We turned to Lonely Planet Pocket Guide to Kyoto & Osaka to organize our first full day--a Sunday--in Kyoto. On the agenda were Fushimi Inari-Taisha, the much-photographed 1,000 torii shrine; Higashi Hongan-ji, a monumental Buddhist temple; Shosei-en, a traditional strolling garden from the 17th c.; and Sumiya Cultural Art Museum, a wooden building from the Edo period located in the Old Red Light District.
- Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine
To reach the shrine, we took the Karasumi Line from Shijo Station near our apartment, transferred to the JR Nara Line at Kyoto Station, where I had picked up a train stamp for my sketchbook collection the day before.
We exited at Inari Station, the whole trip having taken all of 20 minutes. The shrine is located at the base of 233-meter-high Mount Inari and is famous for its thousands of vermilion gates that form a tunnel marching 2.5 kilometers up the mountain.
From Wiki:
The shrine was formally founded in 711 CE by the Hata clan, an influential immigrant group from the Korean Peninsula. Inari was originally and remains primarily the kami [a deity, divinity, or spirit] of rice and agriculture, but merchants also worship Inari as the patron of business. Each of Fushimi Inari-taisha's roughly 10,000 torii were donated by a Japanese business, and approximately 800 of these are set in a row to form the Senbon Torii, creating the impression of a tunnel. The shrine is said to have ten thousand such gates in total that designate the entrance to the holy domain of kami and protect it against wicked forces.
This site map at the shrine entrance shows the shrine's main buildings and the gates that run up the mountain.
As we approached the entrance to the shrine's main hall, we were waylaid by a small group of young boys who wanted to practice their English. Thomas (in front to my right with the notebook) began his set of “20 questions”—Where are you from? What do you like best about Japan? etc.—and offered me the origami below as thanks for letting him interview me. Apparently, soliciting impromptu English conversation is a common activity on Sundays in Southeast Asia and Japan. The same thing happened to us in Hanoi on a Sunday in 2024.
After that sweet experience, we moved on to begin our walk through the torii up Mount Inari. From Japan Guide:
At the shrine's entrance stands the Romon Gate, which was donated in 1589 by the famous leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Behind stands the shrine's main hall (honden) where all visitors are encouraged to pay respect to the resident deity by making a small offering.
At the very back of the shrine's main grounds is the entrance to the torii gate-covered hiking trail, which starts with two dense, parallel rows of gates called Senbon Torii ("thousands of torii gates").
The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies, and you will find the donator's name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate. The donation amount starts around 400,000 yen for a smaller gate and increases to over one million yen for a large gate.
From Wiki:
On the way to the top of the mountain are tens of thousands of rock altars for private worship. These rock altars are personalised Inari that have been set up there by citizens. Most of them have individual names for Inari engraved on them.
Foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers, and we saw quite a few fox statues across the shrine grounds. This one is holding a sheaf of rice in its mouth and wears a bib. The color red symbolizes purity and the bib provides protection from evil spirits.
As is the custom, we saw Japanese day trippers in traditional costume, posing for selfies and group photos.
On our way out, I stopped at the main hall to get a temple stamp. While waiting in line, I spoke with a young woman from Australia who showed me her stamp book (shuincho) in which she had collected exquisite goshuin, calligraphy particular to the shrine drawn by monks while you wait. She explained that the monks will draw the goshuin only into a shuincho; no shuincho, no goshuin. Her calligraphy stamps made a stunning collection of what are really works of art. Now that I understood what I had been missing, I resolved to buy a shuincho for a proper goshuin collection as soon as possible. Here is the pre-made stamp I bought in lieu of a calligraphic one and, although it isn’t a goshuin, it’s still beautiful.
- Higashi Hongan-ji Shrine
There are two nearly identical Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist temples in Kyoto, each only a few blocks from Kyoto Station: Nishi Hongan-ji (the western temple, built in 1591) and the somewhat larger Higashi Hongan-ji (the eastern temple, built in 1602). Nishi and Higashi once functioned as a single temple complex until they were deliberately split up. Wiki describes the history of Higashi Hongan-ji and its configuration:
Higashi Honganji was established in 1602 by the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu when he split the sect in two (Nishi Honganji being the other) in order to diminish its power. The temple was first built in its present location in 1658.
