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Kyoto, Japan
Try to see it once my way, everything zen, everything zen, I don't think so
Kyoto is a remarkable place, and easily worth (almost) two full pages on this slide show.
Kyoto is all wood and stone and moss, terribly quiet but busy at the same time. Proving all that, we’re starting at the western edges of the city with this view of the garden at Kinkaku-ji Temple.
Kinkaku-ji Temple is one of the busier ones, and most definitely one of the flashier ones. It is also sometimes referred to as the “Golden Pavilion,” possibly because of all that gold on the pavilion.
The Golden Pavilion is popular but most certainly not representative of any of the other Kyoto temples that I visited. As a contrast, this is Shore-in Temple, my favorite of the smaller temples that hide on the edges of Kyoto.
Standing without shoes on ancient wooden floors, hoping to remember not to hit my head this time on the all too low ancient wooden beams, watching the gardens breathe into the halls of Shore-in Temple.
There is no more famous Zen garden on earth than this one at Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan.
The garden at Ryoan-ji Temple is reason alone to travel to Kyoto, and while you can see it from the men’s restroom, it’s still best viewed seated from the edge of the well worn wood veranda. This is a close up of one of the groupings of moss and stones, surrounded by pebbles that are raked each day by monks. Maybe the stones represent islands in the sea (Japan is an island nation after all), or maybe they’re not supposed to represent anything and they just are what they are. Either way, they’re damn beautiful and so perfectly composed in person.
The Kurama Fire Festival is everything that I expected it to be, which, for me at least, was nothing but fire and crowds. I actually enjoyed the experience of the pushing, seemingly endless tidal wave of Japanese locals around me as we all tried to get on the same private railway line, although I think I could grow tired of such crowds if that was my commute every day.
