Japan Day 6, Part 1: The massive wooden temples of Higashi Hongan-ji and Nishi Hongan-ji

Just North of Kyoto station stand two large wooden temples. They made an excellent choice for my last sights in Kyoto both because of their convenient location and the fact that their gates open before 6 am. The first I entered was Higashi Hongan-ji, which claims to be the world's largest wooden structure. It was hard to judge since one of the connected buildings was under restoration and was covered up on the outside. The uncovered buildings certainly weren't small...

Covered walkways connected all of the buildings. I was able to walk around in the building under restoration, but the accessible parts didn't look like much. The sections of the structure that stuck out on either side of the aircraft-hangar-like restoration cover were impressive, though.

Inside was an area that showed how the enormous logs for the temple's construction were brought to Kyoto: by sledge. 

The sledges were pulled by huge human hair ropes:

A diorama showed that such efforts were not without risk. If you look closely, you'll see that some of the tiny figures are bleeding into the snow.

A few blocks away stood Nishi Hongan-ji, an equally impressive site. 

I loved this dragon sculpture fountain.

Children from various schools had collected bottlecaps and applied them to their assigned square of a template to form a picture of a monk. 

The wooden buildings had some cool architecture. I love timber-frame buildings in both the European and East Asian styles.

Here too covered walkways connected many of the buildings.

My favorite part was a three story wood slat building. I find wood grain beautiful, and all the more when it ages well. 

It was still early in the morning when I walked the few blocks to Kyoto Station and boarded a train to Uji.