5/14/24: Revisiting Higashiyama on Our Last Day in Kyoto

 

Just down the street from our apartment in the Gion district of Kyoto was the large Yasaka Shrine we'd seen at least twice daily since our arrival. As this was our last day in Kyoto, Steven and I wanted to give it more than the cursory glance we had before. The Shinto shrine, also known as the Gion Shrine, was constructed in the 7th century above an underground lake to ensure that the blue water dragon who resided in the East received the freshwater needed for healthy Earth energy.

Yasaka plays a critical role in Kyoto's fiscal good fortune. In front of the shrine's main hall were hundreds of lanterns hanging from the eaves, each bearing the name of the city's biggest companies and stores seeking financial favor in return for a donation.

Susano-no-mikito, the original Shinto deity, was later associated with the Buddhist spirit Gozu Ten-no, a protector against the god of prosperity and pestilence. 

If we'd been in Kyoto this month, we'd have loved to attend perhaps the most famous festival in Japan which takes place at Yasaka Shrine. Gion Matsuri, a month-long festival that occurs in July dates back to 869 and involves a procession with massive floats and hundreds of participants. It began as a religious festival to eradicate the city from a terrible plague that began in Kyoto and spread all over Japan.

Just north of the shrine was Maruyama Park which becomes the city's most popular and most crowded spot for cherry blossom viewing parties in early April. The centerpiece of the park is a tall drooping cherry tree, which gets lit up in the night.

Until three hundred years ago, the area was a deserted place covered with weeds and shrubs. When it was designated as a park site in 1886, it was enlarged and the park was created. The landscape gardener who designed the well-known garden at Heian Shrine we'd explored and loved the previous day also was tasked to make over Maruyama Park.

Hyoutan-ike Pond:

The quiet park was almost deserted except for some artists sketching the idyllic scenes.

Maruyama Park led directly into Chion-in Temple where I was thrilled to receive a brochure with brief explanations and photos of each of its features in English for once, glory be! Chion-in is on such a massive scale it was cast as a stand-in for Edo Castle in The Last Samurai 2003 film starring Tom Cruise. The temple is the headquarters of the Jodo sect of Buddhism, which has millions of followers and is one of Japan's most popular Buddhist sects.

Sanmon Gate, the temple's imposing main gateway stands 24 meters tall and 50 meters wide, is the largest wooden temple gate in Japan and dates to the early 1600s. 

Once through the gate, our work was cut out for us as we faced the daunting number of steps ahead that led to the main temple grounds. We could hear priests chanting far ahead.

The steps led to an open area with stone paths connecting the temple's main buildings. Erected in 1639, the vast Mieidō represented the main hall of the Jodo sect and its principal object of worship, a statue of the priest Hōnen who founded the Jodo sect. The hall has been designated as a National Treasure.

Interior walkways took us past dry landscape gardens to the Shuedo building erected in 1635 and used for training monks.

A corridor with glimpses of a garden connected to the Ōhōjō building, a large guest house with eleven rooms that was built in 1641 with a thatched roof. One of the rooms was used by the Shogun in the Edo Period when he held audiences with his lords. Graceful murals and paintings by 16th-century Motonobu Kano known for combining Chinese ink techniques and Japanese ornamental styles adorned the sliding doors or fusama.

The brochure described one of the Seven Wonders of Chion-in as being the nightingale floors, floor planks that 'chirp' when walked on to alert the building's residents of potential intruders. However, I remember reading at one of the other temples in Kyoto that the sound was unintentional. Whatever the truth, I like the tale of the chirping floors!

 On the right was a famous picture of a cat painted as it looked in three directions at once. 

The images of the sparrows on another sliding door became famous because they were painted so vividly that it is believed they really flew out of the painting!

The stones in the Nijugo bosatu-no-niwa Garden represented 25 Bodhisattvas and the azalea bushes symbolized the fast-flying clouds they ride on. Steven and I relished the almost total lack of visitors just minutes away from the hubbub of Yasaka Shrine. The peace and serenity were sublime.

More steps led to the Santei Garden and the residence of Emperor Reigen, 1654-1732.

From the garden, we had panoramic views of the city and the mountains in the distance. We didn't find Kyoto itself to be an attractive city but I hope you've gathered from my preceding posts that it contained a wealth of intriguing gems, more so possibly than any other city we've been lucky enough to visit up until now. 

An almost secret door in the garden led to a large cemetery.

We retraced our steps to the temple, stopping at Seishidō, the birthplace of Chion-in, and the oldest building on the grounds dating from 1530. It was the location of Hōnen’s Ōtani meditation chamber and now contains a sedentary Bodhisattva.

Steps, down this time, led to Sutra Hall where people prayed and where a priest was chanting.

By then we'd lost track of the number of steps as we walked from the temple's highest point to Daishōrō, the Great Bell Tower that was built in 1678 and is one of the largest bells in Japan.