The temple grounds feature a mausoleum containing the ashes of Jōdo Shinshū founder Shinran. The mausoleum was initially constructed in 1272 and relocated several times before being relocated to its current site in 1670.
At the center of the temple is the Goei-dō, where an image of Shinran is enshrined. The hall is one of the largest wooden structures in the world at 76 metres (249 ft) in length, 58 metres (190 ft) in width, and 38 metres (125 ft) in height. The current hall was constructed in 1895.
The Amida Hall, to the left of the Goei-dō, contains an image of the Buddha Amitābha, called Amida in Japanese, along with an image of Prince Shōtoku, who introduced Buddhism to Japan. The hall is ornately decorated with gold leaf and art from the Meiji era. The current hall was constructed in 1895.
Higashi Hongan-ji is open 24/7 and entrance is free. We entered the complex through the Higashi-mon gate.
This video gives you an idea of the scale of the complex.
Photography is permitted in the halls except when a service is in progress. Here is a view of the interior of Goei-do, the Founder's Hall, so large it takes 927 tatami mats to cover its floor area.
And this is an interior view of Amida Hall, with its statue of the Amida Buddha, below.
Still without a shuincho for a goshuin, I had to settle for these temple stamps. The first shows the Higashi-mon Gate and the second, Gosei-do, the Founder's Hall.
We exited the temple and headed across the street to the temple’s 8.7-acre detached garden, Shosei-en. In the forecourt in front of the Higashi-mon Gate was a display of Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and Maseratis with psychedelic paint jobs.
- Shosei-en Garden
The garden, declared a National Historic Site in 1936, is detached from the Higashi Hongan-ji complex, and its roots go back to 1641. The Japan Experience website recounts the garden's history and design:
In 1641, a pivotal moment in Shoseien's history occurred when Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu granted the land to the nearby Higashi Honganji Temple. Two years later, in 1643, the 13th abbot of Higashi Honganji, Sennyo (1604-1658), commissioned the creation of the garden. The design was entrusted to Ishikawa Jozan (1583-1672), a renowned ex-samurai, Confucian scholar, and poet.
Shoseien Garden is a classic example of a "chisen-kaiyu" style garden, where visitors follow a circular path around a central pond. This design allows for a constantly changing perspective as one strolls through the garden, revealing new vistas and hidden corners at every turn. The garden's layout is carefully crafted to create a harmonious balance between nature and human-made elements.
One of the most striking features of Shoseien is its collection of tea houses, each offering a unique view of the landscape.
The garden also boasts several remarkable bridges, including the Shinsetsu-kyo (Snow-Capped Bridge [below]) and the Kaito-ro (Chinese-corridor style Bridge [further below]).
Shoseien Garden holds immense cultural significance as a living testament to Japanese garden design and aesthetics. Its creation during the Edo period reflects the Kamakura Period principles of garden design, which emphasized the recreation of natural landscapes in miniature form. The garden serves as a physical embodiment of Japanese philosophical and spiritual concepts, inviting contemplation and reflection.
The garden's connection to Buddhism, through its affiliation with Higashi Honganji Temple, adds another layer of cultural significance. It serves as a physical representation of Buddhist principles, with elements like the central pond symbolizing the journey of life and the bridges representing the path to enlightenment.
Shosei-en has historically been used for entertaining and receiving important guests, and this Sunday was no exception. As we were about to begin our garden walk, we noticed a stand facing the circular pond promoting a local Kyoto gin and a French champagne.
Taking advantage of the serendipity, I ordered a gin and tonic and Steve a flute of champagne. Two Japanese men sat down near us and we struck up a conversation. Remarking on our drinks, one of the gentlemen shared with me the name of his favorite Japanese gin: Sakurao. This info would become useful later in the day.
