{"id":823,"date":"2015-05-27T23:11:20","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T15:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/?p=823"},"modified":"2019-02-03T17:39:41","modified_gmt":"2019-02-03T09:39:41","slug":"kyoto-from-gold-to-zen-a-walk-in-the-northwestern-quadrant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2015\/05\/27\/kyoto-from-gold-to-zen-a-walk-in-the-northwestern-quadrant\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyoto – From Gold to Zen, a Walk in the Northwestern Quadrant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three of Kyoto’s major temples are located within a 40\u00a0minute walk of each other in the northwestern quadrant of the city. Of these Kinkaku-ji – also known as the Golden Pavilion – is probably the best known. And while all three are temples, they each have different characteristics which makes a morning or afternoon spent exploring this area, a nicely contained visit.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0started at Kinkaku-ji and although there are a gazillion photos on the net of this temple, I was still in awe even though it was a cold, wet winter day. I can imagine how it much brighter it could be on a sunny day.<\/p>\n

\"Golden<\/a>
Golden Pavilion gleams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Golden<\/a>
Note the pine tree made to look like a boat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Golden<\/a>
Peering through the moss garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Golden<\/a>
The top of the pavilion from the hill at the back<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After leaving Kinkaku-ji, I\u00a0walked southwestward to Ryoan-ji. This was around a 20 minute walk. One of the first things I saw on entering Ryoan-ji, is its lake.<\/p>\n

\"Ryoan-ji<\/a>
View across the lake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ryoan-ji<\/a>
Stone bride linking small island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Ryoan-ji is actually famous\u00a0for its zen garden. I sat down for a little while, like others did, to stare – contemplate, apparently – at the stones.\u00a0No one really knows the meaning of the stones.<\/p>\n

\"Ryoan-ji<\/a>
Zen garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ryoan-ji<\/a>
Screens in the rooms facing the zen garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After contemplating, I left Ryoan-ji with a walk around the other side of its lake. There were some ducks in the water and truly beautiful early winter foliage.<\/p>\n

The final temple on my walk was Ninna-ji, which is a much bigger temple complex, comprising a few separate buildings, than both Kikaku-ji and Ryoan-ji. The entrance is marked by a majestic gate.<\/p>\n

\"Ninna-ji<\/a>
Grand entrance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ninna-ji<\/a>
Chokushi-mon\u00a0gateway in front of\u00a0Shiro Shoin – an informal meeting hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ninna-ji<\/a>
A closer-up view of the building top<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ninna-ji's<\/a>
Ninna-ji’s garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ninna-ji<\/a>
Decoration on the roof of Reimeiden Hall denotes it for worship<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ninna-ji<\/a>
Corridors link the buildings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The walk between Ryoan-ji and Ninna-ji is around 20 minutes. So all in, inclusive of the time at each temple, I spent\u00a0just shy of four hours visiting these three temples. By the time I finished, it was close to 1pm (the temples open to visitors at 9am) and I was ready for a good lunch. If you are in Kyoto for just a couple of days, you may want to just focus on Kinkaku-ji.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three of Kyoto’s major temples are located within a 40\u00a0minute walk of each other in the northwestern quadrant of the city. Of these Kinkaku-ji – also known as the Golden Pavilion – is probably the best known. And while all three are temples, they each have different characteristics which makes a morning or afternoon spent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,21,94,135],"tags":[43,46,58,73,97],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asiapac","category-japan-asiapac","category-japan-itinerary","category-japan-kyoto","tag-featured","tag-garden","tag-japan","tag-kyoto","tag-walks","latest_post"],"yoast_head":"\nKyoto - From Gold to Zen, a Walk in the Northwestern Quadrant - Gazing and Grazing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2015\/05\/27\/kyoto-from-gold-to-zen-a-walk-in-the-northwestern-quadrant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kyoto - From Gold to Zen, a Walk in the Northwestern Quadrant - Gazing and Grazing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Three of Kyoto’s major temples are located within a 40\u00a0minute walk of each other in the northwestern quadrant of the city. 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