Friday, June 27, 2014

Japan Day 4, Part 1: Ryoan-ji gardens and Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion

In the three years since I traveled in Japan, the binding of my travel journal from Japan came undone and one of the loose pages was lost, meaning that a dayof my journey is now even hazier to recollect. Let this be a lesson in transforming rough notes into full descriptions in a more timely manner.

On the morning of my fourth day in Japan, I cycled out to the hills on Northwest edge of town, instead of to the East as I had been going. On the way I was impressed with a hobo-core quasi-house under a bridge.



Though I would have preferred to start at the Northeastern-most site I was to visit in the day and keep moving West and South, Ryoan-ji opened its gates before Kinkaku-ji, so I reluctantly conceded the need to backtrack. 


This Zen temple begins with large ponds.




The main attraction is a rock garden surrounded by an earthen wall, which itself is completely surrounded by tree-filled gardens.


The occasional buildings had some interesting decorative carvings.



Some of the trees would not look out of place in a Doctor Seuss book.



The massive vines shading parts of the path were impressive.





A bamboo-lined stream captured my ideal of wandering through Japan: seeing ancient human adaptations to the land allowed to become part of the natural setting, making for a peaceful location where both the beauty of nature and the long presence of people can be seen.


After an hour had passed, Kinkaku-ji opened and I cycled over there. A small loop of trail took my past some small gardens and up hill to the Golden Pavilion itself. Well, the replica. The original lasted from 1397 until 1950, when a monk obsessed with the building burned it down. The replica was made to be exactly the same. Presumably the reflecting pool and gardens are contiguous with the originals.






Thursday, June 26, 2014

Japan Day 3, Part 7: Nanzen-ji rainstorm and view

Rain began to fall as I headed to Nanzen-ji temple, and by the time I made it to the cover of the gates it was pouring. I waited out the storm under the gate looking out at a wall of water. A Japanese man struck up a conversation, telling me about the temple and the role it plays in a Kabuki theatre show. In the play, a Robin Hood-esque thief climbs to the massive wooden gate's second floor to avoid detection, but ruins it by shouting, "What a spectacular view from up here!" At the time I stood there, the view was mostly grey clouds.




The entire temple is build on the same massive scale as its impressive main gate.


Behind the main buildings runs an aqueduct, and behind that was a path to a small mountain shrine.




The shrine itself was little more than a tiny natural cave alcove, but it was situated next to a small waterfall with a beautiful view of the wooded valley below.



I was the only person on the entire path to and from the shrine, so I enjoyed the peace. I also saw a tiny frog sitting on a rock next to me.


One of the gardens on Nanzen-ji is supposed to be especially impressive. I have a feeling that I went to the wrong one, though, since it was nice but if anything a bit subpar.



On the way back down I returned to the gatehouse's famous view to look out now that the clouds had dispersed. I agree with the thief, the view was magnificent.



The gatehouse itself also looked quite beautiful as the sun brought out its weathered wood grains.






I biked back to the area near my hostel and tried to go to the castle, but I had already missed the last admission. I was able to see that the castle made quite the contrast with the modern towers behind it.


Instead I wandered over to the Imperial Palace park, taking in some modern art along the way.


The Imperial Palace had a lot of long identical closed wooden buildings, but was pleasant for all its repetitiveness and plainness. I found a place to sit with my Lonely Planet and plan out dinner and the next day's travels. I navigated the narrow alleyways to the small, very traditional Misoka-an Kawamichiya, where I enjoyed a dinner of Soba noodles. 

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Japan Day 3, Part 6: Eikan-do

Eikan-Do temple was situated in forests and among gardens as beautiful as its neighbors. The buildings were connected with meandering wooden walkways around the gardens.


The temple's most striking feature, to my architecture obsessed eyes, was the delightful curve of an outdoor covered staircase ascending up to a small pagoda overlook.




Other parts of the building had decorative lions on the roof that were the opposite of rampant: rearing on their front legs and kicking the hind legs upward, making them look like circus performing dogs.




The elegant ponds and gardens had a touch of autumn in them, which only enriched the landscape's palette. 




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