23 November 2016
Kyoto’s Northern Higashiyama District is filled with temples and shrines, some of which are highly recommended sites for autumn leaves viewing. Our plan was to spend the morning visiting this area, starting from the Ginkaku-ji Temple and making our down the 2 km Philosopher Path southwards and visiting a few temples like Honen-in, Eikando and Nanjen-ji Temple along the way. This should bring us to close to the Keage Station along the Tozai subway line. From there, we would take the subway to the Kyoto Shiyakushomae Station where we could spend the afternoon exploring and shopping in the area around Teramachi-dori, Nishiki market and Shijo-dori.
As we were staying at the APA Hotel Kyoto Gion Excellent Hotel, we took the Raku 100 direct bus from the bus stop outside the Yasaka Shrine to the Ginkakujimae bus stop. The ride was about 20 minutes and the Ginkaku-ji is about 450 metres from the bus stop.
Note: The Raku Buses in Kyoto city are loop buses operated specifically for tourists. These are the Raku 100, Raku 101 and Raku 102. Raku Buses are brightly painted in seasonal colours, have on-board announcements in English and other languages, and stop only at the major sightseeing places in Kyoto. So it was convenient and easy to use these buses to get around the places of interest within Kyoto. The Raku Bus fare is a flat 230 yen per ride for adults (120 yen for children). More information on the Raku Buses can be found here.
Ginkaku-ji is a Zen temple that was built in 1482 as a retirement villa for a shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa. It is also known as Jisho-ji Temple and that was the name as shown in Google Map. However, Ginkaku-ji Temple is translated to mean “The Silver Pavilion”, in contrast to another temple known as the Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavilion). See a post on our visit to the Kinkaku-ji here.
Ginkaku-ji Temple‘s opening hours is from 8:30 AM to 17:00 PM and we went early in the morning to avoid crowds. Entrance fee was 500 yen per person. We followed a marked course around the temple ground. Immediately upon entry, we saw the Silver Pavilion. Unlike Kinkaku-ji Temple whose pavilion is golden in colour, the Silver Pavilion was never plated with silver, and the building remains an unpainted brown. The two stories of the Silver Pavilion were constructed in two different architectural styles, just like the Kinkaku-ji.
We next saw an impressive sand garden, known as the “Sea of Silver Sand”.
The sand garden blends nicely into a moss garden with ponds, maple trees and pins tress. This is one of Kyoto’s most beautiful gardens.
The path then led us up a hill, where we could get a nice view of temple grounds and Kyoto city.
Overall, I enjoyed my visit to the Ginkaku-ji more than the Kinkaku-ji. Silver beats the gold!
Leaving Ginkaku-ji, we walked down the Philosopher’s Path or Philosopher’s Walk (Tetsugaku no michi) heading south. The 2 km path follows a canal which was lined wth hundreds of cherry trees. This would be really impressive during spring’s cherry blossom season but in autumn, these trees were bare.
Philosopher’s Path or Philosopher’s Walk (Tetsugaku no michi).
In addition to temples, the Philosopher’s Path also had restaurants, cafes, and boutiques along the way.
Honen-in Temple was worthy of a brief stopover along the Philosopher’s Path although it was not highly rated. There is no entrance fee.
Entrance at Honen-in Temple.
Colourful autumn leaves of green, yellow, orange and red formed a nice curtain above the thatched roof of the main gate to the Honen-in Temple.
The entrance path is flanked on two sides by mounds of white sand that are called Byakusadan. These symbolize water that cleans your body and mind. A small hall to the right of the main gate was showcasing some local potteries. The garden is small in comparison to the other gardens we had seen in Japan but it was magical. More so in autumn. It gave me a sense of calm and peace as I strolled through it.
The small garden featured a stone bridge over a pond. The surface of the pond was covered with fallen leaves.
A stone bridge over a pond in the Honen-in Temple.
Continuing down the Philosopher’s Path, we arrived at the Eikando Temple and also formerly known as Zenrinji Temple. Eikando Temple is very famous for its autumn foliage and the night illuminations that take place during autumn. By the time we arrived at Eikando Temple, it was past noon and there was a crowd queuing to pay the entrance fee to enter.
Outside the Eikando Temple.
Preview of the colours we would be seeing once we were inside the Eikando. These leaves were seen over the boundary wall of the temple while we were queuing to enter.
While queuing for our tickets, we could see the magnificent colours of the leaves inside the temple. The entrance fee was 1000 Yen per person! Quite expensive compared to the other temples we had been to but this temple was reputed to be one of the best place for autumn leaves viewing. We shall see.
Entrance of the Eikando Temple.
The autumn leaves were at its peak and did not disappoint. All over the temple ground, maple trees in peak autumn colours were seen.
The reddest tree I saw so far.
The crowd inside the Eikando temple.
Eikando Temple’s Hojo Pond with fiery red autumn colours.
Japanese Carp (Koi) in the pond.
Eikando's main buildings are built alongside the base of the hillside and are connected by wooden corridors. We took time to walk along the corridors and see the insides of the various buildings. We had to remove our shoes while walking on the wooden corridors. I was glad I had socks on as the wooden floor was cold!
Rock Garden at the Eikando Temple.
We found time to sit down and rest our feet while admiring the sand and rock garden while touring the buildings.
Sand Garden at the Eikando Temple.
After completing the tour of the buildings, we put on our shoes again and continue down this flight of steps to explore the grounds once more.
The Tahoto Pagoda on the hillside of Eikando.
Taking a break from shooting the autumn leaves to shoot some pictures of flowers and other subjects instead.
Green maple leaves are attractive too.
We spent about one and a half hour in Eikando. By then we had enough of autumn foliage and was looking for a place to have lunch. There were not many eating places outside the Eikando Temple and the narrow streets were chock full of people, tour buses and cars.
We continued down south a short distance to the Nanzen-ji temple. Nanzenji's central temple grounds are open to the public free of charge while entrance to the Hojo building and Sanmon Gate is chargeable.
Nanzen-ji temple’s Sanmon Gate.
After a quick tour of the free area of the Nanzenji Temple, we found a restaurant still serving lunch at 2.30 PM. Yatsuhashi-an Syanari is a small store selling sweets, ice cream and dessert on the ground floor and hot meals on the second storey. There was not many options in the menu, so we ordered the curry rice sets.
Curry rice set at the Yatsuhashi-an Syanari.
Once lunch is done, we took the subway from the nearby Keage Station to the Kyoto Shiyakushomae Station. We would spend the rest of the day exploring and shopping in the area around Teramachi-dori, Nishiki market and Shijo-dori.
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