The Human Rabbit

The budget travel: Kyoto 8th-10th March 2016 Part 2

japan 10:15:00 AM

If you have not read my Part 1 of our adventure in Kyoto, read it here. The first day in Kyoto spent familiarizing the route and trains to and fro from our apartments. It was slightly easy as we have learned some of it back in Osaka.

2nd day was raining but we had umbrella. It was freezing cold and temperature was around 7 degree. We had 4 layers of clothes over our body. We also bought a lot of coffee on that day too through vending machines. I just loveeee their vending machine.

We covered a few places in Kyoto on the 2nd day. Main attractions to be exact but slight difficulties in locating the Arashiyama bamboo grove.

Our first destination was the Fushimi Inari shrine. It was about 45 minutes journey by train from our apartment.

Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice. Foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers, resulting in many fox statues across the shrine grounds. Fushimi Inari Shrine has ancient origins, predating the capital's move to Kyoto in 794.

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. There are thousands of tori gate along the climbing path towards the main hill. 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 cost starts around 400,000 yen for a small sized gate and increases to over one million yen for a large gate.

The hike to the summit of the mountain and back takes about 2-3 hours, however, visitors are free to walk just as far as they wish before turning back. Along the way, there are multiple smaller shrines with stacks of miniature torii gates that were donated by visitors with smaller budgets. There are also a few restaurants along the way, which offer locally themed dishes such as Inari Sushi and Kitsune Udon (Fox Udon), both featuring pieces of aburaage (fried tofu), said to be a favorite food of foxes.

We tried the king crab meat, It was sooooo good and hot. Nice to eat during that time cause it was wet and cold.

Our 2nd destination after the shrine was Nijo castle (Nijojo). No photos are allowed inside the castle.

Nijo Castle was built in 1603 as the Kyoto residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo Period (1603-1867). His grandson Iemitsu completed the castle's palace buildings 23 years later and further expanded the castle by adding a five story castle keep. The castle was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1994.

Nijo Castle can be divided into three areas: the Honmaru (main circle of defense), the Ninomaru (secondary circle of defense) and some gardens that encircle the Honmaru and Ninomaru. The entire castle grounds and the Honmaru are surrounded by stone walls and moats.

Visitors to Nijo Castle enter the castle grounds through a large gate in the east. English audio guides are available for rent (500 yen) at a kiosk just inside the gate. Venturing further into the castle will bring you to the Chinese style Karamon Gate, the entrance to the Ninomaru (secondary circle of defense), where the castle's main attraction, the Ninomaru Palace is located.

The Ninomaru Palace served as the residence and office of the shogun during his visits to Kyoto. Surviving in its original form, the palace consists of multiple separate buildings that are connected with each other by corridors with so called nightingale floors, as they squeak when stepped upon as a security measure against intruders. The palace rooms are tatami mat covered and feature elegantly decorated ceilings and beautifully painted sliding doors (fusuma).

Do you know that, the floor of the Ninomaru palace squeak when stepped upon as a security measure against intruders? Or they called it as nightingale floors. Very interesting kan?

You'll be amazed with the building architecture, preservation of their ancient art and culture in the castle. It's just so amazing.

Outside of the Ninomaru Palace extends the Ninomaru Garden, a traditional Japanese landscape garden with a large pond, ornamental stones and manicured pine trees.

The Honmaru (main circle of defense) was the site of a second palace complex and a five story castle keep. However, both structures were destroyed by fires in the 18th century and were never rebuilt. After the fall of the shogunate, an imperial residence was moved from the Katsura Imperial Palace to Nijo Castle's Honmaru where it remains today as the Honmaru Palace.

Unlike the Ninomaru Palace, the Honmaru Palace is not regularly open to the public, although there are occasional special openings. Visitors may, however, walk around the Honmaru gardens and climb up the stone foundation of the former castle keep, which offers views over the castle grounds.

Our final destination of the day was the Arashiyama bamboo groove which took us about an hour from Nijo castle.

If you love nature, then I suggest that you put Arashiyama grove as your first destination in your Kyoto itinerary. As we arrive late evening, the place was a little dark. Best time to go is mid morning or afternoon. It is shaded with bamboos so don't worry about the sun. If you're lucky, you may get a glimpse of geishas or maiko which me and Juan did :-)

Kyoto is a place where the old and new era collided, You can see old buildings from the Edo century blended in with Japan's modern architecture. It's amazing to see the building still standing strong and how they take the effort to preserve it.