Kinkakuji, kyoto.....

After visiting the Nijo castle, we went to the 'golden temple of Kyoto'(Kinkakuji). Crossing the Kuromon gate, we reached the ticketing office.From there we took the entrance tickets and walked towards the gate. Along with the tickets, we got a talisman too. We couldn't make out what is written in that piece of paper. 

Talisman.

When we crossed the Somon gate, we saw the Shoro bell tower. Also there were some other buildings on the other side where entry is not allowed.

Shoro bell tower.

 After crossing the next gate, we reached the pond with the golden pavilion at its center. It is a Zen temple at northern Kyoto and is covered with gold leaves at its roofs.   It has three-storeys with its first floor built in an aristocratic style and the second one in Samurai style. The first storey is made of wood while the upper two are covered with golden plates outside. There is a statue of Phoenix bird at the top of the roof. It  seems so beautiful in the middle of Kyokochi pond surrounded by trees and plants and in the center located the golden pavilion. The water reflected the pavilion, the rocks and the surrounding garden trees just like a clear mirror.  It was really amazing.

KINKAKUJI.

 But the rain doesn't allow us to stay there for long.  We walked forward through the path passing along the pond. There were stone steps along the path which lead us to a garden with a waterfall named  Ryumon Taki.

A crane in the pond.

After walking some more steps we reached a place where kept some statues on the ground along with a bowl to put coins. There were a lot of coins thrown surrounding the statues. It resembled the practice that we have in our temples of India to put coins into boxes kept infront of the Lord's statues.

Statues of Lords.

After walking some more , we reached a teahouse built in Edo period and then we walked some more to reach the exit of the temple area.

Nijo castle, Kyoto...

We started our journey at 7.30 am after checking out our rooms near the Kyoto station. The Kyoto tower looks different in the day light.

We took a one day pass to travel in the kyoto city and started our way to Nijo castle via bus.

Nijo Castle.

 It was not allowed to take photographs inside the castle. The admission ticket worth 600 yens.

Entry ticket for the castle.

                After entering on the right there is a guard house with mannequins dressed as samurai guards. Following the wall around will bring you to the Kara Mon (Chinese Gate) which is the entrance into the Ninomaru Palace. Decorated by cranes, flowers, and butterflies on the outer panels and Chinese tigers,  lions and a dragon on the inner panels this gate is a splendid sight. 

At the entrance of Ninomaru Palace.

                  After walking through the Kara Mon we reached the main complex of Ninomaru Palace . The Carriage  Porch (Karuma Yose) is followed by the Tozamurai. It was in this building that visitors would wait for an audience  with the shogun. The next building is called Shikidai, followed by Ohiroma where several mannequins in traditional garb, sitting in on an audience with the shogun. The next building is connected to Ohiroma by a long chamber, Kuro-shoin, which was reserved for the friends and family of the shogun.  The last building, Shiro-shoin, was the shogun's residence, where only his wives and concubines were allowed.
                The shoin-zukuri style reflects the social heirarchy within the feudal period of Japan. The higher ranking and more distinguished a guest was, the further they got into the compound. Moreover, their position allowed them to be on a higher floor level. Each building has a slightly higher floor than the previous building, reflecting the social status of the guest. However, each building also had a raised platform on which the shogun would be seated during an audience so no one's head was higher than his.

              While entering in, beautiful sounds emanating from the floor can be heard.  This is called 'uguisu-bari' and was intended to protect the occupants from sneak attacks and assassins. The builders constructed the floors of the corridors in such a way as to squeak like birds when anyone walks on them. When we enter the ninomaru palace, we could see the emotionally-moving wall and sliding door paintings which all are really amazing.It includes paintings of nature,  birds etc.
             The Ninomaru garden is one of the main attractions of this place which is really wonderful with waterlilies, plants, and rocks. In the center of the garden is a large pond containing three islands connected by four bridges.

The pond of the Ninomaru Garden.

It was really a wonderful site of new experiences in this castle.

Nara - Kofukuji and Todaiji temples...

 The weather was really bad today, it was raining. Already its so cold. But we decided to continue our trip to Nara. From the Inn where we are staying, we took umbrellas and started our journey. Even through it as rain, it feels so nice to walk through the roads of Nara. As we reached the Nara park, we could see some deers wandering there even in this rain. I have already heard about the freely roaming deers of  Nara park, and I wished to touch them. The rain spoiled everything. Not much deers were found. But still, I played with some of them. Their wet fur sticked on to my hands and I felt bad. :(

Me with deers..

There were a lot of street vendors with Deer Biscuits. The deers  come around as soon as we bought some biscuits for them. These are wild deers which came down from the mountains to the park to feed on the grass and Shika Senbei (Deer biscuits).
We reached the Kofukuji temple. Kofukuji was one of the "Four Great Temples" of the Nara period. It features a tall five-story pagoda and many Buddhist art treasures. In 1998 Kofukuji Temple was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site as part of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara" listing. Kofukuji Temple is the headquarters of the Hosso school in Japan.

Kofukuji temple.

The five storeyed pagoda.

From there, we moved to the Todaiji temple.We took our entry pass and get inside the temple.

Entry pass for Todaiji temple.

Todaiji ("Great Eastern Temple") is one of Japan's most famous and historically significant temples and a landmark of Nara. It was constructed in 752 as the head temple of all provincial Buddhist temples of Japan and grew so powerful that the capital was moved from Nara to Nagaoka in 784 in order to lower its influence on government affairs. Not only is Todaiji housing Japan's largest Buddha statue (Daibutsu), but it is also the world's largest wooden building, even though the present reconstruction of 1692 is only two thirds of the original temple's size. This gold and bronze Buddha is one of the largest bronze statues in the world at 16 meters tall. 

