Nanzenji Temple and Philosopher's Path

Hello everyone! Did you know that Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan? For over a thousand years, Kyoto served as the nation's capital until the emperor's seat was moved to the city of Edo, which is now Tokyo.

Kyoto has over 1,600 temples and shrines, and if you're just visiting for a few days, choosing which ones to visit can be a daunting task. I just did my research, and then decided which ones we will go and see, but even then, we did not get to see everything planned.

                

One of the few temples that we did go visit was the Nanzenji Temple, which is one of the most important Zen temples in all of Japan. This picture is of the Sanmon gate taken from the side, which is the main entrance.

Kyoto can get very crowded during peak season, and to go to one site from another requires taking the city bus if there is no subway station near that. This is where the day pass comes in handy. You can buy the whole day pass for Y600, and if you opt not to, each bus ride costs you Y230 each way. From Kyoto station, we took the bus 102 and got off the nearest bus stop. From there, we just asked around where to go and this is the mini-gate that leads to the temple grounds.

Entrance to the temple grounds is free, but there are certain fees if you want to go inside the temple buildings. Apparently Nanzenji is famous for its rock garden, which is said to resemble tigers and cubs crossing through water, but we were quite entranced with the temple grounds we totally forgot about that!

The Sanmon gate was constructed in 1628 by the ruling Tokugawa clan in memory of the soldiers who died during the siege of Osaka Castle. The view from the top extends across the city, and it costs Y500 to go up.

Nanzenji dates back to the 13th century, when the emperor Kameyama built his retirement villa here and later converted it into a Zen temple. There are subtemples and other buildings on the grounds but I am not sure which is which.

The sakura trees were also beautiful here, and we just walked around, marveling at the peaceful atmosphere, and even if there were quite a lot of people as well, it wasn't noisy at all, which was very good for everyone.

There were worshipers around, but most of the people were tourists just like us, who came to see the view and the buildings on the grounds.

This aqueduct was built during the Meiji period, which was part of a canal system that was constructed to carry water and goods between Kyoto and Lake Biwa in Shiga prefecture.

The Sanmon gate taken from the opposite side but the entrance is not visible because the trees are blocking it from view. 

The building behind us is the Hatto, also known as Dharma Hall, which is a large lecture hall and is not open to the public. 

The same building taken form another angle.

After walking around for a couple of hours maybe, we finally left the temple and went to the Philosopher's Path.

The famous Philosopher's Path is a pleasant stone path through the northern path of Kyoto's Higashiyama district. The path follows a canal lined with hundreds of cherry trees.

 The path starts, depending on where you are coming from, is either from Nanzenji temple, and on the other side, the Ginkakuji temple. We started from the Nanzenji temple side.

 The path is approximately two kilometers long, and it got its name from Nishida Kitaro, one of Japan's most famous philosophers, who was said having practiced his meditation here on his daily walk to Kyoto University.

 With the hundreds of cherry trees planted, the path is easily one of the most famous cherry viewing places in all of Kyoto, and in April it just bursts in different colors!

 It was crowded here as well, as it was in all the places in Kyoto that we visited, and you just have to be patient to be able to take a picture of the view with a little less people.

 
 

 

It was a very pleasant walk, but since it was so crowded, we left the path when we saw the bus stop and took the bus again to visit another place.

If you are going to Kyoto in the spring, do include Philosopher's Path as one of the places where you can enjoy cherry blossoms. If you can, try to go as early as you can to avoid the crowds and so you can enjoy the place to the fullest. Stay tuned for more!