Showing posts sorted by relevance for query kinkakuji. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query kinkakuji. Sort by date Show all posts

Monday, January 23, 2006

京都 2005 - 19 Ginkakuji - Daimonjiyama

[211105] 10 minutes before opening time, & e first tour group (of PRCs) was already pushing against e doors at e entrance to 銀閣寺 Ginkakuji temple, ready to charge in e instant they were unlocked - or ram it down & barge in if they weren't opened by 08:30AM sharp....

& in they rushed, pushing & shoving their way past e ticket office. & e cat decided to temporarily lose its ability to read & comprehend e kanji characters 表参道 on e signs, & walk through e grounds of Ginkakuji in e opposite (counterclockwise) direction starting from e back of e 'Silver Pavilion'. & so it wandered through in peace & quiet, until both tourists & cat reached e halfway mark along e 表参道 ;)

early in e morning, Ginkakuji was still hiding in e shadows of e Higashiyama mountains - not very good lighting for photos. e cat had planned to come here later in e day - after climbing Daimonjiyama - but couldn't find e starting point of e trail up e mountain.

PB211294-60-69-75-74-83-64-73-89

[1, 2, 5-7, 9] e 'silver pavilion' of Ginkakuji that never got its coat of silver; [2, 3, 6-8] e ginshadan raked gravel formation that reminds e cat of a big fat giant soon kueh; [4] e kogetsudai (moon reflecting?) truncated cone

PB211248-76-88-57-67-85-90-77-87

[1] samples of e mosses grown in e temple garden; [2, 8] kogetsudai; [3, 4] ginshadan; [5, 7] e beautiful autumn colours; [6] e quiet elegance of Ginkakuji, a real contrast to Kinkakuji; [9] aerial view of Ginkakuji & Yoshida hill

had better luck finding e starting point of e Daimonjiyama climb after asking one of e Ginkakuji staff. apparently e cat had mistaken a fork leading to e Ginkakuji staff carpark & maintenance facilities for e fork mentioned in LP's 'Hiking in Japan' guidebook =P

to help fellow sotongs find their way to e starting point:

Daimonjiyama route - left fork leads to e Korean high school in Kyoto....

PB211298

if you're around Ginkakuji-michi before 08:00AM on a schoolday you can follow e trail of Korean high school students to get here.

right leads to Daimonjiyama:

PB211299

map of e trail:

PB211300

e daimonji:

PB211305

there are 6 of such kanji characters 'carved' onto e slopes on 6 of e mountains in north Kyoto - firewood is laid out in e shape of e characters in e clearings & set alight on e night of 16 August for e 大文字五山送り火 Daimonji Gozan Okuribi festival, to guide spirits on their way back to e netherworld.

e big fat red banner mentioned in LP's 'Hiking in Japan':

PB211301

e path enters e forest proper after e tiny bridge with metal railings on e right (above) & gets a little steep....

PB211303

before reaching this bunch of jizo statues at a fork:

PB211302

taking e left [L] & passing under e pulley system used to haul firewood up e mountain [R]....

PB211304 PB211308

& a few long steep flights of stairs later, e left end of e 横 heng2 (horizontal stroke) of e 大 'dai' in 大文字 daimonji is reached (below left):

PB211340 PB211339

撇 pie3 (above right), 捺 na4 (below left), & e intersection of all 3 strokes (below right):

PB211338 PB211343

shrine at e intersection:

PB211346

e whole point of climbing all e way up here:

PB211330-5

e entire Kyoto at your feet!

(stitched together lousily - no tripod - from 6 frames, hence e 'whirlpool' effect in e larger version)

e individual frames:

PB211330

on super clear days one can supposedly see as far as Osaka (somewhere behind e clouds/fog/smog on e left above)

PB211331

PB211332

PB211333

PB211334

5 of e 6 characters on 5 of e 6 mountain slopes:

左大文字 hidari daimonji on Daihokusan [L], somewhere above Kinkakuji, & e boat-shaped 船形 funagata daimonji on Nishigamo Funayama [R]....

PB211359 PB211362

why there are two 'dai' characters on two different mountains? anyone knows?

妙法 myoho daimonji - 妙 myo [L] & 法 ho [R] on Matsugasaki Nishiyama....

PB211360 PB211361

e 鳥居形 toriigata on Senoji-san in Saga couldn't be seen from here, but e cat would hunt it down later in this trip!

how much firewood is used: http://www.2kyoto.net/eng/matsuri-daimon.html

more views:

PB211366

PB211367

just as e cat was about to start climbing down, e place was invaded by kindergarten kids on a school outing:

PB211368

wonderful thing was how they yelled ganbatte at their slower friends & ran back to try & pull them up e last bit to e top =)

PB211372

they started laying out picnic mats:

PB211379

yesh, e cat kena Hello Kitty-ed here *grrrr*

& posing for class photos....

