[Blog] Kyoto Travels Part 2 (Patreon)

Continuing with my travels, I'm at Higashiyama just outside Kiyomizu-dera. This time I was starting to see a lot more tourist on foot and dressed up in complete Kimono experience. I briefly thought about trying it out as well myself since how often do you get the chance to dress up in Kimono? But I decided it's probably best not to since observing the people in full Kimono... I realized it must be quite uncomfortable to wear let alone hard to move around in. Latter of which is very important since I needed to cover a lot of ground this day to see as much as I can.

But who knows? If you guys want to see my OC in a kimono ( or a miko outfit ) I might draw that in the future and add her into the photos =P

Found a nice souvenir shop that were selling cute scarves and just as I was browsing I found Raiden Shogun's scarf on the top left lol. If only the symbolic pattern came in gold instead of black, that would have been an instant buy for me!

The symbol used in Inazuma and by Raiden Shogun is actually called the Mitsu-domoe and it's a symbol closely associated with Shinto shrines, in particular those dedicated to Hachiman, the god of war and archery. I think it was also loosely connected with the cycle of life but I'm not entirely too knowledgeable with the elaborate details.

I was getting hungry and my feet were hurting all over so I went inside an ice cream shop next to the main shopping district. From the outside, it looks like a really small shop from the outside but again it was deceptively spacious once you're inside.

Back on the walk again. I decided to just follow the line of tourists and see where we end up.

I eventually arrived at Shimokawarachou next to Ryozen Kannon.

Just a very large statue of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. There wasn't any fliers in English so I wasn't able to get much details about this place. I've briefly looked around, burned some incense and took some snaps before moving onto my next destination.

From a quick google search though, it looks like the place I visited was a war memorial.

Being that it's Kyoto, you can get a exotic photo regardless where you point the camera. I may have been a little trigger happy but I'm so glad I took these scenery to share with you guys.

I wandered off quite a bit away from the main tourist roads and later realized this was a private housing district. You can walk on this stretch of road but the steps you see belong to a home owner. I didn't take photos of the houses here since there was a bit sign in English that read no photos at everyone's gates. If I had to describe it though, they were all beautifully crafted mansion that wouldn't look out of place at all in Inazuma or Edo Period Kyoto.

As beautiful as all these mansions were. It got me wondering if I'd actually enjoy living in one of these mansions. Inside must be as equally as beautifully designed for sure but there are no garages to these mansions, everyday you'll need to go through a lot of tourists to get to your home and more often than not you'll have ignorant tourists taking pics of your home dressed up in full kimono. Personally I think I'd find that a little suffocating and outside my comfort zone, but what about you guys? Would you live in this magnificent neighborhood despite there being no way to drive your car into a home garage?

Finally out of the main touristy area and onto the main roads. Still looks beautiful and I'll just say despite all the walks I did this day, I didn't feel as exhausted due to how smooth and well made the roads here felt. I mean sure enough I was tired and had sores from all he walking but strangely not too much strain if that makes sense.

I was passing by this area next and I believe this was Minamiromon, tower gate that leads to the Yasaka Shrine within. On a lot of the tour reviews and youtube channels, I've seen Minamiromon lit up with dozens of lanterns at its gate which made it quite beautiful during night time. Sadly due to my busy schedule, I chose to turn up during the day but this place still looked gorgeous during the day.

"GLORY TO THE ALMIGHTY SHOGUN!"

Just kidding, it's another Mitsu-domoe symbol like the one we saw earlier on the scarf above. But from a random western tourist POV (provided they play Genshin), I bet some of them really thought of Raiden Shogun a lot when they visited Kyoto.

Here is what the Yasaka shrine looks like from within as you enter.

They were selling all kinds of charms, amulets and various trinkets but for some reason I wasn't really interested in any of them.

I forgot to mention this but you might have noticed these giant gate like structures you keep seeing in my travel blog. These are called the Torii, and they are symbolic landmarks that indicate the transition from the mundane to the sacred and a spot where kami are welcomed. It's very often seen at religious sites like Shinto Shrines and other sacred places spread across Japan.

As you can see, there were more and more tourists in Kimono like this wandering around during the afternoon. A little fun fact though, none of them spoke Japanese as I passed by haha.

One of the side exit leading out to a public park.

Sorry if I'm spamming a lot of pics. This place was so huge but there wasn't a lot of explanation or fliers explaining what each structure was used for. My guess is that different rituals takes place at each of the sites I took photos of, some more important than others.

Not too much left now of Yasaka shrine.

This was the main prayer site where visitors offered prayers.

To pray at a Shinto Shrine you toss a coin into an offering box called the Saisen-bako.

Could be as little as 5 yean coins since it's said to make good relationship with the prayer site.

