Kyoto Solo.

So I decided to travel around Kyoto all by my lonesome a few times, to check out the temples and shrines that litter this area.  Every traveller in Kyoto checks out a few shrines, and without exception they become bored after a couple of days of doing this.

I've been to tons of these shrines now, and I love seeing them all.  They all look similar, and all contain, with a few exceptions, the same type and shape of buildings.  I can understand why people get bored of visiting them, for sure.  I think I must be weird to like these places enough to visit a lot in such a short period of time...

It helps that I keep inadvertently walking into ceremonies and whatnot.  The monks praying, akin to western monks singing hymns and whatnot, coupled with short religious ceremonies and all the little encounters along the way keep me interested in these places.

Instead of being simple and easily amused, maybe I'm just lucky...

It's also worth noting, that it's been so long since I updated this blog, that all the picture are from a number of days, rather than sequentially.  Essentially, the pictures are now in some kind of topic based order, rather than date based.

Picture time!

This lovely river is the Kamogawa.  I'm giving it an extra big space on my blog because it's really pretty.  The further north you go, the nicer it is, but I was only a five minute walk from this section of the river, so I took lots of pictures here.

It's also where a dog relieved himself on me, the little bastard.  I didn't like dogs before, but now I hate them.  Especially Japanese ones, they have zero moral conscience.

Again:  Bastard.

I'm also quite interested in the levels of this particular river; because the walls are obviously there for flood events, but the grass was thick enough to walk on comfortably - so my question is basically, does this river flood annually?  Or often for that matter?

Ok so I've included a further three photos of the river here, in super small so you can gloss over them at your own pace.

It was about 4pm at the time of taking these pictures, and it was about 25 degrees.  In late October.  Pure craziness.  What makes this even more amazing is that people wear jumpers and long sleeved shirts.  I wish I were making this up, but I

could comfortably wear shorts and a t-shirt in this weather, and the locals are complaining about the cold.  In fact, one of the sayings I've learned since I've been here is 'samui desu ne,' which, roughly translated, becomes:  'Blimey it's cold isn't it?'

No.  It is not cold.  Take your jumper, gloves and hat off you crazy people!  One of the girls I lived with said she wears two sets of gloves when the weather becomes too cold...  I.e, when it reaches wintertime temperatures.

This is one of the many small temple/shrine sites that's dotted around the place.  I didn't set out to find it, but it was just on the way to Toji, one of the big temples in the area; when I happened across this site.

This is the wonder of being in Tokyo, or in Kyoto, above being in Osaka or Yokohama.  Interesting places abound in both cities, and can be found without seeking them.

This is in the same area.  I'm pretty sure this is a shrine as opposed to a temple grounds, it's therefore ok to clap while praying.  I think.

Luckily, I was literally the only person there, so I prayed after clapping, and prayed with no clapping in order to hedge my bets.

I paid twice as well, just to make sure.

It's amazing how self-conscious you become in a religious setting, where you (see: me) really couldn't care less in other settings.  Queues are sometimes optional, for example.  Of course this depends on what you're queueing for, but it serves as an example of the many uses of the 'gaijin pass.'

The old style building above is situated right next to this extremely modern concrete building, created in a traditional style.

It's interesting to see the acceptance of the modern in this extremely traditional area.  It's quite ugly though.  Nice try, better luck next time.  A gold star for effort etc...

These gates are everywhere, and vary in size from the huge, to the absolutely tiny.  This is a medium version.

I love the shape and general design; but it's been bugging me for a while.  Who exactly makes and maintains these things?

There must be artisans of Tori, who spend their lives making them.  I also wonder if they have to be blessed in some way before being erected.

I saw this building being constructed on my way to toji.  It's probably a garage, but I include it here because it's just as likely to be fully fledged house as a garage.  Only in Japan.

It also made me laugh that the builders were doing no kind of work whatsoever.  Just standing around.

Another similarity with England then!

This is another building that holds a bell.

One day, I want to dong one of these giant bells.  I've heard them from afar, but never witnessed one being struck.  They're for special religious observances, and therefore don't  get struck often.  At least they don't get struck while I'm present...

There were a lot of people around this particular bell, so I had to aim the camera upwards significantly, so you can't really see the bell particularly well.

This is Toji temple, the day before the flea market they hold every month or so.  I came because I wanted to see the before and after shots of the market, and also check out the famous sights in this area.

The difference between this shot, and the ones during the market is quite profound.  There were very few people here on this day, besides those setting up for the market, and a few tourists.

This is the same temple ground that the flea market is being set up in.  What a fantastic backdrop!

