Kyoto - Day 1 - Arashiyama - Togetsukyo Bridge

The Togetsukyo Bridge (lit. "Moon Crossing Bridge") is Arashiyama's most iconic landmark. It was originally built during the Heian Period (794-1185) and most recently reconstructed in the 1930s. It's a very popular landmark, and most visited during the Cherry blossom season and during fall with it's vibrant colors of the fall trees covering the mountains.

It was hard to take a good picture of the bridge as there were so many people visiting Arashiyama during the popular Cherry blossom season that we visited in during the first week of April.

Cherry blossom and oranges ripe on the tree growing next to eachother.

The Katsura River, that the Togetsukyo Bridge crosses over with it's rental boats. 

We were heading toward the Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama, and it wasn't hard to miss the signs, even if it didn't say the name. It was a long hike up the mountain to get to the park, and it was pretty steep and it was a pretty good workout to get there. Luckily the weather was dry and sunny, walking on the small path up the mountain in rain would have been very hard and almost dangerous especially with kids to slide down the sides of the paths. Before we started to hike up the mountain, we passed by the Ichitani-munakata-jinja Shrine.

Kyoto - Day 1 - Arashiyama

Walking to our little train, we passed by this really big Tori gate. 

The Shisa is guarding the entrance.

Another Tori gate, leading into a big park with a Cherry Blossom Festival going on with lots of vendors and tourists..

We found the train station and our little Randen train that took us to the west side of Kyoto to the rather big area called Arashiyama. In Arashiyama, there were several things that were on my list of things to see and do, and just getting off the train, we already walked right into one of the "must sees" when in Kyoto - The Kimono Forest.

The Kimono Forest is like the sign says, 600 poles covered in beautiful textile used for Kimonos. It was nice to walk up and down the path to see the vibrant and beautiful colors of the textile. A great stop before we headed on with our afternoon in Arashiyama. 

Kyoto - Day 1 - Golden Pavilion

On our first day in Kyoto, we woke up early to get a head start out of the day. Still, the plan didn't quite work out anyway, as we had to take a local city bus to get to the first stop of the day. The city buses in Kyoto, or Japan in general, are VERY crowded, and it took almost an hour to go there with lots of stops on the way. 


Kinkakuji (金閣寺, Golden Pavilion) is a Zen temple in northern Kyoto whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf.

Formally known as Rokuonji, the temple was the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and according to his will it became a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect after his death in 1408. Kinkakuji was the inspiration for the similarly named Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion), built by Yoshimitsu's grandson, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, on the other side of the city a few decades later.

The Kinkakjui is one of the most visited buildings in Japan, so there is always a crowd and to visit it during the Japanese vacation time, American school's Spring Break and the general tourists visiting Kyoto during Cherry Blossom Season - there was a crowd alright. On the buses, trains, streets, and all the sights..Still, except the buses, it was manageable, and we got to see what we wanted without having to wait in line too long.

Recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage, 

Kinkaku-ji is one of the historical buildings most representative of Japan.

After walking through the temple grounds for awhile, we finally saw it - the Golden Pavilion. It was a clear day, but the pond was not too clear, maybe due to all the rain we had previous days. Therefore the reflections of the temple in the water wasn't the best, but still, the gold was shimmering

Fudo Hall, a small temple hall which houses a statue of Fudo Myoo, one of the Five Wisdom Kings and protector of Buddihism.

Watch and learn...

Finally her turn to ring the bell.

Ben did it so fast I didn't get a picture of it.

Ema - wooden plaques that are sold at the shrine.

"Ema (絵馬 picture-horse) are small wooden plaques on which Shinto worshipers write their prayers or wishes. The Ema are then left hanging up at the shrine, where the Kami (spirits or gods) are believed to receive them. They bear various pictures, often of animals or other Shinto imagery, and many have the word gan'i (願意), meaning "wish", written along the side. In ancient times people would donate horses to the shrines for good favor; over time this was transferred to a wooden plaque with a picture of a horse, and later still to the various wooden plaques sold today for the same purpose.

Ema are sold for various wishes. Common reasons for buying a plaque are for success in work or on exams, marital bliss, to have children, and health. Some shrines specialize in certain types of these plaques, and the larger shrines may offer more than one. Sales of Ema help support the shrine financially."

Ofcourse we tried our luck to see what our fortune would be like. We all received "Excellent"..

After our visit to the Golden Pavilion, we took a break to have a snack and cold drinks before walking down to a small train station, to visit our second stop of the day.