PB211380

....before raising their arms & screaming BANZAAAAAAAIIIII down e mountainside =P kids have super powerful lungs.

e steep way down:

PB211382

flaming red maples....

PB211383

PB211385

....& yellow gingko in someone's garden along e path leading from Ginkakuji to e start of e hike:

PB211389

cat love autumn colours =) living a dream come true to see all these - happiiiiieeeeeee =)))

along Ginkakuji-michi:

PB211386

e signs on e left are advertising 八ツ橋 yatsuhashi (lit. 8 bridges?), e yummy sweet that Kyoto is famous for. unfortunately they do not last long - only bought a small box of black sesame flavoured ones for parents on e very morning e cat left Kyoto. apart from e more traditional matcha, chestnut, sweet potato & black sesame flavours, there are strawberry & banana+chocolate versions too.

e Ginkakuji end of Tetsugakunomichi, e famous 'Path of Philosophy':

PB211387

Sunday, January 01, 2006

京都 2005 - 11 Ryoanji - Kinkakuji - Daitokuji

[181105] temple temple day....

unsure of e bus timings & how long it takes to change buses....ended up at Ryoanji temple at 07:30AM, when e only thing to do was to watch e guys from Asahi & some other drink company empty coins from e vending machines & restock them with stuff like minestrone soup....

PB180512

....& some mysterious 'waist-wave' thingy:

PB180513

indication of Ryoanji's presence on e international tourist map: 2 separate toilet blocks, with one entire block just for 'Western style' cubicles. at 07:55AM e ticket booth opened, & 4 early birds + 1 early cat had Ryoanji's kare sansui (dry landscape) garden all to themselves:

PB180539-516-520-523-514-522-553-533-534

15 stones in 5 groups, arranged such that one always remains hidden from view when seen from any point along e verandah....in e cat's 5-year old AR1722 (e cat took CFMs that prepared it for travelling =P) lecture notes, e plan of e garden is drawn from an aerial view in order to show every rock.

PB180526 PB180524

e difference between arriving at e 08:00AM opening time [below left], half an hour after opening time [below right], & 09:00AM when big fat tour groups pour in en masse & loudspeakers start blaring Japanese commentary about e garden - don't bother to take photos, run!

PB180551 PB180548

everyone zooms in on e famous dry garden & forgets about e rest of Ryoanji, so escape from e noise & crowds is still possible in other charming bits of e temple grounds:

PB180554

PB180556

PB180568

on to 金閣寺 Kinkakuji, which was packed to e gills less than 15 minutes after opening time. helps to be a small cat when squeezing to e front to see this:

PB180580

PB180582

no wonder e pond is called 鏡湖池 Kyoko-chi (lit. mirror lake pond). damn heng that e cat changed its plans to come here on e 15th or 16th - think it was closed off for a while on one of those days, when President Bush came by for a visit.

Japanese have this obsession with throwing coins at everything:

PB180601

at almost every temple that e cat visited, staff would be raking up coins with nets from e bottom of ponds & around statues like these.

more maples:

PB180595

PB180598

不動堂 Fudo-do, dedicated to e God of Fire:

PB180609

where you can buy your fortune from a machine....

PB180611 PB180610

....& conveniently trash it if it turns out to be bad

on e way to 大徳寺 Daitokuji:

PB180623

big fat Daitokuji has 20+ subtemples & felt like a micromouse maze built for humans:

PB180627

red rectangle = 'you are here'
blue arrow = 大仙院 Daisen-in (is e Baby here?)
green arrow = 高桐院 Koto-in

e cat took quite some time just to get to e red rectangle as there didn't seem to be any distinct entrance to e temple complex. it chanced upon e path leading to e red rectangle when it wandered through e carpark (big fat empty space at middle right).

for blondes?

PB180628

entrance to Daisen-in tei-en, another famous kare sansui garden:

PB180629

no photography allowed within....though e nice pamphlet with pictures of e garden sponsored by Kikkoman was some sort of consolation =P

here e cat was struck by e (lack of) size of e garden - just narrow rectangular strips of spaces surrounding a hall. & amazed by how e grainy black & white photos in e lecture readings sprang to life - e 枯山水 'dry waterfall', 'river flowing under e bridge', 'treasure ship', 'turtle swimming against e currents', etc - all without a drop of water. & how mere gravel & rock could create such an illusion of space in an area so confined, allowing e mind to transcend e boundaries of e perimeter walls that shut out e rest of e world =)

Koto-in, another subtemple famous for its maples, which were still mostly green:

PB180689

to get out of this big fat maze, e cat just kept walking south until it hit Kitaoji-dori. nice noren spotted on e way out of e Daitokuji complex:

PB180692