I had read about a Kyoto culinary specialty—okonomiyaki -- a savory pancake that is really more like an omelette. Hungry for lunch, we found a restaurant near Shosei-en advertising the dish. There will be no images of that lunch, however, as it was awful. The pancake was huge, greasy, and served with a kind of thousand island dressing. Best left unseen--as opposed to this young lady, who was eminently worth a photo. Maid in Japan.
- Sumiya Cultural Art Museum
After lunch we grabbed a bus toward Shimabara, Kyoto’s Old Red Light District, located west of Nishi Hangan-ji. Our destination was the Sumiya Cultrual Art Museum, a beautifully preserved restaurant/tavern/brothel from the Edo period, dating from 1641 and designated an Important Cultural Property in 1952. Unfortunately for us, we arrived five minutes before what we thought was the last entrance time, but which turned out to be closing time, as in, “Sorry. We’re closed.” This had already happened to us a few times in Japan and you would think we would have learned how opening hours work. But, no.
We were able to photograph only the exterior of the building,
and missing out on the interior was a real disappointment, because Sumiya is the last remaining example of this type of architecture, called an “ageya.” The Japan Experience website describes the building type and Sumiya itself:
Ageya were elegant restaurants where Geisha and Tayu performed and lived. Performances included elaborate tea ceremonies, songs and dances.
Sumiya is a two story structure with a tiled roof and combines elements of shoin-tsukuri and sukiya-tsukuri styles. The former is the elegant, formal style of the samurai warrior class distinguished by large tatami rooms, painted screens and fine carvings, whereas the latter is the more informal, sparse style of the tea ceremony.
Sumiya was not just a place of entertainment based on "wine, women and song" but also an important salon where famous people in the fields of politics, art and literature gathered, including a group of haiku poets ... and the anti-Tokugawa reformers ... who met here with rich merchants to try and secure funds for their struggle.
As we later learned, Sumiya is known for its intricate, traditional design, featuring delicate wooden tracery, painted and gilded folding screens, sliding privacy doors, and enclosed gardens. There are even said to be sword marks still visible on pillars in the mother-of-pearl room, allegedly made by intoxicated members.
Here are a couple of images of Sumiya's interior and garden from Japan Experience, taken when the cherry trees were in bloom.
- Bar Kyo Mode
My husband had read that Kyoto is known for its cocktail bars, so he embarked on a Google search for a “cool cocktail bar near me.” He came up with Bar Kyo Mode, recommended by Nova Circle, “a Stockholm-based, Swedish startup 2022 that operates a social travel app and platform for sharing curated recommendations on restaurants, hotels, and destinations from trusted friends and creators. Designed to replace anonymous reviews with personal, high-quality suggestions, the app acts as a visual, searchable, and social travel guide….”
This is what Nova Circle has to say about Bar Kyo Mode (above):
Kyo Mode is a vibrant bar located in the heart of Kyoto, Japan, offering a unique blend of local culture and a welcoming atmosphere. Known for its extensive selection of fine whiskies and cocktails, Kyo Mode has become a favorite spot for both locals and visitors. The bar prides itself on excellent service, with patrons frequently praising the friendly staff and lively ambiance. Established with a vision to create a community hub, Kyo Mode has garnered positive reviews for its affordability and quality, making it a must-visit destination in Kyoto.
I had a gin and tonic, and my husband ordered a smokey Japanese whiskey distilled in Toyama, a gift from the home of the missed Shinkansen from Tokyo to Takayama that just kept on giving.
The murals were painted by an artist named Takeshi Sato, whose work appears on the bar's business card.
- The No Name Izakaya
In good Japanese spirits, we sought out a restaurant for dinner. I wish I had taken the business card of the izakaya where we ate that night. It was somewhere between the Kyo Mode bar and our 7 Keys apartment hotel, on a main street, and yet we could not find it again. I hasten to add that alcohol played no part in that failure! More the Kyoto grid, or lack thereof. In any event, the place was packed; and the kitchen was open to view and seemed to be staffed by college kids. There were no seats left at he counter, so we sat at a small table for two. The food was delicious!
As was the chilled sake.
Keep it real!
Marilyn (and Steve)
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