Sightseeing in Japan

Hi everyone!

I arrived in Japan about three weeks before my classes started, so I used some of that time to find interesting places to go to in and around Kyoto to share with you all. Here's some of the highlights!

   Fushimi Inari (伏見稲荷)

The famous orange gates of Fushimi Inari, known as the Senbon-torii

A map of the shrine--and yes, that's an entire mountain!

Fushimi Inari is an enormous Shinto shrine built into the side of a mountain in the center of Kyoto. It gets its name from its location in the Fushimi district of Kyoto as well as the name for the Shinto god of rice, Inari, who is often depicted as a fox. If you want to see everything that it has to offer, you'd better get ready for a really long uphill hike to get to the top, as the path to get there takes about 2-3 hours! The trail was very crowded when we first started walking, as you can see in the first picture, but we noticed that there were less and less people the farther up the mountain we went, until eventually there were long stretches where we were the only people on the it. The shrine was built even before Kyoto was the capital of Japan, with the earliest structures being built in 711 CE. The complex also contains over one thousand of the orange gates known as Senbon-torii. The reason that so many have been built is because people used to construct them to either make a wish come true, or as thanks for one that did. If you wanted to build a gate, would you make it for future luck or as thanks for the past? What would your wish or thanks be for?

   Kinkakuji (金閣寺)

Kinkakuji, seen from across the small lake that surrounds it

Kinkakuji (in English, Temple of the Golden Pavilion) is a Zen Buddhist temple located in the northwest area of Kyoto. It was constructed in 1397 CE by the then-military leader of Japan, the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. The complex was built to showcase three of the prominent building designs of the era; shinden, samurai, and zen, with each floor being built in one of the styles. The first floor is built in shinden style, meant to represent the imperial aristocracy of the era, and is the only floor not painted in the gold leaf that the temple is famous for. The second floor is built in samurai style, meant to represent the military aristocracy, and has somewhat of a more simple design when compared to the other two. The third floor is built in a Chinese zen style, which reflected the dominant religion of the era, Zen Buddhism. This floor is the most ornately designed of the three floors, and the roof of the temple has a statue of a golden phoenix stretching its wings out.

A closer look from the back of the temple

If you noticed, both Kinkakuji and Nishi-Honganji share the same "ji" at the end of their names, which is even more apparent when they are written in Japanese - 金閣寺(Kinkakuji) and 西本願寺(Nishi-Honganji). If you look carefully, the last character of both names is 寺, which means "temple" and is read as "ji". But be careful, because Japanese can be tricky! If you see 寺 on its own, then it's read as "tera" instead. A good way to know if the place you're going to is Buddhist or Shinto is to look for that "ji", as usually Buddhist temples will be named "-------ji", whereas Shinto shrines won't have that as part of their name.

   Arashiyama (嵐山)

A bamboo forest in Arashiyama

Arashiyama ("Storm Mountain" in English) is a district in the western side of Kyoto. It is home to a large bamboo forest, as well as some of the oldest shrines in Japan (even older than Fushimi Inari!). Because of this, it is a popular tourist spot for people who want to see these things, as well as for Shinto people who want to pray at the shrines. Funnily enough, it also draws in companies that make miso soup, a common food in Japan, as well as sake (Japanese alcohol) companies, who both pray at the shrines for the success of their various products. The main street of the district is lined with restaurants and tourist shops that sell omiyage, the Japanese word for "stuff you bought to give to your friends after you get back from a vacation". The practice of giving omiyage is more culturally relevant in Japan, though: it's considered expected to bring something to your friends and family if you go on a trip somewhere or if you go to visit them, like bringing something from Portland if you wanted to visit your grandparents in Ohio. What do you think a good omiyage from Portland would be?

Some furry friends in Arashiyama

However, probably the most famous part of Arashiyama is its monkey sanctuary, known as the Iwatayama Monkey Park. This sanctuary is home to over 170 monkeys (猿 or "Saru" in Japanese), which walk freely on the paths around the sanctuary and play around in the areas next to the main structure. There were several times when my friends and I had to stop walking while a monkey crossed in front of us, or keep our distance when monkey drama started happening nearby. They may be cute, but be careful around them - monkeys are known to attack people who make direct eye contact with them, or those who try to mess with them while they go about their monkey business. It is possible to feed the monkeys, but you have to do so within the caged building with the food that is provided there. 

These three places barely scratch the surface of all the places to go and things to see in Kyoto; it's a very unique city when it comes to landmarks! If you have any questions about some of these places or want to know more about what Kyoto has to offer, please let me know in a comment! Until then, though:

またね！(See you soon!)