Old Imperial Palace in Kyoto

 As you know, Kyoto was a capital of Japan from 794 to 1869.

At the beginning, the Imperial Palace was in a different place from today's. 

What is known as Old Imperial Palace started in 1331, when Emperor Kogen became the Emperor there.

Let's visit the palace

First after getting out of the subway station, Imadegawa, let's walk to Inui mon gate.

From here, you will see the very nice park. This area used to be a town of court nobles.
Surrounding area of Imperial palace was the town of court nobles.

The entrance of the visitors who are ranked high.
Okuruma yose or Mikuruma yose, the court nobles up to the 6th grade were allowed to enter from here.
Especially top ranked ones are allowed to enter in the carriage.
The others had to walk in.

These rooms are waiting rooms.
The closest room to the Emperors place are the one for the highest, the further was lower. 
Depending on the room, the paintings are different. 

This is a new entrance when Emperor Taisho visited here to hold the enthronement ceremony. This entrance was made for it so that the horse-pulled carriage can enter from the side. We see the glass windows, which were not common in those days.

The building we can see through the red gate is Shishinden, where the important ceremony is held .

It is the largest here.
In front of the building, there are two trees, cherry tree and orange tree.
There are large space in front

Only the highest ranked families could sit in the building including verranda.

The others had to sit or stand on the ground.

Seiryo-den
This used to be a living space of Emperor till late 16th century.

Inside of the curtain is the rest area of the Emperor

In the morning Emperor prayed for the nation and the people to 4 directions which have shrines related to the Imperial family.

The side of the building, there is a meeting room with court nobles.

There are two nice gardens in the area of the palace we can see.
The first one is here.

The emperor didn't go out of the palace basically. This garden reminded him of the beach.
There is a pier for the boat.
He might have sail in the pond to enjoy the scenery from there.

The second garden has a river. 
The scenery is a little different.
the building in front of the garden was a living space of Emperor's till the day he moved to Tokyo.
In those days, from the room, it is said that The Daimonji fire could be seen.

One funny point is the small building in the garden.

This is an evacuation room.

Late 16th century, Kyoto had a big earthquake. For just in case.

The building was made much stronger than the other building.

After this, we can not see more.

There is a tea ceremony room and the river water comes to the building side.

And further, there is Empress space.
Emperor and Empress didn't live in the same building.

After here, visitor's course leads us to the area of former kitchen area

Unfortunately, during the WWⅡ,  all the hallways and kitchen space were removed so that the fire spread easily for just in case.

A part of hallway was restored but not all.

This is the real place Emperors lived. when you have such mind, you can enjoy there more.

Just one advice, the course doesn't have any rest rooms and much shade.

In summer, please bring the sun umbrella and on the rainy day, please prepare an umbrella or rain gear.

The beautiful garden in Shiga, Seiganji

 It is often said that, when you are traveling in Shiga pref., it is easy to go by JR to the station, but when you want to reach a certain place a little away from the station, the access is not good.

It is, in a sense, true.

However, as for Seiganji temple, the access is very good.

It is located near Maihara( Maibara ) station, which Shinkansen bullet train stops.

Just 5 min walk leads you to the temple.

What is good here is the garden. It is rare to see the garden in Soto sect of Zen school. We can enjoy dry-gardens in Rinzai zen temples but not in Soto zen temple.

This is an exception.

The set of rocks in the center shows Fudaraku mountain, which is said that Kannon ( one of the bodhisattvas) lives in.

And more, when it rains, the rain water comes up in the lower area  surrounding rocks, and changes the scene.

In the building, we enjoy the maccha cappuccino and cake seeing the garden.

A Happy New Year

 

We celebrate the beginning of the new year with this, Otoso.
It is a kind of Japanese sake and sweet sake called mirin with Chinese herb. 

This is called Osechi, New Year cuisine.
Sea weed called Kobu is a symbol of Happiness, yorokobu in Japanese, As you can see, kobu is a part of the pronunciation of the word.

