Japan: Kyoto

Lonely Planet informs me in its guide to Japan that Kyoto ranks among London, Rome and Paris as one of the cities you should see before you die, and after visiting yesterday I’d struggle to argue with them. It was the capital of the Japanese Empire for over 1,000 years (794-1868) so it’s filled with temples, shrines, museums and other interesting stuff. I spent about 8 hours there and hardly managed to scratch the surface, but from what I saw it’s definitely one of the most beautiful cities in Asia, if not the world.

My first port of call was the Kiyomizu temple, which was built in the 8^th century by Buddhists and is one of the most famous in the country.

 The gate leading to the temple.

 Outlying temple building.

Kiyomizu Temple

The view from the temple.

Inside Kiyomizu.

Budda/Dave Jones

Incense burning. 

Another temple on the way out.

I could have easily stayed and looked around Kiyomizu all day, but I moved on after a couple of hours to a place called Gion, where the Geishas hang out.

The lanterns have the name of the Geisha whose house it is on them. Some even had swastikas on, but over here it’s more a symbol of luck than tyrannical genocide.

It’s hard to get lost in Gion.

The entrance to Gion’s Temple

Toffee strawberries!

One of the Temple buildings.

The grounds were like one huge park and it all looked like this. It makes East Park in Hull look even more terrible.

After gorging on toffee strawberries and apple tea while I rested my legs in the park, I headed to a Shinto shrine called Heian-jingu in the north of Kyoto. 

A nearby gate.

The shrine entrance.

The view inside.

A wishing tree – you write your wish on paper and attach it. The nice Shinto people then eventually collect and burn them. What it’s supposed to achieve I have no idea.

Windswept, sweaty and quite frankly knackered. #shrineselfie

Everything closed in Kyoto at 5pm unfortunately (it was Sunday), so I headed back to Osaka. Kyoto was brilliant though. Definitely one of the cities to see before you die; I’ll hopefully be going back before my time here ends.