escapewindow | kyoto: kodaiji, kinkakuji, jinkakuji (Reply)

[kyoto - kodaiji]:

I loved that we kept finding great places to go photograph at night. Again, cherry blossom time only lasts a handful of weeks, so everyone's excited. There were crowds everywhere we went.

My father and I were going to take a cab to a few spots by the river since the concierge told him they would be lit up... but on a whim we took a taxi rather than the subway. The taxi driver told us the places we were going might not be that great, but we should go to Kōdai-ji. So we went.

After paying they led us inside, which definitely wasn't what I expected or wanted. I was consistently more interested in the outsides of the buildings and the gardens over the insides. Then we saw the inner courtyard: a very artificially lit scene. But pretty in its own way.

We were about ready to leave, disappointed, when we noticed the garden behind the wall... so we followed the path. And it was beautiful.

I had left my monopod in Tokyo and my tripod was only a tabletop model, so I got lots of practice at ~1second handheld shots.

Afterwards we walked to Kiyomizu-dera, which was closed, but we were able to get some good pics from the outside. That's for another post.

[kyoto - kinkakuji + jinkakuji]:

On a different day we took the bus to Kinkakuji, "The Golden Pavilion", where the most notable thing was a bit unfortunate. There was a small stone shrine and a bowl where people threw small coins and prayed... the ground was covered with 1 and 5 yen pieces but the bowl itself was empty. A group of American teenagers were loudly calling out for more 1 yen pieces as they hurled them, overhand, at the shrine and bowl.

Proud to be an American.

Then off to Jinkakuji, "The Silver Pavilion", which, despite its name, is not covered in silver as the Golden Pavilion is covered in gold. The Pavilion itself was being restored, but really, the highlight was in the walk to the site, since there was a small canal filled with sakura petals.