Kyoto, Japan

I've been building up this blog for over two months now and I never had a chance to finish it up.  I don't know if I am busy with being engaged from planning the wedding to travelling to some part of the globe to visit family.  But I had to revisit my pictures of Japan as I never  get enough of it and push myself to finish this blog.

Early morning my fiancé and I had to leave Osaka to have a day visit in Kyoto.  We had miscalculated Kyoto to be a small City and thought that a day would be enough.  There were a lot of other beautiful spots that we missed.  Ugh!!

We visited first Fushimi Inari Taisha as it was the nearest one from the train station.

Fushimi Inari Taisha is a Shinto shrine which is known for its thousands of vermilion orange torii gates.  These torii gates are donations by individuals and companies in which you can find the donator's name and date of the donation inscribed on each of the torii.  The cost of each gate is 400,000 Yen or approximately 3,770 US dollars for a small sized torii gate and increases to a million Yen for the bigger ones.  This shrine is dedicated to Inari - the Shinto God of rice.

**Shinto - a Japanese religion dating from the early 8th century and incorporating the worship of ancestors and nature spirits and a belief in sacred power.

The Torii orange gates with the names and dates of the donator's.

You need to be quick in taking photos as there are a lot of tourists who are also strolling by this small road leading to the end of these gates.

Our Second stop was Kiyomizudera Temple or the Pure Water Temple.

A temple for making wishes.  Behind the main halls stands Jishu shrine, this shrine is dedicated to the deity of love and matchmaking.  There are two stones, placed 18 meters apart.  You have to find your way from one to the other stone with a blindfold or eyes closed and is said to bring luck in finding love.

Let me just share a little glimpse of my fiancé's story:  My boyfriend (who is my fiancé now), was planning to do the proposal in this temple but he was not able to do it because it was not how he expected it to be.  There were a lot of tourists and students in which he did not find the perfect time  to  pop up the question.  I remembered him insisting me that we have to go all the way up because there behind the main hall we can find the lover's place.  Little did I know that I was about to be proposed.  It was not the time, I guess.  My feet hurts as Kyoto's attractions not like Tokyo and Osaka is not accessible by train.  In short, we had a lot of walking and not to mention I had a lot of grumble too.  All those times, the ring was just in his camera bag.  It gave a smile on my face right now while blogging this.  I can still remember that day like it was just yesterday.  He had managed to propose the following day in Umeda Sky Building in Osaka Japan which is already up on my blog too:  http://miaybanez.blogspot.ae/2016/05/i-said-yes-in-osaka-japan.html

Our last Kyoto stop was the magnificent Golden Pavilion, The Kinkakuji Temple.  It is an impressive temple in the middle of a pond.  The pond is called Kyoko-chi or mirror pond, that reflects the building.  A world Cultural Heritage site whose top floors are completely covered in a gold leaf.

In 1950, the Pavilion was burned down by a 22 year old schizophrenic monk.  He attempted suicide on the hill behind the building but he survived.  He was then sentenced into seven years in prison and was released because of his mentall illness.

The Golden Pavilion

The structure was too beautiful that we just want to stare at it for the rest of the day.  Kinkaku-ji is a Zen Buddhist temple.  Kinkaku is derived from the gold leaf that coats the first floor of the structure.  It is said to purify thoughts and feelings about death.

The Golden Pavilion is clearly one of the most amazing structure I had ever seen from the building itself to the surrounding pond to the magnificent Japanese strolling garden.  

I wish to come back in Kyoto and would love to experience their famous Ryokan.  Ryokan is a type of traditional Japanese Inn.  To anyone who wants to visit Kyoto, never ever under estimate it for a day or two.  

Ryokan.

I am deeply inlove with Japan, the culture, the traditions, the food and most of all the cleanliness (I am a certified OC here) and I know I will always put Japan on my travel lists.

Love,

M xo


TO GOD BE THE GLORY.

Disclaimer:

This is a personal blog.  The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.

In addition, my opinions may change from time to time.  I consider this an open-minded consequence of my thoughts and personal views.  This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point at the time being and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed may vary in the near future.