The Frog in the Well Japan: Apr 6, 2010

As promised, todays schedule was reasonably light compared to yesterday's.

Today we tackled the North West part of Kyoto. Our plan was to hit three temples, all three of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

First up was the Kinkaku-ji temple. For those of you flashy folks out there, you would love this place, it is known in english as the "Golden Pavilion". Unlike yesterday's "Silver Pavilion" which the Shogun never got around to putting the silver on the outside of, this building is GOLD baby!

The original Golden Pavilion was built in 1397 for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, however, as we have learned from our trip to Japan, there is always a good chance that it could have burned down sometime over the past few hundred years. In fact, in 1950 a young monk that was obsessed with the Pavilion burnt it to the ground. Weirdo. The Pavilion was rebuilt exactly to the original design and reopened in 1955. The original Pavilion only had gold leaf on the upper level, the newly completed version carried the gold down to the lower levels.

Now it's super pimp. Maybe we should thank that weirdo monk for burning the original down....

Not bad eh? I was thinking of doing something similar with our place, but I think I would prefer to use the inside lining from coke cans...

I think those people in the back right corner heard about the popularity of "The Frog in the Well" and they just had to get their few minutes of fame by sabotaging my picture.

Honestly, who sweeps their yard?

I am pretty sure Fintan has turned into a Buddhist on this trip.

We have loved the details on all of the roof tiles and drain caps. This is a row of them leading down a pathway.

From Kinkaku-ji we walked about 20 minutes south to a Ryoan-ji temple. Now this temple is quite different from most that we have visited. The temple was founded in 1450 and is home to a Zen rock garden that is composed of sand and 15 rocks. They say that the more you stare at the simple layout, the more your imagination wanders and the more meaning the garden takes on. I don't really know why, but I found this place fascinating.

Detail on roof of a small gate at the entry into Ryoan-ji temple.

The simplicity of a bunch of sand and 15 rocks. Apparently the composition is considered by many to be the ultimate expression of Zen Buddhism.

This room opens up and faces the garden (I am standing in the opening and the garden is to my back).

Many sit for a long time just staring at the composition. No one says a word.

The kids were fading fast, so we started walking towards our final destination for the day, Ninna-ji temple. Along the way we stopped at a tiny little cafe called M's where we had a great Japanese mushroom pasta for lunch.

Ninna-ji had some great moments, but truth be told at this stage many of the temples are starting to blend into one another. The big thing that Ninna-ji is famous for is a massive orchard of cherry blossoms. The only problem, the trees at Ninna-ji are the only ones in Japan that haven't blossomed yet! That being said, here are a few pics from Ninna-ji.