{"id":1929,"date":"2024-12-28T04:01:19","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T04:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/?p=1929"},"modified":"2025-01-04T22:27:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T22:27:07","slug":"last-day-in-kyoto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/?p=1929","title":{"rendered":"Last day in Kyoto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

December 27, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had an early start once again because I wanted to beat the crowds and catch the beautiful morning sunlight at Kinkakuji – The Golden Pavilion. Luckily my plan was successful. We arrived soon after the temple opened and we beat the rush. I have seen this temple at least 3 or 4 times and it always takes my breath away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the visitor\u2019s guide: “Kinkakuji (\u91d1\u95a3\u5bfa, Golden Pavilion) is a\u00a0Zen<\/a>\u00a0temple<\/a>\u00a0in northern\u00a0Kyoto<\/a>\u00a0whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. Formally known as Rokuonji, the temple was the retirement villa of the shogun\u00a0Ashikaga Yoshimitsu<\/a>, and according to his will it became a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect after his death in 1408. Kinkakuji was the inspiration for the similarly named\u00a0Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion)<\/a>, built by Yoshimitsu’s grandson, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, on the other side of the city” almost a hundred years later. (Read on to see photos of that temple, we went there too).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Kinkakuji is an impressive structure built overlooking a large pond, and is the only building left of Yoshimitsu’s former retirement complex. It has burned down numerous times throughout its history including twice during the\u00a0Onin War<\/a>, a civil war that destroyed much of Kyoto; and once again more recently in 1950 when it was set on fire by a fanatic monk. The present structure was rebuilt in 1955.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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yes, Mae is missing- she has been feeling a bit under the weather.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After Kinkakuji we hopped on a bus to go to its counterpart- Ginkakuji, the Silver Pavillion. This Pavillion is not silver at all, but one source we read said that it was originally covered in lacquer that “shone like silver when reflecting the moonlight”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ginkakuji has beautiful traditional gardens surrounding it, as well as two unique zen fine sand meditation gardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the visitor\u2019s guide: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

” \u9280\u6c99\u7058Ginsyadan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In front of the abbot\u2019s chamber, white sand is piled up to form the stair-like Ginshadan and the truncated cone structure of the Kogetsudai. Folklore says that the Ginshadan was meant to reflect moonlight, and the Kogetsudai to appear as if it were sitting atop Higashiyama and holding the moon, but there is little evidence that these explanations actually go back to the Muromachi period and are not just recent inventions. However, these constructions are certainly fantastic and unlike anything else”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sand garden <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sand garden detail close up <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Bamboo grove <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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After Ginkakuji we explored the shops around the area and found a Shabu Shabu restaurant (an item on Erez\u2019s wish list). Shabu Shabu is a type of Japanese hot pot. Aubrey and I had the tofu set and everyone else had the full meal set including beef and tofu as well as all of the sides – Japanese pickles, vegetables, fried chicken thigh pieces, tempura and fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tofu set. The top left is an active hot pot which was filled with the water to create a soup.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The kids digging in…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Close up on just the food<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aubrey and I had a date with my Japanese Sister and her husband Hiroshi, so we left them to finish our itinerary. Next stop for the kids was walking the Philosopher’s Path. They stopped at a couple of temples and did their best to philosophize along the way. They also sought out more Pokemon cards. They went to enough stores to add the “Treasure Hunt” label to the last part of the itinerary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will bump the rest of our day with Norie and Hiroshi to the next post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 27, 2024 We had an early start once again because I wanted to beat the crowds and catch the beautiful morning sunlight at Kinkakuji – The Golden Pavilion. Luckily my plan was successful. We arrived soon after the temple … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1929"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1953,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1929\/revisions\/1953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.koren.korenscreativearts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}