Kyoto Castles and Shrines

We visited the Nijo Castle, a fortress built by the Shoguns in 1603.   Because it is a castle and not a temple, the architecture tends to be more flamboyant, as it was designed to impress any visitors.   There were numerous rooms where supplicants at different levels were required to congregate, and many colorful screen paintings on the walls.  (Although the originals are now removed for preservation's sake.)   The castle also features the famous "nightingale floors", floors designed to emit high pitched sounds whenever anyone walks on them, and thus alert the guards to the presence of intruders.   Though when there are hundreds of slipper clad tourists trudging through, the effect is quite different, though still quite striking.   The castle also features some very beautiful rock gardens; we stopped at a tea room overlooking one of them.  

The entrance gate:

Exterior of the castle:

The rock gardens:

One of the highlights of our stay in Kyoto was a visit to the Fushimi Inari Shrine.    This is a Shinto shrine, located on a small mountain in the southern part of Kyoto.   It is a shrine to Inari, the Shinto goddess of rice.   There are various shrines at the base of the mountain, but the truly spectacular part is the thousands of orange gates (torii) that lead up to the top of the mountain.   There really are thousands of them.   It is an indescribable sensation to be walking through a sea of orange gates, while around you there is a beautiful green forest.  Needless to say, the beginning part is extremely crowded with tourists, but the further up you climb, the fewer people there are.   Along the way, there are many small mini shrines, with mini gates.   And foxes are the messenger of Inari, so there are many states of foxes of all shapes and sizes.    We hiked all the way to the top of the mountain.


A large fox statue at the base of the mountain:

A stage for musical performances?

Vera had the foresight to wear orange pants:

Mini gates:

The gates as seen from outside the path;

Foxes and mini shrines:

We keep climbing, and there are more and more gates!

Bamboo forest outside the gates:

Orange and green, everywhere!

A basin for ritual washing:

Still climbing!

One of the smaller shrines at the top.

All of the gates have inscriptions on them, apparently naming the donors. etc.   (The gates are gifts by people or businesses as offerings to the goddess, in hopes of good luck and prosperity.)  But you only see the inscriptions when you are heading downwards.

I saw this guarding a ritual washing station at a temple near our hotel: