Kyoto, Fall 2005

Went to Kyoto with my gf in mid November; unfortunately, the autumn foilage was just starting to change and it was overcast most of the time so it wasn't as quite as nice as I'd hoped it would be. However, it was really nice, and I got to see places I hadn't been to before on my first visit 4 years ago.

There were Tezuka Osamu figures on top of information booths at Kyoto Station (the one pictured is Tetsuwan Atom, or Astroboy, as it is known outside Japan).

Nijo-jou (Nijo Castle) was the castle built by the Tokugawa Shoguns in case they needed to visit Kyoto. The buildings themselves were quite low to the ground (I'd imagined a tiered castle), but what was interesting was the beautiful gardens. There are two major gardens: Ninomaru Garden (next to Ninomaru Palace, where the Shogun's quarters were) and Seiryu-en, which is a relatively newly made garden. The above Seiryu-en's bamboo grove and watermill.

The famous Golden Pavillion (Kinkakuji). It was soooo crowded there that it was difficult to enjoy the view. The structure is also a lot smaller than I had imagined (I'd thought it would be huge).
A tree in the wooded area behind Kinkakuji.
Our last stop on our first day in Kyoto was a night visit to Kiyomizu-dera, a beautiful temple that was lit up at night. You wouldn't believe how many people were there on a Sunday night.
The next morning, we went to Heian-jingu, a shrine built during the Meiji era. It's a big complex and the shinto gates (torii) are huge also. Pictured is one wing of the shrine building.
Next, we went to Nanzenji. We were struck by the arched waterway (aquaducts?).
We then went to another temple nearby called Konchi-in, then headed toward Kodaiji, and I saw this beautiful fruiting tree... don't know what these are, though.
From Kodaiji, a temple dedicated to Kita-no-Mandokoro, the wife of the great general Toyotomi Hideyoshi, you can see the giant Kannon statue at a neighboring temple complex... but I don't know the name of the place. ^_^;;
This last photo is of me at Toji, the biggest (I think) pagoda in Japan. The temple buildings next to it hold giant sized Buddhist/Hindu statues.

These are just a few select photos; when I have time, I'll upload the complete collection to my main website, www.wrexgrafix.com