The 70-ton bell is only rung during memorial services for Hōnen held in April and on New Year’s Eve, where it is rung 108 times. Remember the old joke about how many people it takes to change a lightbulb? The same could be said here except it's not a joke as striking the bell requires a team consisting of one leader with sixteen assistant monks! The bell is struck so many times to release believers from the 108 worldly desires of the preceding year. It takes more than an hour to ring in the new year as the bell may not be struck until the previous sound has come to an end. The event is nationally televised!

Photo courtesy of Chion-in Temple:

Before leaving Chion-in, we paid an additional fee to stroll through the Yūzen’en Garden which was redesigned in 1954 in commemoration of the 300th birthday of Miyazaki Yūzen, the founder of the Yūzen style of dyeing. This famous modern garden consisted of two gardens, one that drew water from a spring and one in the dry rock garden style. 

A short walk, luckily without steps, took us to Shore-in Temple, a Tendai Buddhist sect whose head priests were originally members of the imperial family. The temple's close relationship with the imperial family dates to the temple's founding in the 12th century. During the 18th century, the temple served as a temporary Imperial Palace when a fire forced an empress to use the temple as her living quarters.

Walking through the Kachoden Drawing Room was the first time we'd seen pictures hanging above the sliding doors or fushuma.

 

Also very different were the modern-looking, vivid blue and gold lotus paintings.

The temple offered spots under covered walkways to sit on tatami mats and admire the tranquil gardens at the base of Mt. Awata.

Staggered tokonoma or alcoves was another unusual feature at Shore-in.

I much preferred the older-style interior sliding doors and screens painted by the Kano School to the temple's modern paintings.

The painting of the Buddhist deity Fudo Myo-o was a copy of the 900-year-old National Treasure now in the Kyoto National Museum.

Again, unlike any other temples we'd visited, visitors at Shore-in were welcome to walk into most rooms and not just view them from the nightingale-free corridors. Also unusual was the absence of any visible security. All contributed to a vastly different and more welcoming experience.

Because Shore-in was originally built as a residence instead of a religious building, it felt more like a villa than a temple. For some reason, the temple is bypassed by most tourists. 

We left the intimate little Shore-in Temple inhaling the scent of camphor trees.

I popped into this souvenir/antique shop with the smallest aisles imaginable containing many treasures.

I agree with the license plate in the window: MAUI 4 ME!

I don't know if I mentioned Kyoto's wonderful bus drivers before? Each wore a cap, white gloves, and was smartly dressed. We were dropped off by the southern entrance to the Philosopher's Path so we could visit a couple of temples we'd bypassed the last time we visited.

How much time I wondered had it taken to prune this tree so artfully?

Peeking out from behind the trees was Eikan-do Temple formally known as Zenrin-ji Temple, which we'd walked by on our previous walk along the path. A court noble of the Heian Period, 794-1185, donated his villa to a priest, who converted it into a temple under the name Zenrin-ji. When originally founded, Zenrin-ji belonged to the Shingon sect of Buddhism.

In the 11th century, Zenrinji had a popular head priest named Eikan, after whom the temple was named. In the 13th century, a later head priest converted the temple to the Jodo sect, as he had been greatly impressed by the sect's founder Hōnen.

Four sliding door panels portrayed sublime chrysanthemums and a peacock on gold leaf and paper.

Also attributed to the Kano School were paintings on the transoms above the peacock room of thirty swallows and sparrows though the count is now one less. People believe that one really did fly out of the transom!

More sublime screens followed, Cherry blossoms, irises, and birds ...

and 36 Poetic Immortals.

Karamon was a gate used by the emperor's messengers when they entered and left. 

These fushuma were only open to monks.

Eikan was credited with acquiring the temple's main object of worship, an unusual statue of the Amida Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light. 

Garyuyo, a long corridor running along the contours of the mountain slope, resembled the form of a sleeping dragon or garyu.

A sign said the bell in the corridor could only be run on religious occasions.

Have you ever seen a dreamier drain spout before?

Further along the Philosopher's Path was the tiny Otoyo Shrine, an ancient Shinto shrine that serves as the guardian for people who live in the north Kyoto neighborhood.

According to legend, it was built in 887 as a prayer for Emperor Uda to recover from illness. Like most of Kyoto's other temples, the buildings at Otoyo suffered many fires but were reconstructed.

While most shrines have pairs of Koma-inu or mythical dogs, Otoyo is best known for its guardian rats. As you might imagine, Otoyo is very popular during the Year of the Rat!

Our last sight in Kyoto was the picturesque Philosopher's Path that wound its way along a canal lined with cherry trees. What an idyllic way to conclude our week exploring so many of Kyoto's impressive temples, shrines, gardens, and craft centers.

Next post: Onto Nara and their famous deer!

Posted on July 14th, 2024, from our home in Littleton, Colorado. Wishing you and your loved ones peace and good health, and a fervent hope that the political strife in this country lessens.