Friday November 12th

No.7

A VISIT TO KYOTO

Kyoto is said to be one of the best preserved cities in Japan. Situated on the island of Honsu, it was the capital till 1868 when the honour was passed to Tokyo.

With a population of nearly 1.5 million, it has become famous for its many palaces, gardens, fine architecture, and temples and shrines. In order to preserve these sites, Kyoto was spared from air raids in World War II. In 1994 it was made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Of special interest are the Kyoto Imperial Palace and the Sento Imperial Palace which for hundreds of years were the homes of the Emperors.

There is a huge number of very beautiful religious buildings including 1600 Buddhist Temples and 400 Shinto Shrines. The photos which I show here can give just a glimpse of the splendour of those structures.

1) This is the Bentendo at Daigo-ji, a Shingon Buddhist Temple founded in 874. A bentendo is a temple dedicated to Benzaiten the Goddess of water, purity, eloquence, luck, protection, wealth and good fortune.

2) The Pagoda at Daigo-ji is the oldest building there, dating from 951.

3) Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, is a 1397 Zen Buddhist temple. The top two floors are covered in gold leaf.

4) The Kiyomizu-dera temple is a wooden structure built on the side of a mountain. It has its origins in 798, but the present building is dated 1633. The Japanese have a saying “to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu” - the English equivalent is “to take the plunge.” It appears that at one time certain brave (or foolish) people would jump from the stage there, a 13m jump, and those who survived would have their wish granted.

5) This is the Kondo or main hall at Daigo-ji.

Those photographs are shown under the CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-SHARE ALIKE license, with special thanks to the photographers Ally Waterman for No.2 and David Monniaux for No.4

To conclude, this video of colourful views of Japanese gardens has been devised by eqc01942.



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