1. Shake a rope to ring a bell (If there is no bell, you can skip this step)
2. Bow deeply twice
3. Clap your hands twice
4. Pray and make a wish
5. Bow deeply once again ( Deeper than 2. )

Despite how large Yasaka Shrine was, I still could not find a Miko. But I did spot something similar when I was taking this photo. If you notice a man wearing all white standing behind a pillar, I think that might have been the male equivalent of a Miko. I've seen a number of these gentlemen spread throughout the shrine attending to different duties.

Just a wild guess but I think the lanterns are a form of prayer one can hang in this stage. Maybe it's the kind you can privately arrange with the shrine that will go towards granting one's wishes.

As for this stage at the square, I can only assume this is the spot where Kagura dances are held.

One last snap of Yasaka Shrine before I'm on my way towards the final destination for today.

I think I was walking for like an hour straight but got so tired and hungry so I looked around the area hoping to find a place to take a short break while I grab a bite.

I found a place but upon arriving I realized it's only open to reservations and there was a long waiting line. Seemed like this was the norm though for most places you an eat in Kyoto.

Thankfully, not long after visiting this shop, I found a pretty nice cafe right next to it.

Yet another interesting architecture for a cafe where they blend the traditional with modern. But unlike Starbucks from last time, this place had a bit more places to sit.

That said, I had some sympathy to the customers behind us where there was a big line forming waiting to place order and find seats. I totally got lucky finding seats here too now that I think about it.

After break, I began my journey towards the last place I set out to visit.

Ginkakuji ( Silver Pavilion ) Temple

Found a really cute Police station outside and had to take a snap. I don't know if it's due to anime but I always thought Police stations in Japan were massive with plenty of temporary holding cells. This place though, from the outside it doesn't seemed to have enough space to store away criminals.

But maybe I'm wrong. Just like the deceptively spacious ice cream shops I saw, maybe this place surprisingly has a lot of space hidden from view.

Yup, going the right way it seems.

And before you know it ( because for you guys it was just a few flicks of the mouse wheel ) we reached the entrance of Ginkakuji! I was at the Main Gate when I took this photo. It should be on the far left at the bottom of the map. 

Walls might be clean but the roofing was covered in moss. I kind of like that kind of aesthetics though. 

As you enter, I encountered Ginkakuji's zen gardens. If you've never seen that term before, it is a distinctive style of Japanese garden.  I think to put it simply in gamer terms, it's like medieval Japan's version of Minecraft ( Or Genshin's teapot world), similar in concept that you are building a miniature landscape through the use of rocks, moss, pruned trees/bushes, gravel (or sand to represent ripples in water) and terraforming a small world. 

What you see above is an island of trees surrounded by waves. 

I didn't know what to make of this when I first saw it. To share my first thoughts though, I thought it looked like the kind of pudding you can purchase at a convenience store. Later I looked it up and figured out that it was a representation of Mount Fuji surrounded by a sea of gravel. 

This area was closed off to the public but I managed to zoom in and took a pretty clear shot of this Torii. By the way, I forgot to mention this earlier but it's said that mortals are not allowed to walk straight in the middle of the Torii as that privilege is reserved for the gods being enshrined at the site. 

At the edge of the world. 

There was a short walk/hike surrounding Ginkakuji and I chose to walk the course before leaving. 

Took a nice shot from above the temple grounds before descending. The structure on the left is Ginkakuji. 

It's not adorned with gold like Kinkakuji but I think I personally liked this better this way.

That was a lot of photos to go through haha. I hope it wasn't too much. It was intense journey on foot walking from temple to shrine to temple all over Kyoto looking around the main tourist sites as much as I can. My legs were screaming at me to take a more frequent rest between the site as hours went by and I did feel a lot of fatigue by the end of the day. 

But I really enjoyed that, made me feel like this would have been something an ancient pilgrim or scholars would have done a thousand year ago before Western influence made its way into the culture. That and it was good workout. 

So I decided to treat myself to Ramen to end the night. 

Only to realize yet again that every place in Kyoto, chances are you'll be waiting in line to get a seat. This place was no different and there was a line by the time I got here. I briefly contemplated whether I should try to find other places to eat or just resort to buying food from convenience store if I really didn't want to wait as long. 

But it's not like I'd have an opportunity to wait in line for food in Kyoto again so I decided to write my name down on the waiting list and held my ground next to the other cold and hungry people in the queue. 

This was the front of the line. There was more branching off outside the camera and by the time I got permitted entry, the waiting line doubled. 

I took my seat and ordered my bowl of Ramen. There were probably less than dozen customers inside the store because it was a small space with limited seating available. Definitely smaller than any of the restaurants I've been to in the West yet it was kinda cozy if you ask me. 

I haven't eaten at a table like the one above facing the chef directly before but I suspect if I could speak Japanese fluently like a local, now was probably the time to strike up a casual conversation with the chef. Everyone there was a foreign tourist though so nobody spoke with the chef. 

Inside was filled with fragrant aroma of char siu pork and ramen broth melding into the kind of aroma that was optimized to make anyone hungry. 

And with that, I will end this blog. 

Itadakimasu~!