Day 7 - More of Kyoto

***editors note:

I am SO sorry I have not posted in a long time!! Life gets a hold of you, and next thing you know, several months have passed by! This is my first post of 2018 (ahhh!) but trust me, my memory of my time in Japan is still amazing. . . . mostly because I look back at all our pictures and the memories start rushing back in. Anyways, without further ado - let me begin where we left off!

It is Day 7, after having a great time at Beer Bar Miyama, we slept in a little and woke up to get a final taste of Kyoto. This time, we decided to hit the two big shrines - the Kiyomizu-Dera, Kinkakuji, and Fushimi Inari shrine. We realized that Fushimi Inari had a light festival at night so we decided to do that one then.

So we got our breakfast, and hopped on the subway to Kiyomizu-dera. This shrine is at the top of the mountain so we had quite the hike to do. Unlike Hakone, which is several feet up in elevation, Kyoto is nestled in between the mountains, so it was very hot and very muggy. So the walk to Kiyomizu-dera, was very very long.

The walk up to Kiyomizu-dera

We stopped a few times to hydrate (we were regretting the beers) but once we made it, the hike was so worth it. This temple is where the goddess Kannon is worshiped. It is a registered World Heritage site and considered a very holy temple.

This site is massive, when we arrived, we realized we had even more walking and climbing to do. The pagoda is massive and can be seen from most of Kyoto, so seeing it up close was awesome.

Kiyomizu-Dera

It is a Buddhist Temple, you must "cleanse" yourself before entering.

The inside of temple was beautiful. We stopped and said a prayer, as we were in the presence of a holy deity. The energy of the temple is intense, seeing all of the worshippers praying, many making long pilgrimages so they can pray for good health, fortune, or even love. You can't help but stop and pray with them, and hope that they find what they are seeking.

I tried taking pictures of the inside, and then Josh kindly pointed me to the sign that said "no pictures" - whoops! Out of respect for the holy site, I did not keep those pictures.

The greatest part of Kiyomizu-dera is the porch with amazing views of Kyoto. However, it was under renovation (getting ready for the Olympics!). We did manage to see how it would look like, and we got a great view still from the side.

The View

This was the part under renovation

Outside the temple was another little shrine, this apparently dedicated to love. The greatest part is that there are two stones opposite of each other. The tradition is that a young couple can come to these stones, the girl is blindfolded at one stone, while the guy waits on the other side with the other stone. If the guy can direct the girl to him, by only calling her name, than their love is real and they will spend the rest of their lives together.

Can you find your love?

There were lots of teenage girls trying this out, it was very funny to watch them. I tried to convince Josh to try it, but said no. Following which, we decided it was time to head to the next shrine, but first lunch.

This was our lunch, the inside of this bun has red bean paste. 

We made the hike down the mountain (just as painful as going up) and decided to eat lunch in the Gion district. As we were searching for a spot, we realized, there was a shrine there - it was THE Gion shrine.

The Gion Shrine

The festival in town was for this shrine, so we made an impromptu stop and went in. The shrine was beautiful, full of flowers, and various vendors for the festival. We stopped by a little old lady selling jewelry, and she asked if we were buying a gift. Josh said yes, and she asked "for who?". Josh responded "Ocasa" which is Japanese for mother, and she immediately pulled out a bracelet which happens to be Josh's mom's birthstone. Talk about coincidence.

We then started walking down the historic Gion district. This is where the famous Geisha's roam the streets. However, we didn't see any. This district is a mix between 1000 year old buildings, with modern luxury built in it. For example, check out the Hermes store. I'm sure it was not there 1000 years ago, but it looks great!

This building is 1000 years old! 

The architecture of Gion. 

We grabbed a bite to eat at the mall that was nearby, and stopped for some Starbucks. We sat for a bit, the walking and the heat was really starting to get to us. After our break, it was time to visit Kinkakuji.

This time, we took the bus. The bus, was crowded of course, but the air conditioning was a nice break from the heat. The bus stops have misters that spray water to keep you cool which was nice.

When we arrived at Kinkakuji, we were swept away by the beauty of this temple. You cannot actually go inside the temple, but the view is enough. This temple is made from gold leaves which shine when the sun hits them. It was donated by a very wealthy man who dedicated his life to buddhism. This was just an awesome sight to see.

It was very beautiful 

Josh and I getting good pictures.

You could get this close.

The gold leaves just sparkle in the sun.

You must come visit here. 

After this, we took the bus back to the mall area, and grabbed some gyoza to eat. We were so exhausted, but we had one more temple to see. After a quick break, we hopped on to the subway and made our way to Fushimi-inari shrine.

When we got to Fushimi-Inari Shrine, the crowds were already massive. Everyone was getting ready for the light festival. The walk up to the shrine was another hike, but thankfully we had our water with us.

This shrine is dedicated to the fox - the deity of power. It is very holy, and filled with thousands of tori gates. In fact, there is a trail from the foot of the shrine, up to the top of the mountain, which has over 1000 tori gates. While we wanted to walk that trail, we were told it's about two hours up the mountain, and two hours down.

The Light Festival about to begin.

Main Part of the Shrine. 

The lanterns really added to the beauty. 

The Fox Deity. 

The beginning of the 1000 tori gate trail, too many people! 

Our feet were nearly exhaustion, we decided to come back, maybe in a cooler climate, to tackle this one.

The festival was exciting. Lots of activities going on, and we got some sweet souvenirs. We even got stuff for ourselves which was nice.

The talk back to the train stop was a bit torturous, we were nearly muscle exhaustion in our feet and legs. We stopped a few times. Finally, we got to the train stop and sat down on the bench. It felt great. We were really lucky, the train back to the apartment was empty so we got to sit during the ride.

Once we got to the apartment, we showered and went straight to sleep.

Out of all of our days in Japan, this one was one of the most action packed days. It tested our physical limits, and was very spiritual as we visited so many holy sites. There is an energy in the air in Kyoto. You can feel the presence of all of these deities and how worshipped and adored they are by their people.

This was our last night in Kyoto. We had to catch the bullet train to Tokyo the next morning. As we were falling asleep, we were reflecting back on all of the beauty we saw. While our bodies were exhausted, our hearts and minds were full. It was a great night of sleep we had.

Good Bye Kyoto, Thank you for the memories.