TravelJapanBlog.com » kyoto

As seen from a bank of the Oi River (大堰川)

acase — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:29:38 +0000

The pure water (清水) at Kiyomizudera (清水寺)

acase — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:55:02 +0000

When I visited Kiyomizu Dera for the first time, I hadn’t read anything about the place in a guide book. Therefore, I had sort of a “Duh” moment when after following around the packs of tourists we actually arrived at the kiyomizu that makes up its name. I hadn’t really thought about why it was named as it was or what the significance of the name was until this point. Duh!

Anyway, I bet you can’t tell which of these kiyomizu samplers is my daughter.

Kyoto shopping

acase — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:34:37 +0000

Shopping centers in Japan frequently have a similar look and feel to them. Some are called ginza, some are out of doors, but a common look is the one above–sort of a covered arcade of sorts.

This one is one of the largest, if not the largest, for this variety in Japan. You head down one of these lanes off of Kawaramachi Dori (河原町通) or Shijo Dori (四条通) in Kyoto and when you get to the end you can turn the corner to head down another mega-long street loaded with nothing but more shops and more shoppers.

円山公園での桜

acase — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:26:34 +0000

As I was digging through some photos I took in Kyoto I came upon this rather lovely one and determined to find out what the lantern meant. かがり火 is simple enough. Kagaribi means bonfire. 祇園 is Gion (the famous Gion known for teahouses and geisha). No surprises there as I took this picture in 円山 (maruyama) park which is either in or right next to Gion. So I figured this must be in reference to some bonfire festival that would shortly be taking place in the park. Right?

Wrong. A quick google search turned up this site, meaning that this decorative lantern is nothing more than an advertisement for a nearby restaurant which specializes in its tofu dishes.

Oh well. It’s more attractive than the billboards plastered along the sides of U.S. highways.

Sosui at Nanzen-Ji

acase — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:26:15 +0000

Sometimes in Japan you run into things that you are least expecting. Such was the case when I stumbled upon this Roman looking water canal (疏水) on the grounds of a more than 700 year old Buddhist Temple. The water comes from Otsu City, passes by Nanzen-ji Temple, and eventually makes it into Kyoto. It was built more than a hundred years ago.

Nanzenji (南禅寺) is located on the southern end of the Path of Philosophy.