Kyoto - Part Two

Ryoanji

Of the many things I've wanted to see in Japan, this famous Rinzai Zen temple was quite high up on my list, and it proved to be well worth the effort to get there. Ryoanji is known in particular for its large rock garden. There are similar rock gardens at other temples, but the one at Ryoanji is perhaps the most famous. Within its sea of raked pebbles are 15 rocks, only 14 of which are visible. It is said that you must be enlightened to see the 15th rock. Besides the rock garden, Ryoanji has many beautiful buildings, a large pond, a bamboo forest, and several gardens.

Ryoanji is a popular tourist destination, not only for foreigners but for Japanese as well, and it tends to be fairly crowded, especially around the rock garden, but it's very much worth the trouble and not to be missed.

After we left Ryoanji, we had dinner at a quaint place nearby, which ended up costing twice as much as I thought it would, but was my favorite meal of the whole trip. It was a set of several items, such as fish, salad, and soup, and each item had been masterfully prepared to bring out its full flavor. I love Japanese food in general, but this was a particularly excellent dinner.

Kyoto By Night

We headed back to the hotel, dropped off our stuff, relaxed for a little bit, then headed downtown to check out the Shijo-Kawaramachi area by night. Shijo and Kawaramachi are the biggest shopping and entertainment streets, and the Shijo-Kawaramachi intersection is the busiest corner in the city. The Teramachi and Shinkyogoku covered shopping streets are also quite popular in the evening. On the way back, I got a particularly nice shot of a lotus-shaped fountain with Higashi Honganji in the background, which turned out to be one of my favorite of the 850 or so photos I took on the trip.