Amagasaki 4 (for Mar. 20)

Today we went to Kyoto which was Japan’s capital from about 800 to 1500 AD. Since it was the capital, it was full of palaces, Shinto shrines, and Buddhist temples. The rich and powerful nobles would build a shrine or temple to beg favour from their deity, thank him for their good fortune, or just to show off how rich they were. We visited a park area with dozens of religious buildings. I am not quite sure how the shrines differ from the temples, but, if you want to know, ask Carla. She seems to have an idea. This is a place where the people throw money in a box and shake the rope that hangs down. This rattles a “bell” that is more like some stones in a tin can (although some are more like a gong).

We came across some kind of performance area where women old to young were doing traditional dancing.



This is the entrance to one of the major attractions, a Buddhist temple part way up a hill. The entrances are actually much more attractive than the temple itself, which is just plain unfinished wood.










One of the things that you must do in Kyoto is take a picture of the city and the temple and maybe even yourself from a nearby lookout. So that is what we did and here we are.















We then made our way back the way we came. Tomorrow is a national holiday (vernal equinox), so there was a lot going on. There were all kinds of lighting and art displays throughout the park and the nearby streets were full of people and all the shops were open.



From the park, we toured the old section. It was very cool with all the old style buildings clustered together. Although I am sure things have been repaired and upgraded over the years, the buildings looked much like you would expect from a couple of hundred years ago. From there we went to a “German” restaurant. Although the meat portion of each dish was based on something German, the rest of each dish was definitely Japanese. It made for some interesting combinations and was very good.

Leaving the restaurant at 9 PM the streets were as full as the Scarth Street Mall on a busy summer noon hour. And as we rode the train home around 10, it was also packed.

It was a pretty nice day. Mild, not windy, and frequent sunny breaks in the thin broken cirrus cloud.