Addis’ Trip to Japan: Kyoto, Day 1

Kyoto

We all woke up at 5.30am so that we could at least grab breakfast before leaving our hotel and heading towards Kyoto. We got on another shikansen for about an hour before we arrived in Kyoto.

Kyoto is widely known for being the traditional Japan, with the kimonos, tea ceremonies, geishas, and Zen temples to prove it. There are castles, shrines, temples, and one famous zen garden.

We visited the Inari shrine first. The reason for there being a shrine for the foxes is due to the fact that in the olden days, when rodents would begin to tear up the rice fields, the locals would try to get rid of them with every means possible. However, they could never get rid of them.

This was when they noticed the foxes coming out from the forests, and, within 24 hours, all their rodents problems would be solved. This occured in more than one place. So, due to the appearance of the foxes saving their crops, the locals decided to build a shrine to gift the Inari gods, hoping that they would always save the fields.

We had a quick bite to eat there after going through the more than 3000 Tori gates.

Next was the Gold Pavillion where we surfed through the crowds to look at the gardens.

The last stop of the day was Kiyomizu Temple, which dates back to 798. This Temple is currently being remodeled and is expected to be completely sometime in 2029. I didn’t get very many pictures because I had left my camera at the hotel, so the next ones are all from my phone.

After leaving the last temple, we made our way back into the city were we roamed the more than 100 restaurants to find a place for dinner.

The place we eventually chose was called the Tempura Bar. It was really delicious. Sadly, I did not get any pictures of our food because we were so hungry that by the time we realized we should have taken a photo, our food was gone.

After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel. (A $10 taxi ride later.) We’ve got another early start tomorrow, so I’ll leave off here.

Thanks for reading with me and following my adventure.

Addis

(P.S. I noticed all the comments about the Jizo statues wearing hats from the last post. The reason why the statues have either aprons or hats is due to the fact that the locals believe a deity or God inhabits each statue and that they feel sorry for them not having any clothing to cover them or keep them warm.)