Kennin-ji temple is just south of Kyoto’s famous Gion entertainment district and serves as one of the head temples of the Rinzai sect of Japanese Buddhism. It was founded in 1202 by Eisai, the Buddhist monk who introduced both Zen Buddhism and tea cultivation to Japan after returning from study trips to China. There are several large halls exhibiting paintings from modern artists; a fantastic mural of twin dragons painted on the ceiling of the Dharma hall, commissioned in 2002 to commemorate the temple’s 800th anniversary; and a beautiful gilded screen adorned with images of the wind and thunder gods. There are a variety of gravel and moss gardens too.

I enjoyed the walk to Gion Corner and hung around for about half an hour to just people watch….and got rewarded with a view of 3 ‘Maiko’s’ (Geisha’s-in-learning) walking quickly from a cafe past me.

I was up at sparrow’s fart to see the Kiyomizu (‘Pure Water’) temple, halfway up Mt Otowa, one of the peaks in Kyoto’s Higashiyama mountain range. There were LOTS of people climbing the steep street with me on the approach to the temple complex even at 8am.

Founded 1244 years ago, its best known for its wooden stage that juts out from its main hall, 13 metres above the hillside. The stage offers nice views of the cherry and maple trees below that erupt into a sea of colour (not for me today though, doh!) as well as of the city of Kyoto in the distance. The Otowa waterfall has 3 separate streams and visitors use cups attached to large poles to drink from one of them – for longevity; success in education and have a fortunate love life. To drink from all 3 is considered GREEDY! The temple grounds are extensive with various halls, pagodas, and shrines.

Jishu shrine is dedicated to the deity of love and matchmaking. Lots of couples making their way to the 2 stones in front of the shrine, 18m apart. Successfully making your way from one to the other with your eyes closed is said to bring luck in finding love. This lovely couple “made it”, auguring well for their future. Hahaha!

I was excited to see the Marc Riboud photography exhibition @ the Museum of Contemporary Art, a french photojournalist I had heard about, whose work spanned half a decade of iconic and politically charged moments across the world, post WW2. I particularly liked his “Painter on the Eiffel Tower, 1953”; “Hommage to Anouk Grinberg 1991” and “Ho Chi Minh, 1968”.

Righto, I thought. Up earlier than ‘sparrow’s fart’ this morning @ -1 degree, to arrive by 6.30am and avoid the busloads! Yay! Wanted to see the Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine, with 10,000 gates winding up the Inari mountain, creating the impression of a long (4km) tunnel. I was not disappointed. Stunning! one of my favourite visuals so far this trip. There were a number of cute fox statues around the shrine, called ‘komagitsune’, messsengers of the harvest god, Inari. There was an ’ema’ you could purchase as well, a wooden plaque on which people write their wishes and leave on display.

Sayonara Kyoto! Loved visiting again.