We first visited Kyoto at the beginning of the 2020. There were so many places to see that at the end of our trip we knew we would be back. We just didn't think it would be so soon when we would have our second Kyoto visit!
Day 1
Shortly after arriving in Kyoto via Kyoto Station, we stopped by Nishi (West) Hongan-ji temple, one of the many UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the city. Amida Hall (阿弥陀堂), which is dedicated to the Amida Buddha, is under renovation until March 2022. We were still able to walk around and explore the temple except for the back end of the hall, which was marked as off-limits and covered due to the construction. This was just a brief stop since it is about a 10 to 15 minute walk from Kyoto Station with free admission.
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| Nishi Hongan-ji |
On our first visit to the city we knew there was a Kyoto Pokémon Center, but we had no time to actually stop by and check it out. This time, the Pokémon Center was one of the first things we saw after arriving. Kyoto's Pokémon Center places a lot of emphasis on the city's culture, in part because the Second Generation of Pokémon games drew inspiration from Kyoto and the surrounding Kansai Region.
The Pontocho (先斗町) district is a historic dining area found near where our hotel was located. The first night we walked down Pontocho's main street, which is big enough for people to walk through but too narrow to allow for cars. The street is filled with traditional shops and restaurants. Restaurants ranged from traditional to modern cuisine and from inexpensive to expensive. Many of the buildings on the east side of the street offer views of the adjacent Kamogawa River. Most restaurants are only open in the evening for dinner.
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| Pontocho district |
Day 2 (Uji)
Byodo-in is one of Japan's most famous historic temples. To access it is necessary to take a train to the city of Uji, which can be found just southeast of Kyoto. Byodo-in has various buildings, but only one, the Phoenix Hall, has remained intact since the Heian Period. It was completed in 1053 and has not been destroyed to this day. In Japan that is rare to hear since nearly every temple, shrine, or castle that we've visited here has been destroyed by fire or had renovations at some point in its history. There is an additional fee to enter the Phoenix Hall for a 20-minute guided tour, but since the hall itself is quite small we opted to pass on the tour and explore the grounds and adjacent museum on our own instead. Besides its historical significance, today Byodo-in is probably most famous for being featured on Japan's 10 yen coin.
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| Byodo-in Temple's famous Phoenix Hall |
Ujigami Shrine (宇治上神社) is about a 10 minute walk from Byodo-in Temple. It is thought to be the oldest original shrine in Japan. Although there are no records available of when it was first built they estimate through digital dendrochronology that it has been there since 1060. The fact that a structure built almost entirely from wood has managed to survive so long is impressive.
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| Ujigami Shrine |
Day 3 (Arashiyama)
On our third day we headed to Kyoto's Arashiyama district via a tram. Arashiyama is internationally famous for its much-photographed bamboo forest. Everything we've heard leads us to believe that the forest is almost always extremely crowded with visitors, but due to recent events regarding the novel coronavirus and Japan's restrictions on travel from China (which makes up a large percentage of the city's tourism) there were far fewer people. Although there was still a decent number of visitors, the thinned crowds allowed us to enjoy a peacefulness that has rarely been available here in recent years. Afterwords we took in the surrounding area and Togetsu-kyo Bridge spanning the nearby river. In the afternoon we headed to Tenryu-ji, another temple with UNESCO status well-known for its garden. The garden area was peaceful and incorporated the "borrowed landscaping" technique used in many Japanese gardens.
Day 4
Our fourth day in Kyoto was very rainy. Because it was so rainy we spent quite a bit of the day relaxing in or near our hotel, which isn't something we do often when traveling. Apart from that, we briefly walked around the Yasaka Shrine and Higashiyama District in the eastern part of the city. We also took a peek at the outside of Kiyomizu-dera, a famous temple that we would explore more thoroughly the following day.
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| Outer entrance to the Kiyomizu-dera complex |
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| A street in Kyoto city |
Day 5
On our final day in Kyoto we visited Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺). The name means "pure water temple." Kiyomizu-dera is one of the most famous tourist and religious destinations in Japan and is particularly well known for its massive balcony overlooking the Higashiyama District that straddles the city's eastern hills. It is also known for the Otowa Waterfall near its base. The water gets divided into three streams that visitors can drink from. Each stream is said to have a different benefit but drinking from all three is frowned upon and viewed as being greedy, so you have to choose wisely which benefit (or maybe two benefits?) you want! Kiyomuzu-dera's main hall had been covered during renovations for several years and had only been uncovered again earlier that month, so we were glad our visit was timed to allow us to see the temple at its best.
After our visit to Kiyomizu-dera we walked back to Kyoto Station and caught a train back heading to Himeji. Although we still managed to see a lot during this trip, we did things at a more relaxed pace than we normally would. Because of COVID-19, we made an effort to mostly visit places that weren't as crowded and maintain some distance from other people. We also carried hand sanitizer and soap to wash or disinfect our hands frequently.
Originally, this was when our family was going to visit us for a full week, but given the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and its effects on flight options between Japan and the U.S. they decided to cancel their trip. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the WHO on the last day of our trip, although at the time the numbers in Japan were still fairly low. Even though things were calm during our visit to Kyoto and we enjoyed ourselves, in the following weeks we decided to keep major travel to a minimum to be safe.
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