Todaiji temple.

The great Budha of Todaiji.

Inside the Great Buddha Hall (Daibutsuden) of the Todaiji Temple in Nara, towards the exit - right near the souvenir area, there is a very thick pillar with a hole in it, which is said to be the same size as the Budha statue’s nostril. The legend says that if you manage to pass through this hole, you will attain enlightenment in the next life. There were so many people waiting for trying it forming a big queue there.

The hole on a pillar near the Budha statue of Todaiji temple.

We saw another ritual there. People write their prayers to the lord on wooden plates and hang it on a board at one side of the temple. I think we have similar practice in some temples of India too.

We saw an Asoka pillar located at the east of the Tōdai-ji temple. Felt so happy seeing some piece of Indian culture in this land.

A lamp tree near the Todaiji temple.

It was still raining as we walked towards a shrine up a hill near to the Todaiji temple. On the way there as a large bell inside a roof which can be rang by pulling off a big wooden rod hanged infront of it.

The huge bell of Todaiji temple.

It was also like a temple and there we saw a tub with water and laddles placed on its walls. We have to wash our hands and feet before entering the temple. We did so and enter inside .

The shrine near Todaiji temple.

Water tub and laddles.

A golden plant inside of the shrine.

Once we left the shrine, the rain stopped. And in the park, deers grown in number, also the visitors . We again had a nice time with deers.

 
It felt sad while leaving the deer friends of Nara park as I like the place so much mainly because of them.

Tokyo sky tree, Akihabara and the tokyo tower...

The Tokyo sky tree was not at all opened while we visited Tokyo in April. It will be opening next month only. We saw the tower many times as we traveled via Tokyo metro. After visiting the Imperial palace gardens, we went to Kinshichō Station and walked towards the tower. But even after walking for 10 minute, we couldn't reach near it. We were confused and hence asked a traffic police there. He told us that if you are trying to access by foot, then walk forward some more minutes looking at the top of the tower so that you can understand when you are near to it. We felt fun in his reply, and it highlighted the fact that we have to walk a lot to reach there. We have already started walking and are half the way from the station, so we decided to continue. At last , as the man told us, we walked another 20 minutes to reach the foot of the skytree. 

Tokyo skytree from the foot

It was really amazing to see the tower from its foot. As its name depicts it extends upto the sky, the jet planes passing above it seems like touching its head.

A jet plane passing over the skytree.

 It has a height of 634 meters. It is actually a new television broadcasting tower of Tokyo and is now the tallest building in Japan and the second tallest structure in the world. A large shopping complex with aquarium is there at its base and there are to observation decks too. If we have visited here next month we might be able to reach there and enjoy the sight from there. Anyway we missed it.

From there we walked towards the station, but couldn't reach there even after walking long. At last we reached  a park. Its hanami in this place today and the park is rushed. We were too tired walking such a distance, so we spent half an hour in the park enjoying the beauty of the sakura trees. There were so many people there.

Cherry blossom.

A building of Tokyo.

Reflection of the skytree on a
building near the park.

At last we reached the station with the help of an old lady who accompanied us all the way to there. Then we went to Akihabara - the district of electronic goods.

 From there, we purchased some electronic equipments and left there after our dinner.

Our last visit in Tokyo is to the Tokyo tower. But we become so late as we reached there after our shopping from the electronic city. From the Hamamatsucho Station, we walked to the tower foot. The tower as visible in the darkness as if it is ignited.

Tokyo tower.

Tokyo tower.

 

Then we returned to the Shinjuku station from where our return journey begins at 10.30pm.

Tokyo Imperial Palace...

Early in the morning, after having our breakfast from the Toyoko Inn ,w e started our journey to the Imperial Palace.  We took a one day pass or the Tokyo city travel and hired the train to Tokyo station.

We walked towards the Imperial palace which can be accessed by a 5 minute walk from the station according to the information that we have collected.

We crossed a park while walking to the palace which looks so beautiful with trees surrounded with flowered bushes and fountains. In 7 minutes we reached the east gardens of the Imperial palace.

 The current Imperial Palace is located on the former site of Edo Castle, a large park area surrounded stone walls. It is the residence of Japan's Imperial Family. The palace buildings and inner gardens are not open to the public. Only on January 2 (New year) and December 23 (Emperor's Birthday), visitors are able to enter the inner palace grounds and see the members of the Imperial Family, who make several public appearances on a balcony.The Imperial Palace East Gardens are open to the public.There are two bridges that form an entrance to the inner palace grounds called the  Nijubashi.

Nijubashi.

Imperial palace.

The Imperial Palace East garden is open to the public. They are the former site of Edo Castle's innermost circles of defense, the honmaru ("main circle") and ninomaru ("secondary circle").
None of the main buildings remain today, but the moats, walls, entrance gates and several guardhouses still exist. A wide lawn and the remaining foundation of the former castle tower can be found on top of the hill, where the castle's innermost buildings once stood.

The foundation of the former castle tower.

 In place of the former buildings in the secondary circle of defense (ninomaru) at the foot of the hill, a nice Japanese style garden has been created.

We walked up to the foundation of the former castle tower. From there we could see the palace building.

Then we walked through  the garden infront of it, there were so many cherry trees with full of flowers.

We left the palace garden area after walking  around there for an hour.