Shrimps are eaten to live long. When cooked, it becomes bent, which looks like elderly .

Fish eggs have a lot of small eggs. To wish to have many children, which means the prosperity of the family

Black beans are called mame. to work mame means to work diligently. which means business prosperity.

In this way, each items have a certain meanings.

But my mon used to say, in the past, on New Year holidays, all the shops were closed and we needed to prepare food for three holidays. To preserve longer, all were cooked very well.

Nowadays, we have supermarkets and it is no need to do that.

Still I want to keep this tradition.

These lacquer wares are for soup and mochi ( rice cakes ) called Ozoni.

This becomes topics of New Years because it differs depending on each region.

I was born and raised in Kyoto. 

In Kyoto, we have white miso soup and round mochi.

However, my mon was from Osaka, and my grandma was from Kyushu. So I don't know about the origin of my style of Ozoni. 
Mine is soup taken from bonito flakes and kobu seaweed and mochi.

It is a good opportunity to feel our tradition.

Ukimi do over the lake

 Ukimido is the temple which has a hall over the lake.

It looks like a floating hall.  The official name is Mangetsu ji temple. 

 The view is one of the eight lakescapes of Lake Biwa.

 The noted poets and artists visited here and created poems or paintings.

The history dates back to Heian era, but the hall itself was rebuilt or renovated a couple of time. The view is said to be same as before except tall building we can see far behind.

I was impressed by gorgeous pine trees in the precinct.  They are said to be 700 years old.

The access 

From Kyoto station

 JR Kosei line.  the nearest station is Katada 
 Take a local bus to Demachi, and 7 min walk.

Entrance fee 300 yen

Shirahige shrine in Shiga.

 Shiga pref. is a nice place which has many sightseeing spots. However, not many people don't know its charm.

I would like to introduce some spots to tell you how interesting and nice they are.

Shirahige means white beard. So direct translation is a shrine of white beard

The main shinto kami ( diety ) enshrined here is Sarutahiko, who is the kami to lead and tell the way. The one enshrined in the shrine is said to be an old one with white beard. So especially he is specialized to give us a benefits of long life too.

By the way, the shrine is well-known for the different reason.

That is....... Instagram!
The torii gate stands in the lake and if the timing is good, you can take a very beautiful picture of the gate with the sun.

But recently, many people come to take pictures crossing the road with heavy traffic.

Now crossing the road is prohibited 

I tried to take a nice pic. but this is what I could do,,

I visited the shrine on Saturday and came across the little girls worshipping here.

Can you see little girls in beautiful kimono?

Access

The nearest train station is  Oumi Takashima station of Kosei line from Kyoto station.

However, from the station, there is no transportation to the shrine

Over 30 min walk is required.

Autumn foliage 14/ Koshoji temple in Uji

 Let’s go to Uji. When it comes to Uji, tea, and Byodoin temple come to our mind first.

On the other side of the Uji river, there is a zen temple, Koshoji. The beginning of the temple dates back to when Dogen brought zen from China. The temple started in a different place in the south of Kyoto and later it was moved here.

The temple began as a zen training place. Still now, it works as so.

The slope to the temple has many maple trees on both sides.

It is not a famous place among tourists.

So even in Autumn, it keeps the air as a zen temple

Koshoji temple in Uji

Access 

JR Kyoto station, Nara line to Uji   and 15 min walk

Keihan line Uji station, and 10 min walk

Entrance fee 500 yen

Autumn foliage 13 / Imagumano Kannon temple

 This temple is located very close to Sennyuji temple, which is known as Mitera, Imperial related temple.

 As you can see from the name of this temple, the main statue enshrined here is Kannon statue.

On the way to the temple from Sennyuji temple, and in the precinct, there are many maple trees.

What  I like here is small cute statues of an old lady.　This is for preventing us from getting senile. I understand the prayer of the people who don't want to get senile when they get older. 

Imagumano kannon 

access,  city bus 208, 207, 202 ( all lope bus ) but not from Kyoto station.
From Kyoto station, by taxi, 5 min.