Kyoto - Nishi Hongwanji, Nijo Castle & Ryoan-ji

As we had a public holiday today (Childrens Day), Hunter and I went on another expedition to Kyoto. The others either couldn't afford to come and/or were out too late last night to come.

We decided to go and see Nijo Castle and Ryoanji (which were grouped under the same part of Kyoto in the guidebook). I was a bit apprehensive about our ability to navigate the bus system, but we didn't have any problems.

Nishi Hongwanji
On the way to Nijo Castle, the bus stopped at a place called Nishi Hongwanji. It looked like an interesting building, obviously a tourist stop, and so, after a quick discussion, we decided to get off the bus there and take a look. It turned out to be a large Buddhist temple, still in active use, which has only been open to the public for a year, after a decade of restoration work. Inside the main temple building was absolutely spectacular. The floor was tatami, with beautifully painted sliding paper doors, and magnificent bronze panels above them. People were just drifting in and out, sitting on the floor for a bit to pray or meditate, so we joined them for a bit, to soak in the magnificent display. Unfortunately, I have no photos, as it didn't seem appropriate.

The larger side-building looked to be set up as a massive conference room (mega-church?), although I have to say that the original architecture of the building didn't really lend itself to this use, as there were massive wooden posts at regular intervals, which would significantly obstruct view. In this building, I saw a Japanese man with his camera, so I assumed that it was ok for me to take photos too.

Nishi Hongwanji

The secondary building

Painted doors in the secondary building

When we were finished at Nishi Hongwanji, we wandered back outside, and the bus that we needed arrived at the bus stop just as we did.

Nijo-jo (Nijo Castle)
Nijo-jo was originally built in 1603, although, as seems to be a common theme with the mostly wooden Japanese buildings, things burn down and need replacing. Nijo-jo has two concentric defensive walls, each with its own moat. In the outer complex is a large palace, open to the public. Inside the inner wall is a smaller castle building, which we couldn't enter.

Entering the castle complex

The palace from the outside

Another entrace to the castle

All around were manicured gardens, although Hunter and I agreed that the gardens were probably a relatively recent addition, as tall trees would have offered far too much cover to be a good idea in a defensive castle.

The palace was spectacular. Again, no photographs allowed. In fact, there were even signs up saying no sketching.

The Japanese concept of a palace is completely different to the European one. The palace was a wooden building, or rather, a series of connected wooden buildings, joined by fully enclosed walkways. Each section had a number of rooms, each with the traditional Japanese sliding panel doors, and the rooms together formed a square or rectangle, with a walkway right around. The outside walls of the palace were also all sliding doors, but were kept closed to protect the paintings. All the interior  door panels were intricately painted, showing a variety of nature scenes, with a generous application of gold leaf. As we walked the floor sang beneath our feet: Nijo-jo has the most famous example of a Nightingale Floor.  Old wooden floorboards sometimes creak, but a Nightingale Floor is completely different. The way the floorboards are attached, when someone steps on the board, a nail rubs against a bracket, causing a gentle chirping sound, which announces the persons arrival, making it impossible to sneak up on the occupant.

Ryoan-ji
We accidentally got on the wrong bus for Ryoan-ji (my fault). It was going the right way, but just not quite far enough, so we had a 10 minute walk when the bus got to the end of the run, which wasn't really that bad.

Ryoan-ji is a Buddhist temple famous for its rock garden. The garden is 25m x 10m, and is enclosed by an earthen wall. In it, 15 stones, with a bit of moss, are adrift in a sea of raked white gravel.

A section of the wall surrounding the rock garden. The walls were made from clay boiled in oil, and the pattern has emerged as the oil has seeped out of the clay

To be honest, although it was interesting to look at the garden and contemplate it for a while, I much preferred the surrounding, more conventional gardens, which with their carefully cultivated carpets of moss, shaped trees, and delicate flowers, captured me in a way that the austere rocks couldn't achieve. Although there was a bit of rather noisy gardening work going on, the gardens were still a very peaceful place to wander, with fewer people around.