when I was there. Hopefully their prayers will be answered.
One of the Love
Stones at the Kyoto Jishu Shrine...
The sign in the above photograph reads:
LOVE STONE
This stone is called "Love-fortune-telling" stone. If you walk safely from this stone to the other with your eyes closed. For once, your wish'll be granted soon. If you can't, it will be long before your love is realized. And it is said taking advice requires you to have someone who'll help you achieve your love.
A young girl tries
to touch the Love Stone with some advice from a friend...
My final stop for the day was the Kyoto Handicrafts Center (yes, again). I still had some more shopping to do even though I was tired from sightseeing. After spending another hour trying to decide what to get for whom, I took a bus to the train station and took the Shinkansen back to Osaka (the great thing about having a Japan Rail Pass is that you can take the Shinkansen without worrying about the cost). When I got back to my friend Angie's apartment we decided to go out for yakitori at a small local restaurant. To say that the restaurant was small is no exaggeration--it wasn't even as big as my apartment. Most of the area was taken up by a cooking area which was surrounded by a bar. There was only one very small table which is where we had to sit because all the bar space was taken. We received the usual surprised looks from the patrons when we walked in--I always get the feeling that, being a gaijin (foreigner), I am disrupting the wa (harmony) of the other patrons when I walk into a restaurant, especially if it is a small, out-of-the-way place that doesn't get a lot of non-Japanese customers. But we soon blended in, thanks to Angie's ability to order in nihongo (Japanese). The food was great! I could eat some of it right now...