It's a really special site, (aren't they all?!)

Look at all that cool Japanese writing on the lamp thing.

One thing I do like about their writing is that it's the complete opposite of ours.  Top to bottom, left to right.  Essentially, their system is as different to ours as is possible.

With the surprise at all the similarities we share, it's nice to find a real difference every once in a while.

Of course Japanese is everywhere, but I understand so little of it that everything just kind of washes over me.  It's only when you see a sight like this that you remember.

Yes.  The woman in this pictures is wearing a jumper and flatcap.

Yes.  The sky is blue and practically cloudless.

And finally yes, I am sweating behind the camera.  It's about 25 degrees again, and it's generally a really nice day.

When does the weather turn here?  This is a question I've been asking myself for weeks.  I suuspect it's something I won't be able to answer in this trip.

I could have come here with literally no warm weather clothes and been ok.  It's really incredible just how warm it is here, considering the Japanese pride themselves on their four distinct seasons.

Of course up north they have house sized snow drifts, so it depends on where you go in Japan.

The leaves were just about beginning to change colour by the time I left.  However, to get the full effect (red leaves in Autumn, and the sakura in Spring are two of the reasons why Japanese take pride in their seasons) you need to come later in November.

Next year, perhaps.

The largest pagoda in Japan.

Presumably it's the largest in the world too, seeing as pagoda is a Japanese invention, and not really found anywhere else.

It is surprisingly big, considering it's made out of wood.  Without godzilla standing next to it though, it's kind of difficult to get a true sense of scale.

I was also lucky to go on a day when few other people were visiting, and those who were visiting were primarily Japanese, so did their best to stay out of photos.

I would like to think this sensibility is typically Japanes because they respect you as a person, and particularly love photographs themselves.  However, there is also a massive amount of concern about personal privacy here, so it's more likely that they think I'm some kind of stalker or identity thief.

This is looking directly up from underneath.  There's a socking great barbed fence underneath it, and dozens of warning to keep out.

I thought this a little odd, considering every other building I've been to in Japan lets you walk up to the sides, or lets you inside.  However, once I went round the back and saw it was supported by a couple of big steel frames, I realised it was probably in need of some repairs.  It looked perfectly stable from the outside though.

The view from the front.

It always amazes me how thin the actual central structures of these pagoda are.  Most of the building is just eaves.

I really like this particular picture.

Japan is the land of the rising sun, but it's also the land of the setting sun in turn.  The sun is really low in this picture, and the pagoda looks even more impressive because of that.

Look at the blue sky too!

And people still wore cold weather clothing.

I like this picture as well, even though it doesn't show very much.

Directly opposite the pagoda is this building, which houses tons of statues relating to buddhism.  They show a small cross-section of the history of buddhism, showing the evolution of the art related to the religion.  It's primarily statues, and only has thirty or so; but they're huge and impressive to look at, even if you don't have a clue what's going on.

These kinds of flags are everywhere.

I understood the ones rooting for the olympics, but seeing as they lost that a month ago, I'm not sure what these ones means.  Presumably they're not just too lazy to take them down; this is Japan afterall.

I should probably learn to read more of the language.  I am learning a little at a time, but at my current rate of acquisition I'll be able to understand these signs when I am two hundred years old (roughly).

So what does this mean then?

Well it means...

I don't know.  It's probably something religious, seeing as this is in temple grounds.

Zen gardening.

This is the kind of gardening I could get behind.  I think the straight lines are supposed to represent the sea; although that may have just been specific to the garden I was shown around, rather than all zen stone raking, so don't quote me on that.

It's extremely cool, whatever the reason.  And there are no pesky plants to go and die on you, no watering, and generally low maintenance.  Of course, if someone steps on the stones you'd have to kill them, but they should know better.

You see the sign.  Do as it says!

Japlish, or Engrish as others call it, still makes me smile - despite seeing examples of it a dozen or more times a day.

It really makes me laugh.

A random picture of some stone.  All the buildings, and most of the paving is done with this material; the amount of effort that goes into crafting these places boggles the mind.

It's going to take twenty years to renovate York cathedral, with all the unique blockwork that entails; it would probably take longer to cut all the shapes and lines that go into the temples here; purely because of the scale of the site, not necessarily the buildings..

This heron was eyeing up the carp in the pond below.

The fish were also eyeing up the heron.

The koi over here reach proportions that really boggle the mind.  The heron is in serious trouble if it goes for any of the fish in there.  A definite case of eyes being bigger than stomach.



That's it for the pictures of this days temple explorations.  It ended up only being one days worth afterall.