Kyoto - Part Three

Hidenin

After spending most of the 24th in Nara, our adventures in Kyoto resumed on the 25th. We checked out of our hotel that morning, and planned to spend our last night in Kyoto at a shukubo (宿坊) — an inn where monks traditionally stayed for training before entering a monastery. We found one called Hidenin, a Shingon sect shukubo in the hills of Higashiyama in the southeast part of the city. It took us a little while to find the place, but when we did, we were treated to a great view of the city. The thing that's really striking about the Kyoto city skyline is that there are almost no tall buildings at all, leaving an unblocked view of the mountains that surround the city.

We dropped off our stuff at Hidenin, and headed out to spend a few more hours in the downtown area. We returned in the evening, and spent a very quiet night there, relaxing with some nice tea, then went to sleep a little earlier than usual. We were up at around 5:30 the next morning, and attended a morning dokyo (読経 Buddhist chant [lit. sutra reading]) session. After a good breakfast, we gathered up our stuff and headed out again, further up the hill to nearby Sennyuji temple.

Sennyuji

We found this Shingon Buddhist temple the day before, when we were looking for Hidenin. It's not listed in my travel guide, seemed a little out of the way, and certainly wasn't teeming with tourists like the more famous temples such as Ryoanji, but it actually ended up being a good find. It's quite an old place, founded more than 1000 years ago, and it has a small house of treasures containing some very old scrolls and other artefacts. I had some luck with my camera on this particular morning; several of the photos I took turned out quite nice.