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Japan

Lots and Lots of Temples

OG

• 3 min read
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I'd love to write a detailed post about each and every temple we've visited but that's obviously not going to happen since I have trouble getting any posts out at all. There's just too much to do and see and EAT! So this will be a bit of a hodgepodge of some of the beautiful temples we've seen here in Kyoto. Our list is still long and we only have 9 days left. Argh, once again time is running out.
(The weather's not on our side either. Yesterday we braved rain, hail and fierce winds to visit the market at Toji temple. In between the sun would come out to entice us to stay just a little bit longer but in the end we had to give up when we couldn't feel our hands and feet anymore and the rain was falling upwards into our faces trying to hide under the umbrellas. It was vicious.)

A very, very large Buddha.
I wasn't kidding when I said it was very, very large.
Nature is always part of the temples. Very peaceful.
Two high school girls in full regalia, taking pictures of each other. Perfect prop stealing for us too.
Doing the souvenir trail with cousin Anna.
The entrance to Kiyomizu-dera
Almost full moon, too perfect.
According to Fa people used to jump from this balcony to make a wish come true. I'm hoping that's not actually true.
The Yasaka pagoda in the middle of Gion during the light festival. It looked magical.
There's that almost full moon again.
Most temples are associated with an animal, in this case the fox (Inari) so there are fox statues everywhere. Mostly wearing bibs.
The hundreds and hundreds of orange tori (gates) that snake their way up the mountain at the Fushimi-Inari shrine.
Companies pay for the toris so they get their name on the back. These things don't come cheap - the smallest one starts around 400,000 yen (roughly 3000 Eur and can easily double for a big gate).
Did I mention the temple is built on a mountain? With lots of steps? Not a problem at all with a baby and a pram. We've got arms and backs of steel.
Small Paw looking smug. I would too if I'd been carried all this way.
More toris snaking through the woods.