Japan 2019

Saturday16November

Our second day in Kyoto, which we dedicate to two pavilions, one silver and the other gold. Excuse the understatement... Both pavilions are located in the far north of the city but opposite each other. The silver one is all the way to the East, the Golden one completely to the West. So here we are at the Silver Pavilion, the Ginkaku Ji.

This Buddhist temple was founded in 1482, in rivalry with the Golden Pavilion. Oh yes, Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa wanted to impress the other architect who was none other than his late grandfather...   The pavilion is surrounded by a "dry" Zen garden, composed of sand, rocks, gravel, and moss.

To the right, the "Kō getsudai". This incredible sand mound has been maintained in this shape for a very, very long time!

Here is the Silver Pavilion... Oh yes, it should have been covered in silver, but the war at the time prevented the building from being finalized. Ultimately, the pavilion remained as is, corresponding more to the "zen" spirit that its creator wanted to give to the site.

To the right, the sand garden meticulously designed by the gardeners using rakes.

Contrary to what one might think, there is only one kind of gravel and one color. Only the relief of the small mounds gives this double coloration, drawing stripes on the sand.

A small pond enhances the garden.

The garden is also made of moss. It's not a surface that has simply been wildly colonized by vegetation, but rather a deliberate choice by the gardeners to cover the ground around the trees and rocks.

The garden is located at the foot of a small hill from which one can have a beautiful panorama of the site, especially during these autumn periods.

The roots of the trees seem to plunge under the mosses, giving a mysterious atmosphere to the place. This may not be a coincidence, as mosses do not have roots...  

On the ground, 50 shades of green color the mosses. As for the sky, the leaves abandon green for yellow and red...

The Silver Pavilion in its green setting.

The work of the Zen gardener is endless. The wind and rain don't care that just minutes before, someone meticulously cleaned the immaculate mosses...

We leave the Silver Pavilion to go to the Golden Pavilion. An opportunity to photograph the "rolling cubes" that are often seen in Japan. These small cars called "keijidōsha" were produced after World War II to allow the most modest users and small businesses to acquire this modest motorized means of locomotion, and thus support the country's industry and commerce.

After crossing Kyoto from East to West, we arrive at Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion.

The style has nothing to do with its silver counterpart... And unlike the latter, it doesn't lie about the goods, it is indeed covered in gold...    

Built in 1397 by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (Ashikaga Yoshimasa's grandfather), the pavilion was unfortunately destroyed by arson in 1950. It was completely rebuilt identically 5 years later. In 1994, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The garden surrounding the pavilion differs from that of Ginkaku-ji. It borders a large pond and the vegetation is mainly composed of pine trees.

When the weather is good, the pond becomes a water mirror reflecting the superb scenery imagined seven centuries earlier.  

The pavilion, which is actually a temple, was built to house relics of Buddha, which it still hosts today.

The Zen temple isn't all that Zen. At least not according to the photo's framing... The place turns into a competition for the best selfie where the smartphone owner's face will relegate the pavilion to a blurry background...  

At the top of the roof, "fenghuang" reigns, the so-called "Chinese" phoenix also called "hôô" in Japanese.  

It's not just the pavilion and its reflections that are photogenic. There are also Japanese women in traditional attire who manage to eclipse the superb panorama by posing mischievously to the side and becoming the center of all photographers' attention...  

We take the path leading to the foot of the pavilion where the view of the reverse side of the Zen decor will not be quite as Zen...    

Each floor has its own architectural style.
- the ground floor (Hō-sui-in) is in shinden-zukuri style, the style of Heian period palaces
- the first floor (Chō-on-dō) follows the buke-zukuri style of samurai houses;
- the second floor (Kukkyō-chō) is in Karayō style, that of Zen temples.
© Wikipedia

The pine trees are very present but they don't have the little extra colorful touch that their neighbors, maples, have...  

Right next door, the Sekka-tei, a small annex with a straw roof covered in moss, dedicated to the tea ceremony or chanoyu, an extremely codified traditional rite, but it would take several pages to describe all its subtleties...  

An incense urn smokes in front of the Fudo-do house, the god of fire.

We leave the pavilion and head to our next stop of the day, Arashiyama Park. Before starting, we need to have lunch and are looking for a restaurant nearby...

And it's a very pleasant surprise! We find the traditional "O-Tsuka" restaurant, known as "kaiseki", where we will be the only customers!  

Here is our meal brought on a tray. Kaiseki restaurants are especially renowned in Kyoto.
"Kaiseki cuisine, in Japanese kaiseki ryōri, refers in Japanese gastronomy to a traditional form of meal, composed of several small dishes served together. The term can also refer to the set of skills and techniques that allow such a meal to be prepared and which are comparable to Western haute cuisine"
© Wikipedia

To simplify, these restaurants correspond to what we call "gastronomic" restaurants. And indeed, the dishes are meticulously prepared and, above all, delicious. From miso soup (fermented soy) to warabimochi dessert, including makis and sushis, to which we add the "zen" setting, this lunch will undoubtedly remain one of the best of the stay.  

Now that we are satisfied, we are ready to continue the rest of the day! Off to Iwatayama Monkey Park.