2nd day at Kyoto

we started our morning with breakfast from the bakery and went to the bus stop to wait for the bus to kinkakuji.

Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺, Kinkaku-j- --- Golden Pavilion Temple) is the informal name of Rokuon-ji (鹿苑寺, Deer Garden Temple) in Kyoto. The Golden Pavilion, or Kinkaku, is a three-story building on the grounds of the temple. The top two stories of the pavilion are covered with pure gold leaf. The pavilion functions as a shariden, housing relics of the Buddha (Buddha's Ashes). he Golden Pavilion is set in a magnificent Japanese strolling garden (kaiyū-shiki). The pond in front of it is called Kyōko-chi (Mirror Pond). There are many islands and stones on the pond that represent the Buddhist creation story.

here are some pictures taken today

me walking from the temple

daddi and me
our family pixmummi and me at the stalls

after that we went for lunch at a nearby place, its run by two ladies. so we had lunch there. but on the way to the restaurant, i fell asleep.

the other side of the restaurant, can you see my toes at the corner of the picture?

daddi with his lunch

i am up from my nap, dun i look energetic ??

after lunch, we went to take the bus to ryoanji temple

the lake at the rjoan-ji temple

Ryōan-ji (Shinjitai: 竜安寺, Kyūjitai: 龍安寺, Ryōan-ji The Temple of the Peaceful Dragon) is a Zen temple located in northwest Kyoto. An object of interest near the rear of the monks quarters is the carved stone receptacle into which water for ritual purification continuously flows. This is the Ryōan-ji tsukubai (蹲踞, tsukubai), which translates literally as "crouch;" and the lower elevation of the basin requires the user to bend a little bit to reach the water, which suggests supplication and reverence. The kanji written on the surface of the stone are without significance when read alone. If each is read in combination with 口 (kuchi), which the central bowl is meant to represent, then the characters become 吾, 唯, 足, 知. This is read as "ware tada tare (wo) shiru" and translates literally as "I only know plenty" (吾 = ware = I, 唯 = tada = only, 足 = tare = plenty, 知 = shiru = know). The meaning of the phrase carved into the top of the tsukubai is simply that "what one has is all one needs" and is meant to reinforce the basic anti-materialistic teachings of Buddhism. The absence of a dipper is intended to imply that the water is for the soul only and that it is necessary to bend the knee in humility in order to receive its blessing.
the temple's name is synonymous with the temple's famous karesansui (dry landscape) rock garden, thought to have been built in the late 1400s. The garden consists of raked gravel and fifteen moss-covered boulders, which are placed so that, when looking at the garden from any angle (other than from above) only fourteen of the boulders are visible at one time. It is traditionally said that only through attaining enlightenment would one be able to view the fifteenth boulder. (Also, if facing the garden from the far right and about 8 feet back a person of about 1.82m(6ft) in height can see all 15 boulders, though the small boulder farthest to the left appears to be part of the much larger boulder immediately next to it).

Dry landscape rock garden in the back


the redgate leading to the lake
me checking out the fishes and tortoises in the lake

i actually walked up all the steps myself

as the sun sets early after 5pm, it get dark and cool in the autuum nite, we took the bus to Gion. Gion (祇園) is a district of Kyoto. The district was built to accommodate the needs of travelers and visitors to the shrine. It eventually evolved to become one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan. The geisha in the Gion district do not refer to themselves as geisha; instead, Gion geisha use the local term geiko. While the term geisha means "artist", the more direct term geiko means specifically "a woman of art." Gion is the setting of much of Arthur Golden's novel Memoirs of a Geisha.

i was too tired from running around at the temple and fell asleep in the nice cool weather, the fine for littering is 10,000yen. so i best not drop anything.

the streets are parts of the national historical preservation district

finally up from my nap before we start the walk back to our hotel
on the way back we had dinner at this small restaurent in some back alley,its a cosy place and we got treated to some egg omellette japanese style, unfortunately daddi's camera battery died on us. so no pictures to share.