Around Kyoto, featuring gardens, temples, shrines, and plenty more beautiful things.
I’ve realized I’m behind on the Phlogs. It’s hard to keep up with these when you’re having fun, and sometimes I just don’t have time to edit and write.
The time zone is also quite confusing for me. I typically experience two days in the New York time zone for each of my one days here. Hence the strange posting time and likely incongruous arrival of my communications.
The other day I took a bus to a less touristy part of town in search of a temple that was recommended to me, and an art museum. I made the foolish decision to not eat breakfast before going to the bus stop, so I stood there for quite a long time with my scrambled eggs brain watching the busses go by. At some point I realized I should board one, and this is how I found myself at a beautiful, empty place I could not tell you the name of.
Kyoto is beautiful in that way. You just walk and stumble upon things you weren’t expecting expecting. For me it also means I never arrive places at the time I planned.
I ambled my way in the direction of Hōnenin Temple. I heard that it is quiet and secluded. My indirect route took my through a large square with Museums, theaters, and a man surrounded by excited pigeons that he was feeding.
I found myself suddenly drawn to brightly colored buildings across the way. I found out it was the Heian Jingu Shrine, home to a winding garden with countless ducks, ponds, and streams.
I took my time walking through. It was incredibly peaceful and I felt miles away from the city. The air felt different, it tasted good, there were very few people around. I crossed bridges, carefully stepped my way down narrow, winding paths.
Eventually I came back out and spotted something that I’ve found is quite common in Japan. A collection of technology that seems both very futuristic and very antiquated all at once.
By this point I was more than a couple hours past the time I’d expected to be at Hōnenin Temple so I booked it straight into the hills. I was now in a mostly residential area, walking up some pretty steep grades, something that seems to happen to me predictably often on vacation.
As I reached the ridge of the hills I was met with the Google maps waypoint for Hōnenin Temple. Also predictably, it was not there. There seemed to be a shrine behind some walls, but it was clearly closed. I decided to keep searching. The ridge line was full of shrines, a new one every 100 meters or so. They were all somehow related to Hōnenin, so I figured I’d find the temple eventually.
When I did, I thought it was just a garden. What started as a moss garden opened up through the trees into the picture of tranquility. A smaller temple with just a few buildings all covered in moss.
I could not go into the temple, and much of the grounds were not open to the public, but it was well worth the visit.
I made my way back down the hill, stopping briefly for some local duck and mushroom soba soup before setting my sights on an art book and zine store I’d been told about. Many Yen later I was on the move to the Kyocera Art Museum. Along the way I was greeted by a collection of shrines and a monkey wearing earmuffs.
My experience at the art museum was painful. I accidentally booked tickets for a new exhibition that is apparently very popular. I mostly stood in large packs of people airing for everyone to take selfies or posed photos while suffering from high heat and a lack of air.
You can see mountains from almost everywhere in Kyoto. And I haven’t spent enough time looking at a map, but it feels like there are rivers and canals in every direction.
From there I had to hustle home, James, Lukas, and I had a dinner reservation that had involved a delivery of American whiskey two days prior to get. It was a French inspired omakase that we shared with a couple from Kyoto at the five seater space down an alleyway.
It was spectacular.
