Kyoto day 2 - Arashiyama

Saturday 27th April 2013

After Hiroshima we headed back along the Shinkansen to Kyoto and settled into our new home for the next few days. Our first full day in Kyoto got off to a bad start when a miss set alarm clock threatened to derail a unique experience.

Through luck rather than judgment we’d managed to coincide our visit to Kyoto with the annual Miyako Odori – one of the events in the Geisha calendar – which takes place for the month of April.

Given it was nearing the end of the month most advance tickets had been booked up already and the friendly Piece Hostel staff didn’t fill us with confidence. But tickets can be bought on the day so Ben planned an early start to get in line and queue. When we realised the alarm hadn’t gone off he jumped out of bed and tore off somewhere into Kyoto – three hours later he returned not only with tickets to the performance but to the tea ceremony too (of which, more later)

With the day having got off to a ropey start things were now looking up and we headed off to the north west of Kyoto to Arashiyama, famed for its bamboo grove. We weren’t the only ones with this idea – the train stations were full of people enjoying the run up to Golden Week. In this bit of the world, at this time of year, everyone is a tourist.

There is so much to see in this area, we could have spent a whole day there. However, we decided to give the monkey park a miss (we know what monkeys look like) and to just spend our time walking in the sunshine (starved of sunshine in the UK).

Despite the busyness of the day the bamboo grove still possessed real serenity. Bamboo grows so strong and so tall that you can see why it gets used for scaffolding and the slow swishing noise as they swayed in the wind was quite lovely too. I imagine that first thing in the morning it must be heavenly.

After that we followed a route suggested by Japan Guide. As most temples charge admission, we decided to visit only one. We picked one of the smallest in the area (and therefore a cheap option away from the tourists!). It was a great choice, Gio-ji had one of the loveliest gardens we visited in Kyoto. So peaceful and secluded and serene – I never knew how beautiful moss could be.

Following the guide we walked up the preserved streets of Saga-Toriimoto before finishing the day at Daikuki-jo, a large temple built in the early 800s as the detached palace of Emperor Saga. Thirty years after the emperor’s death, the palace was converted into a temple and has since been one of the highest ranked temples of Shingon Buddhism.

Daikakuji has had a role in several significant historical events. A succession of retired emperors reigned from here, and in the 12th century the temple hosted peace talks that reunited the Northern and Southern Imperial Courts after 50 years of civil war. Daikakuji is also featured in the Tale of Genji, the first novel in Japanese literature. Today, it’s used as a base for filming historical dramas and as you wander round it’s not hard to see why.

Every picture we’re taking is ending up on Flickr but these are the ones from our day in Arashiyama and Sagano: